...what's remarkable about these events is the massive role all forms of (computer-mediated) communication are playing in drawing people together, uniting communities, summoning help, giving reassurance and contributing intelligence to the current investigation. Communication has, I suspect, played a very large part in helping to maintain calm and order amidst all the violence and chaos. 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.

For those who missed GLS, a many of the talks are available here. Where else can you see Psychochild do a shot, see slides of baby seals, and hear full collections of Ted's evil voices? Not sure how long they will be hosted, so enjoy them while you can! Other board games discretize turns further into segments. For example, a turn-based battle game such as Advanced Squad Leader can by its 1977 ruleset, have turns segmented into 8 phases each averaging 4 sub-phases. The purpose of segmentizing a turn into phases (e.g. "prep fire phase", "movement phase"...) is to balance play and to better simulate the real-time process they seek to capture.

All of us got so excited about Sony Station going live that we somehow missed EA's attempt to sell Ultima Online items for real US$. I say "attempt" because Stratics has details on their emergency publish to roll back all of the items. Apparently there was a dupe bug, which is unfortunate when you had players paying $2.99 for each item (or $12.99 for all 6). Sounds like they're going to try again once they debug their problems. While this isn't traditional real-world transactions, selling upgraded and special items seems to be inline with the approach that would fit other EA games, like Madden, with online components. I'm reminded of Richard's point about Code is Law in software-based real-time virtual worlds.

These might relate to subscription retention, what's fun (Raph alert), how people use the games, game effects, what kinds of people play, what makes some games appealing and others not, what mechanics work for some people, general opinion questions for users, etc., etc. Don't feel constrained by this toe-in-the-water short list. Think broadly, narrowly, laterally, whatever. Be pragmatic or blue-sky it. 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.

A few of us TN types participated in a GDC panel on industry-academic collaboration in which we layed out some of the barriers and benefits of working along with devs. We academics spelled out why we can't do anything we want any time: chiefly for reasons of tenure & publishing, but mostly because of lack of access to data and developers. At the same time, I heard many good comments from the audience about how we could better address their concerns and questions, i.e. Why don't you call us, and how about reading and writing in our trade publications? 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.

Wouldn't you love to have a transcript of that special session? The sports law blog remains strangely silent, but Boing Boing is interested... 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.

Then, (as an extension of developer or player's mind to console game) dreaming of pristine or medieval clan life free & autonomous fantasy life in those MMORPG is just daydreaming. It is like the modern man who admires the stone age's primitive communalism in his head but aware it's improbable in these days. Actually it’s more like the modern man who dreams of primitive communalism or medieval communitarianism and has some kind of time machine which would transport him into those world; but chooses instead to live in the current world and criticize it as unacceptably “modern.”

It’s the time of year when some of us start to look forward to the Edinburgh festival(s), an event that includes the Fringe where One Man Show can refer to the audience not the cast.

Contact me (Bruno Buckenburger) if you are interested in doing some detective work for B.B. Investigations. Most of our work involves investigating infidelty and hiding of assets. We also get involved in undercover work. Undercover work has been mostly getting involved with club and other business owners.

I wrote a brief article for Gamespot News about the oft-repeated "There is no spoon" comment from State of Play 2. I'll likely expand and further flesh out the arguments in future work -- I suspect that we'll all be debating this until the next SoP -- but since I thought that this was one of the most basic disagreements to come out of State of Play 2 that it was worth picking up.