January 2010 Newsletter

[Michael Whitehouse]

-WORLDS APART REFERRAL REWARDS
-2010 EPIC WIN CAMPAIGN
-WARMER WINTERS CHARITY GAME-A-THON – January 23-24
-WORLDWAKE RELEASE

2009 was a pretty good year for Worlds Apart Games. We have really gotten our feet under us and a really fantastic community has formed at the Store. To see this, one needs look no further than the New Years Eve party we had this past week, when over 30 Worldsers celebrated the start of the new year. By dawn, we had over half a dozen people still at the store to greet the first dawn of 2010.

Now it is time to kick off the new year, making 2010 bigger and better than any before, and by giving back to the community that has done so much for us.

-WORLDS APART REFERRAL REWARDS
You know that Worlds Apart is a great community, but in 2010 we want to bring more and more great people into our community. That's where you come in. We want you to help us to bring in more people, and we are willing to reward you for it.

It's simple. Bring in someone new who is not in Friend Computer and make sure that you are listed as their referrer. You will get 5% of their purchases as store credit for a month. If you are a member then you get rewards for a full year. You don't even have to come with them, just make sure that they give us your name when they come in.

This is just our little way of showing appreciation for all of your helping in growing the Worlds Apart Games community to what it is now.

-2010 EPIC WIN CAMPAIGN
The community has been wonderful to us in the two years that we have been in Amherst, and we would like to give a little bit back, so in 2010 we will be launching the Epic Win Campaign, a campaign of the using our gifts to help the community as it has helped us.

To start, Worlds Apart is setting up an account at kiva.org. Kiva is an organization that arranges microloans for people in developing nations to help them start small businesses. Often people only need a couple hundred dollars to change their lives and the lives of their entire community. The best part is that the money is usually repaid meaning that we can turn it around to use it to help others after. You can donate any amount, no matter how small or large at Worlds Apart. Furthermore, if you have a Kiva account of your own, you can add it to our network, so we can see the combined impact of the Worlds Apart Community.

-WARMER WINTERS CHARITY GAME-A-THON – January 23-24
Closer to home, Worlds Apart will be running a 24 hour Game-A-Thon to help Warmer Winters, an organization that produces warm, knitted items to help those in need to keep warm during cold New England winters. There will be games of one kind or another running continuously from noon on Saturday the 23rd to noon on Sunday the 24th. You are welcome to come for the whole event or just a few hours.

You can help support Warmer Winters in the three ways:
The first is that you can get sponsors for your efforts.

The second is that you can knit during the event. Don't know how to knit. Don't worry, we have a device to make hats which is so simple that even I can use it.

The third is that you can eat pizza. We have arranged with Papa Gino's upstairs to give a portion of the sales that we bring them to Warmer Winters, so anything that you buy up there as long as you tell them you are with us will help out as well.

It's 24 hours of gaming for a good cause. Sounds like an Epic Win to me.

-WORLDWAKE RELEASE
The new Magic: the Gathering set is on it's way. Our pre-release will be Sunday, the 31st of January starting at 1:00 PM. The release tournament will be Sunday, February 7th. Both events are sealed tournaments and are $25 for entry.

[Ishikawa Kuroe]

Para 1: There should be a comma after under us and before and a really fantastic, thus, "under us, and a really fantastic community"
Para 2: Kill ", making 2010 bigger and better than any before, and" leaving "...kick off the new year by giving back to the community..."
Para 3: "community, and in 2010... more and more great people into it"
Para 4: "in Friend Computer" should be "in our system" or "on our email list" for reduced public opacity.
Para 5: Which in its current form was translated from the original Latin, would perhaps be better as "all of your help in growing"
Para 6: The "little bit back" makes us sound miserly, rather than humble.  "Give back" might work better.  There's no "the" in "of the using our gifts"
Para 7: As I haven't met any "often people" I assume you mean "Often, people."  Also, probably "change their lives and the lives of everyone in their community" unless their community picked up 1ups and has extra lives.  There should be a comma in "usually repaid, meaning that we can turn"
Para 8: Final sentence might seem friendlier as "You're welcome to come..."  In fact, contractions in general might make it feel more conversational, if that's what you want.
Para 10ish: You should probably expand on what sponsoring means in this context.
Para 11: Are you saying that you, Michael, don't know how to knit or instructing the reader not to.  Or did you mean a question mark at the end of "Don't know how to knit?"?
Para 14: no apostrophe should exist in "on its way."  Also, Prerelease is one word in this context. Perhaps "both events are sealed tournament using 3 packs each of Zendikar and Worldwake" would be better.