Plaza

The **Plaza** in *RWBY: Amity Arena* is a social hub where players can interact with other players. It is open for two hours before closing for three hours.

## Overview

In the Plaza, players can interact with other players by choosing a unit that they own to walk around the Beacon Academy courtyard with. Players can interact with other players by emoting, battling, and adding each other as friends. Players can also view their Kingdom's leaderboard.

Near the common area are buildings which take you to various game areas, such as the Card Shop, the Cookie Shop, and academies. Each building, save for the academy, features Shopkeep standing in front of them, a reference to a joke from both *RWBY* and *RWBY Chibi* about Shopkeep operating every business in Vale. Also located here is a house, added in the After the Fall Update, which were able to be entered after the Anniversary Update.

The common area features a piano that can be played by having characters walk across the keys. Behind the scoreboard is an area that allows a player to change the time of day in the Plaza. An Airship can be accessed that flies players around the map. Encountering Hammer Nora allows her to send you to a dance party designed after Junior's Club, where "Red Like Roses" plays.

Since the models of the various characters are not able to be walked through, a common activity for players is to create a tower by having players jump on top of one another. Common ideas for towers include using unconventional units, such as the White Fang Watchtower, or creating towers of only one unit, such as towers of only Zwei.

### Hidden Areas

Several portals around the map were added in the Anniversary Update. Entering them causes the player to be teleported to various hidden areas. Each portal is tied to a specific area, meaning that one portal will only take you to one area. Approaching a portal will cause two giant Apathy to spawn, which will chase the player until they enter the portal, but can also follow the player into the main area of the Plaza.

The areas are, as follows:

* An area where multiple versions of Zwei spawn.
* An area where multiple Baby Death Stalkers spawn. Unlike Zwei, the Baby Death Stalkers can be stomped on and killed.

## History

The beta of the Plaza was added in the February Update. However, since it was so buggy, it was opened for all players to try out for one weekend before being quietly removed.

After a four-month break, the Plaza was added back to the game in the After the Fall Update.

In the September Surge Update, the Plaza's open time was increased from one hour to two hours, although it was still closed for three hours.

Various new features were added in the Anniversary Update, including a playable piano, day and night cycles, an Airship that flies players around the map, a new area that features a dance party designed after Junior's Club, a house that the player can enter, and several hidden areas accessible through portals.

On October 31, 2019, to celebrate Halloween and Ruby Rose's birthday, the Plaza remained open for 24 hours while Ruby gave out a gift of  500,  300, and  300. Tapping on Ruby once caused her to ask, *"Why am I giving out presents on MY birthday?"* before the player received their gift. Tapping her after claiming the gift caused her to say, *"It's one gift per person!"* When the server clock, which runs on UTC, reached midnight on November 1, Ruby disappeared from the Plaza.

During the wInterim Update, the Plaza remained open for two consecutive weeks. On Christmas Eve, Ruby returned to the Plaza to give players another gift, this time telling players, *"Merry Non-Descript Winter Holiday!"*. On New Year's Eve, 2019, a special animation counted down from 11:59 P.M. to midnight on January 1, 2020, before wishing players a happy new year.

During the Missing Pieces Update, the global chat log in the Plaza was removed due to reports of increasing inappropriate behavior in the Plaza.

During the Amiversary 2 Update, a chat block function was added, the giant Zwei was replaced with a tree littered with screenshots from *RWBY*, and to prepare for the second anniversary missions, the Plaza was opened for the entirety of the update. On October 30, 2020, Ruby returned to the Plaza to celebrate Halloween and her birthday, and gave players another gift of  500,  300, and  300, saying the same quotes as the previous year.

On December 24, 2020, Ruby once again returned to the Plaza, giving players a gift of  2,000,  1,000, and  1,000. However, there was a problem in that players who claimed their gift in 2019 could not claim the 2020 gift. However, once the server clock hit December 25, players who had collected the 2019 gift were able to collect the 2020 gift.

## Gallery

Teaser for the PlazaTeaser celebrating Ruby Rose's birthday
## Trivia

* The Plaza was the developers' way of testing the controls for the Battle of Beacon mode.
* On July 18, 2019, the official *Amity Arena* Twitter account stated that the developers were planning to add a jukebox feature to the Plaza, which would allow players to change the in-game music, but it was postponed due to other development priorities coming up.
* The unique nature of the Plaza allows for numerous units to do things they would not normally be able to do, or have hidden Easter eggs:
	+ Despite being unable to walk, structures can be chosen to walk and jump around the Plaza with.
	+ If Neptune tries to swim in the water, he will teleport back onto land and say, *"Yeah, I can guard this... sector."* This is a reference to Neptune's fear of water. However, it *is* possible to get Neptune to swim in the water.
	+ Units that can fly, such as the Queen Lancer, have an unlimited amount of jumps and are able to reach the ceiling of the Plaza.
	+ The Boarbatusk can dance.
* On October 31, 2019, the *Amity Arena* Twitter account posted a teaser advising players to enter the Plaza and get their Halloween gift from Ruby Rose. However, by the time the tweet was posted, the server clock had already changed to November 1, meaning Ruby was no longer present.

## References

1. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
2. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
3. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
4. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1  @RWBYAmityArena on Twitter.
6. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
7. ↑  @Xl6YW8ux7TQiZYs on Twitter.
8. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
9. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
10. ↑  @RWBYAmityArena on Twitter.
11. ↑  Scott Porter on YouTube.
12. ↑  u/Raalm\_Neeth on Reddit.
13. ↑  u/Raalm\_Neeth on Reddit.
14. ↑  RWBY: Amity Arena on Facebook.
15. ↑  @RWBYAmityArena on Twitter.
16. ↑  @Shadow\_GirlX on Twitter.
17. ↑  @glittery\_tears on Twitter.
18. ↑  @RWBYAmityArena on Twitter.