Tag: virtualworlds

Gold Farmers

Funny yet profound:

a new trade association has been formed by Korean gold farmers and real-money trade sites to lobby the Korean government, which has been considering regulation of the sector.

2007-06-19: Should have read the nyt gold farmer story. Not just the obvious arbitrage angle, but farmers playing WoW in their spare time after 12h shifts clicking away in WoW, and 40-person guilds for hire by high-level players in need of backup for their campaigns.
2007-07-09: Creative protests

The farmers retaliated by slaying gnomes and arranging them on the ground to spell out the URLs of their gold-farms.

2008-05-08: AN explainer

Gold Farmers are young people who earn their living by playing MMORPG games. They acquire (“farm”) items of value within a game, usually by carrying out in-game actions repeatedly to maximize gains, sometimes by using a program such as a bot or automatic clicker.They sell the artificial gold coins and other virtual goods they’ve harvested to players and/or farming organizations and get “real” money in return. Players from around the world will then use the golden coins to buy better armor, magic spells and other equipments to climb to higher levels or create more powerful characters.

Math Education

combating innumeracy with 3D worlds: moving math from 2D symbols to 3D representations

For the first time since Euclid started the mathematics education ball rolling over 2000 years ago, we are within a generation of eradicating innumeracy and being able to bring out the mathematical ability that research has demonstrated conclusively is within (almost) everyone’s reach. Never before in the history of mathematics have we had a technology that is ideally suited to representing and communicating basic mathematics. But now, with the development of manufactured, immersive, 3D environments, we do.

2008-03-22:

it may be time to rethink the very idea of national teaching systems that with varying success prepare youngsters to join a global conversation when they grow up.

very enthusiastic +1

Online Firefly

Landing Firefly on the Multiverse platform would seem to be a sure-fire promotional move. But satisfying the show’s committed fans will not be easy. Online communities like FireflyFans.net, the show’s premier fan site, have generated an endless stream of fan fiction, art, blogs, podcasts, meet-ups and even a fan-produced documentary, Done the Impossible, which briefly broke into the top 1000 in DVD sales on Amazon.com.

this has the potential for awesomeness and a huge timesuck. fuck that elves / mage shit

Gears of War

Thus it is with Gears of War. Every element is simultaneously totally familiar and a bit surprising. Sure, you have to dodge enemy fire, just like every shooter in history. But the mechanics of hiding behind objects are executed with iPod-like elegance. A single button lets you feint from object to object, and a single trigger lets you pop out to fire off a shot before ducking back again. The ease of dodging transforms each rubble-strewn scene into a spatial puzzle: What can I hide behind? Where can I scootch over to get a better shot?

not being a gamer made me miss that the gaming industry has totally taken over from hollywood in creating compelling ideascapes. this stuff ropes you in.

Autodesk Enters Second Life

So 15 years later and with a new leader at the helm, rather than go it alone Autodesk is now poised to tap into the pioneering work of Linden Lab, the power of its community, and the spirit of all things 3pointD. Having used AutoCAD myself for over 10 years it will be most interesting to see where this goes. It could also be suggested that one of the reasons Second Life has been so widely accepted is because of its built in creation tools, lowering the barrier to entry for non-professionals (with the exception of Photoshop or the GIMP). Autodesk’s initiative seems to be about lowering the barrier for professionals who arrive with specialized knowledge and expensive tools

Autodesk bet on VR once before, in 1988. nice to have them back 🙂

The View From the Top

an aa-like confessional from a recovering WoW player

I just left WoW permanently. I was a leader in one of the largest and most respected guilds in the world, a well-equipped and well-versed mage, and considered myself to have many close friends in my guild. Why did I leave? Simple: Blizzard has created an alternate universe where we don’t have to be ourselves when we don’t want to be. From my vantage point as a guild decision maker, I’ve seen it destroy more families and friendships and take a huge toll on individuals than any drug on the market today, and that means a lot coming from an ex-club DJ.

It took a huge personal toll on me. To illustrate the impact it had, let’s look at me one year later. When I started playing, I was working towards getting into the best shape of my life (and making good progress, too). Now a year later, I’m 15 kg heavier that I was back then, and it is not muscle. I had a lot of hobbies including DJing (which I was pretty accomplished at) and music as well as writing and martial arts. I haven’t touched a record or my guitar for over a year and I think if I tried any Kung Fu my gut would throw my back out. Finally, and most significantly, I had a very satisfying social life before. My friends and I would go out and there were things to do every night of the week. Now a year later, I realize my true friends are the greatest people in the world because the fact I came out of my room, turned the lights on, and watched a movie with them still means something. They still are having a great time teasing me at my expense, however, which shows they still love me and they haven’t changed.

Unconferences are so 2003

New York Times-bestselling author Thomas Barnett comes to Second Life in avatar form to speak on his Blueprint for Action– October 26, 11:30-13:00. He’ll address us from the floor of a virtual UN building, speaking to an audience, one hopes, that’ll include Residents from around the globe– those in the Functioning Core, those in the Seam states, and with luck, even those from the Non-Integrating Gap itself.

barnett is very interesting, and this setting doubly so. i’ll most likely be there (as Kichiro Kawabata).
kichiro kawabata

Dawn of digital worlds

cory opens with a picture of bush, stating: meatspace is over. let’s move to cyberspace. cory is a lead developer on second life, probably the most advanced cyberworld today. cory asserts that there is a significant market for digital goods: estimated at $1B. The total strength of this trade is about $10B currently, rising sharply. Because digital goods are becoming commoditized, game companies are in an arms race with their user base to develop new content. Most online world force their users to assign copyright to them, which limits trade and economic interest.
“Atoms suck, you end up with traffic problems and Walmart”.
Markets are developing on second life. You can buy skydiving and even skydiving classes from user-run stores. (It turns out that cyber skydiving is great fun). There are also live DJ’s streaming and talking to their users.
Someone created a gun, and contracted out the pieces of it (artwort, physics etc) inside the gaming world. Cory Doctorov wrote a chapter of his latest book by hanging out in second life and interacting with users from around the world. This sets the stage for online collaboration. Currently, the application runs on 500 commodity pcs and covers 32 square kilometers. People are adding twists: Someone added alien abductions, and started abducting people..
Cory recommends the mystery of capital. He asserts that business is moving towards decentralization (quoted from Tom Malone) and that online worlds support this perfectly. The user community started protesting in the game against the game designers by walking around with protest signs in areas with new users. What a great way to put pressure on developers 🙂
Institutions of meatspace are recreated (only better) in cyberspace: Theaters, Digital cool hunting, exploring business models. Cory predicts that in a few years, their physical simulation will get good enough to be able to design real cars in record time.