Aimee Weber has an incredibly interesting article in SLOG – a second life resident blog. She’s tried to map out the different political parties of Second Life and quite eloquently. She’s divided them into two groups, the political parties that consider Second Life to be a country and those that consider it to be a company! I’m not going to repeat everything she’s written, because she’s done it so well!
But I do have to mention that I was very pleased to see “The Gamer Party” – “…believes Linden Lab should worry less about preserving the value of the Linden Dollar, and instead give away money to players so they can buy more stuff and have more fun!”.
I think it’s great that people are actually fighting for the gaming rights in Second Life. Mostly I only hear of virtual world economy, laws and intellectual property rights (probably because that’s what I’m supposed to be writing about), it’s just refreshing to see that there are virtual citizens out there that want to put focus on the gaming aspect!
Although, there is a difference between MMORPGs and I’ve been focusing my attention more on the ‘social’ MMORPGs, which (I think) means that the focus of the game is more on building communities and social networks, which makes me question whether they deserve the definition ‘game’ at all! They become more of a social playground instead of a game. But maybe I’m just focusing on a dilemma that’s pointless to ponder on, yet again!!

I haven’t been by Nick Yee’s fabulous Daedalus Project for a while, so this may be old news, but I was by today and he’s taken a brilliant initiative to create a MMORPG Lexicon. He’s definately not the first, but what I love about it is that it’s written in blog form, so the comments are priceless!!!

My favorite contribution has to be:
Run = (Noun) A period of time in which the character continously gains abilities, often at a rate faster than through usual playing. Players usually experience “runs” during Power Leveling or Grinding their character to increase their ability through repetitive tasks such as practicing a skill or combat. Usage: “I’m on a run now in Magery, 8.2+ in 30-min.” or “I’m on a run, only 20K exp. to Level Up.” Source: Came from Ultima Online power level training using the 8×8 tile method of movement for increasing abilities by performing an action in one spot, then moving 8-tiles in a North or South direction, repeating the action to gain another point in that ability.)

But that just might be the nerd in me having a little laugh! Definately worth a read through though!!!

Malaysia is to enforce a crufew on gamers. No games after midnight in cyber cafés. And they think this will ‘cut crime’? I sincerely doubt it!
So yeah…I guess computer games are starting to be taken seriously. Looks like they’re even getting their own little police force as well!!

“Local lawmakers say they plan to deploy teams of officers to check on popular internet spots” from BBC

I know there’s a problem with addiction…but this just doesn’t seem right. I don’t know how we’re supposed to help these kids who play 48 hours straight. I really don’t know. But this cannot be the answer!!!!

Bob Moore at PARC has figured out that it is the conversational attributes of MMO communication that remind us that these virtual worlds are unreal on the PlayOn blog. He’s made a list of “10 features of avatar interaction systems that reduce interactional realism, plus 10 tips for increasing it”. The whole issue makes me feel kinda awkward. I suppose treating MMOs as chat rooms has always kinda appealed to me. Nr. 7 on his list is “Gesticulate freely: real-time motion capture using a camer enables players to use their bodies to gesticulate freely”. I don’t know, maybe I’m being too close minded and not understanding the thrills of experiencing more ‘real’ interactions in MMOs. It is however, a very interesting list and I like the way it pin-points the unreality of interaction (or lack of interactional realism) in MMOs. And I suppose it’s true when he points out that we can’t study social behavior in MMOs until such points are at least discussed.

Aleks at The Guardian also points out “is it right for academics to study the participants in virtual worlds as if they (we) were rats in a cage?”. This is something that I’ve been wondering about myself. I’m having a hard time writing about the conversations I’ve had and observations I’ve made in TSO. I feel like I’m betraying a trust and I really don’t feel comfortable with it. Which I think is pertinent. We should stop and think about our morals here.

So…every once in a while I come across a story that has absolutetly nothing to do with gaming or my thesis. I promise to do whatever it is I have to do to get a topics option on this blog during Christmas (why am I always fooled to believing that I have so much time on my hands during the holidays?) so please forgive me if you’re reading my blog for gaming news (ha ha ha! Look at me taking myself seriously!).
This was just too good to keep to myself however.
Apparently there’s a big problem in the US; Americans are buying cheap drugs from Canada. So The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) commissioned an author, Julie Chrystyn, to write a novel to scare off Americans from buying these cheap drugs.
Which ofcourse is hillarious and scary in itself, but when PhRMA read the novel…they felt that they needed to dumb it down so it would appeal to women so they brought in Kevin Spivak, or that’s kinda unfair of me to say it was Chrystyn who asked for his help. But isn’t that kinda funny? A woman writes the novel, is told she needs to dumb it down so women will like it and for that they needed a man? I find that charming and humorous!
Anyways, it’s all gone down the drain but I thought it was interesting. Found it at Stay Free! so drop by there if you want to read more!

Well this is just a ‘must’ for anyone interested in studying MMO’s! Edward Castronova’s long awaited book, Synthetic Worlds is out. It’s actually been out for a while now, I’ve just neglected to write about it. Castronova is an entertaining writer and I often find myself forgetting that it’s all academic. BUT I haven’t read it yet, infact its on my Christmas wish list. I’ve sadly had to come to terms with the fact that I need to cool down on the reading and start gearing up on the writing so I’ve decided to leave it for my cozy Christmas reading.
I also might mention that Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace’s book Only a Game: Online Worlds and the Virtual Journalist Who Knew Too Much is coming out in April 2006. I was hoping that it would come out before Christmas, but alas, luck is not on my side!

So, actively trying to avoid the task of the day (finishing up the whole ‘what is a game’ issue), I’ve been surfing through some Machinima films (yep…I’m addicted). I found this little gem! I have to say, it’s really refreshing hearing some ‘real’ female voices contributing.

Funcom has put in a request/application to the Norwegian stock market! They feel, quite rightly, that they’ve established themselves enough to go public. It’s a fantastic way for them to gain capital and I wish them the best of luck! They’ve struggled long enough and I admire the way the company’s victoriously conquered a reputation of quality, innovation, creativity and popularity! A true Norwegian success story and definately an inspiration for future entrepreneurs.

Of course as all great companies going public do…Funcom also revealed a little tiny peek into their other project, The World Online – which Christer Aasen at Computer World describes as “Dan Brown’s Da Vinci-code on speed”!

I’m very excited about this! Finally a MMO not involving fantasy or, I’m sorry but over excessive testosterone! I mean, as much as I think Conan looks beautiful and I know Funcom can guarantee spectacular and involving gameplay, it’s just too much testosterone for me. I’ll leave Conan to the ‘real’ fans! But what little we’ve heard of The World Online, sounds like this may include people of all colors and ages AND have intriguing gameplay! Well..my heart is pounding with excitement!!¨

Funcom has proven to be one of the most daring and innovative companies in the gaming industry. They were the first to integrate advertising into their online world of Anarchy Online, and they did it in such a classy manner, who can’t respect them? And seriously, if you haven’t played The Longest Journey, have a chat with someone who has, you’ll find that they speak of the game as one of their closest and dearest friends! Seriously…I challenge you to find someone who disliked it!

(Huh….I should work on Funcom’s marketing department shouldn’t I?…he,he…not much objectivity here, sorry about that, but I just can’t help myself!)

I’ve wanted to keep this blog Jack Thompson free, but I found myself reading Game Politics today and I was in stitches. Tears are still rolling down my cheeks from laughing so hard!

I’m finding it very hard to boil it all the background information down to basics, but here goes nothing.

In my opinion this is what’s going on in the US at the moment.

1) There’s a debate about enforcing laws to regulate that computer games which are rated 18+ should not be sold to children. Which, in my opinion, is fair enough. Those age ratings are there for a reason and although I feel they are way too harsh at times, I wouldn’t be too wild about the idea of my 9 year old nephew going to a store and being able to buy F.E.A.R., for example. This is the way it is here in Europe and it distresses me that the European gaming press is in such an uproar. But the uproar stems from Jack Thompson’s statements, I suppose!

2) From what I can gather Devin Moore killed 3 police officers in June 2003 and for his trial he pleaded insanity because he had been playing Grand Theft Auto. Now! From what I can gather, the judge has dismissed the insanity plea because there wasn’t enough evidence to prove GTA could cause this kind of behavior.

But this hasn’t stopped Jack Thompson, who’s gained much publicity and popularity because of his involvement in the above points. Sony, Take-Two/Rockstar, Wal-Mart, GameStop and Devin Moore are now being sued because of the police murders.

Maybe I should round up and get to my point here somewhere. Let me just point out that Wal-Mart is in this group of defendants because they sold the game!

The reason why I’m laughing is that Jack Thompson has now issued a press release in relation to this trial which starts on Thursday. And just to keep things short, I’m going to quote the bit that made me laugh:

“Oh, and certain regional governments in Japan have banned the sale of the Grand Theft Auto games to minors, but Japan’s Sony has no problem whatsoever dumping this garbage into American kids’ brains. Looks like Pearl Harbor 2 by Sony/Take Two…”

This is a perfect example of why this debate in the US has just gone way overboard. And I suppose the press and us bloggers are just amazed by the ridiculousness!

The press release is a classic and should be read by anyone interested! This just seems bizarre to me and I think that it’s a shame that the true issues are completely lost in these banalities.

The Escapist is dedicated to women and gaming this week! Looks like a good mix of writers! I’m looking forward to reading it this week!! I haven’t yet…but I know some of you are interested in gender and gaming…so just thought I’d mention it before I forgot!