Many congratulations go out today to both Wizard 101 and Ether Saga Online, as the two online games have both claimed themselves a National Parenting Publication Award (NAPPA) from Parenthood.com.

What does this mean exactly? Well it means that parents can rest easy knowing that these two games are fun, informative, and free of questionable content. If your kid plays either of these two games, you don't have to look over their shoulder to police what they're doing. The game takes steps to keep your kids safe and to make sure they'll have a good time too!

Other recipients that weren't from the online MMO category included EA's Spore, and Guitar Hero On Tour, so it certainly speaks to the quality of these two titles for kids when they're put in that sort of company.

As we mentioned on Friday, Jade Dynasty is getting a brand new expansion and we the inside scoop for you. This Thursday is the release of the free update, but you don't have to wait that long to find out the story on the game's new Ascension system, brand new race, and new pet features.

We sat down with Jade Dynasty's American product manager, Andrew Brown, and talked with him about the update. Not only did we find out exactly what's in the expansion, but we also got a glimpse into how the game is made and how much control American audiences have over the features in a Chinese MMO.

Have you ever wanted to smacktard grief everybody in sight until you died from everyone ganging up on you? Have you ever wanted to completely ignore quests in favor of destroying everybody else? Well, if you have, then we just might have the server for you!

Jade Dynasty is turning on their PvP only server, "The Wildlands." On this server, all of the PvE only zones have been transformed into PvP zones, meaning that you're a target the second your character hits level 30. Using your Esper's botting function on this server is much more dangerous now, as going on auto-pilot means that you'll be defenseless to anyone who crosses your path.

Still, for those who prefer a much more hostile environment in their games, The Wildlands server looks to be exactly what you're looking for. Now, join battle and destroy!

We've seen some interesting forms of transportation before, but this is one of the very few times we've seen someone surfing around on a giant flying, flaming sword. Today's image comes to us from Zekaonar of the Climax Alliance in Jade Dynasty, who found this image while traveling. He writes in: This is my character riding a skyblade in front of a massive statue called the Bonewall. Wildlands is a desert zone, and desert zones are typically boring, but whoever designed this zone half-buried titanic statues all over, sometimes grasping out as if they were struggling to get out of the sand.

If you're flying something off the beaten path, we'd love to see how you're getting around. Just email your screenshots to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the nod.

So I learned a few things since last week. One, writing an opinion column on how much I like Final Fantasy XIV can push people into a frothing internet rage, and two, people apparently forgot that I write an opinion column.

Therefore, because my column may induce emotional states similar to some drugs, I've been asked by the FDA to include a legible warning prior to each of my column topics.

The FDA would like me to tell you that reading Anti-Aliased can, in rare cases, cause extreme emotional upset, eye strain, monitor punching syndrome, a feeling of discomfort around Mithra, itchyness, nausea, resurrection sickness, paralysis of the eyelids, and carpal tunnel syndrome. You should stop reading Anti-Aliased and consult with a World of Warcraft priest should you develop any one of these symptoms while reading.

With that legalese out of the way, let's talk about Jade Dynasty -- dubbed by the illustrious James Egan as AFK Dynasty as it's the one MMO where you pay microtransactions to not play it. Yes, you heard me, it's more beneficial to not play Jade Dynasty than it is to play Jade Dynasty. EVE players, there is finally a game that puts your skill training system to shame.

So that's why it's called AFK Dynasty...

When I finally found a new area to level in as my awesome level 30 self, I actually found that the quests had surprisingly become more tedious. Now it was kill 30 of a monster, or collect 10 to 15 of an item that would only drop once every 7 monsters. This is when I began to make crazy use of the invigorate feature, where I'd press the "kill stuff" button and my character would go off killing whatever she pleased.

Was I worried about dying? Pfft, no! Using my wonderous cash shop gold I got a health and mana battery! These two items carried 700,000 HP and 700,000 SP inside of them, and would use enough of their charges to bring my character back up to full HP and SP when I dropped below 10% in a category. I had absolutely nothing to fear now all because my character was basically on a potion IV drip. Everything in my path was easily slaughtered, and I didn't have to be present for any of it.

It scared me.

Is this what an MMO is?

Other games try to hide it with cutscenes, story, diversions, and other tactics. Jade Dynasty is the full, unabashed version of what a MMO is -- grindy grindy grind. But when the game becomes so advanced that it can play itself, then I need to ask an important question What the heck is the point?

"Jade Dynasty is the full, unabashed version of what a MMO is -- grindy grindy grind."

A better designer than I once said, "Making video games for a living comes down to one cold, hard truth -- you're making pushing buttons fun. Your job is making an extremely mundane task into an experience with impact." The fact that a game like Jade Dynasty exists is a scary proposition for our industry as a whole. It means we're walking the path of making timesinks, not games. It's like one of those old addages -- "How can we have fun playing a game when we're not playing the game?"

I sound like a broken record, but this is a very strong reason why I preach about the necessity of storyline and impact in a game. While gameplay is very, very important, any repetitive activity will become boring unless it is spiced up with enough change to keep it engaging. We use to have a strong grasp of making worlds with engaging content. That grasp, however, has diminished since the dawn of the EverQuest and the rise of "kill X to level" quests.

How do I know that we've lost our path regarding storyline? Well because Bioware is touting storyline as a new feature in The Old Republic. When we've gotten to the point that storyline is a "on-the-box" feature for a game, then we've done something horribly wrong in our designing.

Our original designs focused on the adventure in the world, not the quick grind sessions to max level and the repetition of raids. I wish we could re-find those designs.

My final note to you all for this week: if you want to play a game of numbers without playing the game, I have a recommendation for you. It's a "game" that runs on anyone's computer thanks to low graphical requirements and provides all of the same action and features that Jade Dynasty provides. It's called Progress Quest, it's equivolent to Jade Dynasty, and it's 100% free. Try it, you'll love it.

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Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who is totally level 45 in Jade Dynasty by only playing it for an hour. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.

If you need a game that's sugary and saccharin-y cute to the point of inducing cavities via the internet, then look no further than Ether Saga Online, the latest game from the people who brought you Perfect World International.

Ether Saga has just entered their open public beta, meaning you can mosey on over to the website and sign up to try the game. Like Perfect World, Ether Saga will be a free to play game, supported by the usual cash transactions from an item shop.

The game does have some interesting features, including the ability to level up your character's affinity to the various elements in the game, adding a new dimension to each class beyond how the class normally functions. Past that, skills can be learned on the fly in the field without the need to visit a trainer, and characters get skills relating to their "birthday," the day of the week that they were born.

For all the information about Ether Saga Online, check out their website at http://eso.perfectworld.com.