The release of Madden NFL 11 this summer will mark the beginning of a new shift in policy for publisher Electronic Arts—they will sell all the in-game advertisements themselves.

Previously the company had relied on third-party in-game ad specialists, such as Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide reports MediaWeek. EA’s Senior Vice President of Global Media Sales Elizabeth Harz said the move would allow EA to offer more elaborate,” integrated packages to advertisers.”

A new survey from Today’s Gamers takes a look into the big money arena of massively multiplayer online games.

The report focused on the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The U.S. boasted 46.0 million MMO gamers, of whom 46.0 percent paid for the privilege to play their online game of choice. Those who did pay to play an MMO spent a total of $3.8 billion on subscriptions, virtual currency, game purchases and other micro-transactions, which works out to $15.10 spent by each U.S.-based MMO gamer per month.

Following the U.S. in total dollars spent on MMOs were the UK ($270.0 million), Germany ($250.0 million), France ($220.0 million), the Netherlands ($65.0 million) and Belgium ($55.0 million). The UK was tops in terms of monthly amount spent on MMOs with a figure of £10.60 (approximately $15.89 U.S.) per gamer.

The South Korean parents of a three-month old allegedly fed their gaming habits obsessively while neglecting their daughter, who effectively starved to death.

The 41-yeard old husband and his 25-year old wife, identified only as “the Kims,” spent up to 12 hours every night at Internet cafés playing games, according to a story on ABC. The couple came home one morning last September, after spending the whole night out, and alerted authorities upon finding their daughter deceased.

An autopsy revealed that the baby’s death came about from malnourishment. The Kims subsequently confessed that they had been feeding their daughter “rotten, powdered milk and had often spanked their crying baby.”

In a sinister bit of irony, officials reported that instead of taking care of their real child, who was born prematurely, the couple was infatuated with raising a virtual daughter in the massively multiplayer online game PRIUS.

The article also features a quote from Dr. Kim Sang Eun, of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, who believes game addiction is a brain disease. She stated, “there's no certain clinical indicator to define 'game addiction' but our study shows that brain PET [scan] images of suspected online game addicts are very similar to that of a cocaine addict.”

The parents were arrested on Wednesday.

An online game launching tomorrow will attempt to spur players into making headway against some of the world’s biggest problems.

CNN details the game, entitled Evoke, which is billed as an entry in the “alternate reality” genre. Developed by the World Bank Institute and designed by Jane McGonigal, the game will last ten weeks. Over the course of that time period, participants will be presented with new challenges and will attempt to make headway against the challenges in real-life. For example, if a current challenge involves famine, players might try “to provide meals for someone in their neighborhood.” Once they have documented their real-world actions, via a blog post, photo or video, they will receive credit for finishing the mission and can receive additional awards and rewards from fellow players.

Upon the game’s completion on May 12, players who complete all 10 challenges will be named a “Certified World Bank Institute Social Innovator – Class of 2010.” The best players can also receive travel scholarships and “online mentorships with experienced social innovators and business leaders from around the world.”

While anyone in the world can play Urgent Evoke, the game is designed for people in Africa, a place, which it’s noted, has less Internet access than anywhere else in the world. To that end, the game has been designed to work seamlessly on cell phones as well. So far 3,500 people have signed up to play the game, 400 of them from Africa.

CNN also has a short video up in which McGonigal gives an overview of Evoke.

As part of its reporting on trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, the Australian Government’s Institute of Criminology has issued a research paper that takes a look at transgressions that occur in virtual worlds.

Crime Risks of Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments was written by Ian Warren and Darren Palmer and kicks off with a mention of what may have been the first case of its kind—the “rape” of an avatar in the text-based game LambdaMoo. The incident resulted in a Village Voice piece on the incident, and eventually a book, and brought the issue of crime in virtual worlds to light.

A similar incident took place in Second Life in 2007 and actually caused Belgian police to patrol the online community to prevent rapes.

While virtual crimes such as money laundering or fraud can usually be handled by real-world laws, the grey area of harassment-type assaults online seems to continually confound authorities.

A few thoughts put forth by the paper:

The question of whether real-world notions of interpersonal harm apply to virtual assault or sexual assault is unresolved. This complicates the question of regulation within virtual worlds.

While civil redress for psychological harm is conceivable, the 'disembodied' character of such an incident would invariably bar liability for any crime against the person.

The paper notes that under Australian federal criminal law, a maximum penalty of three years could be levied on someone who menaces, harasses or causes offense to another user, though whether this law has ever been applied to virtual worlds is unclear.

Thanks to multinational users, jurisdictional uncertainties and technology that continues to evolve, “there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the role of criminal law in these multi-user categories.” The paper suggests that, “Formal criminal intervention would only have a place if an appreciable and measurable effect on the real-world victim could be established.”

Since so much is unknown or untested about this subject  as of yet, the paper suggest research directions for the future, which include “enhancing our understanding of the nature of harm within multi-user 3dve (three-dimensional virtual environments) platforms,” and more collaborative research on how to protect children in virtual worlds.

The report concludes:

Clearly, Australian 3dve users require more knowledge to identify, manage and prevent harm. Developing a systematic approach to harmonise current knowledge on these emerging issues is perhaps the greatest research priority.

Thanks Anthony!

Joe Stack, the man who crashed a plane into an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Austin, Texas last week, has certainly made an impact on society as well, with many debating his manifesto in the wake of the incident

Whether you see Stack’s final message as the ramblings of a madman, or as the ramblings of a madman tinged with perhaps a vein of lucidity, Newgrounds has a very short and simple 8-bit styled game up on its site that will allow you to walk—and fly—a few feet in Stack’s shoes.

Entitled Tax Time!, the game begins with users burning their house down before jumping in a plane to their final destination. Along the way, news items converge and users can crash their plane into a car to earn an “Auto Recall” medal. Upon reaching their final destination, the game displays the message “Justice is Served” and awards the player another medal for “Sticking it to the Man.”
 
The title was created by Newgrounds member Falcon who says that he enjoys “making stupid games in 24 hours or less.” The game was submitted on February 18th, the same day Stack flew his plane into the building.


|Via PrisonPlanet|

With the release of SOCOM: U.S. Nave SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 for the PSP this week, Sony has implemented a new way to fight piracy on its handheld.

As detailed on IGN, those who purchase a physical copy of the SOCOM title will need to register the game on the PlayStation Network using a supplied voucher code in order to play SOCOM online. Those who download the game digitally will have their copy automatically registered in a background operation.

Anyone who purchases a used physical copy of the game will need to pay Sony $20 for a PSN entitlement voucher to play it online. A note on the back of the game box states: “Includes voucher for online play. The voucher can be redeemed by only one PSN account and cannot be transferred or sold.”

Sony’s Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller answered a few questions from IGN about the new scheme.

On whether this technology might also make its way to the PlayStation 3 in the future:

As with many programs, we're investigating future opportunities, but we have no announcements to make on it at this time.

How does Koller think PSP users will react to the new tech?

From our research, this will be received quite positively. Remember, piracy affects more than just the creators of the game. It also affects the consumers who purchase titles expecting a high-quality gaming experience.

A controversial online game has launched stateside.

Billed as Europe’s most popular browser-based game, Bumrise, from German developer Farbflut Entertainment, starts with players in the role of a homeless person. The aim is to eventually rise socially, with an ultimate goal of achieving elite Manhattanite status. Players can earn money by collecting bottles or by learning to play an instrument and busking for money on the streets. Players can team up with their friends to play the game together.

The game has rankled feathers around the world, with the Telegraph reporting on outrage from French homeless groups after the game’s launch in that country. A spokesperson for the Red Cross called the game, “…a disgrace, it's degrading, it's humiliating to make the homeless the butt of derision.”

For its part, Farbflut claims that part of the proceeds from the game have been “regularly” donated to homeless organizations. The company added:

Although Bumrise holds many cliches and stereotypes, it is set upon a satirical and exaggerated context. With help from our users, we assist the homeless people in Hamburg, and soon New York, with a portion of our revenues, thus bringing attention to their situation.

The game is also available on FaceBook under the name StreetRivals, “a more global name to incorporate all international versions into one game.”

For those out there looking to create their own massively multiplayer online game, a Pillsbury Law Firm lawyer has some recommendations for you.

Pillsbury’s Jim Gatto, who specializes in intellectual property for the firm, passed along the pointers via a podcast and accompanying article on the Chroma Coders website. Pillsbury claims to represent “many leading companies in the space” [virtual worlds/online games], including Activision.

To begin, Gatto recommends having a “comprehensive IP strategy to protect what you’re doing.” He also recommends that developers keep abreast of evolving legislation, which some developers neglect until it’s too late. Of course for those that require assistance in this matter, Pillsbury can offer their expertise in order to minimize surprises.

Gatto on other surprises that might come up for fledgling developers:

…for example, terms of service, a lot of people, we’ve seen, will cut and paste from someone else’s site and say, if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for us.

The problem with that is that each business model is different. Second life terms of service doesn’t work for some other companies, and even then the first time that Linden went to enforce their terms of service in a lawsuit with Mark Bragg, that you may be familiar, one of the provisions was struck down. Even they’re not infallible, right?

He continued:

One of the other things that extends to virtual goods involved in a game or virtual world, there’s a lot of issues there in connection with virtual currency and, for example, taxation. China imposed a 20 percent tax on games from virtual goods. The U. S. is looking at imposing something similar.
 

Dealing with the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) might be another aspect that new developers pay little or no heed to:

One of the things – in fact, there’s a company we work with called Privo. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them, but they’re actually one of the few COPA safe harbor things. They’ll come in and do some of the compliance policies, but the companies really care about this, making sure that you have an effective strategy and policy and that you’re actually following it is going to put you in a good position.

With the safe harbor provision under the FCC, even if you intend to comply you take steps. If you’ve got the safe harbor even if you’re not in compliance. Typically, you’re going to get an opportunity to fix it, and you’re not going to put yourself in a situation of being in the headline of the company who is next to not comply with COPA.

A love of the social aspects of videogames tends to drive any perceived dependence on games more so than a game’s activity itself.

This is the angle a Kent State University article takes in examining the aspects of what fuels gamers to keep on playing, in addition to the subject of whether or not the term “addiction” is fair to use in relation to videogames. KSU Sophomore Brian Clark weighed in on the latter subject, stating that the use of such a term was misleading:

Rather than craving the game itself, they crave the interaction they get in the game so rather than going out and having a real life social interaction, they’re having social interactions with other people on a game.

The piece notes that a definition of someone addicted to videogames, as put forth by the American Medical Association (AMA), is a person that “has more control and success over his or her social relationships in the virtual world than reality.”

World of Warcraft was mentioned often in the piece, with Clark admitting that a friend of his had a reliance on the online game, which Clark, again, attributed to the social aspect of WOW. The additional factor of playing a game that never really ends only increases the difficulty of putting a game like WOW aside noted student Connor Shivers.

Achievements can also be a powerful lure for gamers to keep playing. Clark’s previously discussed WOW-loving friend also became reliant on them, “He would play some Xbox games just for the fact of getting achievement points (on Xbox LIVE) and feeling like he accomplished something.”

GP: The definition as defined by the AMA probably needs to be updated as more and more relationships that begin in virtual worlds cross over to the real world. I would venture a guess that most hardcore gamers have befriended a fellow gamer via an online guild or clan and then met up with them IRL.

A group of online game developers have penned a letter to The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlining some of the group’s areas of concern as related to Net Neutrality.

The letter (PDF) consists of notes taken from a meeting between four government officials and Dan Scherlis of Scherlis.com (formerly of Turbine), John Radoff of GamerDNA, Christopher Dyl of Turbine, Kent Quirk of Linden Labs, Matthew Bellows of Vivox and Darius Kazemi of the Independent Game Developers Association (IGDA).

Quirk and Dyl emphasized that a focus on latency, not bandwidth, was one of their main concerns, with Dyl also mentioning that interconnections between ISPs can still be a “huge problem” for game developers, though it was generally agreed that most developers have designed their games to operate adequately on the existing network.

Radoff worried that if the Internet was balkanized, or fragmented, developers would have to waste time negotiating separately with each ISP, which would eat away at development resources. Quirk agreed with this point, using mobile applications as an example:

Mr. Quirk asserted that this point is illustrated by the fact that it is relatively easy to develop a mobile application for one phone, like the iPhone, but extremely difficult to develop an application for all phones and mobile networks.

Arguing for more transparency from ISPs, Dyl noted that Turbine was routinely blocked by ISPs that detected high UDP traffic from the game developer. The ISPs “apparently decided to block the traffic and wait to see who complained. Mr. Scherlis noted that not all companies have the resources to identify blocks or to persuade ISPs to stop blocking.”

Dyl also reported on a problem with Chinese online games—the two major ISPs have poor interoperability, leading to problems when a gamer on one ISP tries to play on a server hosted on the other ISP.

Scherlis indicated that a pay-for-priority setup with ISPs would be “acceptable,” but only if “all developers could purchase prioritization on equal terms.” Bellows worried that such a setup would “restrict competition for development of QoS [Quality of Service]-dependent applications to well-financed companies or those already dominant in the sector.”


|Via ArsTechnica|

|Image from Wikipedia|

A new study shows that media usage among today’s 8-18 year olds has increased to an average of seven hours and thirty-eight minutes per day.

That figure is dramatically from 2004 results, which showed an average total of six hours and twenty-one minutes, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds (PDF) still showed TV as the dominant form of media, with four hours and twenty-nine minutes consumed daily on average, with videogames weighing in at one hour and thirteen minutes of daily usage. Boys were also more likely to spend longer periods playing console games than girls, averaging fifty-six minutes a day versus fourteen for girls. PC game usage showed similar results, with boys averaging twenty-five minutes a day and girls a paltry eight minutes.

Only 30% of kids surveyed indicated that their household has rules in place for what videogames they can play, versus a 46.0% figure when it came to limiting television shows.

The study also showed at least a bit of a link between heavy media usage and poor grades, as 47.0% of “heavy” media users reported receiving “fair or poor” grades, versus 23.0% of “light” media users.

71.0% of the youngsters polled said they had a TV in their bedroom and 50.0% had their own videogame console.

Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation added, “The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it's even more than a full-time work week.”

56.0% of those polled indicated they had played an entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, versus 71.0% for Guitar Hero/Rock Band and 47.0% for Halo and Madden.

The Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) investigative show Frontline will air a deep look into how digital media and the Internet have transformed human lives and the subject of videogames is featured heavily in the program.

Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier will debut on February 2 at 9:00 ET. The 90 minute show was produced by Rachel Dretzin, who also created the recent Frontline special Growing Up Online, and will feature commentary from Douglas Rushkoff. Segments include Living Faster, Relationships, Waging War, Virtual Worlds and Learning.

Many individual videos are already available for viewing on the PBS website and a trailer for the show offers a quick overview of what it’s all about.

The Waging War section features game-related topics such as the military’s use of virtual reality training, as well as looks at both America’s Army and the Army Experience Center.

Virtual Worlds contains a cornucopia of videogame segments, including the use of virtual reality therapy for veterans, gaming addiction, professional gamers, violent games, Second Life and about 20 more pieces.

Another cool aspect to the program is that the Digital Nation website launched about a year ago ago in a bid to let users collaborate with the project by sharing their own experiences.

The Korean Supreme Court has ruled that the virtual currency of online games is effectively equal to real-world dollars.

The ruling came about as a result of a case against a pair of men (surnamed Kim and Lee) who had purchased Aden, the currency used in the online game Lineage. The men purchased 234.0 million won (approximately $207,614.00 U.S.) worth of Aden on the cheap, reports the Korea Times, and resold it to gamers, making a cool profit of 20.0 million won (approximately $17,747.00 U.S.) in the process.

The pair was arrested on charges of illegally making money and were found guilty by a provincial court, which cited a law banning the swapping of real currency for virtual. They were fined 2.0 million won and 4.0 million won respectively. An appellate court overturned that ruling, before prosecutor’s appealed to the country’s Supreme Court, who ruled that acquiring in-game currency was a factor of skill, not luck.

Prof. Chung Hae-sang at Dankuk University offered his thoughts on the judgement:

The ruling has brightened the future of the Korean game market. So far, the industry's growth has been interrupted by tough regulations.

One estimate pegged the amount of virtual currency exchanged online in Korea over the course of 2008 at over one trillion won (one trillion won = approximately $887.0 million U.S.).


|Via Massively|

Think Ninja Gaiden Black was a hard game? Try balancing Maryland’s state budget.

The Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute is offering visitors to its website a chance to try their hand at making bureaucratic ends meet in a new Flash game. As the Governor of Maryland—and faced with a projected deficit of at least $1.7 billion dollars for the fiscal 2011 year—players will attempt to balance the budget by choosing varying spending options in a variety of government-funded sectors, such as education, environment, social services, health and transportation.

Additionally, ten different special interest groups will weigh in with their reactions to your spending decisions.

The Institute’s director, Neil Bergsman, explained to the Carroll County Times the reasoning behind creating the game:

I thought that doing something that was a little bit like a video game would be able to inform, educate and entertain some people who wouldn’t otherwise come to our site and read about the state budget.

Tired of UK politicians? Think you could do a better job? An online game from the UK government allows players to take on the role of a backbench MP for a week.

The game, which is very well produced, begins by allowing players to choose a level of play, a party affiliation, an area of the UK to represent and a focus (local issues, world issues or money & finance). No focus on the games industry though sorry.

The game is aimed at 11-14 year olds and features eight types of activities—votes, questions, debates, speech editing, press conferences, messages and meetings. Players are charged with surviving the week without party or voter support dropping too low.

The game drew the support of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). ELSPA Director General Mike Rawlinson said about the game, “We are pleased to see Parliament embracing videogames in this way and finally appreciating the relevance of videogames in many areas of work and play.“

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is taking children’s TV network Nickelodeon to task for linking to “naughty” online games from its Nick.com and NickJR.com websites.

CCFC claims Nickelodeon is promoting “sexualized and violent video games to children as young as preschoolers” by cross-linking to its sister-website, AddictingGames.com.

Among the titles to raise CCFC’s ire are Naughty Classroom (Hot for teacher?...Here's your chance to fulfill your ultimate childhood fantasy), Foxy Sniper (Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Fear me, because I am a crack shot!) and Dark Cut 2 (More macho surgery! No anesthetic. No antiseptics. Just rusty knives, corn whiskey, and lots of blood!).

Nick had apparently pulled some games from the site after it received complaints toward the end of last year, but this was not enough to appease CCFC, who said that, “Nickelodeon was clearly more concerned about protecting its reputation than protecting children.”

AddictingGames.com does have a rudimentary warning system in place for games that “may be a little “edgy.” Such titles are flagged on the site with a picture of a small bomb. A short Parent’s Guide to the site is offered as well.

Concerned parents are urged to take action on the CCFC website, where they can submit a form letter to Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital, Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group.

The straight-shooters over at Vice interviewed the co-founder of Washington State’s ReStart facility, which treats people for gaming, Internet and texting addictions.

Dr. Hilarie Cash was asked whether or not she believes games are becoming more addictive:

All games focus on the idea of unpredictable reinforcement – you don’t know what’s going to happen when you reach the next stage, but you get “rewards” or “treats” at random points. And people who develop successful games have figured this out. In fact, many games companies hire professional psychologists these days to help them develop the best unpredictable reward payoff structures.

Dr. Cash on the potentially violent side of the addicts she treats:

There was a young man who ended up having to have an intervention. When the parents tried to take the computer out of his room, he tried to attack them with a knife. They just backed down, gave him his computer, went away. A teenager whose parents just take the computer away cold turkey – it’ll send them into a rage, and that rage can be quite dangerous.

How about Dr. Cash’s thoughts on whether gaming addiction or porn addiction will be more hazardous to society over the next ten years?

I think they’re equally hazardous. Pornography taps into anyone’s sex drive or need for sex. I’m sure the numbers of sex addicts far outnumber game addicts. That will probably continue, but I know that the internet-based games are typically highly addictive.

Put on your thinking caps for a discussion revolving around the political philosophy theory “state of nature” and its relation to videogames.

As outlined in a Baltimore Sun column, state of nature was first put forth by philosopher Thomas Hobbes who believed that a lack of civil restraints on society would turn people into savages that would do anything to preserve their own liberty or safety, with an emphasis on life as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”

Hobbes’ view is contrasted by fellow philosopher John Locke, who held a more optimistic view that people are generally reasonable and would not seek to harm others, even when left to their own devices.

The Sun author writes that “Readers of online material already know how the anonymity afforded by the World Wide Web enables nasty and slanderous exchanges rarely seen in face-to-face conversations. More tellingly, video games often encourage this phenomenon.”

He goes on to offer a juxtaposition of state of nature as witnessed in two online games. In the first example, Runescape is offered as adhering to Hobbes’ view. When first launched, the game allowed more skilled players to attack newer ones that were unable to defend themselves. Developers eventually had to step in and restrict player-versus-player combat to particular areas in the game.

On the other side of the fence, a game similar to Runescape, named Armies of Gielinor, was able to utilize an unwritten rule that protected newbies from veteran players, giving more credence to the views of Locke.

The author concludes his article by noting, “The path we choose - in video games as in real life - is up to us.”

GP: So, what does all this mean? Unfortunately philosophy is not known for offering concrete answers.  As mentioned in the article, if you have a computer, you have witnessed Hobbes’ views in action online, probably multiple times a day. Earlier this week I was struck by something that could be linked to Locke’s views, though it’s not game-related. As a fan of Boston.com’s Big Picture photo blog, I checked it out earlier this week only to read that the blog’s author was sick and taking the day off. Every single user comment on that post was positive, something rarely seen online.

Share any examples you may have witnessed—from either side—in the comments.

The latest action from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) targets Canada’s annual seal hunt and includes an interactive component.

The game itself is a rather simple Flash-based, embedded diversion that has players control a baby seal around men armed with clubs as it slips down a hill. While this year’s seal hunt has ended, PETA hopes to leverage the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics in order to draw attention to the grizzly hunt with the hopes of eventually stopping it altogether.

The annual hunt sees baby seals bludgeoned in front of their parents, often before they have eaten their first meal claims PETA.  In order to not damage a seal’s pelt, PETA says that many seals are hooked in their eye, cheek or mouth and dragged across the ice, often while still conscious.

PETA’s action campaign sends emails on behalf of the submitter to Canada’s Prime Minister and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. PETA also urges a boycott of Canadian maple syrup to further get the point across.


|Thanks Grant|

Perhaps witnessing the impact America’s Army has had on recruiting results, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning its own game—a massively multiplayer online title set in the year 2035.

Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond is in development by a team of three developers, including one behind America's Army: Virtual Heroes (America’s Army), Project Whitecard and Wisdom Tools. The full title is being created using the Unreal Engine and is set in a time when humans have begun forming settlements throughout the solar system.

The game also seeks to be a proponent of science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning and, as of now anyway, has a goal of granting real course accreditation to users.

Moonbase Alpha is the mini-demo game component that is expected to be issued early next year. A short video slideshow teasing the mini-game can be viewed here.

Edge-Online also has a recent interview exploring the game with NASA’s Learning Technologies Project Manager Daniel Laughlin.

GP: Remind us in three or four years to file a Freedom of Information Act request to see how much this ends up costing taxpayers.

It appears that anti-health care reformers are rewarding Facebook gamers with virtual currency for participation in a letter writing campaign to Congress featuring the message that government-run health care is not the answer.

A story on Business Insider details the alleged practice, which is being done at the behest of GetHealthReformRight.org, a website backed by a series of insurance brokers and underwriters, including the BlueCross BlueShield Association, the National Association of Health Underwriters and the America’s Health Insurance Plans. The National Retail Association is also listed.

The group states that they “are concerned about federal legislation that would create new government bureaucracies that would unravel the workplace healthcare system.”

It seems that the campaign is offered on Facebook under the guise of a quiz, which participants are required to take in order to receive virtual currency to use in a Facebook game. Upon completion of the quiz, and after entering personal information, an email is sent to Congress with the message, “As the Senate considers healthcare reform, I’m writing to express my strong opposition to a government-run health plan. I am concerned a new government plan would cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today.”

The growing proliferation of fake grass-roots campaigns has resulted in a name being spawned for the practice—astroturfing.

Growing Internet penetration in China will continue to fuel online gaming revenues as well as swell the number of online gamers in the years to come according to a new report.

Analysys International data, as reported by Reuters, claims that online gaming revenues in China should reach approximately 73.1 billion yuan (approximately $10.7 billion U.S.) within three years, while the online gaming population is expected to grow from the current 69.0 million to 230.0 million over the same period.

Internet availability has only reached about 27.0 percent of the Chinese population currently, versus more than 70.0 percent in South Korea and Japan. Current U.S. penetration is estimated at 74.1%.

Online game revenues are expected to tally about 26.0 billion yuan (approximately $3.8 billion U.S.) this year.

An Atlanta-based videogame development company has announced plans to create a virtual online faith-based community.

Universe of Faith (UOF) is being developed by Entertainment Arts Research, Inc. and is billed as the first of its kind, with plans to be a “catalyst of change” for the online Christian community. The $2.5 million project is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2010.

Entertainment Arts Research President Jonathan Eubanks, dubbed the “brainchild” of UOF, added, “My goals for creating Universe of Faith are to bring high production value to faith based media offerings, remove the taboo from discussing faith based matters and issues, use modern technology to innovate on missionary and ministry outreach and create an experience that is engaging and fun.”

Browser-based, UOF promises to be an “intriguing venue for social networking,” with a “diverse and immersive experience for users to create a life beyond the tangible world.”

The project is being developed in conjunction with Legacy Group Global, an advertising agency that specializes in working with non-profits and ministries.

On its website, Entertainment Arts Research states that its goal is, “to become the worldwide leader in video games that serve the African-American, Latin American, Asian and Caribbean markets by 2010."

A 23-year old UK man was arrested on November 24 for utilizing phishing websites to steal accounts from a popular browser-based game.

Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape, announced the news in a press release, stating that the arrest reflects the company’s “zero tolerance stance against cyber crime.” Once Jagex learned of the theft of the accounts, the company contacted and collaborated with the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) to catch the perpetrator.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard commented:

Our internal investigations revealed that just a handful of individuals are responsible for over 95% of all account hijacking in RuneScape and we have a zero tolerance approach to anyone who attempts to undermine the integrity of our vibrant community. I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to the professional and hard-working individuals at the PCeU and the FBI, who are assisting us with similar actions in the USA.

PCeU is a division of the Metropolitan Police. A PCeU spokesperson added, “People who seek to destroy others online gaming experience could be committing criminal offences, leaving themselves liable to prosecution.”

Australia’s Office of Film Literature Classification (OFLC) has refused classification to another videogame.

Refused-Classification.com noticed that the free-to-play MMO game CrimeCraft from developer Vogster Entertainment is the latest game to be Refused Classification (RC), rendering the game unable to be released in Australia.

The ruling date was November 26, 2009.

The title was given an “M” (Mature) rating in the U.S. by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). From the ESRB’s description of the game:

Small splashes of red blood indicate successful hits, and bloodstains are depicted on the ground under some defeated characters. Achievements and mission titles sometimes contain profanity (e.g., achievement called "F**king Ridiculous"; missions called "I Ain't Movin' B*tch," and "Poppin' a Cap in Yo A*s"). Players can customize female avatars so that they only wear a bra and thong-style panties or outfits that expose deep cleavage; players can also trigger a brief dance in which an avatar caresses her body.

Refused-Classification notes that this is the fifth game Refused Classification this year, tying yearly highs met previously in 2004 and 2008. In addition to CrimeCraft, Necrovision, Sexy Poker, Left 4 Dead 2 and Risen were all given an RC rating this year.

Based on the ESRB descriptor, the website speculates that CrimeCraft was banned on the basis of violence contained within the game.


Thanks Ryan!

File under bad ideas: one component of a Danish anti-violence campaign features an online game that allows players to virtually beat up a woman.

“Hit The Bitch” is the work of The NGO for Children Exposed to Violence at Home and lets players smack around a girl in a bid to elevate scores from the level of “pussy” to “gangsta.”  Users who possess a webcam also have the ability to go interactive, as physical swings and slaps will be translated to on screen violence against the girl.

The site is currently only offered to Danish Internet users due to a high amount of traffic to the site, though the game’s makers note that “domestic violence is a global problem, so please support the fight against it in your local country.”

By all accounts, the game ends with the girl on the ground bleeding and crying. One user reported that the game calls the player an idiot for participating.


|Via Adverblog|

A California gamer whose lawsuit against Sony Computer Entertainment America was tossed out of court last month has filed an appeal.

Resistance: Fall of Man player Erik Estavillo originally filed a complaint against SCEA on July 6th of this year, alleging that Sony suppressed his free speech rights by banning him from the PlayStation Network. Estavillo further claimed that disabling his account amounted to a theft of his PSN pre-paid points and that SCEA was unable to stop users under 17 years of age from playing.

A judge dismissed Estavillo’s lawsuit on September 22, 2009, ruling that there was no plausible First Amendment claim for relief.

The appeal was filed on October 19 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Update: Estavillo also filed (on October 14th) a civil lawsuit against SCEA in Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara seeking $180,000.

Estavillo tells GP he is representing himself in these cases and, in light of his PSN ban, is playing the Wii (Metroid Trilogy) and Xbox 360 (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe). Estavillo said that he loves playing as The Joker in the latter title and may be “a bit obsessed” with the character, adding, “I plan to wear a purple suit during my court trials. No joke!”

An initiative that offers virtual payments for use in social and online games in return for performing tasks may promote child labor speculates a post on ReadWriteWeb.

CrowdFlower, which focuses on harnessing “cloud labor” from around the world and Gambit, a company that specializes in facilitating payment solutions for online games, offer users of games like MyFarm real-world tasks to perform—such as tagging photos or reviewing content—and returns payment in the form of virtual currency.

What caught the eye of ReadWriteWeb was Gambit’s explanation of its latest offering: “…making this a superb way to engage younger users, or international users in emerging markets.”

The article’s author, Dana Oshiro, wrote:

While others might argue that the web-task barter system is akin to earning one's allowance, the fact that children could be scraping the web to help businesses advertise to us seems somewhat exploitative. While it's too early to say how this program will pan out, there's no doubt that CrowdFlower and Gambit will have to walk a fine line to keep this program ethical.

A Gambit employee, Susan Su, jumped into the comment section to provide a little clarity, writing that while Facebook does not “knowingly allow” users under the age of 13 to register, “it's always tough to enforce requirements like these on the Internet.”

Su continued:

That said, we do know that users over the age of 15 make up the bulk of our transactions, and while parental consent is still strongly recommended for people aged 15-18, it's true that a lot of teens are making their own spending and work decisions around that age. As Lukas said, this is completely new territory for social game users, for developers, and for Crowdflower and Gambit.

Playing The Mines of Moria expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online has prompted a thoughtful article comparing the fictional battle over Middle-Earth territory to modern-day events taking place in the Middle East.

Is Moria the Promised Land? at The Angry Bear begins by outlining the factions fighting over the right to claim residence in Moria; Dwarves, the original occupiers,  Goblins, which moved in following the Dwarves departure and The Morroval, half-women, half-bat creatures.

Author Allen Rausch notes:

… there doesn’t seem to be any common ground between the three factions that could broker any sort of structured solution. It’s an endless cycle of violence where killing begets killing that merely begets more killing.

Hmm, that does sound familiar. Which group would Rausch side with?

In such a case, my sympathies must ultimately lie with the Dwarves not because of what the Morroval or the goblins do to them, but because of what goblins and Morroval do to each other and the kind of culture they create for themselves.