Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire... On the one hand this may seem like technical arcanum, but note that we all often pretend this point in our discussions and comments on Terra Nova and elsewhere. It is how most of us conceptualize a simulation. We talk to the illusion of a world with many concurrent activities and a speak least metaphorically, to the agencies that can live in such places (e.g. of Non-Player-Characters and Player-Characters interacting with shared world state).

Interesting game metaphors were used by Judge Roberts in his opening remarks to the Senate panel: Yet, like many MMO players, I too have experienced the other side of this “industriousness”. Recently in WoW, I ran into an Undead Mage in Hearthglen who frost-AE farmed the non-elites (literally 10-12 at a time). As a frost mage myself (on the Alliance side), I attempted the same trick. The first time I tried, the Undead Mage pulled elites into my Blizzard range in an attempt to kill me. I escaped. The second time I tried, a stealthed Undead Rogue turned his PvP flag on as he walked into my Blizzard, thus setting off my PvP flag. Another Undead Rogue then backstabbed me. Using a variety of ice blocks, blinks, and ice barriers, I somehow managed to survive that as well.

People came to this frontier to become what they could not become elsewhere - heroes and millionaires. The early, undeveloped economy caused many inconveniences. Certain common tasks required a great deal of time to complete. Many Chinese workers took advantage of this entrepreneurial opportunity by providing a service that dramatically enhanced the quality of life. Providing this service was no trivial task, but involved tedious repetition, painstaking attention to detail, and often consumed most of their waking hours in a small room in front of the same machine.

My two-year-old son said said something interesting yesterday. He had just made his own MOG character for the first time - surprisingly easy, and this was EQII, not WoW or YPP - and he was running around and figuring out targeting. He highlighted a snake or a rat or something, and I pressed the 'attack' button. The combat sequence scared him, though, so I turned his guy around and ran off. But I did that only after standing there with my mouth open for a second. Because he didn't say 'turn the game off' or 'help my guy' or 'what do I do'. He said 'Get me out of here.'

As "That Chip Guy" noted in a comment thread yesterday, Marvel has licensed Microsoft to do a superhero MMORPG for the Xbox. Plenty of news coverage available here which references the success of World of Warcraft, yadda yadda. And DC Comic is apparently doing an MMORPG with Sony for the PS3 -- see here. We've talked about consoles and MMORPGs here from time to time. Is there anything lost if the MMORPG mainstream shifts to consoles over the next few years? Sure, you'll need a few more buttons, but aren't the multimedia Xbox 360 and the PS3 just PCs in console disguise anyway?

A point raised by Craig Perko: what is the nature (if not the likelihood) of a consolidated vision of the virtual world? Will it be a "super-world" or will it be a quilt of highly specialized service relationships - i.e., in a manner of speaking, a tapestry of many virtual worlds?

Perhaps the strangest feature of some current MMORPGs which are based on Medieval backgrounds (eg Lineage, Everquest) is that players can sell or gift their in-game items which practically function as production goods / goverment licenses in modern world without any restraint. In the Middle Ages, it is hard to imagine that one could sell or otherwise transfer one’s fiefdom(eg castle)/ one's peerage to someone with no blood relation. Feudal property law simply forbade or regulated this type of activity. Regulars might remember that back in March I posted Simulating terror, which sparked of a lively discussion on the use of Virtual Worlds in understanding terrorism, I still think that there are insights and I’d really like to go to this conference (especially given that I work in central London just outside Parliament - so I’m very interested in the ability to predict terrorist behaviour); but I doubt I can make it over so feedback from any of the TN community will be very welcome.

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.

In case you missed it, the next DAC (digital arts & culture) conference will take place December 1-3 at the IT University of Copenhagen. DAC has long been a host to game studies work so definitely consider submitting and coming out for it. Deadline for papers and workshop proposals is August 8. Full info can be found at the conference website. Anyway forget the pretentious ‘inclusive’ title. Don’t worry it’s all about the game. This year’s format seems pretty much the same as last year.

You’ve got to be quick for this one: it’s in DC, it’s on Thursday at 14 hundred hours; it looks great if you have a uniform fetish – well it's hosted by the US Navy and it's called: Innovation at the Edge: The New Capabilities, Applications, Threats and Opportunities Unleashed by Global Technology Convergence and Proliferation.