There are very few serious gamers out there who have not heard of Stratics!  But what some may not know is that Stratics was born from a desire to give Ultima Online players a central hub to gather around so they could share information and their passion for all things UO. Over 15 years later, Shroud of the Avatar is happy to have the chance to forge a strong relationship with Stratics early in our development, and look forward to the road ahead.

I had a chance to chat with BenK, Associate Editor for Stratics: Shroud of the Avatar recently, and here is what he had to say about Stratics, past and present.

“Stratics is a fifteen-year-old network of gaming websites united by a vibrant community of players, developers, and staff members. Founded in 1997, Stratics is the oldest, continually-operating MMO fansite on the Internet.  Since then, we have endeavored “to serve the player and assist the developer in constructing tomorrow’s fantasy, while facilitating the optimal gaming environment today.”  To this end, Stratics has partnered with major game publishers throughout the years; most recently Portalarium. Further, we are committed to providing news, guides, community advancement, and other valuable services for the titles and communities that we represent.

Stratics’ Publishing Division publishes fansite news, strategy guides, and statistics for several great MMOs, including Shroud of the Avatar (SotA). The publishing division is currently being renovated, beginning with a complete re-imagining and redesign of Stratics.com and its subsidiary portals (stay tuned—it will be beautiful!). This division has also welcomed new senior leadership in recent days, including Kirthag, Stratics’ new Editor-in-Chief, and BenK (aka Caramon), who recently assumed leadership of SotA-related publishing as the Associate Editor for SotA.

Stratics has a lot of exciting changes ahead, but everything that it does is motivated by a singular objective: to create opportunities for players and developers to share their passionate love for gaming. This has been our mission since our launch in 1997 and it remains our mission as we prepare to celebrate our sixteenth anniversary.”

This Saturday, Rustic Dragon of The Hearth of Britannia will be holding a 24-hour telethon to raise awareness and funds for his favorite up and coming game, Shroud of the Avatar!  If you haven’t heard about it yet, watch this short video and find out more!

There will be loads of special guests (including Lord British himself) tons of fun activities, and all sorts of prizes.  We here at Portalarium were so excited by all the festivities that we even decided to offer participants a special in game item in honor of the event; a specially designed Hearth of Britannia house decoration available to anyone who pledges $25 or more during the Telethon.  We’ll even add your $25 pledge to your current SotA pledge if you already have one!  Just visit our Add On Store during the event and select the  “Hearth of Britannia Telethon Pledge & Mystery Decoration” option at the bottom of the page!

Be sure to check out The Hearth of Britannia’s schedule of events and get ready for a 24 hours of merriment with your host, Rustic Dragon!