This is only related to virtual worlds in the most tangential of ways, but some things just need to be blogged. This afternoon I got my first taste of alternate reality gaming, 4orty 2wo's "Last Call Poker." More specifically, I spent the afternoon at the Italian Cemetery playing "Tombstone Hold 'Em," a surprisingly fun poker variant that -- you guessed it -- can only be played at a cemetery. Full rules are here. It was a blast. Other than forgetting that Aces were high despite being mundane gravestones -- my team kept building King-high straights and flushes and getting pasted by danah's Ace-high straights and flushes -- it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

This past spring I had the pleasure of spending three months living just outside of Nagoya, with my task being to interview game players, buy games, hang out in game centers and stores, and generally soak up the culture (a rough job, I know). During the evenings, I also managed to spend quite a bit of time in my MMOG of choice, Final Fantasy XI. I'd started the game about seven months back, but hadn't had a lot of contact with the Japanese players that formed the initial base for the game. I'd heard talk and read postings about the differences in play styles and attitudes between North American and Japanese players, but now I could get first-hand experience.

Ok, so I'm a little late to the party on this one, but there is a really nice piece on Chinese gold farmers over on Game Guides Online. It's nicely nuanced about the nature of the farming, and the author has actually taken the trouble of talking with the farmers. This is an attitude (deeper than that, it's a disposition) which I'd suggest is rooted in developer practice generally, and computer games developer practice specifically. It is a view which recognizes that which is scripted, modeled, or otherwise generated according to the practice of software development as seemingly both the (only) site of creativity and (therefore) the ultimate locus of value. Cheap FFXI Gil are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American servers. They looked friendly enough--at least, no one had fruit ready to throw at us. It was simply kind of surreal, after reading the comments on TN this past week and hearing other things at the conference about the problems with game studies and developer/academic relations.

Call me inspired by Mia's thread below on Japanese/US gamers. I read the Washington Post's account of USC's effort to create an online game world to improve international relations. The effort, spearheaded by game worthies Joshua Fouts and Douglas Thomas, strives to combine the VOA's outreach with the "can't we all just get along" idea of literally playing nice with each other. The question: Can virtual worlds really foster harmony between groups, let alone nations? This is an attitude (deeper than that, it's a disposition) which I'd suggest is rooted in developer practice generally, and computer games developer practice specifically. It is a view which recognizes that which is scripted, modeled, or otherwise generated according to the practice of software development as seemingly both the (only) site of creativity and (therefore) the ultimate locus of value. Cheap FFXI Gil are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American servers.

If so, we in the West are still at the amoeba stage... While I did try to manufacture most of my goods, frankly, I'd always occasionally get caught out. Logistics is a tricky thing. So I ended up going to the market with some regularity to spot shortfalls. It is fascinating how some corporations clearly go for the "huge volume, low margin gig" They might have a stack of 1000 Fizzle Wogs on sale at Jita for an epsilon above costs. Maybe they are onto the big numbers game. My racket was different... This is an attitude (deeper than that, it's a disposition) which I'd suggest is rooted in developer practice generally, and computer games developer practice specifically. It is a view which recognizes that which is scripted, modeled, or otherwise generated according to the practice of software development as seemingly both the (only) site of creativity and (therefore) the ultimate locus of value. Cheap FFXI Gil are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American servers.

According to this piece in the China Daily, dated 10th October, MU Online "has 32 million players in China, three times more than in other parts of the world". The gig of Phase 2 became unglued when CCP changed the rules last year and on the one hand increased the sophistication of the trading process, but on the other hand made it more restrictive. They introduced a trade technology tree which was interesting in its own right and enhanced one's ability to manage and tune market involvements. Good stuff. But they also nerfed players being able to sell across the same large numbers of stations one could have earlier.

Recently, having taken more interest in trying something else - I've jumped into a pure arbitrage strategy (no manufacturing, no research, nothing but...) of a very select basket of high ticket items. I won't name them or name the precise procedure of computing my arbitrage. (Not while I'm playing the game :) But I will say that I rigorously and constantly weed and reseed a small number of core stations where I sell at (drop them, or change inventory) based on market signals. I also have lower-priced goods which I distribute more freely which I believe provide good indicators for higher end items I work with - yes, test marketing is born. The downside for most people with this gig is the huge capitalization required. In my case I had a great deal of cash, so it was an easy transition. To date, the returns are impressive, but ah, the inventory ...sooo much of it, sooo expensive. No more will I say, the experiment goes on.

She lacked a husband, however, and soon became sad and prayed beneath a sandalwood tree to be blessed with a child. HwanUng, moved by her prayers, took her for his wife and soon she gave birth to a son, who was named DanGun WangGeom(the Great shaman King). DanGun's ancestry begins with his grandfather HwanIn, the "Lord of Heaven". HwanIn had a son HwanUng, "the Hero of Heaven" who yearned to live on the earth among the valleys and the mountains. HwanIn chose Mount Taebaek for his son to settle down in and sent him with 3,000 helpers to rule the earth and provide humans with great happiness. HwanUng descended to Mount Taebaek and founded a city, which he named Sinsi or "City of God." Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the humans various arts, medicine, and agriculture.

And there are huge gaps in what we don't know. Where is the research about sports games, to take just one example? Anyway, the point is, I enjoyed the exercise, and learned a lot from it. I hope the audience did as well.

And there are huge gaps in what we don't know. Where is the research about sports games, to take just one example? Anyway, the point is, I enjoyed the exercise, and learned a lot from it. I hope the audience did as well.