Massively Multiplayer Mashup

Research indicates MMO gaming benefits children

Researchers at Brunel University's School of Sport and Education studied the habits of RuneScape players aged 13-16 for a period of three years. In their findings, they report that online virtual worlds foster imagination in children, as well as provide opportunities for young people to experiment with social and business opportunities they may not have in the real world.

"Our research explored how RuneScape's appeal lay in the provision of an environment in which young people can experiment (symbolically) with the cultural institutions and structures of the material world, a space in which young people can establish their presence, identity and meaning in ways that might not be accessible or permissible in their everyday lives," said Brunel's Nic Crowe.

"We met many players taking part in online role playing, sometimes to extend or to compensate for experiences in the real world," added Dr. Simon Bradford. "For example, young people whose parents could not afford a summer holiday enjoyed virtual holidays online--hanging out with friends, visiting beaches and going to clubs at night to meet new people.

"At a time when emerging technologies such as the internet, and computer games in particular, continue to be subject to suspicion and concern it is important that we also recognise the benefits of what is an increasingly popular and important activity for our young people."

A new report by IBM and software developer Seriosity last week found that MMO players exhibit proficiency in "collaboration, self-organization, risk taking, openness, influence, how to earn incentives linked to performance and be flexible in the way they communicate." The report then noted that businesses could adopt MMO concepts to incite a greater sense of work ethic and competition amongst colleagues.

Dr. Bradford found a similar connection between MMO gameplay and business application. "We noted how entrepreneurial young players engaged in business deals online, experiencing positive opportunities often not open to them in the material world."

Free-falling suicide gnomes advertise gold vendors

The scheme involves the mass suicide of gnome characters in the Alliance city of Ironforge, leading to the name of a popular gold vendor being spelled out in corpses like digital corpse-paint. The deaths are apparently achieved through teleport hacking (a server-client synchronization exploit), which transports the characters high above the city at predestined coordinates, and subsequently drops them to their deaths shortly after.

Blizzard GMs have been quick to respond to the infestations, cleaning up the areas via massive deletions. Says Blizzard employee Auryk, "Please, once they are reported, leave the bodies alone, and do not linger around, or huddle near the bodies."

One gold site was eventually singled out as the perpetrator of the practice. A notice posted on the site last week offered prizes for those willing to film the morbid spam. Said the post: "[We are] encouraging all players to come and see our wonderful creation. Both US and EU players are offered the chance to win FREE gold by filming this event then uploading it to YouTube. You have the chance to become the next Stephen Spielberg by joining this contest. Don't forget to add some creativeness to your film by adding music, extra animation, even making it into a story!"

Mizuguchi to recreate Tokyo in Second Life

"[The game] is just too vast and involved too many loose ideas," Mizuguchi said, expressing his early reservations about the project. "But the more I thought about it, a lot of interesting ideas came up. My work all these years has been to entertain people through video games, but this Virtual Tokyo concept could be the next step and path."

While not attempting to fully recreate the entire city, Mizuguchi hopes to capture the essence of Tokyo in the digital world.

"The Tokyo we are trying to create is based on the image of city. How do people in Tokyo perceive the city? How about foreigners? That's what we want to express. "I hope to make Virtual Tokyo like a museum of Japanese pop culture. My friends abroad have told me often that there's so much materials and it's never preserved. This might be the perfect place for it."

Some entertaining distractions are planned for the addition to what is, after all, a game.

"We will put a giant ski slope in the middle of Virtual Tokyo. We will take entries from players around the world. Then have them create their own avatars and their ski pose."

Chickens invade Middle Earth

While playing as a chicken, the world will be experienced from the perspective of a 12 inch bird, with quests and skills tailored especially for fowl. Other animals in the world can be chatted up during the quest line, which ends with an opportunity to roam free as a bird, completing Deeds to earn a few Destiny Points for your trouble.

Check out some screenshots of the game from the bird's eye view.

EVE corporation leader steals 30 billion ISK from guild coffers; members laugh

EVE player Remedial, the off-and-on CEO of the Goonswarm alliance, recently left his organization on bad terms while holding some 55 billion in company ISK, the in-game currency of EVE. Remedial eventually returned half of the dough, but the remaining 30 billion ISK is estimated to be worth in the neighborhood of $3,000 at current average exchange rates.

Charismatic and sharp, Remedial was an emotional leader, who sometimes found himself in real-life money trouble. Members of Goonswarm had gladly donated $2,800 to Remedial in order to help pay his rent in the past. The enterprising leader had also set up a store which sold Goonswarm-branded merchandise, to his personal profit.

Goonswarm draws its members from the SomethingAwful.com forums, and has a population of around 4000 accounts and 2000 active members. The alliance has been in the news lately due to its corruption allegations against EVE Online developer CCP.

Alliance member Blitter detailed the sordid affair in a message board post, with screenshots appearing to show Remedial transferring the funds to a character named "Timecard Capitalist." The name is a reference to the sale of EVE play-time cards, which under CCP's rules can be legally purchased with ISK and re-sold for cash.

The money was being collected from members as a general fund toward the eventual purchase of a Titan, currently the largest ship in the game. Each Titan possesses a powerful doomsday weapon, which can obliterate hundreds of ships in a single shot. Since the first completed Titan was put into service by the Ascendant Frontier alliance last year, these doomsday weapons have been found to be difficult to utilize in a battlefield scenario. Titans are mainly relegated to logistical roles, in addition to functioning as high-power status symbols, with many owners unwilling to risk their investments--especially following Ascendant's loss of the inaugural Titan after a surprise ambush in deep space. Only eight Titans are known to exist at this point, as the cost of their construction amounts to over 60 billion ISK.

Despite their misfortune, most Goonswarm members are maintaining their famed positive attitude. Said one Goon named Urikko on the EVE message board, "He went out like a true goon. Most of us in Goonfleet find it pretty hilarious."

RuneScape headed to consoles?

"It's certainly more interesting with the current generation of consoles of course, because they're far more internet-connected than the previous generation and it just wasn't worth looking at," Gower told CVG. "But with the PS3 and Xbox 360 and the Wii, it's much more tempting, I have to say."

Gower says that Jagex wouldn't have a hard time porting RuneScape to a system like the PS3, but noted that platform expansion can be a detriment to overall customer service.

"The more platforms that we're on, the more we have to update in parallel and that would slow us down," he remarked. "We've always tried to be a very agile company whereby if the players say they want something, or there's something not quite right, we'll fix it there and then. We're loathe to lose the rapid response."