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I was talking the other day with a friend regarding my job(s) and how lucky I felt to have them, when it suddenly occurred to me that I was really, really glad I didn't work in the industry for a developer. Oh, sure, there are plenty of horror stories about grad school and academia (plus New York Times articles on why blogging is an unhealthy profession), but it all seems like a cake walk compared to the stories that come from the developer trenches. Well, EA's European head of talent acquisition has set about to debunk some myths about working in the game industry and point to ways to attract talent and keep talent in the trenches: More »
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Lightspeed, a venture capital firm, checked out the average revenue per user for some casual, free to play MMOGs (Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, Runescape, and Second Life), establishing that other that SL - which pulls in a little over $9 a month in ARPU, thanks mostly to virtual land upkeep - these sorts of casual MMOGs pull in around $1.25 ARPU per month. Which, until one considers the user bases of games like Club Penguin, seems like a damn hard way to make some money: More »
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My summer will be filled with exactly the same things my school year is (herding students along to enlightenment, reading, and research), minus pesky seminars, but for the younger generation, gainful summer employment is getting harder to come by. One solution? Turning to virtual worlds for employment: More »
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Ok, so a billboard in a driving game may make sense — but what about games where it doesn't make sense? As Ian Bogost points out, "Would an orc order pizza? Does a dystopian planet from the future need a pacer drink?": More »
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Economic issues in MMOs and virtual worlds get a ton of attention, but less attention is paid to the 'single player economies.' Richard Knight argues they're no less important — while a bad economic setup won't ruin an otherwise good game, it can put a damper on the proceedings. I can certainly think of a few games that had economic setups that were mind-bogglingly bad in a number of respects: More »
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For the gamers who also have an eye on their portfolio, investing in gaming-related stocks is probably not the best gamble right now. Long term prognosis is good, but CNN Money reports on an analyst's thoughts on 'interactive entertainment' industry right now, and it's probably not the best option to beef up your portfolio. An exception is for some companies like EA, but in case you needed to be told, don't put any money in Take-Two. More »
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