Hogwarts Live Blog

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS. VOTING WILL OPEN SOON.


In honor of March Madness here on HL we are putting our own twist on it.

March Meme Madness

If you choose to participate, you need to make a meme about HL. The top 8 entries (selected by staff) will be placed in brackets, two memes going head to head for your votes. There will be three rounds, the first round there were be 4 face-offs, the 4 winners will then move onto round 3 which will work the same as the first round, but with 2 face -offs. The Winners of round 3 will go head to head in the final around.

Submissions should be sent to OR . (Please do not submit them to both of us.)

Guidelines:
1.) It must be appropriate! Not appropriate entries will not make it to the poll.
2.) It must be original, do not copy ones already done.
3.) It needs to be based off Hogwarts Live, NOT Harry Potter.
4.) MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE YOUR HL NAME IN YOUR EMAIL. Make sure the subject of the email is "Meme".
5.) There is a maximum of 3 entries per person, but only ONE of your entries is eligible for one for the 8 spots available.


What is a Meme? Memes, or more specifically internet memes, refer to any concept that spreads across the Internet.
Here is one made by HL Staff member Calypso:



Memes are easy to make, first you will need a picture, there are generators such as http://memegenerator.net/ www.quickmeme.com and many others. (Making your own original picture is encouraged.)

If you are making a meme for the first time, you can find images on memegenerator by clicking on generate an image, you may select one of those meme characters and there is also a bar above with different tiers based on popularity. Once you get more comfortable, you can click on create a new character and be able to google an image, upload an image or enter an image url to use and you are able to better editing tools.
When you generate an image there is going to be a box with the picture and underneath will be two text boxes, one for top text and one for bottom text. Write your text here, select a language and click on generate to create your image, if it didn't come out the way you wanted, you can re-enter the text. Make sure to save the image once you are done. You don't have to use a memegenerator, simply using photoshop or paint works too, just have fun and make it humorous and entertaining.


Submissions will be accepted for the next week.

There's been some buzz about this video on HL so I decided to post it as well as offer some advice.

I'd recommend signing the pledge to condemn these atrocities--public outcry has helped get the US Government involved in human rights violations before and it'll work again. On the other hand I wouldn't recommend giving Invisible Children any money.

If you want to help out in Africa please donate to UNICEF. With UNICEF over 90% of your donation actually goes to help those in need. Other charities aren't nearly as careful or effective with the funds they raise.

I would also suggest writing your representatives concerning this matter.



If you're concerned about the controversy this video and the organization behind it has stirred up read this New York Times editorial: Viral Video, Vicious Warlord

For another view read: Kony 2012: Causing More Harm Than Good

As an extra special Valentine's Day treat I added the ability to donate on behalf of someone else. So show that special someone how much you truly care this Valentine's Day and get them a shiny Amulet of Ru, or a sparkly Chronos Gem, the specialty they've always wanted, or if you really love this person get them something much better than even a Gucci handbag: a custom title.

To donate on behalf of your friends and loved ones click on their name in chat and then click on the PayPal Contribute button that appears on their bio page.

Also, thanks to WitchyWoman and SpinalRemains you can now buy your sweetheart a sweet gift from the Valentine's Gift Shoppe. They'll be able to open these gifts in the Lovers Lounge, which is accessible via everyone's respective Common Rooms.

This is Headmaster Danilo wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day!

A few months ago we posted about Hurricane Irene and the damage it did across the east coast, and how it personally affected a long time player Tom. Another place that was majorly affected by this flood was Schoharie High School, where he graduated from.

Samsung is holding a contest and is donating $1,000,000 worth of technology to the winning school. This will help in the long run to help some of the business, math, and science classes pay for new equipment. School cuts have already reached an all time low and another handful of teachers are being cut including some of the business and science teachers.
Because of the flood, the budget was affected even more because students have to move out of the district and find a new home. All school taxes from that family will be lost and the school will lose money.
All you have to do is click on the link, register really quick, and scroll down to Schoharie Central School, and vote for it.

https://pages.samsung.com/us/sft/video/index.jsp

Thank you to anyone who chooses to vote. :)

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.


https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/


You may notice a lot of players have filtered names, this is in protest of PIPA and SOPA.

If your name has been changed owl me, SpinalRemains, to get it changed back NOT WitchyWoman.

CONGRATS TO TEAM HUFFLEPUFF FOR DOMINATING THE HOUSE TREE CONtEST AND WINNING EVERY WEEK AND NOW THE GRAND PRIZE!!!! THEY WILL ENJOY THE HOUSE BUFF FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JANUARY!!!!

Since it's once again getting to be that time of year, we have started our annual House Christmas Tree Contest!

All Houses have been given a small Christmas Tree in their Common Room which you can help decorate by spending gems, gold, and turns. In return, you will receive a small Holiday Buff.

In the past, the House with the Best Tree on December 31 has been awarded the House Cup for the entire month of January. This is still the Grand Prize, but this year, we are also adding in a weekly prize- the House Cup/Buff for the following week. So instead of going by House Points, the Cup will be determined by Tree Points until Christmas. This weekly contest will be awarded Saturdays at 8 pm, Eastern time (so about this time every week).

The costumes in the Haunter's Lodge are also being switched out for Holiday ones as I'm writing this, and we will be adding some more holiday modules over the next couple days.

Enjoy and good luck!

REMINDER FOR EVERYONE TO GO TO YOUR COMMON ROOM AND SIGN UP FOR YOUR HOUSE MAILING LIST, IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE IT ALREADY. HEADS OF HOUSES USE THIS SYSTEM TO SEND IMPORTANT MESSAGES TO THEIR HOUSE MEMBERS. THANKS!

We have decided to add a little extra to the mix this holiday season and have an Advent calendar of sorts.

Every evening from now until Christmas, we will be choosing, at random, one player to receive 50 gems as we count down the days until the THE BIG DAY.

At 8:30pm Eastern, we will see how many players are online at that time and then use that information to pick a completely random number on random.org. Then we will count down from the top of the list and award the 50 gems to whomever is in that slot.

So, in order to be eligible for each day's drawing, you HAVE TO BE ONLINE AT 8:30PM EASTERN.



MAESTRO BUGSY! (Dec. 1)
BAH HUMBUG HAJI! (Dec. 2)
VALKYRIE VAMPIRESSBABY! (Dec. 3)
GINGERBREAD ARDAREL! (Dec. 4)
BARBARIAN XERAN! (Dec. 5)
GIFT WRAPPED PURPLEANGEL! (Dec. 6)
MAESTRO NOVASKY! (Dec. 7)
MISTLEOTIE ZEUS! (Dec. 8)
FIRSTYEARBOY REDUCTO! (Dec. 9)
SIXTHYEARBOY JULIAPOTTER! (Dec. 10)
MISTLTOE SHERRYSNAPE (Dec. 12)
SUPREME GOD THEQUiBBLERJACK! (Dec. 12)
GLADIATRIX SIDGALAXY! (Dec. 13)
FOURTHYEAR LONGBOW!!! (Dec. 14)
FIRSTYEARBOY DOMINICGLINKA!!!! (Dec. 15)
FIRSTYEARBOY JACKALOFBANE! (Dec. 16)
SEVENTHYEARGIRL JENIRE!!! (Dec. 17)
ULTIMATE GODDESS CBGKITTEN!!! (Dec. 18)
SUPREME ELF GNOME SOULRISER!!! (Dec. 19)
PROFESSOR SILVERROSE!!! (Dec. 20)
SECONDYEARBOY JAKEWRUBEL!!! (Dec. 21)
ICICLE CHELSEABLACK!!! (Dec. 22)
AMAZON AMYPOND!!! (Dec. 23)
OOGIE BOOGIE AMBERWOOD!!! (Dec. 24)
THIRDYEARBOY BLAIKEROYDE!!! (Dec. 25)
UNDERGOD TRENTRADKE!!! (Dec.26)
DEMIGODDESS HALLYPOTTER!!! (Dec. 27)
ITSAWONDERFUL MARLEE!! (Dec. 28)
FOURTHYEARGIRL ETTIEMINTY!!! (Dec. 29)
GODDESS SCARLETTGINGER!!! (Dec. 30)

Congratulations! Your gems have already been awarded to you!

December 31:
The winner is...
PRIESTESS NAVYGIRL!!!
(#33 out of 79)

Congrats, NavyGirl!

The Hogwarts Live staff and I worked very hard to release a new version of HL right before Christmas as it is a special time in the Harry Potter books.

There are some new additions such as the ability to ignore users in chat; and then there are some old features that have been fixed and returned to the game such as the marriage system.

Also please remember to thank each and every one of the staff for their hard work testing the new codebase. They made sure everything was working so you all could continue to enjoy an uninterrupted gaming experience.

If you or anyone else discovers a bug or exploit please report it right away via the Petition for Help link on the top right hand side of the page. The first person to report a vulnerability and not abuse it thereafter or multiple times prior shall receive a reward in the form of donator points.

Wishing you all some very happy holidays!

-Headmaster Danilo


A note on the Ignore Chat Users function...

It's pretty self-explanatory on how to ignore/unignore people (once you click the link on the left) so I'm not going to explain that part. But there have been a lot of questions on how it works, so here's an explanation for that:

When you Ignore a person, you can no longer see any of their posts, but they can still see yours.

No, they do not get notified of it. Yes, you can unignore them.

It does not affect the Owl Post so they can still send you owls. If you want to ignore them there too, then use the Ignore feature in there. Directions are in the FAQ if you do not know how.

If you are ignoring a user in chat, then please actually ignore them. Don't sit there and talk about them or refer to them or otherwise try to instigate anything or cause drama.

Staff cannot ignore anyone, and no one can ignore staff. No matter how much you (or us ;) ) may want to.

~Witchy

Hi All,

I've decided to close the Facebook Hogwarts Live RPG Group on Monday, December 19, 2011.

Instead, from now on please like and use our Facebook Page at:
http://facebook.com/HogwartsLive

It's rather confusing to have both a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group. I figured it was best to consolidate all our fans in one place.

For most pertinent updates please always check this blog (http://hogwartslive.com/blog).

And be sure to follow us on Twitter (@HogwartsLive) as well.

--Headmaster

You voted and the winner is Sectumsempra! Her submission was Choice 1 - Twelve Trollers. She has won 25 new days!

Runners-up

Second: Carlylotti(Choice 3 - Twelve Raunchy Ads)
Third: Roku(Choice 4 - Twelve Free Portkeys)
Fourth: ZackBryant(Choice 2 - Twelve Loving Posts)


Thank you to everyone who participated! The three runners-up can owl WitchyWoman, BlackZephyr, or myself for smaller prizes. You can choose between gems(100), gold(50,000) or new days(5).

Anyone who submitted an entry(that didn't make the final 4) will get 25 gems added to their account.