Terra Nova

Virtual Power Politics

Several of us are in Milwaukee at Command Lines today (it's open to the public), exploring "the diverse ways  in which governance is both implemented and emerging within cyberspace."   So it's quite timely that James Grimmelmann of Yale Law School has just posted Virtual Power Politics on SSRN.

See Jose hit

Not living in the U.S. anymore I get my updates about the hot topics there in delayed, sometimes random, ways. I had heard a bit about the steroid uproar that happened on the heals of Jose Canseco's recent book and now just got a chance to read a review of it. In it the author (Steven Shapin, The New Yorker, 18 April) talks about the how Canseco sees steroid use as actually part of a new era of "clean living" in baseball where steroid use was part of a larger fitness trend where "you saw bigger, stronger, faster, and healthier athletes, instead of those raggedy, fun-down, pot-bellied balls players of previous eras." Shapin also recounts how President Bush dealt with the issue in his 2004 State of the Union address saying that performance drugs are bad because "it sends the wrong message--that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character."

Innovation II

Joaquin Keller told us about Solipsis - a peer-to-peer MMOG. Some of us have heard of another peermog, but we were asked not to bally-hoo it. Anyway: it's Kazaa meets EverQuest. Discuss.

Innovation I

Frequent commenter Barry Kearns posts a commodification-resistant MMOG economy a la Randy Farmer's KidTrade. Discuss.

A Place By Any Other Name

This past weekend I started playing Animal Crossing (GameCube) with my kids.  I found it addictive and unexpectedly provocative.

A Shot Across the Bow

As TN reported a this week, Sony accounced the Sony Exchange. There has been an active discussion here and elsewhere.

It also hasn't taken long for other MMO publishers to give their opinion. Mark Jacobs, Mythic's President and CEO, cut loose in Game Daily Biz:

I'm disappointed with the decision from a leader in the MMO industry to go down a path which in the past, has been an anathema to them and remains so to just about every other MMORPG company in the industry. I think that not only supporting the sale of in-game characters, items and currency, but also taking a 'cut' of those sales, is not only a mistake but one of the worst decisions in the history of the MMORPG industry

The article goes on to cover Mark's views on how this will imapct IGE, possible legal issues, and more choice quotes:

We remain committed to keeping our games as games and not as opportunities to encourage behavior that runs counter to their spirit of creativity and entertainment.

SOE's President, John Smedley response is also included in the Game Daily Biz story.

In satisfying the broad player demand for a service such as Station Exchange, SOE is again innovating, and any innovation is bound to have its critics

Worst decision in the history of the MMORPG industry? Acceptance of the inevitable? Brilliant move? Talk amongst yourselves.

MMO GDP, QED (WTF?)

It's Estonia, Basically. Or Maybe Cote D'Ivoire. OK, Malta.

Last August, our intrepid econometer Dr. Ted gave us a back-of-the-envelope GDP for the virtual world economy that pegged it at about $4.74 billion, or roughly level with Namibia. It’s time for an update.

Ouch

My shoulder hurts.

"Danked!!"

In addition to the "troll" and the "flame", we now have a new forum archtype - the "Dank" - born out of this WoW forum thread.  Sometimes people do something so tragically funny that they can coin a word overnight.

There

In other news today, Daniel Terdiman also reports that the consumer-side of There is being spun out of its military uses by a couple of its execs. Whether it can thrive outside the military simulation market is an open question (it had a bad time of it last year, and since then Second Life has become much stronger). I for one hope that it takes off. I've always had a soft spot for There.

Update Fixed a typo and added some markup [9:41am]