It’s actually more of an opportunity than a problem. It’s rarely a problem. I’ve been a sort of creative person for a long time – in this business and then before that as a performer. And you always need some kind of boundary. Start with a blank canvas and say that you’re going to make stuff up in this big empty vac cum… it’s actually really hard to do. It’s good to have boundaries. The beauty of Tolkein is that he’s created these exquisitely detailed boundaries that have so much depth and richness inside them, and yet still have all kinds of things which are open for interpretation. I mean, we built Angmar basically from scratch, to our liking, based on very few clues… and yet it still feels as if it belongs in Middle Earth. There’s certain things – I can’t have flying cars or motorcycles or things like that. But I can have other things which are very exciting and it means, by definition, the world has a consistency, where it feels right. It all fits together. There’s not things which just don’t make sense.

Interesting interview with some great little tidbits, especially if you're interested in LOTRO specifically.

Jeffrey Steefel on LOTRO: Mines of Moria [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

The essential issue recognized by the "Avatar Rights" movement is that players ascribe substantial value to their game characters and virtual assets. The willful denial of this fact, in some sense, has helped enable the growth of gold farming and criminals who target online games.

Because developers don't consider the value that players put in their virtual "stuff", customer service is often not responsive to player complaints about lost items. Also, the game systems are not built to easily log, track, remove, and restore these items in case of loss or theft.

In some sense this is ironic, the same game companies that argue vigorously that the virtual items have no value, at the same time are extraordinarily reluctant to restore players characters or virtual items after alleged theft. The argument is typically made that the players are abusing the system by allowing their items to be stolen (or, actually, selling them) and then making a complaint to the game operator.

If the items have no value, then restore them.

Short, but interesting, musing — with references — on the 'avatar problem.'

The Quixotic Quest for Avatar Rights [PlayNoEvil]

Robert: F2P has a huge influence. But we have been based on subscriptions for years, with some games being around for 10+ years. Subscripitions hit a hardcore audience that is really embedded in those games. But as you expand your audience, they aren’t as hardcore anymore and F2P becomes more enticing as subs only wouldn’t appeal.

Nicolay: Both models work. Hardcore gamers are comfortable with sub model and most of the games with microtransactions have been casual games. But it is possible to have more than one biz model in a game.

Min: There is room in the market for both biz models. F2P in North America will make a large push as teenagers can’t commit to $15/month, so F2P will work well with them. Nexon saw lots of success when the market went beyond core to mass market.

Hilmar: Consumers are changing the business model of games - consumers making decisions. You can play Eve online through our trial program as a F2P program - users are able to “game” our trial system to play it as a F2P game. It’s a challenge for companies to adopt the needs of the market rather than keeping their head in sand. People will play the game how they want.

Min: We’re seeing in S Korea a lot of players have a subscription-based game that is their favourite, but have a secondary game that they play f2p with microtransactions.

I can't imagine the FTP model will ever overtake subscription models in the West, but there's no doubt that there are a lot of people playing FTPs — and spending way, way more than they would on a subscription — with an ever-increasing audience. I'm curious to see if we'll get any of the crazier FTP MMOs coming out of Asia in the coming years.

Evolving Business Models in MMOs - Panel [Free To Play]

At times it’s staggeringly beautiful. You’ll forgive the time it takes to travel between space stations as you watch the glowing nebulae glint off your ship’s hull. It’s impossibly slick.

Eve’s interface isn’t slick at all. It’s like falling down a waterfall of endless menus. Boxes of stuff will clutter up the screen as you play, and nothing is ever as simple as it should be. You’ll buy something in a space station, but buying it doesn’t actually give you the item, you have to open cargo hold, and then open your inventory and drag the item you’ve just bought into your ship. This is something we constantly forgot to do, which meant , once we had eventually figured out what was happening, that we had left a trail of forgotten ship upgrades in storage hangars in various space stations scattered across the galaxy. Much time was spent retrieving them. We upgraded our weapons to take on some tough space pirates, after much peering at tiny stat values trying to figure out what the difference was between a Laser Cannon and a Railgun, and whether or not our characters had the skill to use them or the money to buy them, we rolled into battle to find ourselves confused and really quite embarrassed when none of our weapons worked. My Laser Cannon had packed in because the energy grid on my ship couldn’t handle the new hardware, and Dante hadn’t bought any rockets for his rocket launcher. We warped the hell out of there to spend some more time menu-gazing at the nearest space station. All in all, it was a constantly frustrating experience with a near vertical difficulty curve.

The four-part series includes an entry for each game, plus a concluding section; go forth and conquer.

MMO Showdown [Man vs. Horse via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

... there's something we can call "polyheroism" in the Iliad. It's pretty much like a five-man group in WoW, or a six-man fellowship in LOTRO: Achilles is the DPS guy, Ajax is the tank, Odysseus is the rogue, etc. To enact a story about the meaning of excellence, you need to be able to compare heroes. Everyone loved Achilles, just like everyone loves a good, well specced champion. But some people like Odysseus better than Diomedes, just as some people would rather have a burglar in their party than a second DPS class.

I'm not saying that RPG classes have the depth of epic characters (though you'd be surprised by how little depth epic characters actually have). I'm saying that one important function of characters in the Iliad and in MMOGs is to get us to think about how different versions of excellence relate to one another.

Gear isn't quite the fundamental, all-pervasive mechanic in the Iliad as it is in MMOGs. But in its own way, it's actually much more important in epic tradition.

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that the epic tradition is still going strong, but it's always fun to see Homer juxtaposed with more modern, interactive counterparts. Everyone loves a good, epic tale — so much the better if you're in it, I guess.

Achilles' Phat Lewtz [The Escapist]

He explains that a large portion of the Asian MMO-playing public spend their days in crowded internet cafes, cigarette in one hand, mouse in the other, chain-smoking while they are chain-killing mobs...and I suppose technically their fellow patrons as well. And here I was, trying to use gaming as a reason not to smoke.

The Surprising Reason Asian MMOs Are Mouse-Based [MTV Multiplayer]

If anti-gold farming initiatives were effective, gold prices should go up as the cost of business increases for gold farmers. (NOTE: This assumes that demand is fairly constant. If game companies could actually convince their players not to buy gold, than prices would drop with a glut of gold on the market and no one to buy it. I've not been able to get volume data from any gold sellers, but my sense is that their customers are not going away.)

The Gold Farming War - Who's winning? [PlayNoEvil]

BRIGHTON, England (10th April 2008) - NCsoft®, the world-leading, publisher of massively multiplayer online games such as Guild Wars®, Lineage® II and City of Heroes®, today announced that it was stepping up its fight against the growing menace of intellectual property theft. This action comes as a direct response to the rise of illegal online game servers throughout Eastern Europe, particularly in Greece and Russia where NCsoft's fantasy-based online role playing game, Lineage II, is extremely popular.

The fraudulent servers in question are being used by players playing at home and in internet cafes, but such unauthorised servers often feature - or require users to download - illegally modified and potentially harmful game data, thereby changing the intended online experience.

NCsoft's European office has identified several prominent illegal servers across Europe and is in the process of taking action against individuals and corporations deemed to be in breach of international copyright laws. In a lawsuit that was commenced last year in Greece, NCsoft successfully obtained a court order against Internet Cafe business, 'e-GLOBAL' following which four of its cafes were raided and illegal software was seized. This led to the shutting down of illegal servers on which pirate copies of Lineage II software was loaded. Georgios Katostaris - Chairman of the Board and Managing Director, Constantinos Zygouras - Vice-Chairman of the Board and Managing Director, Athanassios Dobros - Deputy Managing Director and Dimitrios Koutsoukos - Administrator of the company under the name 'INTERNET DYNAMICS LLC' have all been made personal defendants to the proceedings that are continuing in the Greek Courts in which NCsoft is seeking damages as well as criminal remedies.

"Illegal game servers, such as those operating from e-GLOBAL, have a hugely negative impact on both NCsoft Europe and its customers," commented Max Brown, NCsoft Europe's Sales & Operations Director. "They seriously affect the player's experience of our products and rob the company of potential revenue that is used to further enhance the player experience on official servers. NCsoft's loss in revenue from e-GLOBAL's operation is estimated in excess of six million Euros. We are defiant in our resolve to stamp out theft of NCsoft's intellectual properties and are prepared to take the strongest measures to do so."

NCsoft has a proven track record in combating illegal servers, having worked with the FBI in November 2006 to shut down a substantial unofficial Lineage II server run by US-based website, L2Extreme.com. Following multiple raids across cities throughout the US, L2Extreme's fraudulent servers - which claimed to support 50,000 active users - were taken offline, as was the L2Extreme.com website.

We have a lot of investors, because our company has all been privately funded with a range of investors, and of course our job is to make sure that they make a lot of money out of this process.

So, Stargate is actually, of course, our first product, and it's the one that's the most visible product, but if you look at what it takes to be a real player in our industry, part of what's made the better companies successful is the fact that they have scale.

Y Control: Joe Ybarra On Cheyenne Mountain's Massive Plans [Gamasutra]

Terra Nova has mirrors of the summary judgment motions, as well as a quick little wrap-up; Rock, Paper, Shotgun gets to the nitty gritty and also has a poll (question: 'Should Blizzard crush Glider?' options: 'Aye! Bots = cheating,' 'Nay! Grinding = misery,' 'Ayenay! Blizzard should provide a levelling service themselves' - thus far, 'Aye!' is winning), and PlayNoEvil has some analysis up from a security standpoint.

Blizzard v WoW Glider: Interesting, no? [Terra Nova]; Democracy Inaction: Blizzard vs Bots [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]; World of Warcraft Warden vs. Glider - Which is the Lesser Evil? Who owns my computer? {PlayNoEvil]

Now we have a problem. And it is not gold farmers.

Banks don't like chargebacks. High risk/ high fraud markets (the adult industry and gambling) pay a substantial premium for payment processing. If fraud gets too bad, payment processors will simply refuse to service companies. The also will impose additional procedures to combat fraud - all of which cost money.

The first consequence for the entire game industry will be a broad increase in payment processing fees. New game providers will face difficulty entering the market as most payment processors will refuse to work with them.

Subscription gaming is in trouble. While the free-to-play business model has been pitched by many as a good strategy, it is going to become necessary in a higher payment processing world.

Eep. Will there be more fallout à la the Halifax bank incident? Time will tell.

You hate Gold Farmers? Here come the Gold Frauders

"Maybe they hit the wrong button on the calculator," said a source close to Shanda regarding small and medium size gaming companies overshooting their values.

Ye Youzhong, CEO of Kaixin Investments, said that online game companies had recently overvalued themselves by over tenfold, making investments in them unprofitable when considering that the current price-to-earnings ratio of listed Chinese gaming companies is around 30. He said that if bought for a price of 12-15 times their real value, it would take a full three years—including the market listing process—before the investing company saw any profit. Moreover, he added, a lot of these companies had no chance to be listed in the first place.

I'm sure everything will balance out in the long run, and I can't imagine this will have a huge impact on the speed with which the industry in general is growing. Still, it's interesting to look at the inner workings of some of these big companies and what they're worrying about.

Online Game Industry Deals Paralyzed [EEO]

Internet cafes have been repeatedly targeted for breeding juvenile crime and promoting truancy, despite widely ignored rules barring anyone under 18 from admission. Located in towns and small cities throughout China, internet cafes mainly offer online games that are popular among young people. Authorities have blamed the cafes for Internet addiction and for encouraging juvenile crime as a way to earn money to play online games.

First the problem was that kids were so busy playing WoW and other MMORPGs that they didn't have time for anything else; now the problem is that WoW's keeping them too busy ... with crime? Does this mean we'll see a related drop off in suspect addiction 'treatment' methods?

China Targets Internet in Crime Sweep [AP]

"Zero sum" is bad. Games where I win and you lose are bad. Worse still is "I win and all the rest of you lose". Notwithstanding the current cultural obsession with endzone strutting by winners, losers do not enjoy themselves and if you can help take the sting out of it, you should. Alliances, cooperative play, ranked "winners" rather than "A winner" with a bunch of losers are all options. Pacing needs variety. Slow periods should follow intense ones and forced "time-outs" can offer opportunities to socialize, catch your breath and anticipate things to come. Remember, the players no longer have a "pause key" as they did in a solo-game. Strategies need "wiggle room". People have different personal styles and when playing against each other it's great to let them "do it their own way" rather than a single approach that all must follow. If possible you should balance the game such that a strategic planner for instance might not always beat the joystick jockey or the detailed tactical type. A game that allows for diverse people to play diverse ways is always best.

There's much, much more, but it is interesting to see what we're still talking about in regards to multiplayer game design. We'll find out shortly what gems this year's GDC will produce.

GDC: Social lessons of years past [Lost Garden]

From Maple Story to Silkroad Online, there is no shortage of MMOs in the free to play space. In the same vein, there is an abundance of virtual worlds such as Second Life or Kaneva. It seems as though the vast majority of new free to play game since 2005 have been virtual worlds or MMOs.

Perhaps it's the very reason that these games have proliferated in the free to play market; MMOs and virtual worlds are inherently more inclusive than an FPS. Still, it would be a shame to see the free to play space flounder due to constant reiteration of the same genres and themes, turning away players seeking a different experience.

Considering the quiet inroads a number of free to play options have made in the American market, I would be surprised if the market didn't continue to grow - and I'm not convinced flying under the radar is such a bad thing.

Top 10 Free To Play Growth Killers [Free To Play]

Under the new regulation, the [GAPP] will postpone the examination, approval and licensing of foreign company products if the companies are sued or targeted for arbitration actions by Chinese online game companies.

It sounds to me like this is dealing with new products and WoW is safe from frivolous lawsuits for the time being - but this is still rife with potential problems, since many domestic games are introduced to China via partnership between foreign companies and domestic operators. The potential negative impacts on domestic companies if games are unfairly held up is huge; and some of the most recent lawsuits involving Chinese and foreign game companies have involved disputes over licenses and operations. Considering Chinese companies have proved they have absolutely no compunction about illegally operating foreign games outside set corporate agreements, I'm not at all convinced this will actually do anything in the long run other than encourage domestic companies to commit IP theft.

China Adopts New Regulations to Keep Out Foreign Online Game Companies [Virtually Blind]

In a sweep designed to "clean up young people's online environment," police in the southern Chinese border city of Shenzhen uncovered 563 illegal Internet cafes, Xinhua said. The crackdown netted 1,407 computers, while 7 people were arrested and nearly 5,000 Internet accounts closed.

Shenzhen police in one case discovered 30 computers crammed into a 40-square meter room.

Other unregistered establishments were tucked in the upper floors of otherwise empty buildings. "This shows the difficulties the law enforcers face," Xinhua noted.

Promising more crackdowns and more laws, the Chinese government is attempting to bite back. I'm just unconvinced it's actually going to do anything other than flush out some illegal businesses and further bloat the bureaucracy.

China flags crackdown on "undesirable" online games [Reuters]

... We all played games, to a point where I needed acupuncture for my wrist! And we played games, from MMORPGs, to first-person shooters, to racing games ....

But, in a sense, we were really looking for games that everybody can play, even the thirty-five year old women, without a lot of complications. But there are certain specific criteria we also look for in the game developers: 1. They believe in the North American, Western market. 2. They have the capacity to work with us, because — as you guys know — these games, once they're launched, that's the beginning of your work, not the end, unlike the console games.

It's an interesting look at one company who is trying to bring over some fresh blood while still appealing to a wide audience (and has the funding to back up their effort) - well worth a read through if you have the time.

Q&A - Outspark Gets $11 M Funding, Talks 'Virtual Playground' [Worlds In Motion]

When an audience member sat down to listen to an oral epic poet in ancient Greece, he knew he was going to hear about Jason and Achilles and Medea and Atalanta beforehand, in the same way an MMOG player knows he's going to get Fighters and Warriors and Clerics and Rogues. Furthermore, our ancient poetry lover also knew he would hear about "swift-footed Achilles" or "resourceful Odysseus," in the same way our MMOG fan can expect to hear about wolves that need slaying and mushrooms that need collecting.

Such formulas - whether in epic poetry or MMOGs - are not just for the convenience of the artist; they're ultimately for the benefit of the audience, eliminating guesswork and confusion and giving people what it is they expect - a new toy with familiar packaging.

However, no matter how formulaic Vergil might have been in structure and use of epithets, his language itself is a pleasure to read in the original - even formulaic structure becomes a masterpiece when it's dressed up appropriately. Formula serves a purpose, but it's no fun when it's bland.

Rhapsody: Quest Formulas in MMORPGs [The Escapist]

The main Southern Weekly article on ZT Online follows a gamer as she first becomes interested in the game, through her rise to power, and her eventual disillusionment with the money-sink it had become.

Woven into the narrative are descriptions of the often shockingly brazen tactics ZT Online uses to soak the "RMB gamers" who would rather spend money than grind out levels. The picture resolves into that of an online casino dressed in the trappings of an adventure game, and Shi Yuzhu [the brain behind ZT] ends up looking a lot like a shady used-car salesman.

It's a really, really great (if somewhat lengthy) article from a number of perspectives - it's one of the better mainstream media articles I've read on gaming, though not without its flaws. But as the PNE commentary points out, the fascinating thing is how it turns a lot of ideas about 'good' MMORPGs upside down ... and is reaping major rewards. From the sounds of it, I doubt we'll be seeing it Stateside, but one never knows.

Gamble your life away in ZT Online [Danwei via PlayNoEvil]

All of this accessibility talk comes down to reducing barriers — to entry, to engagement, blurring the line that separates gamers from non-gamers, the 'core from the casual. The goal is to make a game that both the 60-hour-per-week grind maniac and the bite-size session gamer can enjoy, with neither missing out; to bring gaming a little closer to mainstream entertainment — and vice versa ....

One thing's clear about this year, though — the era wherein the majority of games are being made for and marketed only to gamers is ending.

It's an interesting look back at some things that have happened in '07 and worth a read through. I'm not big on retrospectives, but it's been nice reading other people's thoughts on the industry's important events.

2007: The Year The Wall Fell? [Sexy Videogameland]

... the results do suggest that EverQuest, and possibly MMORPGs in general, reinforce language acquisition for a number of reasons. The pursuit of quests, for example, requires players to become what Rankin calls "active learners" who engage with other players and the gaming environment. The study also supports Schneider and Zheng's conclusion that the games are inherently motivating.

"The game requires them to do things," Rankin says, "to read directions, to interact with other avatars, to travel over the landscape; that's why they learn the language. You have to comprehend the information that's in front of you in order to advance to different levels and complete the quests. And you can't complete the quests without asking for help from other players, which, again, requires you to understand the language."

This ties in a bit with some of the debate over 'serious games'; I guess just about anything can be made 'serious' in the right context. I especially loved the suggestion that Blizzard could make a killing if they opened ESL servers up in Asia.

On a Quest for English [T.H.E. Journal via Educational Games Research

What Eve doesn't do, of course, is create a world that is as compelling and immediate as World Of Warcraft. And this ties in to my final point.

You might respond to all this and say: "but levelling up gives us something to aim for, the skilling in Eve is so much more nebulous, so to speak. It's better to have quests and a magic horse at level 40 I can aim for. That is why WoW has some many millions of people playing it." This is correct, and it's another reason why the principles, rather than the execution, of Eve Online are worthy of copying. If you were to base your game on Eve you'd make skills, items, and equipment both aspiration-worthy and customisation-friendly. It's about presentation as much as mechanics .... One of Eve's failures is the obscurity of its aspirational targets - any game wanting wider appeal needs to present this more clearly.

It's a quick read & worth a read through, even if you're only tangentially interested in MMO game design.

World of EveCraft [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Earlier this week, CDC's online gaming unit, CDC Games, sued Mgame in a Hong Kong court claiming Mgame has not been providing adequate technical support for its "Yulgang" online game and that it has not been supporting CDC in its efforts to combat piracy.

CDC Games said Wednesday that Mgame terminated its contract with the company, citing nonpayment. CDC said on Friday its games unit has "continued to make obligatory royalty payments to Mgame for its operation of 'Yulgang,' which continues to operate in China today."

I'm not sure how CDC's status as the largest outside shareholder in MGame ties into all of this, but I do know that even the brief news reports have given me headaches.

CDC Files Another Lawsuit Against Mgame [CNN]

BEIJING, Oct. 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ — Beijing Perfect World Network Technology Co., Ltd. (''PW Network'' or ''the Company'') today announces that the grand prize winning "Perfect World in the Eye" (''the Film'') of the first Company sponsored "Perfect World" micro-video originality competition has successfully showcased on China Central Television's film channel. The Film, titled "Love Cinematographing," first aired at 21:30 on Oct. 9, 2007.

"Perfect World in the Eye" tells the story of an ideal and harmonious world through the eyes of a child. By using the technique of compare and contrast, the Film explores a utopian society according to a pure child's opinion. The Film unifies the three main components, "Love, Happiness and Green," with artful cutting techniques, and uses the child's joyous smile in the final scene to point out the main theme of the Film — this may be the perfect world in everyone's heart!

The first "Perfect World" micro-video originality competition began on July 15. The activities organizing committee received a significant number of applications since the competition began. After the judging process, which also took public opinion into consideration, Clang Clang's, "Perfect World in the Eye," was awarded the competition's grand prize. The "Duanyu Series" made by Snow and Moon workroom, "Perfect World" made by Chenjunguang 06, "Houyi Fires Moon" made by Tianyizhiwen, and "Accident of Filming Perfect World" made by Hongchun gg were also awarded prizes.

The airing of the winning film on CCTV's film channel not only demonstrated the improvement of game players' video-making skills, but also the substantial amount of attention the event has received. The screening also exhibited the influence of PW Network, and the Company's ability to improve both the game players' tangible and intangible abilities through its self developed online games. The Company will continue to hold this kind of event in the future and enable game players to observe their favorite games through fresh and various angles and completely display the development and fascination of domestic games.

To review the winning videos in this competition, please go to: http://hot.ku6.com/world2 .

... the Eve-Online game culture has also developed, I think, a number of narratives that allow players to more easily detach themselves from their losses:

1.) conspiracy theories and the shadow-world stories (subterfuge) distance blame
2.) the scale of the alliance struggle dwarfs individual losses
3.) the "intel" / information superiority game introduces a helpful fiction (not bested, but undone!)

Beyond cultural considerations, I think there are at least two structural elements that help recycle losers:

A.) There is an interconnected social/economic/security ecosystem that spans the three distinctive types of "terrain" in Eve-Online: "0.0" space (alliances), "low-security", and "Empire Space".

B.) There exists a high degree of organizational fluidity that can exploit the ecosystem of (A.)

Since I don't play PvP-type games of any stripe, with a few exceptions on a very minor scale, I can only imagine the frustration that comes along with perceived 'losses' being higher in time and effort to recoup and when redemption isn't just a reloaded game away - but this piece got me thinking. With all the chatter about the 'culture' of 'games' like Second Life and some of the more social aspects of games like WoW, I'd be a lot more interested to see more talk about the game play culture, for lack of a better word, in a lot of these oft-discussed MMORPGs (and games in general, for that matter). I'm not always sure what keeps me coming back to games when I suffer nasty defeats of the type that make me want to throw my console out a window, and I can just reload and try again.

The moon is a harsh mistress [Terra Nova]

This paper explores levels of abstraction: Representational games present a fictional world, but within that world, players are only allowed to perform certain actions; the fictional world of the game is only implemented to a certain detail.

The paper distinguishes between abstraction as a core element of video game design, abstraction as something that the player decodes while playing a game, and abstraction as a type of optimization that the player builds over time.

Finally, the paper argues that abstraction is a related to the magic circle of games and to rules as such.

I have absolutely no doubt that it's more interesting than The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan; it's a text-heavy article (obviously), but hey, there are pictures!

New Paper Posted: A Certain Level of Abstraction [The Ludologist]

The popularity of WoW in remote Shangri-la shows that WoW's lower penetration in lower tier markets (relative to Fantasy Westward Journey and Zhengtu) is a matter of income level rather than geography. Despite Shangri-la's remote location, the county is relatively wealthy. In addition to the wealth created by growing tourism, many residents also receive government subsidies based on both ethnic minority status and the county's high elevation. The additional wealth allows Shangri-la's tour guides and yak herders to pay a premium 0.45 Yuan per hour for WoW in China, whereas most other MMORPGs in the country have shifted to virtual item based free-to-play model.

You know you have serious market penetration when you can count yak herders among your devotees.

The China Angle: 'Online Games in Shangri-la' [Gamasutra]

Though the rule is often ignored, Chinese gamers who want to play video games at Internet cafes are expected to register using their state-issued identity cards. These and other restrictions over the years have been part of what critics describe as a larger plan to censor the dissemination of materials deemed too racy or controversial by the government.

The larger etchings of this supposed campaign were further revealed just last week when an article in the government-owned Shanghai Daily reported on the blocking of more than 18,400 "pornographic and indecent" Web sites. Although sites were closed ostensibly to prevent pornographic material from being viewed by minors, angry reports soon began to circulate in the blogosphere that many personal blogs had also been blocked in the roundup.

Censorship in China is a touchy issue, but the wider ramifications of government control of the gaming industry is an interesting question - will the central government ramp up controls since it appears the ones introduced this summer aren't working so well? In the world of MMORPGs, what's next after insisting skeletons be clothed in flesh? What's the landscape going to look like this time next year?

Chinese Crackdown on Gaming or Censorship? [NBC News World Blog]

World of Warcraft privileges architecture as a spatial experience. It is concerned with the ability to move through space, constructing architecture as a series of solids and voids. When we interact with the architecture we are alternately channelled and impeded. The architecture encompasses us, organizing our activities into discrete zones and structuring the way in which we move between activities .... The architecture has what architects call program, so that Ironforge can be divided into circulation space and activity space. This is space that works on a personal level, an intimate experience, where we guide our avatar through the intricacies of the game world looking through their eyes.

Some interesting questions are posed at the end of the Terra Nova piece, most notably "In WoW (or in any other MMO), are there places where you get lost where you'd prefer to have a mental map? Are there places where your mental map is too clear and you'd prefer to get lost more often? Which spaces are too big and which are too small?" The line can be very fine between 'too linear and confining' and 'too expansive and frustrating' - but where is the line drawn?

The Image of the Undercity [TerraNova]

Simulation models are of increasing importance within the field of applied epidemiology. However, very little can be done to validate such models or to tailor their use to incorporate important human behaviours. In a recent incident in the virtual world of online gaming, the accidental inclusion of a disease-like phenomenon provided an excellent example of the potential of such systems to alleviate these modelling constraints. We discuss this incident and how appropriate exploitation of these gaming systems could greatly advance the capabilities of applied simulation modelling in infectious disease research.

According to the article in the Times, "As the virus spread, very real challenges emerged, such as the failure of quarantine measures, further transmission by character's pets and the existence of "immune" characters, who act as carriers, passing the virus to others while failing to succumb to symptoms." With the never ending onslaught of negative press, it's nice to see games like WoW getting some pretty good positive press - and interesting, to boot. The paper will be in the September

How a computer game glitch could help to fight off global pandemic [The Times via Wonderland & GamePolitics]

The untapped potential of virtual game worlds to shed light on real world epidemics (abstract) [Lancet Infectious Diseases]

When we first started, it really was very tough. Venture capitalists, investors — they didn't understand this business model. Our colleagues told us it was all about page views, but our product was an online game client [software that didn't involve loading Web pages, as other Internet products including search Web sites use to attract advertising revenue]. So when page views are king, they said, 'How can we give you money?'

It's an interesting and short interview - a somewhat enlightening look at the inner workings of a company who won't be going any time soon.

Shanda Co-Founder Finds Hard Choices Satisfying {WSJ]

The new subsidiary will leverage the domain expertise of CDC Games to seek out licensing opportunities that will enable the company to enter targeted global markets including Japan, North America and southeast Asia. CGI intends to launch new online MMO games in Japan and North America in late Q4 this year through its own operations as well as through publisher partners. The company has completed initial plans for publishing games directly in North America and Japan, including plans to leverage the global network and support infrastructure already established by its sister company, CDC Software.

They also announced sub-licensing agreements with companies in Taiwan and Southeast Asia and ... a lot of other stuff. Agreements to right of them, agreements to left of them - looks like they're serious about invading foreign markets. The question is - will gamers outside of China bite?

CDC Games Launches CDC Games International to Publish Online Games on a Global Scale [Digital 50]

Examples cited in the piece suggested that players in MMOs like World of Warcraft that tend to spend a lot of time talking to other users may be shown ads for mobile phones, or players that spend a lot of time exploring may be targeted for holiday adverts.

A Google spokesperson did not admit that this is specifically what the patent was for, only that Google registers many different patents whether or not they plan to implement them in the future. If they do decide to use it, this patent could in addition monitor data from any console that is hooked up to the internet. Perhaps in the not-so distant future, I can also download a Google "Hole-In-The-Head" extension for my browser so I can at least make the collection of crap I don't want complete. Kim Phu

Google to Target Gaming [MCVUK]

Never say whining doesn't pay off. After I griped yesterday about how Blizzard didn't send me, Florian Eckhardt for god's sakes, a Burning Crusade beta key... guess who got one? That's right. It wasn't God. It wasn't you. It was me. Many thanks to the anonymous Blizzard employee who took pity on me. And, while I'm at it, I'd really like to just bless the entire concept of favoritism in whatever ideal Platonic form it inhabits in the metaphysical realm.

So this weekend will be spent "testing" (read: playing, griping about the bugs, but never reporting them) the expansion. Unfortunately, I don't have a level 60 character to take to the Outlands. However, I anticipate a hilarious bout of metagaming, as I feverishly distribute misinformation about the contents of the new expansion.

Early this morning, I called Eliza up. Even at the best of times, her voice is far from melodious, but early in the dawn, it flatulates from her throat in Greco-Jabbaesque farting noises. It's like having someone press their anus up to your ear, then whispering through their bowels.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Eliza! Guess who got into the Burning Crusade beta? Here's a hint: NOT YOU."

"You have fun with your Blonde Elves or whatever," she replied.

"I don't have time for your womanly passive-agressive jealousy," I sneered." I have mounts to fly. And hey. You know what? Rogues have this new, PVP-only talent. It's called Assassin Recall. You use it upon a ganked target, and when they respawn, it instantly teleports you back behind them, already stealthed, full energy. Five minute cooldown. Neat, huh? LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU, ELIZA! Ha ha ha ha."

"I hate you."

"NYEAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" I screamed into the phone. I'd been drinking. She hung up.

Anyway, so you know what I'll be doing this weekend. You? Florian Eckhardt

So he's another one of those eyeroll-worthy posts of mine. I've long lamented exactly how inelegant World of Warcraft is when it comes to getting a group together. Most people do the vast majority of their quests solo, because there's just no good automated system for finding a group for any one quest.

Burning Crusade looks to change that. Blizzard will be adding a button next to your social tab to either join a group or create a new one. You can specify the quest, battleground, dungeon, raid or zone and Burning Crusade will put together the rest.

The proof is in the pudding, of course, and there's no guarantee that trying to put together a raid group won't equal a pudding full of five priests. But still, it's better than the current paradigm: motherfucking nothing. Florian Eckhardt

Group Interface [World of Warcraft]

Yesterday, I spent about 10 hours leveling up my undead rogue from 41 to 43. Today, I am filled with self-loathing. During that period, each muscular cell surrounded itself with 8 protecting cells of a cottage cheese like substance. Under the strain of my expanding rotundity, my chair broke into kindling, and was quickly replaced with a make-shift chair of my own devising made up of beer cans filled with my own urine.

The point? I'm on a bit of a World of Warcraft kick lately. And Jennifer Jean Lee's amazing photoset of chalk paintings really capitalizes upon my utter, pathetic predilection for catassing. Florian Eckhardt

World of Warcraft Chalk Painting [Jennifer Jean Lee]

On the off chance you missed South Park being sucked into World of Warcraft last night, Google Video is hosting (doubtlessly with a healthy slathering of copyright infringement) the full episode of the latest episode. Watch it before it gets pulled!Florian Eckhardt

Something interesting is happening in Eve Online, the massive space MMORPG: the largest alliances in the game, Band of Brothers and Ascendant Frontier, have declared war on each other, sucking 9,000 players into the game's first truly massive PvP conflict. Huge battles are taking place for entire systems. And all in a game I once declared the world's prettiest spreadsheet.

Most interestingly, Ascendant Frontier pulled out the big guns in their war against Band of Brothers. In fact, they pulled out the biggest gun, the Doomsday Weapon, which looks like a sort of solar-system sized nuke. But even more hilarious is that apparently, Ascendant Frontier missed, mostly killing a good chunk of their own guys. Check the video after the jump for what the Doomsday Weapon looks like in action.

I always really wanted to love Eve Online because it ad the potential for just this sort of thing, but ultimately, I found that most of my time was spent flying from one place to another... something I would have found more manageable if I could have done it in the background as I worked, but my aging rig at the time didn't allow it. Now, I do have a rig that would support it, but it's OS X... when are you going to do a port, Eve devs? This sort of conflict is just the sort of thing that'd bring me back. Florian Eckhardt

First hostile doomsday device fired [Eve Online Forums]

I've promised myself that as soon as Burning Crusade comes out, I'm going to reunite my guild made up entirely of undead rogues with Cthulhuesque names ("...and the Holograms") and waste my entire winter playing a game that has never filled me with anything besides self-contempt.

So good news! Looks like Burning Crusade is starting to wrap up production. Blizzard has started sniffing after prominent guild leaders to ask them if they'd like to join a closed beta, dragging a few of their buddies along.

Please note: Blizzard doesn't want you in the beta. Pleading and whining won't help: they view you as rabble. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that we'll get to see an open beta too. Florian Eckhardt

Blizzard on WoW Expansion's Closed Beta [1UP]