As Greg stated (July 28), much of the material has been aired before in other venues. However, now it is in a nicely polished package: the solution to a "broken industry" and rising game development costs is a new business model. This is an attitude (deeper than that, it's a disposition) which I'd suggest is rooted in developer practice generally, and computer games developer practice specifically. It is a view which recognizes that which is scripted, modeled, or otherwise generated according to the practice of software development as seemingly both the (only) site of creativity and (therefore) the ultimate locus of value. Cheap FFXI Gil are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American servers.

After typing up my post on KC Munchkin, I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be helpful if someone made a comprehensive online list of early IP lawsuits related to video games?" Of course, as these things tend to go on the Web, someone already has. Today I stumbled across The Patent Arcade, a blog by lawyer Ross Dannenberg (who is also an adjunct IP prof at George Mason) that features a continually updated library of video game IP decisions, with blog-format postings about the opinions (including screenshots). This is an attitude (deeper than that, it's a disposition) which I'd suggest is rooted in developer practice generally, and computer games developer practice specifically. It is a view which recognizes that which is scripted, modeled, or otherwise generated according to the practice of software development as seemingly both the (only) site of creativity and (therefore) the ultimate locus of value. Cheap FFXI Gil are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American servers. They looked friendly enough--at least, no one had fruit ready to throw at us. It was simply kind of surreal, after reading the comments on TN this past week and hearing other things at the conference about the problems with game studies and developer/academic relations.

I really have no idea if that’s true or not, but there’s no doubt that there are certain fundamental differences in how the two cultures look at the graphics in games (much less look at gameplay). It also makes me wonder what Blizzard has done that appeals so strongly to both Westerners and Easterners in terms of visual style. I won’t presume to guess, but it’s an interesting thought to think. This is an attitude (deeper than that, it's a disposition) which I'd suggest is rooted in developer practice generally, and computer games developer practice specifically. It is a view which recognizes that which is scripted, modeled, or otherwise generated according to the practice of software development as seemingly both the (only) site of creativity and (therefore) the ultimate locus of value. Cheap FFXI Gil are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American servers.

MOGs have a thing called MUDflation (Raph Koster referred to it once as 'database inflation') that seems to have been part of their fabric from the beginning. Now, recently, a website (of dubious origin and with shady claims - not recommended) has created some charts that basically reveal what everyone here knows: the value of almost all game currencies against the dollar falls over time (although through back channels Nick Yee says that the price of WoW gold has stabilized recently; I am in EQ2 these days). Nothing new in this. Yet now that the numbers are posted this way, we get other sites (thanks Jessica) making alarmist (though tongue-in-cheek) analyses, as though something's wrong.

Unggi just alerted us to this: The Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has declared that on October 1, a fatigue system will be instituted in many major MMORPGs, including WoW and Lineage 2. See this report. The Chinese regulations are aimed at reducing time spent playing. According to the linked report: "The system will only award players full experience points for the first three hours of each day, half experience for the next two hours, and no experience after five hours." If you read Chinese, see this and this too -- and feel free to translate for us. It also raises some interesting non-design problems. It looks to me as if it would discourage RMT, for example, because investments won't necessarily be seen as sufficiently long-term. The truth is World of Warcraft Gold doesn’t HAVE to take a long time to get, especially in the higher levels. Buy WOW Gold here, and then enjoy your excited WoW life!

Police in Japan recently arrested a Chinese student for mugging other players in Lineage II for virtual equipment (there's a smallish probability of dropping your equipment each time you die) and selling the items for offline profit via auction sites. The story can be found here and here. Both articles spend the majority of space discussing the fact that the guy was pulling it all off with bots and it's left fairly ambiguous as to whether or not the student was arrested for the use of such programs or for the muggings themselves. Both issues are pretty interesting.

Interfax China is reporting that by year's end "Anti-Japan War Online," an MMORPG developed by PowerNet Technology in cooperation with the China Communist Youth League, will begin commercial operation... It also raises some interesting non-design problems. It looks to me as if it would discourage RMT, for example, because investments won't necessarily be seen as sufficiently long-term. The truth is World of Warcraft Gold doesn’t HAVE to take a long time to get, especially in the higher levels. Buy WOW Gold here, and then enjoy your excited WoW life! Warhammer Online Gold will keep your high power. On the other hand, if RMTers persuade the courts that people own what their characters own, the whole concept of a purge might be threatened.

We've been discussing MMORPGs and social issues here at Terra Nova for nearly two years, and, if memory serves me right, we've never once mentioned attorney Jack Thompson in the body of a post. Most of our discussion of politics has stayed in the heady realm of LamdaMOO politics, and has not delved into disputes over video game-related state regulations. (We have talked about that here, but rarely.) So it is interesting to see a blog like Game Politics, which focuses almost exclusively on those state regulatory efforts, starting to pay some attention to MMOs. Check out this thread, for instance, on The Great Virtual Market Crash of 2005.

Today's discussion from the Far East - recruiting farmers in China and identity theft in Korea (Lineage). It also raises some interesting non-design problems. It looks to me as if it would discourage RMT, for example, because investments won't necessarily be seen as sufficiently long-term. The truth is World of Warcraft Gold doesn’t HAVE to take a long time to get, especially in the higher levels. Buy WOW Gold here, and then enjoy your excited WoW life! Warhammer Online Gold will keep your high power. On the other hand, if RMTers persuade the courts that people own what their characters own, the whole concept of a purge might be threatened.

I want to piggyback on Ted's recent post on inflation but go in the opposite direction. We all repeat the mantra that inflation in MUDs/MMOs is inevitable - both the RMT and the in-game economy. And if you've played SWG, you'll remember the run-away inflation there.