This kind of flexibility is what the devotees of pen-and-paper sometimes hold up as the advantage of their games over the virtual worlds that millions of contemporary players spend time in, an advantage that some define in almost moral terms, that pen-and-paper promotes creativity and imagination in the experience of gameplay and in the ability of players to interpret and alter the rules of play on the fly. At least some of the older players in virtual worlds that I know have a love-hate relationship with their games of choice for that reason. They relish the flexibility of online play, but resent the ways in which it is so much less imaginative than pen-and-paper. Of course, this is also the limit condition of pen-and-paper: it takes a lot of time to design a world or an adventure and play in that world. It also is more challenging to find a sufficient number of people who can be gathered together in one physical place for a fixed period of time and who are all congenial or at least tolerable in their real-world, embodied presence.

An online 4th Edition addresses this latter problem. Getting people together online is simply logistically easier. I can see why some D&D devotees are worrying about the impact on the creativity and flexibility of pen-and-paper, however. The more that the representational tools used for online play are intended as a fundamental part of the gameplay, the more that they may end up constraining players and dungeon masters. If I can't represent what a player just said that he did using the tools that are available to me, will I choose to disallow the action? If I need to translate a complex action into something that can be coded into a computer-mediated gaming session, will I choose to standardize it so that it has less and less resemblance to actions that we can narratively imagine in a fantasy world, like infuriating an orc with insults about his mother? On the other hand, a lot of discussions of these plans are noting places where a standardized computer-mediated visualization of game mechanics would actually be really helpful.

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.

MMORPG players are already used to grinding, so why not have the "Write to Senator Clinton and tell her you won't vote for her if she doesn't spend the time to learn about video games"-quest? Or tools built into MySpace to write your Representatives and Senators? Facebook in particular, with millions of educated college students, should be able to mobilize the kind of lobby that should terrify both local and national politcos. After all, who do you think runs the government? It isn't the members themselves, but the army of dedicated, young graduates scurrying around the House and Senate office buildings. The same type of people who have Facebook and MySpace accounts.

Apple convinced music industry that their engineers could solve security flaws. It was important that their agreements didn't breach on a security flaw, only a pervasive flaw. So, they wanted to get labels to agree that it was an attempt to "keep honest people honest." Talked about the weakness of software licensing agreements. Thinks that more and more CDs will have agreements on the shrinkwrap. Use of software currently deemed consent to licensing agreement. Had to convince labels about types of use. Wanted to define usage rights to allow for limited use, but not commercial. So, the idea of transfer rights. Motorola cell phone, like iPods, is a non-transfer device, so it can play the music but not transfer the rights. Thinks that the strength of Music Store is the sale of tracks rather than the sale of albums. Some artists aren't willing to break up the albums. Studies from music store is that consumers think that if there are only 2 good tracks on the album, they buy just those tracks.

Apple didn't sign onto any Grokster briefs individually. "Grokster is the most important case since Betamax, maybe more so." End User Licenses. Restrictions places on end users that come with the service. Contracts between the seller and the user. Used as an adjunct to technical means. So why do companies do this? Presumption is that companies are just controlling the product for profit-making purposes. Some legitimate reasons beyond those. Warranty rights, for example (muck up taking care of your own car, lose your warranty coverage, for example). The principle basis for end user restrictions are contractual restrictions. Discussed the legal basis of contracts. Meetings of the minds . . . blah blah . . . ascent and understanding . . . some latin . . . blah blah . . . sorry, a lawyer should be taking notes :-)!

Suppose a disgruntled programmer were to run some code that flipped the sex of every player character in EverQuest. Further suppose that this programmer did such a thorough job that it would take a week before all the characters could be flipped back. The players would complain, obviously, but would they actually play for that week? Would they learn anything from the experience? Feel free to partition the player base any way you like, if you feel that different groups would have different reactions. Note, though, that I'm not asking how you would react; I'm asking how you think players in general would react.

Congratulations to Professor Richard Allan Bartle Ph.D for being first among Penguins. Which is a weird title for a neat honour. The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) special award for “the courage and bravery of a developer who is the first to test the proverbial waters, in the face of uncertainty of success or failure. Receiving a "penguin" serves as an inspiration and lesson to the community.” Full details are in the press release below. Anyone who knows Richard will also know that this award does not just recognise the fact that 20 years ago he and Roy Trubshaw developed MUD, the foundation of every MMO you see today but that he remains active and I can say from personal experience inspirational in both the academic and professional communities. Oh, he has a book out too: Designing Virtual Worlds. Congratulations from me and all the TN authors.

The IGDA's First Penguin award celebrates the courage and bravery of a developer who is the first to test the proverbial waters, in the face of uncertainty of success or failure. Receiving a "penguin" serves as an inspiration and lesson to the community. Richard Allan Bartle, Ph.D, who has been at the forefront of the online gaming industry from its very inception, embodies the spirit of this award. As co-creator of the first virtual world MUD's in 1978 he paved the path for many of today's massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) and persistent-world games."I'm touched the IGDA thought of me for this award," Richard Allan Bartle said. "The fact that MUD's have a direct connection to the imagination is what hooked thousands; computer games will always innovate, as long as people have imagination."

Who gets to decide what’s good gaming and what is bad - player base, publisher, Microsoft !! ? It’s pretty safe to say that notion of what is appropriate game play is highly contested and there are a bunch of actors who feel that they have the determining voice. We have had a recent example (thx 2 Mia for picking up on this one) of publisher fiat with the case of Square Enix’s banning of not 1, not 2, but 800+ accounts. Here is the text of the official edict on the subject: The notice references the PlayOnline Member Agreement, the full text can be found here. Revocation of User Rights.