DiGRA ISRAEL

The Women In Games conference encourages research and seeks to promote careers for women within the games industry. If games are to become a true sibling medium to music and cinema, the industry needs greater balance in its audience and its workforce. The Women In Games conference welcomes participants from both industry and academia, providing a forum for presentation and discussion of issues relating to all aspects of women's involvement in games, including game development, game playing and women as portrayed within games.

he aim of the conference is to provide a forum for postgraduate games studies students to present work or work-in-progress to their peers and more experienced games researchers.

Meaningful Play 2008 is an interdisciplinary academic conference that explores the potential of games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade in meaningful ways. The conference includes thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper presentations, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), innovative workshops, roundtable discussions, and exhibitions of games.

In October 2008, the Vienna Games Conference will address issues related to the “Future and Reality of Gaming” (F.R.O.G.) sharing cutting edge research and insights on the future of the games industry, game design, game theory, game culture and education. The conference aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and current research findings regarding innovative theories, concepts and practice models in an engaging and convivial atmosphere.

And Netgames 2008, the seventh annual Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games, in cooperation with ACM (SIGMM and SIGCOMM).

"A broad agency announcement is soon expected for the first phase of A-SpaceX which will seek to use and develop virtual worlds to explore how manipulating time frames and mapping decision processes can improve intelligence analysis," reports FCW.com. A-SpaceX, or...

SceneCaster announced yesterday that it would support COLLADA 1.5.0. SceneCaster allows users to fill 3D scenes with existing content from custom designs for brands to independent developers from TurboSquid or Google Warehouse. The company says its support for COLLADA shows...

Jon Landau, who won an Academy Award for his role as producer on Titanic, took the stage on Thursday at the Virtual Worlds Expo to talk Multiverse Executive Producer Corey Bridges about the evolution of virtual worlds and some of...

My many, many thanks to our speakers and sponsors for their support and participation at this year's VW Expo. And another big thanks to our fantastic event staff. It was a huge piece of work on everyone's part. In all...

In the keynote for the second day of the Virtual Worlds Expo Erica Driver of ThinkBalm interviewed Colin J. Parris, Ph.D., Vice President, Digital Convergence, IBM Research. Parris talked about IBM's work in bringing other businesses to virtual worlds and...

Thanks to all who could make it in person to the first annual Virtual Worlds Innovation Awards last night. As a member of the judging panel, I can tell you that we had a tough time pinning down winners in...

Myrl, the social network meant to connect virtual worlds, launched to open beta this week with 19 virtual worlds. Users can register with Myrl, enter their avatar names, and, depending on the world, synch up some of their avatar's activities...

The U.S. Air Force has published the RFP for its ambitious virtual world effort, MyBase. All applications are due October 3. The proposal was initially unveiled in February to investigate the potential of an end-to-end virtual world for recruiting, training,...

Vivaty announced this week that it had begun integrating its virtual with Firefox and deepened its integration with Facebook. The first phase involves support for Firefox 3 due to heavy demand with Firefox 2 coming soon, said Heidi Perry, VP,...

Big Stage Entertainment launched to public beta today, letting users create custom avatars based on photographs and integrate them in digital media across Big Stage's platform. Right now that's focused on pictures and videos, but the company is looking at...

Game Connection Europe announced that only two weeks remain for exhibitors to register for the annual acquisition-oriented event to be held in Lyon, France from November 5 - 8, 2008. The deadline for business-focused video game companies looking to showcase and sell their projects, finished, games, or services to potential buyers is set for September 17, 2008. Last year's Game Connection Europe brought in over 700 participants from 35 countries, including 208 exhibitors selling titles ...

Developer and publisher Tecmo announced a settlement with Team Ninja employees Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuki Tsunoda, who filed suit against the company and accused Tecmo of implementing an illegal overtime structure. The suit, which was filed with the Tokyo District Court in June 2008, claimed that under Tecmo's "flexible hours" work scheme, employees were not paid appropriately for their overtime hours, which often exceeded 100 hours per month. The suit also alleged that the company ...

"We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony," says Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business -- while admitting Wii's lead is too much to overcome. "I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo," Mattrick said, speaking to Business Week on the heels of Microsoft's recent price reductions across all of its Xbox 360 SKUs. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter recently told Gamasutra that the ...

Rising demand for video game consoles boosted UK music retailer HMV Group's 18-week revenue by 4.3 percent at stores open for at least a year, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency. Same-store sales were up 1.3 percent for the 18-week period ending August 30th, compared to the 10% gain reported for the 16-week period ending April 26th. Taking advantage of this "increased participation in games," which now accounts for a fifth of ...

Survival horror Dead Space has been banned in Germany, Japan and China, according to comments attributed to Electronic Arts community manager Andrew Green. Consumer website Destructoid says that according to Green, the game is banned in all three countries, presumably over concerns over the high levels of violence. Although EA has not traditionally been associated with explicitly violent titles, Dead Space producer Chuck Beaver recently spoke to Gamasutra concerning the challenges involved in making a ...

Following Tecmo's announcement yesterday that it is seeking a merger with fellow Japanese publisher Koei, Square Enix formally withdrew its offer of a friendly takeover. The withdrawal of the offer follows a written letter of rejection from Tecmo. Although Square Enix were willing to make minor revisions to the offer, a statement from the company implies that demands made by Tecmo, particularly in regards to the takeover price, made further discussions impossible. Discussing the withdrawal ...

The Nintendo DS is celebrating a full four weeks of outselling the PSP in Japan, although it continues to do so in a relatively quiet retail period. With Rhythm Heaven again at number one DS sales rose slightly this week, up just under 500 units to 56,439. The PSP did lose further ground, though, with its own sales slipping by just under 6,000 units to 41,664 as big sellers Monster Hunter Portable 2 G and ...

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from September 4th, 2008, find Mercenaries 2 taking an early sales lead on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Europe, while Afrika and Tales of Vesperia head console sales in Japan. Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy ...

Genre mashups tend to feature a balance of different kinds of gameplay -- Tomb Raider: Underworld is a little bit action, a little bit puzzler. But in designing for players who may have different preferences for one versus the other, why not allow them to strike the balance themselves? As part of an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, Crystal Dynamics creative director Eric Lindstrom details Tomb Raider: Underworld's new 'Player Tailoring' feature, which lets players emphasize ...

Microsoft's recent move to reduce Xbox 360 prices across the board may turn out to be especially significant for the console wars. It means that for the key holiday season, the mass-market Xbox 360 Arcade SKU is less expensive than the Wii -- and Wii may see additional challenges from supply constraints. And with both consoles now entering the $200 "inflection point" analysts say has historically helped spread console sales to new audiences, has Xbox ...

Game Connection Europe announced that only two weeks remain for exhibitors to register for the annual acquisition-oriented event to be held in Lyon, France from November 5 - 8, 2008. The deadline for business-focused video game companies looking to showcase and sell their projects, finished, games, or services to potential buyers is set for September 17, 2008. Last year's Game Connection Europe brought in over 700 participants from 35 countries, including 208 exhibitors selling titles ...

Developer and publisher Tecmo announced a settlement with Team Ninja employees Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuki Tsunoda, who filed suit against the company and accused Tecmo of implementing an illegal overtime structure. The suit, which was filed with the Tokyo District Court in June 2008, claimed that under Tecmo's "flexible hours" work scheme, employees were not paid appropriately for their overtime hours, which often exceeded 100 hours per month. The suit also alleged that the company ...

"We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony," says Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business -- while admitting Wii's lead is too much to overcome. "I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo," Mattrick said, speaking to Business Week on the heels of Microsoft's recent price reductions across all of its Xbox 360 SKUs. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter recently told Gamasutra that the ...

Rising demand for video game consoles boosted UK music retailer HMV Group's 18-week revenue by 4.3 percent at stores open for at least a year, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency. Same-store sales were up 1.3 percent for the 18-week period ending August 30th, compared to the 10% gain reported for the 16-week period ending April 26th. Taking advantage of this "increased participation in games," which now accounts for a fifth of ...

Survival horror Dead Space has been banned in Germany, Japan and China, according to comments attributed to Electronic Arts community manager Andrew Green. Consumer website Destructoid says that according to Green, the game is banned in all three countries, presumably over concerns over the high levels of violence. Although EA has not traditionally been associated with explicitly violent titles, Dead Space producer Chuck Beaver recently spoke to Gamasutra concerning the challenges involved in making a ...

Following Tecmo's announcement yesterday that it is seeking a merger with fellow Japanese publisher Koei, Square Enix formally withdrew its offer of a friendly takeover. The withdrawal of the offer follows a written letter of rejection from Tecmo. Although Square Enix were willing to make minor revisions to the offer, a statement from the company implies that demands made by Tecmo, particularly in regards to the takeover price, made further discussions impossible. Discussing the withdrawal ...

The Nintendo DS is celebrating a full four weeks of outselling the PSP in Japan, although it continues to do so in a relatively quiet retail period. With Rhythm Heaven again at number one DS sales rose slightly this week, up just under 500 units to 56,439. The PSP did lose further ground, though, with its own sales slipping by just under 6,000 units to 41,664 as big sellers Monster Hunter Portable 2 G and ...

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from September 4th, 2008, find Mercenaries 2 taking an early sales lead on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Europe, while Afrika and Tales of Vesperia head console sales in Japan. Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy ...

Genre mashups tend to feature a balance of different kinds of gameplay -- Tomb Raider: Underworld is a little bit action, a little bit puzzler. But in designing for players who may have different preferences for one versus the other, why not allow them to strike the balance themselves? As part of an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, Crystal Dynamics creative director Eric Lindstrom details Tomb Raider: Underworld's new 'Player Tailoring' feature, which lets players emphasize ...

Microsoft's recent move to reduce Xbox 360 prices across the board may turn out to be especially significant for the console wars. It means that for the key holiday season, the mass-market Xbox 360 Arcade SKU is less expensive than the Wii -- and Wii may see additional challenges from supply constraints. And with both consoles now entering the $200 "inflection point" analysts say has historically helped spread console sales to new audiences, has Xbox ...

As they have every year for four years, the Second Life faithful tore themselves away from their computers for a weekend of real-life travel to celebrate Linden Lab's virtual world at SLCC, the Second Life Community Convention. But this year far fewer of them came out.

With an eye towards the future, once again Reuters asked SLCC: What will the next year bring in Second Life?

"We're serious about support for the Mac," Rosedale said. "But we've had our problems with Apple."

Linden Lab and OpenSim developers shared the stage at an SLCC panel called "Open Software For Open Worlds," and said there was nothing in the works to support buying virtual goods and services with Linden dollars anywhere but on the Second Life Grid.

So what has Second Life founder Philip Rosedale been up to since handing over control of Linden Lab to new CEO Mark Kingdon four months ago? Hanging out, mostly.

Second Life users who frequently access the Internet from consumer-grade computers and laptops are about to find keeping touch with other avatars a lot easier

IBM, a company long at the forefront of exploring the business applications of virtual worlds, announced on Wednesday it had added support for 3D chat to its Lotus Sametime instant messaging software.

According to recently released company statistics, Linden Lab's in-world economy is larger than ever.

Browser-based virtual world Vivaty, currently accessible through Facebook and AIM, will be embeddable by users on blogs and pages throughout the Web within the next two months, company CEO Keith McCurdy told Reuters.

The newest destination for talent scouts looking to sign fresh acts is Second Life.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King#DY#s beta test adds premade characters so that U.S. beta testers of its impending expansion now have the option to copy premade characters to the test realms, reported by 1UP.com.

The website of Stratics has released a hands-on article of fantasy MMORPG Aion: Tower of Eternity after approximately 45 minutes of uninterrupted playing inside the world of AION.

The website of Curse has released a preview of Final Fantasy XI#DY#s new update version on September. Adventurers of all stripes can look forward to enhancements galore in the upcoming September version update, designed to make questing in Vana#DY#diel more gratifying than ever!

According to a news reported by Megagames, PC gaming was a 10.7 billion USD industry during the year of 2007, and online PC gaming revenue led the way with 4.8 billion USD, nearly double the worldwide retail sales numbers for PC games.

The world of Runes of Magic consists not only of vast and varied regions, but there are literally dozens of caves and mines in Taborea, reaching deep down below the surface of the earth.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced that a wide selection of music from its popular games has been added to the iTunes store. Much of this music was originally available only in collector#DY#s editions of the games..

The official website of Diablo III updated new pieces of artwork and screenshots, and a timeline covering important events that have occured across the Diablo series.

The website of Gamezone has released a preview of World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King which showed us the new revamping of the crafting system and other new features.

Recently, Dragonball film team first released the film screens. The story centers around the adventures of the lead character, Goku, from his childhood into adulthood. The film is directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow.

Now, towards game-related crimes, Thailand government has banned five video games:Hitman,Hitman:Blood Money,300, Killer Seven and 50 Cent:Bulletproof

[image-2]FloodSim[/image-2]FloodSim, is a policy based game where the player is in charge of all government spending on flooding for 3 years.FloodSim puts you in control of all flood policy decisions and spending in the UK for 3 years. Whether its deciding how much money to allocate to flood defences, deciding where to build houses, or how best to inform people about the risk of flooding, you are in control.FloodSim is a serious game with the aims to raise awareness of the vast number of issues

Dr Eugene Ch’ng is currently a Senior Lecturer at the School of Computing and Information Technology, The University of Wolverhampton, UK. He has recently taken on the role of editor for the Open Virtual Reality Journal and is a member of the editorial board for the Open Cybernetics and Systemics Journal, Bentham Science.

Existing archeological digital assets are being utilised.

Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at Appalachian State University.

Serious Game in developing behavioural competencies - in this case in relation to conducting Annual Appraisal Reviews.

Building on the real success of first Serious Virtual Worlds conference in 2007 this is your invitation to be a part of the newly emerging professional community for the serious uses of virtual worlds. Serious Virtual Worlds'08 is the only event focussing on the serious uses of these environments.

In a blog post, Linden Lab has issued a deadline of the 1^st October for the removal of networked ads from the mainland. This follows on from earlier discussion on the company's blog about their desire to 'clean up' what has become a somewhat chaotic region of Second Life. In early August they wrote: "Unfortunately with the wonderful freedoms and creativity the Mainland offers have also come substantial problems that are unique to this area of the grid and so the time for change is now." They define networked ads, or ad farms, as 'the practice of using many parcels over multiple regions, especially small micro parcels where the predominant purpose of the land is to hold advertising.'

Linden is caught in a tricky position over what to do with its mainland in Second Life. Land is far more scarce on this Linden-operated part of Second Life, meaning that there is a certain pressure to make the most of the space. To that end they are talking of introducing planning measures one would normally expect to find in real-world cities, including 'zoning' – one area might be residential, the next commercial, and each have different covenants to enforce that distinction. Yet on the other hand, Second Life prides itself on the creativity, both in terms of the arts and in terms of commercial ventures, which exists in the virtual world. In their programme to clean up the mainland, they must be risking destroying the very thing which makes the SL community uniquely attractive.

The impact for real-world businesses is certainly not detrimental here; there is little to no value in them buying display advertising in Second Life in terms of building their business (interactivity and virtual goods have been shown to be far more effective), so the restrictions will have little effect. However, a cleaned up mainland potentially brings big benefits by making it easier to do business on the mainland. Just like in the real world, a blue chip brand will wish to avoid being associated with irritating chaos, and will find a premises in a smart commercial district far more appealing than a tiny plot in a mixed use mess.

German newspaper and media giant Axel Springer AG has taken a majority stake in the MMO provider Gamigo. Gamigo publishes a series of MMO titles, including >“Last Chaos” and “Fiesta Online”, the racing game “Level R” as well as the golf game “Shot Online”. These are then distributed free over the internet or via magazine cover discs, and monetised with subscriptions or purchase of virtual goods. Axel Springer had held shares in Gamigo since 2000. Before the purchase of the additional shares, it owned 47.4%, and now owns 94.8%. The remaining shares are owned by Gamigo’s CEO, Sven Ossenbrüggen.

Acquisitions of new media companies by old media giants – Axel Springer AG has been around since the 1940s – are always exciting because of the vindication they are perceived to bring. The more traditional, 2D end of new media has seen a lot of this: MySpace by Murdoch, Last.fm by CBS to name just a couple of the big ones, with countless other far smaller acquisitions. However, the same has not been the case with virtual worlds and MMOs. Perhaps they are seen as being too close to gaming and too far away from content for old media to be interested, although we know in reality that the distinction is irrelevant, and in any case content is just as crucial in virtual worlds and MMOs as it is with MySpace. With acquisitions like this, however, the tide of perception can start to turn from geeky fad to serious business.

Of course, that’s not why Axel Springer bought Gamigo; they bought it because of their ‘digitization offensive’: Dr. Jens Müffelmann, Director of the Corporate Division Electronic Media of Axel Springer AG explains the reasons for the transaction: “Gamigo operates in a fast growing market segment, it will quadruple sales this year and it is profitable. Due to that online gaming is to become an important pillar within the digitization offensive of Axel Springer.” I suspect that changes in Gamigo will not be particularly dramatic, since Axel Springer has had long involvement, the company remains separate and the CEO still in place. There may, however, be efforts to do something clever with advertising, since it could potentially attractive to have a unified campaign across different forms of media with the same company.

Vivaty, a browser-based virtual world, has added support for Firefox, as well as adding new 'scenes' and more integration with Facebook's newsfeed. Vivaty is designed to enable users to maintain a 3D web presence, in much the same way as they currently might keep a personal website or social networking profile. Vivaty is integrated into 3^rd party social networking websites, most notably as a Facebook application, giving them useful scope for viral growth on top of a pre-existing social graph.

They have launched the first 'social scene', a professionally designed public area, as opposed to the user designed private areas. This is a good step; anything which enhances the sense of community in the Vivaty virtual world will help keep users. It also begins to make it more obviously a single virtual world, rather than a series of loosely connected private spaces, and the sense of a world being a destination is important.

Facebook applications like Vivaty thrive on the newsfeed, which is why it is no surprise they are seeking to integrate with it more. For the few non-Facebookers, the newsfeed is a stream of reports on the activities of all of your friends, such as adding a photo, application or performing a task using an application. In other words, each time they publish in the newsfeed, they receive free advertising to potentially all of that user's friends. Specifically, it is the gift system which has been added. This is smart, because Facebook users as a whole are already used to the concept of virtual gifts (Facebook has its own microtransaction gift application), and so would be likely to click through.

Linden Lab have launched SLim, a thin client which enables voice and text communication with other Second Life users without needing to be inworld, or launch the Second Life viewer. The launch has been known about for some time: the first indications were in early August when it was discovered that Linden Lab had registered the SLim trademark. This was followed by an announcement of the coming launch two weeks ago.

This launch is probably most interesting when one considers its enterprise consequences. Users already understand IM and VoIP relatively well, and so less explanation of the concept of Second Life might be needed if the 3D aspect is viewed as an extension of that core functionality, rather than IM and VoIP being viewed as features of a 3D world. The difference is subtle but I believe that it is significant. CIOs are far more likely to chose to implement a system which offers robust IM and VoIP – standard technologies – with the added benefit of 3D environments, than they are to opt for an entirely new technology. It helps that the client is provided by Vivox in partnership with Linden, helping to bolster the enterprise credentials of the product.

With Second Life becoming integrated into more aspects of our Residents' daily lives, we saw a need to expand the world beyond its borders, enabling constant connection regardless of location," said Joe Miller, Vice President of Platform and Technology Development, Linden Lab. "In addition to all the enhanced communication benefits, SLim also helps solidify the value proposition of Second Life for enterprise use by providing a highly powerful VOIP and instant messaging client."

Browser-based virtual world developer RocketOn has announced a partnership with Animax to create parallel virtual worlds. RocketOn is a virtual world which operates through the browser on top of the existing web; you might walk your avatar on top of the Google homepage for example, or discuss a YouTube video with other avatars which happen to be on the same webpage. Animax is a full-service creative agency for virtual worlds. In the partnership, RocketOn will provide the technology and development, whilst Animax will provide the strategy and creatives for the project.

The appeal of the RocketOn virtual world concept for a brand is clear. For some websites, there will be a clear advantage in allowing users to create an avatar which then moves over that website. RocketOn has made it possible for a website to implement its technology without the need for a plugin download. An otherwise static web experience can therefore be made into a fast-paced social experience for relatively little cost, given that there is no need to develop a full 3D environment. "RocketOn is a great way to launch and manage parallel virtual worlds," says Michael Bellavia, CEO of Animax. "It enables us to create rich browser-based, virtual environments anywhere on the web without a user download. In a matter of weeks, we can literally build out a virtual space, deploy it on a website and populate it with content."

The RocketOn concept is not flawless, however. The avatars are scattered across the (very large) web, which may make it harder to build a critical mass on the service. There is also a danger of a 'build it and they will come' attitude. It has been consistently demonstrated that marketing campaigns in virtual worlds work best when there is a unique aspect to the campaign which goes beyond mere conversation. The most successful campaigns have involved far deeper and more exciting interaction than merely the ability to talk to other customers. That's not to say that the RocketOn platform can't support such innovation, just that it must be tempting for websites to simply add RocketOn to their website, given how easily it can be done, thinking they can now be certified 'Web 2.0 Compliant', without thinking through what they aim to achieve in business terms.

For a long time, virtual world There.com has been stuck firmly behind Second Life in the adult virtual world market. It has carved out a strong niche for itself as a virtual world ideal for marketing campaigns, but it does not enjoy anything like the number of users which frequent Second Life. They have launched a series of new features today which they will be hoping put them in a more competitive position.

A Facebook application, Facing There, will allow users to link their There account to their Facebook profile, showing information like upcoming events and groups. The convergence between Facebook and virtual worlds is a trend which is surely set to continue; by launching applications on Facebook, virtual world developers hope to generate viral growth and provide a way for users to gain more value out of a virtual world by making it relevant to non-member friends. Nevertheless, the There application is some way behind other virtual worlds applications on Facebook, the most notable example being Vivaty- designed to become a full 3D web presence.

They have also finally announced support for Mac OS X. Frankly, I was surprised to learn that they did not already support Macs, and it is a serious error that they have thus far failed to do so, despite launching in 2003. Adult virtual worlds have to be targeting early adopters hard at this stage in the adoption cycle, and many early adopters are to be found on the Mac. It is perhaps reasonable to launch a beta which only supports a single operating system, but to wait nearly 5 years before supporting a crucial operating system is surely madness. Nevertheless, they may now be in a better position to achieve more growth where it matters among early adopters.

In an excellent introductory essay to the business model of real money trade – where virtual world and MMO developers profit not directly from subscriptions but from the proceeds of a flourishing in-world economy, Richard Eisert and S. Gregory Boyd of Davis & Gilbert LLP argue that virtual currencies are, in many cases, a safer bet than many government currencies. They give the obvious example of World of Warcraft gold versus the hyper-inflationary Zimbabwean dollar, but the point is wider. With the increasing difficulties in monetising games through subscriptions being faced by the vast majority of developers, real money trading will become increasingly important in the industry.

The essay takes a look at the three main areas of real money trades: currency systems (like the Linden Dollar), microtransactions and virtual real estate. Whilst all three concepts are likely to be familiar to regular readers of this blog, Eisert and Boyd give a good background to how they work and their advantages and disadvantages. All three approaches are likely to become the subject of considerable academic investigation, I would imagine; the unprecedented economic structure which exists in-world operates on the same rules as the real world economy, yet in a much more controlled environment- macroeconomics on a micro scale.

There is also a brief overview of some of the US case law in what is a very new area for legal systems to be dealing with. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that it may no longer be possible for a VW to terminate a user's account for violation of the EULA, because of the virtual property they would stand to lose: 'These cases all suggest many other unresolved issues that may arise in the coming years. For example, acknowledging the value in virtual goods may actually increase the customer service burden on companies when it comes to termination. Traditionally, companies could merely terminate any user that violated its EULA. However, the Bragg case shows us that acknowledging the value of virtual property may create some additional obligations.'

Cross-world entertainment platform Myrl is set to launch its open beta today. Myrl isn't actually a virtual world; rather, it is a website which aims to act as something of a hub for users of multiple virtual worlds, with the ability to keep track of friends, send messages and discover new worlds. They argue cogently for its need: 'The extraordinary growth of the number of worlds available and the extreme diversification of the experiences that are now possible in the virtual space is changing the way we use virtual worlds, making our virtual experience more and more multi-world and content-driven, rather than world-driven. We want to support and foster this change, providing a platform that enables worlds-browsing and makes our virtual lives easier, richer and funnier.'

Myrl has been in closed alpha for some time, and is now launching into full open beta. Along with the launch come a series of new features. Most significant is that the system is now compatible with 19 virtual worlds, compared to the previous 2. It is now also possible to manage several avatars from the same dashboard, and to aggregate content from multiple sources to create something akin to a lifestream.

Myrl is particularly interesting because it presents a very different side to the task of integrating virtual worlds. When one thinks of interoperability, it is typically examples such as the Second Life to OpenSim teleport which spring to mind as key stages along the way towards a universal metaverse. Yet it may be that something like Myrl is needed, even if such transport systems eventually come about. If done right, it could provide some clarity and order to what could otherwise be chaotic. Interoperability is thought by almost everyone to be a Good Thing, yet it has certainly been noted that it brings with it considerable risks and challenges. Perhaps a tool which sits on a layer above the worlds themselves has the capacity to really make true, inter-world interoperability work.

A training programme for prospective Canadian border guards in Second Life, designed to simulate the interview of those wishing to cross the border, has boosted the marks achieved by the trainees in interview by 28%, reports New World Notes. A video demoing the training process was also released. It shows trainees speaking over a headset to an instructor in a role playing exercise, with the instructor playing the traveller. Such an exercise would be unremarkable if it did not also involve the trainee and instructor controlling avatars in Second Life, presumably providing more realism than would otherwise be possible. The training programme was created by the Virtual World Design Centre at the Loyalist College in Ontario.

'Serious games', used to train new recruits, are big news in many other areas – the military is a particularly notable, and perhaps obvious, example. The resources needed to hold a large scale, realistic, military exercise are vast. Virtual training offers a cheaper and easier way which still has room for complexity. One can also safely allow more inexperienced commanders to hone their skills than on a real-world exercise.

Another is the training of new workers on oil drilling platforms. Within the first few weeks, the chances of an accident are far higher than during any period thereafter. It therefore makes sense to try and do some training in a safe environment to prevent accidents during the training without simply postponing the point at which the danger begins.

Last week I reported that Second Life had broken a new record for concurrent users, breaking through its five month plateau to achieve new heights. Today, courtesy of Reuters, comes news that the Second Life economy is in good shape.

According to Reuters, over 61,000 avatars in SL earned more Linden dollars than they spent. Bear in mind that there are a total of 34.7 registered users in Second Life, and that does not sound too impressive. However, when one considers that the current record for Second Life concurrent usage is 67,335, it sounds far better. That 61,000 people are able to profit from Second Life is both a positive reflection upon the entrepreneurial spirit of the individuals involved and, perhaps more importantly, on the platform itself, which has enabled a creative economy to survive and flourish.

Second Life will live or die by its economy. It is one of very few virtual worlds to have a comparatively unregulated economy; one could even argue that it is ahead of its time in this respect. If it can achieve a healthy ecosystem in which users either extract money or enjoyment from the economy, then Second Life will remain healthy and continue to be able to collect premium user fees. The shadow hanging over the virtual world, though, is that premium user numbers are falling: 1,410 paid user accounts were shed in July – a far from ideal situation for a business derives the vast majority of its revenue from such accounts.

Second Life, and Linden Lab, are going through a period of fascinating transition as they decide what the best position for Second Life is within the market. Within the next year, I would suggest, we will have a much better idea of what sort of virtual world Second Life will become, and able to make far more accurate predictions as to its future success.

הכרטיס החדש מכיל שני שבבים גרפיים נפרדים ומפגין ביצועים כפולים מאלו של המוצר המתחרה

באוברון מדיה הישראלית מנסים לפצח את סוד ההצלחה של משחקי האונליין. בינתיים הם כבר קיבלו על זה אוסקר

היהלומים כבר לא לבד. הקולטן, מינרל רעיל המשמש לייצור מוצרי אלקטרוניקה מהווה עילה למלחמות ולהעסקה בתנאי עבדות של ילדים באפריקה

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