GameArena
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GameArena is the name of Telstra's free online games service, previously known as Wireplay. The service is managed by Mammoth Media and based on the east coast of Australia. Use of the file library, public servers and booking service is freely available to anyone, but provides specific advantages to Telstra customers such as preference in downloads and unmetered usage, as well as various bonuses in competitions. In order to gain access to a majority of game servers, the client The Arena (formerly known as COGS), must be installed to connect through the firewall. This means that the Administrators and GameOp's can ensure troublemakers are consistently dealt with.
The site provides news, downloads and servers primarily for the PC, though it has recently also branched out to include console sites for Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2. Nintendo has its own sub-forum, but it is assumed that due to its lack of serious online support with the GameCube that a similar online section would be redundant. However due to the current online support of the Nintendo DS and future online gaming with the Nintendo Wii much changes are to be expected for the GameArena forum setup. GameArena also provides an online game shop called GameNow, which again sports various benefits to Telstra Bigpond customers. GameArena is currently going through a new shift with the merging of GameNow and Gameshop which will see a whole new interface style. The new name given will be Bigpond GameArena. These changes will offer many benifits for GameArena users as stated "The best in game news", "Australia's largest and most vibrant games community" and "Terrific competitions, prizes and online ladder competitions". Changes are expected in the coming weeks.
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[edit] Servers
GameArena currently operates over 100 gaming servers, which are administrated by a volunteer force of GameOps. GameCreate is a service offered free of charge where users may book a server for a specific game for a 2 hour period of time. This server is private and can be used for either ladder training or social events.
[edit] Ladders
GameArena is also Australias largest online electronic sports league, with competitive ladders offered for the most popular of Online Games; including Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142 and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.
These ladders are organised and administrated by the GameArena GameOps and Ladder Referees, who ensure a fair but competitive environment is maintained at all times.
[edit] Forums
GameArena also runs an extensive library of forums, which include gaming forums, general forums and clan forums.
The General messageboard is the most used forum on GameArena, it is home to general chat about games and other non-specific topics. There are many different characters who inhabit these forums, though some are bent up to no good creating pointless and useless threads. SLOW(secret language of women) and its reincarnations are a popular haven for Telstra employees to converse due to the site not being blocked by their corporate firewall. The thread titles for SLOW can vary and are usually somewhat sad, though they are more often than not a bad pun. However it is expected that the SLOW titles be written in such a way. While The general forums can be light hearted at times, there are moments where forums transform into a religious arguing fest where users express their oppinions about the latest political news which do not have any relation to games at all. Recently GameArena has had users complaining about the forum becoming lonely, quoted by Deius "If the GA forums were a town, it would have tumbleweeds".
GameArena however also has a range of colourful users ranging from car lovers, war game freaks, Dr Wars/peace, members from Australian Gamer, Dev artists and even fluffy animals including penguins who hang about in the signature competition forums known as Sig comp or now GDT(graphics design thread). Many GameArena users also have a range of signatures which help bring life to the forums while some linger to increase their post count which is constantly debated to be removed. Recent arguments surfaced as large post counts only encourage spam and useless posts. At the moment is it very unlikely that it will be removed.
