Let me start off by saying, "I hate vampires." I really do. For starters they're undead. That's just an abomination, right? Secondly, they drink blood. Can you say gross? And, hey, they live in the dirt. Don't get me started. That is just way too unsanitary. When was the last time you saw a vampire change the lining in his or her coffin? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, "Probably never." Lastly, I'm just tired of the oversaturation of Vampire drama circulating through Film, TV and Novels. Well, excluding Buffy The Vampire Slayer, of course. That ranks up their in my top 100 TV shows of all time (I watch a lot of TV). Oh, and let me not forget True Blood. That show is pretty good too. But, everything else - hate it. I'm tired of the melodramatic-soppy story arcs that are designed as undead versions of Dawson's Creek. Sorry teeniboppers, but I'm looking at you Twilight. So when I heard about City of Eternals, a new vampire game being introduced on Facebook from Ohai, needless to say, I had my inhibitions. Thankfully, City of Eternals creates a world that is more about adventure and social interaction and less about soap opera drama.

City of Eternals is an MMO (massively-multiplayer online) game that pits you in the world of the undead as a newly risen vampire in New Valencia. This MMO is designed with some basic RPG elements to get you started. You are first asked to choose what kind of vampire you will become. There are five options to select from: rockstar vamp with an entourage of concubines (House Cosca), tradition loving vamp (House Gaiana), vampire race champion (House DuArc), master of space and time (House Zacone), and vampire rebel (White Crows). So even if you're an anti-vampire rebel like Angel or Vampire Bill, there is a house for you. After you select your vampire house, you will be sent on your first kill mission by a vampire named Theo.

Unlike the more popular Zynga games like Mafia Wars and Playfish, City of the Eternals is a fully interactive action-adventure. You'll actually engage in real-time fighting with a moving avatar rather than turn-based play. In that sense, this game is more like World of Warcraft. You can satisfy a fair amount of blood lust by simply playing through the game striking down zombies and undead dogs. However, the real enjoyment will come from traditional questing with peers.

Although this game plays out like an action RPG, it is not without its social elements. Ohai made sure to abstract out all the major necessities in social and casual gaming when they created the game. Gamers can announce achievements to Facebook friends as well as form vampire groups and recruit minions. Much like Mafia Wars, you will be able to give each minion a role in your entourage from bodyguard to accountant. More importantly you can embark on regularly updated story missions and ask friends to join you. Since the game is relatively new, I found myself reaching out to a very friendly community who was more than willing to help me slay a few killer gargoyles.

Currently, there are around 7,000 active users on City of Eternals during its beta release. When compared with the 25 million users of Mafia Wars or the 2 million users of Playfish, 7,000 may seem like a very small amount, especially when you want to interact with a large community. However, these users have already been fully immersed into the world of social commerce and gaming. No matter what hour of the day I played, there was always someone else online to interact with. As you play through, you'll notice your HUD light up with messages from gamers "across the world." These open conversations range from mission requests to sales auctions. The funniest conversation I saw was one gamer asking another about their marital status. I would say the comment was borderline stalkerish, if the person on the other end didn't first start discussing the reasons why they were so sad that day. You can actually waste hours simply reading through the world chat as if it were a live blog. The chat window is also the place to trade and sell abstract items in order to get a few extra rubies in your pocket. "Ohai" dollars can be spent on stronger upgrades. These fast track dollars will help gamers bypass the typical level grinding associated with RPGs.

There are still several bugs to be worked out with the City of Eternals beta. It was frustrating how many times I would lose my connection in the game and have to restart a mission. In something like Mafia Wars that isn't a problem because it's a point and click experience. In City of Eternals, there will be times when the enemies on the screen stop moving while you continue to move. You may believe that nothing is wrong, but once you find the item you were questing for and can't pick it up you will be forced to restart. The good thing is that all of your level grinding will be saved. So it should be easier to fight the enemies the second time around. Also, the HUD can get very crowded at times, primarily when you're fighting. There is no easy way to quickly clear out unnecessary interferences to the playing area. Hopefully, this will be resolved before the game comes out of beta.

I'll be looking to see more of what City of Eternals has to offer as it moves into a full release. For now, suffice it to say that the vampire craze has snagged this anti-vamp activist - at least in the world of social gaming.