Terra Nova

Full CNET Avatar Interview with Daniel Terdiman

Daniel Terdiman: okay...so why don't you start off by explaining your premise of how Avatar presages the future of 3D virtual worlds?

Bruce Damer: Cameron and his team developed a 'virtual camera' which as he walked through the set, he could see the virtual terrain. This was possible in a very crude fashion with the VR of the early 1990s, but today it is called AR (Augmented Reality). What Cameron was doing on the set of Avatar is possibly and probably a glimpse into the future of Avatars (multi user virtual worlds in Cyberspace)

Daniel Terdiman: how do you see this manifesting in future consumer-oriented virtual worlds?

Bruce Damer: So for example, if you combine the Wii or the new Microsoft system, with AR glasses or to some extent just holding up your smart phone you will "see" into the virtual world that is cast all around you.

In Vernor Vinge's superb novel Rainbows End, the characters use a kind of contact lens that gives them a parallel vista into the virtual landscape mapped around them on the physical landscape. Its a breathtaking vision for the late 2020s.

Daniel Terdiman: you think that far from now?

Interview on how 'Avatar' (the movie) may influence the future of Avatars (the worlds)

Terra Novans, you might be interested in this interview on Daniel Terdiman's Geek Gestalt blog on how James Cameron's film may presage the future of virtual worlds (how we will interact with them beyond our current "keystone kops" era)...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10443265-52.html?tag=mncol;title

Virtual Goods Economy: Going Strong

Major James D. "Pidge" Fielder, USAF, points us to this report by CNET's Dave Rosenberg indicating that the virtual goods market, once confined to the insides of MMORPGs, continues to expand into all kinds of social software systems. Thanks Pidge!

Fortitude, Save Games, and the MMO

While wandering around the Catholic blogosphere I encountered Basilian Father Chris Valka discussing video games. Fr. Valka's concern is that games erode one of the cardinal virtues, Fortitude. As you know from your Catechism (see Para. 1808), Fortitude "strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life." As Fr. Valka has come to understand videogames, they seem to allow anyone to costlessly restart at any time. In real life, of course, there is no SaveGame. Mistakes, once made, create problems that cannot be avoided. Fr. Valka worries that coming generations won't be very good at overcoming obstacles in the moral life. Instead they will give in, on the (false) assumption that it will always be possible to go back and start over.

Forgive Fr. Valka for being like so many others in misunderstanding a cultural phenomenon from which he remains distant. It will not be that way forever. In 2010, though, his judgments raise important questions that only we who have experience in games can address. I'm particularly struck at the reliance of his thinking on the patterns of single-player games. In multi-player games, as in real life, there is no save button. Moreover, reputations in MMOGs take months and years to build up, and surrendering them is costly. I wonder if he is commenting on a rather transient feature of gaming.

Are the features of games, generally and over the long haul, conducive to the development of virtue? If a boy plays World of Warcraft instead of hiking in the woods or rebuilding old cars, is he more or less likely to develop prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, as well as faith, hope, and charity? What features of games and virtual worlds contribute or detract from the virtues?

A Rainbow follows Clouds - Korean Supreme Court's Rule on some RMT

* This post is a correspondence to Ted's recent post 'SCOSK Legalized RMT'

 Supreme Court of South Korea just interpreted game industry promotion act that I introduced in my old posting on Terra Nova: "Selective bombing of RMT in Korea" legaly literally.

 By the law and its implementing decree, in-game money banned for trading should be gained either by luck or thru illegal/abnormal play. In this case, what the accused resellers bought and sold were Aden, a virtual currency created and circulated in Lineage(a famous Korean MMORPG since 1998, its EULA rules out RMT of Aden). And throughout the trial, there were no evidence shown to prove those resellers bought the money from Bot-using sweatshops or hackers.

  Therefore, the critical point of the case was whether Aden is money of luck game to be banned or not. Public prosecutor asserted that attribute of Lineage is also a game of luck like a poker game, even though the former is less clear than the latter. 1st tier court judge found it guilty, but did not mention clearly about reasoning in the ruling.

  The appellate court overruled the decision and explained that Lineage is game of sweat, not a game of luck, considering that it takes lots of time and effort to get Aden by hunting & Aden can be earned not only thru hunting but also thru PVP combat and P2P market in lineage world. So appellate court acquitted the resellers from the conviction for violation of game law. Finally, on Christmas eve last year, SCOSK confirmed appellate court's ruling.

  I agree with Greg in that SCOSK's ruling itself does not mean total legalization of RMT. Definitely, The game industry promotion act in S. Korea selectively command to bomb the RMT of cyber cash of luck game and illegally/abnormally taken virtual money. Cause, the aim of game law is to protect 'Game' from 'Gambling'. Of course, it's not easy to detect and make a proof for selection. After the SCOSK's decision, korean authority announced its endeavor to ban abnormal RMT must go on.

 Yes, right now, there's no change in this long gray colored clouds even in S. Korea and the EULA of NCsoft will (if the company want to) survive though somewhat depowered. But I think, some day, this decision opens the way of rainbow and new world to evolve into. In S. Korea, where the Second Life was serviced as RMT castrated and now withdrawn from, If SCOSK decided to the contrary, and extended the word of game law to Lineage-like virtual world, then, Grabbing with the dead bodies of RMT intermediaries, looking over dying Bots, Koreans will never imagine and meet in EVE online -like, Second Life -like, and There-like futuredoms.

 Just same as lovable game, 'Gaia' of terranova to be kept.

SCOSK Legalizes RMT

Thanks to Ren Reynolds for passing this around the backchannel: The Supreme Court of South Korea overturned fines imposed by lower courts on RMTers in Lineage. Does this mean that you can't have a ToS clause forbidding RMT? We can't tell. Can anyone help? And from the what-does-it-mean-for-me department, do US courts use foreign courts for precedents?

Nelfs on Pandora

I still have not found time to see Avatar, but since I keep a running search query on avatars in the news, I have seen quite a bit of commentary about the film , including spoilers.  One thing I have been wondering about, for obvious reasons, is exactly how much Avatar has to do with avatars.  In particular, is this fantasy about new embodiment in a new society connected to a broader cultural moment, when World of Warcraft is now recognized as being a "mainstream video game" du jour?

Today, Ethan Gilsdorf, blogging at USA Today, explicitly states the thesis: 

Box office conquered, Avatar also proves the culture has shifted. Part role-playing game come true and part special effects masterpiece, its hybrid gamer-geek pedigree is as glaring as the blue skin of the Na'vi race that director James Cameron brought to life on the imaginary planet Pandora. Cameron's movie — alongside the rise of Harry Potter, the return of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, and the obsession with online games such as World of Warcraft — shows that fantasy is no longer a shunned or exotic side dish. The genre has become the main dish.

Gilsdorf suggest that the cultural drift toward the legitimation of escapist fantasy is a good thing, for a variety of reasons:

They give us hope in hopeless times. Indeed, when you read heroic stories such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, you sense that if a mere hobbit can withstand evil, why not you?

Hope is good, I would say.  Of course, there are some other readings of the movie, which aren't quite so positive about the messages it conveys.

So, I'm curious to hear about 2 things from those reading this:

1) To the extent that MMORPGs and escapist fantasies are becoming more mainstream now (are they?), what are the pros and cons of this trend?  What positive and negative roles does the fantasy genre play in society?

2) Avatar is certainly in the sci-fi/fantasy/escapism genre, but exactly how much is Avatar, the movie, really an expression of "gamer culture"? (Points for WoW reference spotting and links.)

It's 2010! Let's predict!

• What's in the pipeline?
• What are the major trends in MMOs and virtual worlds?
• When's the Star Trek MMO coming out?
• Who will be TN's next contributing author?
• What conferences will rock?

This is your chance to give TN all of your opinions, so please do!

Prior crystal ball gazing:

2004 Predictions...
2006 Predictions...
2007 Predictions...