Year: 2007

Speaking of boundaries and morality…
June 4, 2007June 4, 2007 Game talk
10 Comments

GamePolitics.com has word of a French lawsuit against Second Life, orchestrated by a “family values” watchdog group. It’s a good example of the way in which national boundaries and local laws and pressures may affect the operation of virtual worlds in different territories. As some commenters have already noted, it’s not a stretch to see this lawsuit in the context of the recent success of a conservative politician, Sarkozy, in the presidential elections there.

The specifics of the suit appear to be about restricting minors from Second Life — which is of course already policy on Linden’s part, and also extremely difficult to enforce. However, it seems that some ISPs have also been named in the suit.

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Read More Speaking of boundaries and morality…
Monday Mailbag: full body controls, racism, forums, education, & design docs
June 4, 2007June 4, 2007 Game talk, Mailbag
15 Comments

I have this crazy backlog of messages in the Mailbag. It would be much much worse if 2/3 of the messages that come in weren’t some variant of “Please don’t post this to your blog.” So I am thinking of making the mailbag a regular Monday thing — both so that greater variety of stuff gets sent in, and so that I clear it out more regularly.

Hey Raph, I’m a big fan of yours since the UO and SWG days and this is the first time I wrote to you. What do you honestly think of MMO games that uses full body motion sensors? Do you think it will be the future of gaming? A lot of hardcore gamers have trouble with a healthy lifestyle (since mmo requires a ton of your time planted in front of the TV/PC not moving) and an mmo/game that requires you to exert some physical effort (by using full body to control your game avatar) would be a great way to have fun as well as keep in shape. Nintendo wii’s nunchuck controls is the start of this great idea. I hope someone would bring this great idea further.

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Read More Monday Mailbag: full body controls, racism, forums, education, & design docs
Presidential Pong
June 4, 2007 Game talk
2 Comments

Right after the NYT does editorial games, we see Presidential Pong on the front page of CNN.com. Whoo hoo! Ian Bogost comments here.

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The Sunday Poem: All Stories Are Like This
June 3, 2007 The Sunday Poem
1 Comment

Pliny tells a story of a ghost who wished his bones dug up;
He came at night, a haunt and clanking spirit, chained,
To scare the renters out of his apartment in the night.

But a philosopher took the spot, since it was cheap,
And worked till late at night. Clanking was obnoxious,
So when the ghost appeared, he made it wait.

Finally, his letters done, he rose and marked the spot
Where the skeleton arose bechained from garden plot.
The next day, of course, a putrid corpse was found.

Pliny himself, much less said philosoph, are much alike;
Both beyond their moldering days, alive only in the write.
And yet, who reads Pliny? None. Athenodorus? Who?

Somewhere there’s a plot where ancient Romans rise,
And clank their way to knock on busy students’ doors.
Each serves as Pliny to his ghost, mostly for a grade.

And here I serve as Pliny too, retelling ancient renters’ tales
Because my fancy caught upon the grave; if Pliny can’t,
Then must I create small verse to be a ghost for us.

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Read More The Sunday Poem: All Stories Are Like This
WaPo jumps in the virtual behavior fray
June 2, 2007 Game talk
11 Comments

Alas, discussions of “muggings” in PvP areas of WoW seem a bit silly, to those in the know.

Read More WaPo jumps in the virtual behavior fray

Year: 2007

Speaking of boundaries and morality…

Monday Mailbag: full body controls, racism, forums, education, & design docs

Presidential Pong

The Sunday Poem: All Stories Are Like This

WaPo jumps in the virtual behavior fray

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