Written by Awportals.com

An expected announcement, this continues a trend set in the past few years where all citizen accounts are renewed -- along with citizen discount pricing for the month of December. World renewals been added to the roster this year, opening to potential for users new and old to visit sites that have long expired.

AWI's official announcement reads below...

[quote=Tom]Good times in Activeworlds for the Holidays.

In an effort to show off their new features and build community spirit for the Holidays, the Activeworlds Virtual World Universe has renewed all expired Citizenships and Worlds till January 4th 2011.

This means that if you've ever had an Activeworlds account, new or old, that you can now access the environment for free as a Citizen, and not just a tourist. It also means that every single world from the last 15 years has been renewed.

In addition to this fantastic news both AWI and our Community Leaders are planning many fun events for the holidays including several building contests and even the 4th. Extreme Builder Talent Show.

So grab your friends and come back to Activeworlds for a trip down memory lane. You will be shocked to see all the new features like Physics, Customizable Avatars, Particle Effects and much, much more.

Don't miss the fun, It is free after all."[/quote]

What's new

Returning users will find that a lot has changed in the universe! New building features such as particle emitters, zones, scale, and skew are popular among builders. Physics was introduced several months ago, and the full potential of physics in builds has yet to be discovered!

You can keep track of changes by visiting the New Features page of the ActiveWiki, where programmer Chrispeg keeps everyone up to speed. Speaking of Chrispeg, he has resumed monthly Tech Talks and is a very active participant of the Active Worlds Forums, where community members can suggest improvements to the browser!

If you're looking to download the browser again... well, that part probably hasn't changed actually! Active World's main page looks as it has for years and downloading the browser is a simple matter of clicking the 'launch' button on the left toolbar.

Once you get into the universe, there are plenty of great worlds to visit and events to participate in. Just press F9 to open your tabs menu and visit the worlds list! Starting December 27, the fourth Extreme Builders Talent Show -- an exciting competition between the universe's creative talent -- will begin. Bingo is played regularly, every Wednesday and Saturday. There's plenty to do!

Welcome back, and we hope you enjoy your stay!

Resources for Returning User

[wcimg=AWGate World is now host to a number of kiosks -- pictured above -- that provide helpful information to visitors!]http://awportals-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/articles/2010_Q1/20100313_awgate.jpg[/wcimg]
* If you're returning, please read our article for those returning to the universe! It provides a number of helpful links and resources to help you get back into gear!
* Let us know you're back by replying to this thread on the Active Worlds forums! Read through the threat and network again with old friends!
* Looking for something to do? Visit our AWPortals Events Calendar to view all of the month's events!
* As you may have guessed by now, Tom (Flagg) has returned as the AWI community liaison and can provide company assistance for returning users. You may e-mail him at tom at activeworlds dot com.