Raiding Mods KLHThreatMeters submitted by Maqulvent KHLThreatMeters at Curse-Gaming "A simple, useful mod to keep track of threat levels throughout a party." Damage Meters Submitted by jbuchmann55 Damage Meters at Curse-Gaming "A lot of people like to know the damage and healing done, but it seems like a lot of people don’t have the damage meters. I’m always getting asked to post the damage info. So I thought I’d post this like to a good damage meter mod." In the World of Warcraft there are many events some of them represent real world holidays and others are simply something fun to distract the players from their usual experiences by providing something new and unique. This page is a sort of "guide" to those events. Also, be sure to check out the Events Calendar to find out when these events occur. And, remember to check back often because more events are constantly being added!

The New York Times ran a pretty standard Second Life "people are buying and selling virtual stuff and working in virtual jobs" article yesterday. Nothing new, really. I only mention it here because Julian, Robert, and Nick get quoted -- so good for you guys! :-) It's hard to say whether it's going to be good or bad (most likely somewhere in between), but I'm fascinated by the fact that a lot of this promise appears to be intersecting with virtual worlds, despite my perception that AI in VWs has taken a backseat (relative to non-MMO games) to the desire to build increasingly more complex systems for human-to-human interaction.

Gaming Open Market and PayPal seem to have kissed and made up. In what could be characterised as an intense focus on customer sentiment or a sudden 180 degree hand-break turn of a policy change GOM have just announced that, despite previous statements, they will be using PayPal after all. A couple of weeks ago I reported that GOM had suspended trading (See: GOM Off-line) due to an alleged fraud. The incident sparked off a massive discussion here on TN about the legality, ethics, impact and mechanics of virtual item trading. On 26th of June GOM announced: As of midnight eastern time on July 9 2004, Gaming Open Market will no longer take deposits from or send withdrawals to PayPal accounts.

A salami slicing exploit is a computer crime technique premised on stealing lots of little bits of value (e.g. rounding down in financial transactions) that is hard to detect. Clay Shirkey once argued this to be a false analogy when used to justify micropayment systems (September 2003, Fame vs Fortune: Micropayments and Free Content). Those "salami slices" don't turn out to be as thin as they would first appear. His argument revolved around What Nick Szabo calls mental transaction costs, the energy required to decide whether something is worth buying or not, regardless of price. For example, Clay suggested, that the mental transaction costs may actually rise as the cost of each slice of salami decreases, e.g.: It's easy to think a newspaper is worth a dollar, but is each article worth half a penny? Is each word worth a thousandth of a penny?

eGenesis’ A Tale in the Desert (ATITD) is unusual in many ways. There is no killing (well if you try very hard you can kill yourself – permanently), there is a highly evolved legal system, and the player voted to the position of Demi-Pharaoh has the power to terminate the account of another player. ATITD also ends. When the players, or citizens as they are called, reach a certain level of development and the story arc reaches its climax – that’s it. For a long time players and commentators have been wondering what comes next. We knew that after the First Telling there would be a Second, but what? Would eGenesis just re-boot the servers and off we go again? Oh, no.

A bigger event than the closing of Warhammer Online, this world was to be the first-person 3D update to its aging but venerable ancestor. Judging from the press release, score it gameplay 1, graphics 0. Thanks for the heads-up to Brian Whitener. Reactions from the player base have ranged from “Whoah....” to “a brilliant way to avoid hiring more employees”. For most MMOs I might think that this is just a lame way of the designers shirking their responsibilities, but ATITD is not most MMOs, the relationship between the designers and players is different, closer than in many others; also the whole point of the game was for the player base to develop into a community so it even makes narrative sense – though I’d be interested to find out when exactly Teppy thought of the ending.

Things are heating up in There this summer, with hot topics like politics and religion becoming major points of debate both in-world and in the member forums. As the U.S. election season kicks into high gear, in-world political campaigning and even voter registration booths for RL presidential candidates are being offered. Meanwhile, a born-again Christian is ruffling feathers by using There as an advertising vehicle for his particular denomination. Specifically, he's set up a large structure just outside of Karuna Plaza, There’s main entry point for newbies with glowing crosses and billboards proclaiming “Jesus is Lord.” You really can’t miss this place. We’ve discussed politics and religion’s entree into virtual worlds before on TN but this case has a new twist. It’s not so much about the mere presence of political or religious groups in a virtual world (nothing new about that), but rather about the specific ways political and religious groups are now using vw’s as forums for recruiting new members for RL interest groups.

The main source of community conflict centers around the over-zealous advertising/spamming practices of these groups. Apparently things have gotten so bad that There's customer service made the following announcement in response: Religion, other controversial issues, and the role of customer service We have been seeing a great deal of debate regarding issues of religion, both in world and in the forums. The in-world activity in particular has resulted in a number of calls to customer service and has also taken up a lot of the community team's time. As a result, we want to clarify our position and set some guidelines to assist you as we move forward. We recognize that we have a diverse community, filled with people of differing ideas and opinions. We value this diversity and view it as one of the community's greatest strengths.

1. If a person places a portazone/sign/etc. in front of his or her own house, to express a particular opinion, this is acceptable. Expressing an opinion in a way that does not violate the TOS is acceptable. 2. If you purposely place a sign in front of another person's house, and you know that this person does not support your opinion/agenda, this enters the realm of griefing. The intent here is *clearly* to harrass the person of the opposing viewpoint. If the parties cannot resolve the issue among themselves, it would be appropriate to contact customer service for assistance. 3. Placing a portazone/sign/etc. in a public area, let's say just outside Karuna Plaza, to express a particular opinion, is acceptable. Again, expressing an opinion in a way that does not violate the TOS is okay.

The State of Play Conference was too rich with new concepts and directions to be usefully summarized in a blog. One thread that caught my mind's eye, though: users of virtual worlds and the owners seem destined to a long and bitter struggle for control. Tellingly, we return from the conference to news that the Warriors of EverQuest are on the verge of open rebellion. More on that below. First, the conference. Energized. I was shocked both at the number of people and the fact that there were many standing in back of the room through entire panels. I've never been at a conference where the subject matter was discussed continuously from 7AM until midnight every day. And one thing we all agreed on: virtual worlds matter.