The amount is remarkable in itself, although may be explained by the resort's location, "amidst the treacherous but Mineral Rich Paradise V Asteroid Belt" and the fact that the developers see this as the "primary destination for Entertainment in the known Virtual Universe." A programming language and a programming paradigm can shape how we engineer a world. As with our natural languages perhaps there is a cognitive dimension, but without having to even reach that far it is safe to say that engineering practices establish approaches to problem-solving that bias solutions. These practices are hard to ignore in especially high-stakes, risk-adverse software development environments. Thus our first biq question, can game software development as it is now conducted scale in the face of advances in hardware, appetite for content, and capped costs?

Project Entropia has done it again. Not content with holding the record for highest-value virtual asset sold--the oft-quoted US$26,500 for Treasure Island--it has now taken that record and simply ripped it to shreds. A programming language and a programming paradigm can shape how we engineer a world. As with our natural languages perhaps there is a cognitive dimension, but without having to even reach that far it is safe to say that engineering practices establish approaches to problem-solving that bias solutions. These practices are hard to ignore in especially high-stakes, risk-adverse software development environments.

I'm a historian, so I have vested interest in thinking that the past is important. Yet when it comes to virtual worlds, and video and computer gaming more generally, I struggle sometimes to understand how to think about the history that's involved. That history matters to players, to game designers, and to academics studying virtual worlds, and is often invoked by them, but it isn't always clear what lessons we ought to learn from that invocation, or even whether we're remotely talking about the same thing. A programming language and a programming paradigm can shape how we engineer a world. As with our natural languages perhaps there is a cognitive dimension, but without having to even reach that far it is safe to say that engineering practices establish approaches to problem-solving that bias solutions. These practices are hard to ignore in especially high-stakes, risk-adverse software development environments.

As the elves continue working on the Ludium's final report (which should be out in a couple of weeks), they came across the following footage. Courtesy of documentarian Jeanette Castillo. Also notice which server is hardest hit by inflation and which server has the most platinum flying around, with a population relative to other servers which is much smaller. If you know what you are looking at, you can see problems with exploitation, and their effects on trading, on Firiona Vie first. It's the smoking gun when it comes to these things, a virtual crystal ball that players on other servers can take a look at and see a bit of their future when it comes to the bazaar.

With the exception of the fireworks displays, the greater resources and moderated production processes of places like Disneyland or Las Vegas can create an aesthetic driven by sheer technique that’s a lot harder to find in the desert. Both experiences are driven by wonder, but the cultural perspectives that define that wonder can be worlds apart. It may be that there is a greater density of hardcore gamers someplace on the planet, but I can’t imagine where. It’s 9:30am PST and the assembled mass of deeply dedicated gamers is really a pleasure to see.

In this virtual world, two levels gives me a couple new pieces of armor, and suddenly I am unrecognizable to anyone who may have run an instance with me. In guild chat, I am a total stranger to people I may have chatted with for months. My history with other players has been erased. It almost makes me wish that I spent my first 45 levels ninja looting! A programming language and a programming paradigm can shape how we engineer a world.

Just when I thought that the CmdrTaco story was the top silly customer service response of the day, I saw this story on CNN. The Whitehouse is going after the Onion, America's Finest News Source, because of their use of the Presidential seal -- included at left but absolutely not, in any way, indicating that the Whitehouse endorses Terra Nova -- in parodying the President's weekly radio address. CCP offers a good climax to the event (presentation: "Scaling EVE Online: Under the Hood of the Network Layer) at least to this onlooker (note: CCP and IBM have an apparent business relationship). Slide 8 (rationale for TCP/IP) and slides 16+ (Service Scalability) were attention grabbers for me.

IBM hosted the NetGames '05 workshop earlier this month. Billed as the "Fourth Workshop on Network and System Support for Games," it occupies an underrepresented (and technical niche) in the wild west of networked games (incl. MMOG) fare.

But the designer arrogance goes deeper than that, I'd say. This kind of elitist characterization [of users as lacking in skill] itself rests on a rather narrow conception of what "content" is. What do you want to know? Buy SWG Credits from us. A flying mount costs nearly 1k Warhammer Gold.

But the designer arrogance goes deeper than that, I'd say. This kind of elitist characterization [of users as lacking in skill] itself rests on a rather narrow conception of what "content" is. What do you want to know? Buy SWG Credits from us. A flying mount costs nearly 1k Warhammer Gold.