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Nerd Report: Empire & State Infuse Economics and Politics In New Game
A Redmond-based gaming startup crafts a new game that's both entertaining and instructive for those
This article originally appeared in the January 2011 issue of Seattle magazine.
The next time you’re bored at work, resist the urge to flip through your ex’s Facebook photos and engage in a productive distraction instead. Empire & State is a new MMO game (that is, “massively multiplayer online,” meaning opponents are playing from their own computers) from Redmond-based gaming startup Novel Inc. While most MMOs take place in the fantasy realm, Empire & State designers focused instead on the realm of economics and politics, crafting a game that’s entertaining but also could be instructive for those climbing the corporate ladder. Set in a developing world, Empire & State (free and due out in beta in the coming months) allows players to claim property, conduct business transactions and organize labor through strategic trading and trickery in economic, political, militaristic or espionage roles. Created with the working professional in mind, the game can be played in short intervals as opposed to the hours-long sessions associated with traditional MMOs—a feature Novel hopes will draw more casual gamers. Who knows? The tactical skills you hone might just get you out of the daily grind and into your dream job.
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5 Tips for Finding a Best-Fit College
A national leader in college counseling shares search advice
With nearly 3,000 four-year colleges and universities in the United States, how do you find the ones that suit your child academically, socially, culturally, and financially? In the College Counseling Office at UPrep, a 6–12 private school in Northeast Seattle, we remind students that finding the best-fit college is a match to be made, not…
After Ballet, Lucien Postlewaite’s Next Act
After nearly two decades at Pacific Northwest Ballet, principal dancer Lucien Postlewaite is retiring from the company and stepping into a new, offstage career.
In ballet, extension is everything. The ability to lift and hold the limbs in the air is the basis for much of a dancer’s movement and artistic expression. No one knows this as well as Lucien Postlewaite, who, at 42, has been dancing for almost his entire life. A principal at Pacific Northwest Ballet—and the…
How Hosting Is Changing in 2026
Seattle event planner Reneille Velez on the end of champagne escort walls and the return of thoughtful hosting.
Reneille Velez spends her days thinking about how people arrive in a room. Not just where they hang their coats or grab a drink, but how those first moments feel—the lighting, the sound, the sense that someone thought carefully about what it would be like to walk through the door. As the founder of GIAN,…
Seattle Gift Guide: Comfort, Style, and Everyday Essentials
Open them today, enjoy for months—and years—to come.
A few gift ideas for the season, mixing local favorites with smart, useful finds. Easy pieces to wear, sweet things to share, and a couple of upgrades for the home. Nothing fussy, just solid picks that make life a little nicer. Now the birds have a smart home too. The chic, camera-integrated Peep…