Looking around The Witchery during the pre-conference dinner at the Edinburgh International Games Festival, it really sunk home for me how far computer gaming has come since the days when game makers like Steve Russell or Richard Garriott were hacking. I was well aware of the financial strength of game companies like EA, Sony, and Nintendo, but I had not fully understood what that kind of size meant for the culture in which games are created. The best way to put the assertion (and this is all it is at this point; and again, please keep in mind that there are a number of familiar exceptions) is that the practice of game software development generates a way of seeing and defining problems (as essentially precise, logical, and algorithmic), and creating solutions (through linear, text-defined code) that makes other ways of accounting for what happens in VWs seem at worst nonsensical and at best irrelevant or quixotic.

Dungeons and Dragons turned 30 this week. I listened to the NPR story with some excitement - it also mentioned the GenCon kickoff, also this week. The story asserted that AD&D was "hugely influential" in defining how computer games, and MMOGs, look-and-feel today. There were a number of aspects to this claim: 1.) the "geek overlap" (programmers and AD&Ders); 2.) AD&D made palatable numeric models of behavior (percentile dice thing); 3.) cooperative (multi-)play; ... How much influence do you think AD&D really had? The best way to put the assertion (and this is all it is at this point; and again, please keep in mind that there are a number of familiar exceptions) is that the practice of game software development generates a way of seeing and defining problems (as essentially precise, logical, and algorithmic), and creating solutions (through linear, text-defined code) that makes other ways of accounting for what happens in VWs seem at worst nonsensical and at best irrelevant or quixotic.

Clive Thompson, a journalist who shares many of our interests, has a new article in the NYT Magazine about There.com and the United States Army. We've discussed There.com & the Army a few times here: 1) U.S. Army adopts MMOG Tech (1/16/04), Earth the (Army) MMOG (2/18/04), 3) There's Army (4/24/04). The game character Rayne (BloodRayne series) appears to have a full schedule: on September 18 she is to appear on MTV2 where "Rayne and crew (will) give a stunning lip synced performance to Evanescence's hit 'Everybody's Fool.'" In October she will appear topless in Playboy magazine. I submit for your comments the idea that the reason many developers have a hard time finding anything of value not only from researchers, but often from their own players, is that they are, in effect, seeing a different world, all the time.

A busy day in the digital world news cycle. Protests, digital items and donations, oh my! Well how else are you going to explain news-fad-of-the-day: The Virtual Girlfriend from Artificial Life Inc. The business model seems to be that you buy the character stuff and, according this BBC story, ‘she’ will introduce punters “to different aspects of her life”.

The Honorable Richard A. Posner is a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a renowned public intellectual, and pretty much the inventor of at least one or two entire fields of legal scholarship. He's also guest-blogging this week over at Larry Lessig's weblog. Perhaps I should have seen this coming when he said that The Matrix was his new favorite movie--but in any event, his latest post shows that he's as fascinated with the social, economic, and legal implications of virtual worlds as we at Terra Nova. Read the post, you'll see what I mean. Professor Beth Noveck, in the comments field, has told him he must come to the State of Play II: Reloaded. We agree!

The following course outline is for a upperclass undergraduate seminar on "Virtual Worlds" here at Indiana University. I'd be eager to get some commentary before inflicting this stuff on helpless students. Don't forget that they are college students, after all, and won't be enthusiastic about reading thousands of pages. Also, book purchases are to be kept to a minimum. The goal is to cover the basics without imposing too much burden. Plus I want lots of time to just discuss things. Suggestions for improvement / change of direction / more representative works are welcome. I submit for your comments the idea that the reason many developers have a hard time finding anything of value not only from researchers, but often from their own players, is that they are, in effect, seeing a different world, all the time.

In the August Popular Science you can find "Is Science Fiction About to Go Blind?" A fun and thoughtful read that claims Sci-Fi -- once the domain of fresh thinking and edgy choices about imminent possibilities -- has gone soft, safe, and docile: I submit for your comments the idea that the reason many developers have a hard time finding anything of value not only from researchers, but often from their own players, is that they are, in effect, seeing a different world, all the time. They looked friendly enough--at least, no one had fruit ready to throw at us.

One of the fortunate few who have been able, at this early stage, to acquire both academic and industry experience in analyzing and implementing virtual worlds, Purbrick hails from Nottingham UK. I submit for your comments the idea that the reason many developers have a hard time finding anything of value not only from researchers, but often from their own players, is that they are, in effect, seeing a different world, all the time. They looked friendly enough--at least, no one had fruit ready to throw at us. It was simply kind of surreal, after reading the comments on TN this past week and hearing other things at the conference about the problems with game studies and developer/academic relations.

[doesn't talk about it, but the gist seems to be that emprical work and ethnography is required to understand the nature of the spaces.] It also raises some interesting non-design problems. It looks to me as if it would discourage RMT, for example, because investments won't necessarily be seen as sufficiently long-term. The truth is World of Warcraft Gold doesn’t HAVE to take a long time to get, especially in the higher levels. Buy WOW Gold here, and then enjoy your excited WoW life! Warhammer Online Gold will keep your high power. On the other hand, if RMTers persuade the courts that people own what their characters own, the whole concept of a purge might be threatened.

Graphs of sociability data in Coronet City Cantina. [Reported on this study in an earlier TN post.] Interpreting the data: there are some people who want drive-thru service seeking in cantinas. [Probably power gamers!] It also raises some interesting non-design problems. It looks to me as if it would discourage RMT, for example, because investments won't necessarily be seen as sufficiently long-term. The truth is World of Warcraft Gold doesn’t HAVE to take a long time to get, especially in the higher levels. Buy WOW Gold here, and then enjoy your excited WoW life! Warhammer Online Gold will keep your high power. On the other hand, if RMTers persuade the courts that people own what their characters own, the whole concept of a purge might be threatened.