I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the first installment of a new monthly column to be known as State of the Empire. Initially, these articles will contain both facts and general observations about a specific topic regarding the things that are done right and wrong with today's Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game world through my eyes. In the future, they will contain a brief monthly commentary about the current state of the in-game Dragon Empires economy, clan control, and the empire in general. This will begin once DE enters a stable beta state.