I spent about a week in Quebec City a couple years ago for my honeymoon. Playing Project Gotham Racing 4's Quebec City tracks, I swear I could spot the B&B; where my wife and I stayed. Certainly human memory is flawed, but my impression is that PGR-developer Bizarre Creations did a spectacular job of recreating the city streets. The mirroring is so well-done that over the entire course of the track I never felt lost, passing by many of the sights and tearing up many of the streets I'd spent days wandering around as a tourist. It's rare to be able to practically navigate game-space based on real space.

Continue reading: ‘Project Gotham Racing 4’ Impressions

• Can MMO Gamers have fun & help save the enviroment?
  A variation on a familiar theme. Paraphrased: "How much energy does the average MMO gamer use?" Seemingly-good breakdown of practical power-consumption numbers with some scary conclusions.
  (tags: ecosphere mmo mathematics consumption hardware games gaming analysis)
• A Game by any other Name…
  Adrian Hon discusses the application of the term "Alternate Reality Game" to a variety of different properties. Takeaway: "one positive characteristic that links all of these ARGs [is] the skill and process that goes into making and designing them."
  (tags: arg language definition games gaming culture analysis)

I've been done with Twitter for about 4 months now. It just didn't gel for me. But for some reason, Facebook status updates were easier to make. Thanks to an update to the Twitter application for Facebook, it's possible to update one's Facebook status through Twitter, killing two birds with one stone--perhaps enough reason to twitter again.

The downside is that Twitter seems to think it's important for people on Facebook to know you've posted from Twitter, adding "is twittering" to your status update. Example:

Stowe Boyd is twittering: Lying in bed this morning, before really awake, I had several good ideas almost at the same time. Odd. Good.

What we have here is information overload in a Facebook status update, and a source of potential confusion for Facebook users who aren't familiar with Twitter: Why is Stowe twittering? What's twittering? Why do we need to know he's twittering instead of doing something else? Bad.

• Open Social: a new universe of social applications all over the web
  Ning's Marc Andreessen broadly explains the features of Google-spearheaded open web API "Open Social," compares, contrasts with the Facebook platform concept. Sounds very promising.
  (tags: technology google software platform development facebook business socialsoftware web sns networks)
• Active Worlds Embeds 3D Worlds in Facebook
  Active Worlds has reportedly announced Facebook integration of its virtual world (no link to the announcement provided by source). Works with IE only, sadly.
  (tags: facebook synthetic.worlds 3D 3pointD activeworlds technology software business)
• Turbine to Users: “We own your CC information”
  Horror story with chatlog explains how Turbine is screwing players of Lord of the Rings Online: "You either keep your [credit card] information in our system or the game that you PAID for will no longer work, ever."
  (tags: bullshit business policy administration mmog game gaming)
• Games and Storytelling: A Working Definition of Storytelling that Encompasses New Media
  Link to PDF: "PJ's Attic explores the story vs. game debate in this white paper and presents a new model for storytelling that encompasses both traditional and new media formats."
  (tags: filetype:pdf design games storytelling narrative technology interactivity whitepaper)
• Sheepish
  Prokofy Neva crunches various CSI:NY / Second Life crossover numbers. Prokofy isn't buying that this was a success. Interesting tidbit: "An RP group that says they've been playing CSI in SL on their own for a year have 175 members."
  (tags: synthetic.worlds secondlife tv transmedia statistics data criticism roleplay groups)
• Epistemic Games- "How Computer Games Help Children Learn"
  "...how video and computer games can help teach kids to build successful futures--but only if we think in new ways about education itself... [the book] revolutionizes the ongoing debate about the pros and cons of digital learning."
  (tags: book books games gaming education academic psychology technology youth)
• vSide Forums: Buying Creds without permission is a REALLY bad idea
  Maker of vSide chastises users for stealing their parents' credit cards in order to buy in-world currency, threatens to ban offenders. I can almost see the giant virtual finger wagging.
  (tags: synthetic.worlds law crime youth emergence policy vside)

The 40th episode of the ARG Netcast features a great discussion about what constitutes "fair game" in Alternate Reality Game play based on what players are willing and able to do versus what the puppetmasters have planned. In my opinion as a contributing designer/writer to such games, the "this is not a game" conceit which largely defined the genre early on is a double-edged sword.

If, as a puppetmaster, you decide that "this is not a game," you had better ensure your not-game is sealed airtight against the deep digging some players are willing to do. Such digging (discussed in the netcast) includes brute-force password hacking, intensive sleuthing for the real-life people (game makers, actors) behind the scenes, or decompiling Flash executable files to search for revealing clues.

In my opinion, if you're making a not-game, you have to accept that this means there are no rules. I think players are entitled to use whatever means necessary to dissect a not-game for clues, provided they obey social contracts and actual laws. Like supervillains, puppetmasters often overestimate the sanctity of their secret plans due to conceit: Surely they're more clever than the heroes. And we all know how that turns out.

Continue reading: What’s ‘Fair Game’ In Alternate Reality?

Much like Linden Lab has moved to distinguish between Second Life (the experience) and Second Life Grid (the technology platform), Kaneva (the company) seems to be moving towards separating Kaneva (the virtual world experience) from Kaneva the technology platform. Confused? If it's any consolation, I feel like I just drank a pint of whiskey upside-down.

According to an email newsletter I received from Kaneva founder and CEO Christopher W. Klaus, the company will focus on expanding its platform's functionality and toolkit in order to better facilitate partner-developed experiences during the first half of 2008. Partners include IBM (known for being bullish on virtual worlds), Turner Broadcasting (which announced a TV network for Kaneva), and Target (which sells Kaneva currency cards).

Continue reading: Kaneva To Focus On Platform Over Biz-Dev?

Roving reporter Amber MacArthur is doing a story on Manhunt 2 today, and roped me in for some soundbites. I was able to play about 10 minutes of the ultra-violent game while we chatted. Amber and I were treated to all sorts of Halloweenish sights during the first few minutes of game-play, including needle-stabbings and poop-flinging. Frankly, I was expecting more but based on what I've seen on YouTube, the action gets more disgusting as the game progresses.

If all goes according to plan, you'll be able to catch the segment tonight (6pm and 11pm Eastern, I believe) on City News, provided you're not already needle-stabbing or flinging poop at local kids during their trick-or-treating.

• SLPTO Offers Second Life Content Creators Suite of Intellectual Property Protection Tools
  Unofficial, powerless organization intends to "offer a full suite of intellectual property protection tools" including copyright protection. Ergo, further confusing what is protected by copyright, trademarks and patents.
  (tags: law places secondlife synthetic.worlds policy organization ip tools)
• Industry Employment Solution VirtualWorldsJobs.com Launches
  I don't think we're quite at a point in virtual world history where an online job market/portal is really needed. Anyone worth their salt gets work based on word of mouth. Besides which, word has it some developers aren't paying talent properly.
  (tags: employment work freelance online synthetic.worlds networks business)
• "COMPLETE FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT": VIDEO GAMES AS GENDERED PLAY SPACES
  Henry Jenkins offers "a cultural geography of video game spaces, one which uses traditional children's play and children's literature as points of comparison to the digital worlds contemporary children inhabit."
  (tags: books games gaming youth article development gender play design synthetic.worlds places)
• Independent Games Summit: Valve's Kim Swift - 'From Narbacular Drop To Portal'
  Crapload of IGS 2007 video links posted on Game Set Watch for leeching. Viva indie!
  (tags: download media video list resource research games gaming design development presentation events)

Back in high-school my friends and I developed a tabletop miniature game involving B-movie style giant monsters. We unimaginatively dubbed it The Monster Game and tinkered feverishly with its mechanics (and creating variants such as Monsterball) for at least a couple years. That's why the 14 year-old in me is giddy as a schoolboy at the news that Monsterpocalypse, a collectible miniatures game involving giant monsters, is planned for release next year by Privateer Press. Obviously there are going to be plenty of crazy-looking, pre-painted miniatures involved (something like 80 in the initial set), but I'm particularly excited at the prospect of miniature destructible buildings. Me smash! Rarrrr!

I'm rather out of the loop in terms of CMGs (collectible miniatures games), but the three things that strike me most about the genre are:
1) Isn't mass-producing these things an incredible waste of precious oil resources?
2) I pity the poor bastards who have to paint those things for my gaming pleasure. Sweatshops, I'm sure.
3) Proprietary, stats-locked systems like HeroClix cramp my style. If I can't tinker with it, I ain't buying it.

Today wasn't the first time I've heard someone say they're a "fan of games," but given that I overheard it during a commute, I had a couple dozen minutes to think about what the phrase actually means. The context in which the phrase is usually uttered leads me to believe that "game fans" are casual gamers--perhaps once they owned a game console, but it's now collecting dust or is locked in some musty closet. This person likes the idea of games, but probably hasn't played them enough to become game-literate in any substantial sense.

A "fan of games" is like a fan of books, a fan of music, a fan of sports, or a fan of good cooking. A well intentioned but witless consumer, essentially. I suppose by contrast, I'd consider a "gamer" to be comparable to an avid reader, a record-collector or someone who goes to see live music at least once a week, an amateur athlete, or a person enrolled in night-class cooking school. A producer, not consumer; a practitioner or at least active participant.

I get the sense that historically there have been far too many "game fans" involved in making games and related interactive experiences, and not nearly enough gamers, but this is sure to change over time. It's becoming easier each year for fans to evolve into participants, if not producers, so I hope in the next few years we'll see a lot fewer folks watching from the sidelines and a lot more gamers bringing their unique sensibilities to projects of all sizes and types.