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Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

Which aspects of Global Agenda do you want to know more about?

Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

Which aspect of Global Agenda are you most looking forward to?

Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

What can Global Agenda Mission Control do to better serve you?

Hello everyone!

Straylight and I are always actively working on the site, and I just thought I'd give everyone a small update on a few minor things we have adjusted...

• You can now embed YouTube videos in your posts! Simply type the video's hash between the [youtube] bbcode. There's a "YouTube" icon in your post editor that will automatically generate the bbcode for you.
• We've slightly modified user groups; all new accounts will be placed in a "New Member" category until they accumulate three posts, which then automatically moves them into the "Member" category. Any account in the "New Member" category will be unable to post images or links; the reasoning behind this is to counteract some of the nasty spam attacks we've had in the past. This should not burden new users too much.
• Some minor theme adjustments have been made to provide a more fluid browsing experience; the navigation bar now appears on the main site portal, some unchanged colors were tweaked to match their respective themes, and a few other minor button and color tweaks were made.
• You are now allowed to use custom avatars, as well as animated avatars. This was changed upon popular request, so we hope you guys enjoy that!

We're also working on much larger projects, such as our site features and The Federation of Agencies, as well as coordinating future projects and events. We'll let everyone know about any confirmed plans we do make. For the time being, we'll continue striving to provide you with the latest Global Agenda news, and delivering compelling and interesting content.

That's all for now folks!

Update: There was a minor issue not allowing some members to access the site, which has been remedied. Thank you Septumus for pointing it out! :)

Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

Would you participate in a fan site sponsored, in-game player versus player tournament?

Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

Does gold farming, paid-for power leveling, and/or real money trading bother you?

Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

How much of a role does an agency/clan/guild play in your enjoyment of a game?

What has the team been up to lately?

We've finally depleted our beta key supply, hurray! We're extremely grateful for all of our participants, and we do hope people continue to visit us.

We'll be shifting gears a bit, and start focusing more on our community involvement programs; agency interviews, The Federation of Agencies, weekly features, and community columns.

New Weekly Feature: Share Your Intel

Share Your Intel will be a regular Friday feature on Global Agenda Mission Control. This feature is geared towards eliciting opinions from the community on a variety of subjects; for the time being we will focus on community/social subjects, but we do expect the feature to branch into game subjects once we are able to discuss them.

Make sure you check out the first Share Your Intel topic! All subsequent Share Your Intel columns can be found through this topic tag.

Where does that leave Community Columns?

We've been very preoccupied with our contests and community projects lately, and I can definitely admit to the fact that I have strayed from what brought about our initial following. I can also say that I have hit a bit of a writer's block in terms of subject matter, but I will be working towards providing more of these in the future. This feature may be expanded upon in the future when the site grows, and we may introduce guest writers, or even regular content writers/staff members. This is entirely dependent on the direction of the site as time goes on.

In short, Share Your Intel will not make Community Columns obsolete; Share Your Intel will be basic one-liner questions, while Community Columns will be more investigative and detailed essays.

Site Appearance

The site is looking a bit nicer, right? Straylight has finished adding our two banner contest winners to the site, and he tweaked our light-themed skin a bit to give it a nicer overall appearance. We'll be doing some more minor tweaks and changes to the site over time to make it more user friendly, and a bit more slick and polished.

You can adjust your forum skin by going to the bottom of the site, and selecting the drop-down menu on the left. We actively maintain the light and dark themes currently, the vBulletin classic skin is not maintained to match the site.

Other Small Things

• Twitter! Feel free to follow Straylight and Cyxult on Twitter; we'll tweet about GAMC and other subjects.
• GAMC has a Steam Community Group, everyone is welcome to join.
• We're still offering agency interviews, feel free to send me a private message and we'll put things together. Agency interviews are, in my opinion, a great recruiting method, and a wonderful way to show people what your agency is all about. You can find our previous interviews here.
• The Federation of Agencies is, and will always be, accepting membership requests. This program is going to be working closely with Hi-Rez Studios, and we would encourage agencies to partake in the program, since it gives you a method of having your voice heard amongst the developers. You can find more detailed information about the program here.

That's it for now. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to post!

Share Your Intel is a weekly feature on Global Agenda Mission Control, where we ask you, the reader, questions related to Global Agenda and the community surrounding it. This week's question is...

What are some of your favorite fan site memories?

Global Agenda Mission Control would like to thank all the participants in our final beta key contest and announce the winners. We had a lot of creative and amazing submissions and judging was quite hard.

Abomination shocked Cyxult and I the most with his banner and was awarded first place. He won a $35 gift card for the Global Agenda Store and a pack of 15 beta keys. His banner is now featured on our dark theme.

Our runner-up, Harbin, was awarded a pack of 10 beta keys. But because judging was so competitive, you can now see Harbin's entry featured on our light theme.

Mission Control also awarded Archeid with 2 beta keys. Although his banner entry didn't promote as well as our winners, his design made us drool a bit with his fancy brush work.

We have uploaded all the entries that were submitted to a directory on our website. If you'd like to view them, please visit here.

I'd like to congratulate everyone for a job well-done, especially to our winners. I look forward to seeing some more faces in the Global Agenda beta. And as Mission Control moves into our small maintenance/remodeling in a week or two to correspond with Global Agenda's beta schedule, we will continue to provide one of the best places for news and updates while we expand our content and exclusives that we are certain you all will enjoy and make your Global Agenda experience more thrilling.

Remodeling Contest
---------

For Mission Control's last contest before Global Agenda Closed Beta begins, we are hosting a contest to go along with a maintenance/remodeling that will take place in a few weeks. The contest will consist of some knowledge and skill with an image editing software such as Photoshop or GIMP. Only two members will be awarded. Please read below for the details if you would like to participate.

The Rules
------
Mission Control needs a new banner, and we still have beta keys and merchandise to give away. We are running this contest to help promote a small maintenance/remodeling to take place in a few weeks as we try to give our members more news, more content, and new exciting exclusives.

• One entry per member.
• Please use the attached PSD file.
• Please do not alter the width or height.
• You must use our included logo, but you may alter it as long as it remains visible. But it needs to remain in the same format. You can alter the color, add effects, or distort it some, but it must remain in the same format.
• Try to keep the theme of the banner to our color scheme; doesn't have to be an exact match though.
• The Border layer should not be removed or altered.
• Please do not use copyrighted material and/or resources; anything from the Global Agenda Fan Site Kit will work.
• Please submit your entry in JPEG format. The winner will have to submit a PSD file when the contest ends.
• And finally, be original. We like creativity and originality.

The Prizes
------
As stated, only two members will receive prizes. This will consist of a winner and a runner-up.

• First Place
  Pack of 15 Beta Keys
  1 $35 Credit for the Global Agenda Store
  Your banner displayed on Mission Control

• Runner-Up
  Pack of 10 Beta Keys

The Files
------
Banner PSD
The font I used on the logo if you'd like to also use it, but it isn't mandatory.

The Deadline
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We will host this contest from July 7th through July 15th (EST). We will judge all banners submitted to this thread on Thursday July 16th.

You may either attach your entry to a post within this thread with the attach file option, link your image with the attach file option, or e-mail your entry to straylight at nightwisp dot com.

Thank you and good luck!


FAQ (edited as of July 8th)
------

• Q. Can I still enter the contest if I have previously won a beta key?
  A. We will allow you to enter because this contest is for a pack of keys, and we're hoping the winner will distribute the keys to friends or guild mates to further get more players interested in Global Agenda.
• Q. Can I change the logo as much as I want as long as I don't change the font and how it is laid out? As in I can change color etc.?
  A. Yes
• Q. Are we suppose to keep in mind that the banner should fit the current color scheme/background?
  A. To an extent, we aren't going to be super picky over it. If you want hex colors I've used, just send me a private message.
• Q. What color of background should it have, or do we leave it transparent?
  A. We are leaving this decision up to the designer.
• Q. Where and how can I submit my final PSD file?
  A. I just changed the rule, sorry. We will accept JPEG files for your entry. The winner will have to submit a PSD file when the contest ends.

I wanted to inform the community that Global Agenda Mission Control will be undergoing some maintenance and remodeling in a few weeks. We have quite a few changes Cyxult and I have discussed that should help continue to provide you all with great features, exclusives, and news on demand.

Along with this remodeling, I'll be hosting another contest for a chance to win a Global Agenda gift card that is good towards a purchase at the Global Agenda Official Store and possibly a few beta keys. I'll post more details later this week because I would really like to host this contest early July.

Stayed tuned.

For those of you who haven't heard through other individuals, I recently appeared on the Global Agenda Conglomerate podcast, which is sponsored by Cybernetic Punks. The interview is short and sweet, and covers some of Global Agenda Mission Control's history, as well as our newly formed project, The Federation of Agencies. Go on over to the podcast page and listen to Episode #6. The whole podcast is wonderfully done, so we hope you listen to the entire thing, and continue to visit them.

If listening to me isn't enough motivation for you, which it probably isn't, there's a super secret way to obtain a beta key if you keep your ears open. Best of luck to everyone, and enjoy!

Submissions for the contest detailed in the podcast are suspended.

Winners have been announced in Episode 7!

Straylight and I are extremely excited and proud to announce our newest community project here at Global Agenda Mission Control, "The Federation of Agencies". This project is aimed at providing each agency a means of expressing their concerns and ideas in relation to Global Agenda and Global Agenda Mission Control.

You can find the complete outline of the project here.

The Current Agenda:

Since the game is not released at this current moment, and the fact that some agencies are not current in the testing program, the federation's primary focus will be discussing how Hi-Rez Studios and Global Agenda Mission Control can better serve the community. This objective will shift as the non-disclosure agreement ends, and allow a more prevalent emphasis on Global Agenda.

We are extremely happy to be hosting this organization, and we do hope your agency signs up! Please make sure you check out the information thread for details.

What is "The Federation of Agencies"?

The Federation of Agencies, abbreviated to TFA, is an organization that has been established by Global Agenda Mission Control, and sponsored by Hi-Rez Studios, to give all agencies an equal voice within the community. Each agency that pledges to the organization will be allowed to appoint one representative from their agency to participate in The Federation of Agencies program, where they will be given access to a private forum where they can voice their agency members' concerns, suggestions, and ideas for Global Agenda and Global Agenda Mission Control.

What is the purpose of this organization?

The Federation of Agencies will play a pivotal role in consolidating opinions and thoughts from the community as a whole, and concentrating them into focused discussions that will ultimately benefit Global Agenda and the information provided to the community. Agency representatives will act as a line of communication for their agency members, and funnel their thoughts about the game into The Federation of Agencies forums, where Hi-Rez Studios developers can dissect specific debates and issues through discourse with individuals that can rightfully represent a large demographic. Agencies may also request new features, improvements, and offer suggestions to improve how Global Agenda Mission Control serves the community.

This representative form of democracy will allow Hi-Rez Studios developers to address the root of game issues without having valid opinions drowned out by the sheer density of replies that would otherwise be offered by every single individual, and it allows Global Agenda Mission Control administrators to better serve community members by finding out what people want without interrogating large numbers of users.

How does it work?

Basic Example of Idea Progression
Agency Member -> Agency Representative -> Federation -> Hi-Rez Studios or GAMC Admins
When an agency member has an idea or concern he or she wishes to have addressed, said agency member can discuss it with their agency representative. If the representative finds the matter pressing enough, they will present the issue to the federation forums, where other agency representatives can weigh in on the matter, and offer their agency's view on the discussion. If the discussion leads to a conclusion that requires addressing, either a Hi-Rez Studios employee or GAMC administrator will receive the contents of the discussion, depending on the subject at hand.

What benefits and rights do agencies and representatives have?

All agencies receive the following benefits and rights...

• Once an agency is admitted into the program, they may only be expelled for inactivity, widespread and proven abuse of the game, or a direct request from Hi-Rez Studios.
• Any pledged agency will have the ability to voice concerns about Global Agenda and Global Agenda Mission Control through their elected representative.
• An agency will be able to voice their opinions, which will help assist with the direction of the game and community as a whole.

All representatives hold the following rights...

• A representative may not be expelled for any reason other than the following; proven illegal third-party software use, excessive violations of Global Agenda or Global Agenda Mission Control community rules, a request from their parent agency, or a request from Hi-Rez Studios.
• Representatives have the opportunity to closely interact with community organizers and Hi-Rez Studios team members, where they can help shape the future of the game and community.

How do I sign my agency up?

You may send a private message to Cyxult to request entry, granted your agency meets the following requirements...

• Your agency must have at least ten active members in the Global Agenda Mission Control community, you may prove this by private messaging Cyxult a list of the forum account names, and specifying who you would like to be your representative.
• Your agency must have intent to actively participate in Global Agenda.
• Your agency must be willing to appoint a representative that can display patience, maturity, and civility when interacting with other agency representatives, Global Agenda Mission Control administrators, and Hi-Rez Studios employees.

It appears our host is having some serious hardware issues, and we may be periodically experiencing downtime throughout today and tomorrow. They have announced that they hope to have the issue resolved by Friday, June 5th.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

EDIT: This issue has been resolved. Topic is now closed.

If you missed your chance to win a beta key in our last contest, don't fret, we still have more keys to throw at everyone!

With E3 right around the corner, there is likely to be a lot of buzz about Global Agenda amidst the various gaming news websites, communities, and blogs. A healthy way to boost interest for the game would be to reinforce these articles relating to the game with some positive fan opinions. This is where you come in; go spread the word about the game, prove to us you did it, and we'll enter you into a drawing where you could win a beta key!

Contest Details:

• Find a website article about Global Agenda that was published on or after the first of June 2009. These articles may not be on the official Global Agenda website or a Global Agenda fan site.
• If the website allows comments on the article, leave a positive and informative response. To verify that you made the comment, add the letters "GAMC" at the end of your comment.
• Please post a link to your comment within this topic to qualify for entry. If your comment was on a non-English site, please translate your comment in your reply on this site. Any response made to an article prior to the twenty-first of June 2009 will be accepted.
• A single entry is all that is required to enter the drawing. Multiple comments are fine, but they do not increase your chances of winning.
• Winners will be announced the following weekend. The number of winners hinges on the amount of participation within the contest.
• Before entering, please read through our guidelines to be sure that you are eligible to participate!

We are hoping everyone enjoys participating, and remember, your comments and support will help promote the game!

MPOGD.com takes a look at Global Agenda and Hi-Rez Studios.
 


Hi-Rez Studios has been a stealthy Atlanta-based studio that has been flying under the radar for a few years, but it became much clearer what their payload was at GDC, with the public unveiling of Global Agenda. On the Hi-Rez Studios website you can see the company has noted they’ve retained developers who were behind The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, City of Heroes and Call of Duty, because you can absolutely see the influence from these gaming mainstays.

A futuristic science-fiction action massively multiplayer online game, or “spy-fi” as the developers term it, Global Agenda has a familiar but highly refined Unreal Engine 3-powered look and feel many gamers have come to expect in visual standards. The back story describes a futuristic 22nd century world replete with chrome, steel, and glass where players create and develop their spy character through role-play and combat. While Global Agenda offers persistency, guilds, grouping and community engagement on a scale typically associated with slower MMOGs, it helps to remember that fast-paced action definitely owns the driver’s seat with this game. In the greater scheme of the things, players will simultaneously face an overarching PvE scenario against a totalitarian regime and PvP scenarios against player-created spy agencies. So far so good, but it seems like something seen before on paper -- until you actually sit down and play Global Agenda.

Massively.com did a preview on Global Agenda, read below to see their thoughts on the game.  
Global Agenda is an upcoming 'spy-fi' shooter MMO that's garnering a fair amount of attention as it gets closer to release. It's the brainchild of Erez Goren, an entrepreneur who channeled his successes in the IT industry (including Point of Sale systems with game-like interfaces) into his own dream project, becoming its founder, CEO, and lead designer. Global Agenda will be the first game to be released by Hi-Rez Studios.

The title is a blend of sci-fi shooter and MMO where player actions can impact the game's world. Goren tells PC Gamer's Evan Lahti: "We were inspired by the fluid, action combat feel of [Tribes and TF2], but wanted even greater diversity of classes and devices and set our game within a persistent world of player-driven conflict where the results of combat matches really affects the world."
This element of world control could prove appealing for Global Agenda's agencies (guilds), which will gain key advantages in tandem with their territorial control. These agency PvP campaigns will play out over time, allowing gamers to see their progress visually and plan their strategies for control of the map.

"On a macro level, it looks like a board game -- each agency is allotted its own map of hexes that they develop by terraforming territory and building structures that earn resources or add defensive buffs once you're in combat," Lahti writes. "Week-to-week, other agencies target individual hexes to attack, which each represent a map instance for scheduling a match."

Goren clearly believes they're creating something significant -- he's invested 20 million of his own dollars into the game, according PC Gamer (republished at Games Radar). Goren also points out his gaming interests that influence Global Agenda; he's a long-time City of Heroes player who's also put over 100 hours of play time into *each* of Team Fortress 2's classes. Lahti writes how this background can be seen in Global Agenda's gameplay, "In one brief skirmish, we're seeing a kind of TF2 with lasers, even a second coming of PlanetSide on a smaller scale."

If you're interested in seeing more about this hybrid of a shooter and MMO, be sure to check out the Global Agenda site for images and video; they're also taking sign-ups for beta. Source: Massively.com

During GDC one of the leading MMO resource sites did an interview with Global Agenda's Executive Producer Todd Harris.

 

MMORPG.com: While at GDC we had the opportunity to talk to Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Global Agenda, where he gives us an introduction to the game, and talks about classes, conquerable territory, and more

 Source: MMORPG.com