So it's nearly 2007, and this is the point where lazy editors tell their lazy pundits to knock out a couple of hundred words structured around the topic: "Top Ten Moments in X for 2006", where X stands for whatever the hell the magazine/blog/thinget is allegedly about.
It turns out that I'm even lazier than those lazy editors and lazy pundits so instead I figure that you can tell me: What are the Top Ten Moments in Virtual Worlds or MMOGs for 2006? Your response only needs to be a couple of hundred words and of course Terra Nova will pay your usual freelance rate on a per word basis.
And as I sit here on the deck of the "Extraneous Load", the newly commissioned TN yacht, sipping an extremely good vodka gimlet and watching distressingly attractive women swim by, can I wish you all our best wishes for the Season. My only recommendation for this time of year is not to get into a Texas Hold'em game with Constance Steinkuehler...but that is a story for another day.
Thank you Dan, and Happy Holdays to you as well.
I'm on some fruits-juice myself at this momment too :-) . IMO,somethng that could qualify for the Top Ten is you here on TN calling the " suckpuppets " for what they are; you know, 'bout that Swede CEO and all the " slandering " stuff.
One of the good results of you going public here on that matter,was that that game's community got linked to read on TN , and that was a lot of a help to those gamers. The TN 's content and the links i mean.
Well. Now, for serious : i think the Bragg vs Linden case qualifies for Top Ten.
Oh. Dont take this post as a " response "; i've just took the opportunity to tell " Happy Holidays " to TN and to everybody here :-). Sorry for spam .
Posted by: Amarilla | Dec 23, 2006 at 05:08
Serenity Now bombs a WoW funeral:
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/04/serene.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHJVolaC8pw
Posted by: Andy Havens | Dec 23, 2006 at 10:46
I really liked that world-shattering device that came out for Eve Online.There was the land lawsuit in Second Life.
Posted by: Bleu Hartunian | Dec 23, 2006 at 12:58
Happy Holydays to you all!
the land lawsuit in SL is furely in the top10, but I've really loved (and still love) all the buzz about profits in VW and taxes in RL. This is my #1 choice.
Posted by: Luca | Dec 24, 2006 at 08:03
10 from me:
1) Anshe makes $1m/SL gets huge mainstream buzz.
2) "Normal" people begin playing MMOs, largely due to the WoW phenomenon.
3) New online-enabled consoles debut, sending millions of new players into collaborative game environments (TN largely ignores it) with persistent identities.
4) Blizzard makes 8 jillion dollars for Vivendi, launching a future generation of venture capital investments in mainstream high-end MMOs.
5) TN establishes secret backchannel (and Englebert Humperdink dies).
6) Metaverse launches, making solid middleware available to a range of talent.
7) While taking a break from ninja-looting, Julian opens up the frontiers of virtual taxation on NPR and in his excellent book.
8) VoIP reaches a tipping point in online space.
9) Games & Culture special issue on WoW releases, helping legitimize the study of online spaces/Universities officially move from being suspicious of game research to actively seeking it.
10) Entropia creators lose their shit. Again.
Posted by: Dmitri Williams | Dec 24, 2006 at 12:04
Dmitri, i love you. But plzzzz , keep that "non-game"( not a game , more than a game , less than a business,more than a scam und so weiter )where they are :out.
Posted by: Amarilla | Dec 25, 2006 at 15:34
To Dmitri:
Quick note: Thanks! and... ahem, it's "Multiverse" not "Metaverse" (though it may well one day become metaverse)... ;-)
Ah the season of eggnog!
Honestly for me that's been a really stratospheric top ten item: I get to work with the teams (indie especially) working on the platform, and their excitement at having tools to work with is... well, it's hard to describe. It's awesome. I really do think this will help create a real wealth of new and very creative worlds and games.
Other bits that I think are notable: the adoption of virtual worlds by the mainstream... media and culture, WoW and taxing: there's never been so much recognition that this is becoming an important part of the culture.
Personally too... the trans-media developments, creating new forms of existing myth and story: and the notion that we'll at some point soon begin to evolve really engaging ways for interactive storytelling. I think we define ourselves through stories, so when that's not so much a unidirectional thing it's gonna be really interesting I think. This year's interest by Hollywood and others will have far-reaching implications, I think.
And Happy Holidays all!
Posted by: ron meiners | Dec 26, 2006 at 13:25
PS. And as usual, Ted was way ahead of the curve with the Arden project!
Posted by: ron meiners | Dec 26, 2006 at 13:26
How about (in no particular order):
* the U.S. looking into the taxability of virtual assets
* the Intergalactic Bank scam in EvE Online
* MMOs on prime time - WoW on South Park
* murders in meatspace for theft in cyberspace (hmm, not sure if the first case of this was this year, or this was the most publicized to date)
Posted by: Gerret Peters | Dec 27, 2006 at 14:54
*Google Earth is made free and gets more than 100 million downloads and 30,000 registered developers; Google buys SketchUp 3D modeling software and makes it free, and opens the Google 3D Warehouse for distributing 3D models, pushing their weight behind the COLLADA 3D format.
Posted by: Jerry Paffendorf | Dec 27, 2006 at 15:26
(had to add these in another comment because TN thought I was spam with all the links)
Several virtual environments see early experimention with SketchUp importation (IMVU, Second Life, and Multiverse).
Posted by: Jerry Paffendorf | Dec 27, 2006 at 15:27