So…I’m sitting here at the university on a Saturday night (and I’m FAR FROM ALONE, so all those complaining about lazy students can just kiss my…) and I’ve skimmed through Timothy Burke’s wonderful “Rubicite Breastplate Priced to Move, Cheap: How Virtual Economies Become Real Simulations” again!!! And I’m just in awe of how beautifully organised the whole paper is! Here I am with my messy clutter of gaming diary, quotes to argue against and quotes to reinforce arguments, it’s a bloody mess, I guarantee you – but this guy just makes it all seem so easy!

And then he has an excellent analogy system going on (is it possible to say he’s a brilliant analogist?). I just wanted to share my favorite with you! It’s just so spot on on what we’ve been seeing lately:

• “Imagine if anti-globalization activists and multinational corporations could both pray to deities, asking them to spontaneously alter the laws of physics and the basic determinants of social relations in their favor and actually have a reasonable expectation that their prayers might be heard and answered. The ether between Heaven and Earth would buzz incessantly if so.
• This is exactly the situation as it stands in persistent world MMPGs.”
• (Burke, 2002)

Isn’t that just lovely! God I wish I could write like that!!!!