Quantcast
You are here: Home / Archives for July 2009

Virtual sex steps up a notch: JoyRiact

July 13, 2009 By

Today whilst completing out weekly news roundup, I stumbled across a press release from a Swiss company promoting the late 2009 release of a suite of net-connected sex toys under the banner JoyRiact. The press release contains the usual healthy dose of hyperbole, but it seems Second Life is key market and JoyRiact claim to have some events planned in-world.

The demo video explains it all pretty well really:

The press release also rightly recognises there are already options available in this area – it’ll be interesting to see if this product captures a significant share of what’s a fairly hard to quantify, but likely significant market.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Filed Under: Business, General News Tagged With: ,

World of Warcraft – ‘Well Read’ Achievement

July 12, 2009 By

well-read-achievementAs a long-term World of Warcraft player, I’m still regularly astounded at the complexity and depth of the ‘game’. For the past year, the Achievements system has helped to encapsulate the scope of WoW. At time of writing, there are 931 achievements that range from pulling off 100 victories in a battleground to kissing a range of WoW fauna.

One of these achievements is titled Well Read and requires the reading of 42 books spread around different parts of Azeroth. It’s a time-consuming quest but one that gives you the opportunity to read a lot of WoW lore if that’s what takes your fancy. If not, then it’s just another grind for an achievement ;)

Any Level 70+ character is likely to be able to pick up the quest solo, with the biggest challenge being Scholomance.

I recorded the location of each book as I did it, for your benefit – I tried to do it in the most time-efficient way as far as flight time etc. Of course, the list below applies to Alliance characters, Horde characters may want to check here for an alternate approach.

Onto the list:

Ref Name Where Specifics
1 The Alliance of Lordaeron Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On Table
2 Aftermath of the Second War Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On Table
3 The Guardians of Tirisfal Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On Table
4 Aegwynn and the Dragon Hunt Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On Floor
5 Beyond the Dark Portal Stormwind Keep – Royal Library 2nd Table
6 Civil War in the Plaguelands Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On Floor
7 The Kaldorei & the Well of Eternity Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On Pillar
8 The New Horde Stormwind Keep – Royal Library On 2nd Pillar
9 The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind Stormwind Keep – War Room On Table
10 The Battle of Grim Batol Stormwind Keep – War Room 2nd Table
11 War of the Spider Stormwind Keep – War Room 3rd Table
12 Archimonde’s Return Stormwind – Library – The Canals On Table
  and the Flight to Kalimdor    
13 Mount Hyjal and Illidan’s Gift Stormwind – Library – The Canals On Table
14 Lethargy of the Orcs Elwynn Forest – Eastvale Logging 2nd Floor House
15 Kil’Jaeden and the Shadow Pact Duskwood – Darkshire Inn Upstairs
16 The Founding of Quel’Thalas Duskwood – Darkshire Inn Upstairs
17 The Birth of the Lich King Duskwood – Town Hall On Table (Mayor)
18 The Last Guardian Westfall – Sentinel Hill – Inn On Table
19 The Scourge of Lordaeron Booty Bay – ‘Sea Wolf’ McKinley Bottom Floor
20 The Twin Empires Booty Bay – ‘Sea Wolf’ McKinley Bottom Floor
21 Empires’ Fall Booty Bay – ‘Sea Wolf’ McKinley Bottom Floor
22 Wrath of Soulflayer Booty Bay – ‘Sea Wolf’ McKinley Bottom Floor
23 The Sentinels and the Long Vigil Booty Bay – ‘Sea Wolf’ McKinley Top Floor
24 Sunwell – The Fall of Quel’Thalas Booty Bay – Salty Sailor Tavern 2nd Floor
25 Ironforge – The Awakening of the Dwarves Ironforge – Hall of Explorers Library Table
26 War of the Three Hammers Ironforge – Hall of Explorers Library Table
27 Arathor and the Troll Wars Ironforge – Hall of Explorers Library Table
28 The Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth Ironforge – Hall of Explorers Library Table
29 Charge of the Dragonflights Ironforge – Hall of Explorers Library Table
30 The Rise of the Horde Ironforge – Hall of Explorers  
31 The Invasion of Draenor Western Plagulands -Scholomance First room (down)
32 Exile of the High Elves Western Plagulands -Scholomance First room (down)
33 The Seven Kingdoms Western Plagulands -Scholomance The Reliquary
34 Icecrown and Frozen Throne Western Plagulands -Scholomance The Reliquary
35 Sargeras and The Betrayal Western Plagulands -Scholomance The Reliquary
36 Kel’Thuzad and the Forming of the Scourge Western Plagulands -Scholomance The Reliquary
37 The Lich King Triumphant Western Plagulands -Scholomance The Reliquary
38 Rise of the Blood Elves Darnassus – Craftsmen’s Terrace B/W Cooking & First Aid
39 The War of the Ancients Darnassus – Craftsmen’s Terrace B/W Cooking & First Aid
40 The World Tree and the Emerald Dream Darnassus – Craftsmen’s Terrace North most building
41 The Betrayer Ascendant Darnassus – Tradesman’s Terrace Back row, behind Cloth
42 Old Hatreds – The Colonization of Kalimdor Gadgetzan At Flightmaster

Popularity: 8% [?]

Filed Under: Gaming Worlds Tagged With: ,

Weekend Whimsy

July 11, 2009 By

1. Shrink Wrapped – avatars needing psychiatric help

2. Mitch Triellis – Second Life Belfast

3. Waiting for my Tomorrow: A Love Story in Second Life

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: User-generated Tagged With:

Another Perfect World

July 10, 2009 By

In late June, the UK’s Channel 4 ran a documentary called Another Perfect World. It’s a well structured look at virtual environments with a focus on the tensions in developing a ‘utopia’, with World of Warcraft, Second Life, Metaplace and Lineage scrutinised. A 30-minute preview can be viewed right here:

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: General News, Virtual world history Tagged With:

Twinity: intersection of immersion and State

July 8, 2009 By

With a new round of funding in the bank, Twinity is on as firm a ground as it’s ever been. The development of virtual replicas of cities has proven a successful formula to date. Singapore is a Twinity stronghold and a virtual Orchard Road is on the way.

twinity-singapore

Two aspects of the Orchard Road announcement caught my interest:

Virtual Singapore was developed in consultation with the Media Development Authority (MDA) and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

and

Twinity is tying up with AsiaOne – the interactive arm of Singapore Press Holdings – to seek retailers, brands and firms interested in promoting their products or space on the virtual ‘Orchard Road’.

Bear with me while I explain some of the intricacies.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) is a government agency that has two main purposes: “The first is to promote the growth of the media industry. The second is to manage content to protect core values and safeguard consumers’ interests“.

The Infocomm Development Authority is also a government agency with the roles of “infocomm industry champion, the national infocomm master-planner and developer, and the Government CIO“.

AsiaOne is a key business within the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) stable. SPH isn’t government owned, but under SIngapore’s Newspaper and Printing Presses Act, no management shares can be transferred without approval of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA). This is the ministry that oversees the Media Development Authority.

What this means is that the SIngapore Government has direct involvement in the development of virtual SIngapore in Twinity. Nothing wrong with that at all – Australia’s government has played a role in funding virtual world presences, as have a plethora of other governments. What interests me most is the AsiaOne partnership, which is likely to have an advertising revenue focus. If you’re currently a SIngapore business person, you’re likely to have advertised with SIngapore Press Holdings at some stage as it has nearly 80% of the over-15′s market.

What do you do when SPH’s sales team phone you to negotiate your next advertising package and mention you can now advertise in Twinity? If you don’t know that the government have funded the Twinity presence, the less well informed may see it as a gimmick and decline. This is where it gets really interesting: if take up of advertising in Twinity’s virtual Singapore isn’t as great as expected, what happens next? I won’t be surprised if Singapore becomes the first sovereign entity to have virtual world advertising as a standard option for its business owners. The initial acceptance may be limited but the incredibly close government involvement combined with substantial influence over SPH makes for one fascinating and potentially controversial case study of virtual worlds and business. There’s no criticism of Metaversum intended – they have operated as one would expect of a commercial entity. It’s wider issues of politics, media and governance that invite further discussion.

I fired some questions on the issue through to Metaversum’s Managing Director, Jeremy Snyder:

TMJ: Does Metaversum see the Singapore model of government funding combined with a media partnership to drive advertising as one it’s likely to explore in other markets.

Singapore really offered some unique opportunities for us. Their drive to stimulate and showcase innovative companies in the IDM (Interactive Digital Media) space. The media partnership that we entered here is a strong endorsement of our vision. We do see a lot of value in similar strategic partnerships for other markets.

TMJ: Does it see this model working as well as it may do in Singapore where SPH’s management has a close relationship with the government?

Twinity: The relationship between SPH and the Singapore government was not part of the decision process for entering that partnership. Negotiations for funding in 2008 & subsequent negotiations with SPH were entirely different excercises.

TMJ: Does Metaversum have any concerns that potential success in Singapore may be as a result of the unusually tight control on media in Singapore, which may ensure widespread adoption of virtual world advertising as indirect government policy, making it a case study not easily replicated in other markets?

Twinity: Singapore’s media policies in the Internet space really don’t have any affect on our business. Similarly, we do not plan to apply any different standards for content in Twinity’s virtual Singapore than in other locations in Twinity. We feel our success in Singapore and elsewhere will still come back to the core values of Twinity – the connections to real life, the content available, and the strength of the community.

—

What do you think: is virtual Singapore likely to provide a unique social experiment?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: General News, Law and virtual worlds, Politics Tagged With: , ,

Book Review: My Avatar, My Self

July 8, 2009 By

Waggoner_978-0-7864-4109-9

Firstly, it’s fair to warn you that I’m breaking one of my own reviewing rules here. I generally never write a review of something that I haven’t purchased. That’s a rule that I’m not in the habit of breaking, but it’s worth noting that I’m making an exception here today.

If you want the short version, you should go and buy Waggoner’s book if you have a serious interest in identity, identification, the interaction of people with diegetic and liminal spaces, and/or the core philosophies of human involvement, interactions and identity in virtual spaces and gameplay.

For those of you that are still here, Waggoner has put together a book that doubles as something of a thesis. Littered with references and notes, My Avatar, My Self is a dense and thoughtful read both on the nature of ourselves as well as on the nature of our virtual interactions and extensions.

I say dense, because virtually every paragraph gave me pause for consideration, sparking numerous, lengthy discussions, and causing my editor to wait and wait and wait, and wait some more for me to actually get back to him.

That’s the very definition of thought-provoking, right there. There’s a lot of meat within these covers.

Waggoner discusses the models of modernist identity theorists (who, alas, still aren’t really sure what Identity actually is), as well as contrasting that with the models of post-modern identity theorists (who also still aren’t sure what Identity).

Identity and the nature and definition of it is far from a done-deal, but practical interaction with avatars sheds a whole lot more light on things, and seems to support the post-modern theories rather better.

Debates between modern and postmodern identity theories continue. However, most theorists regardless of their camp seem to agree that communication media impact human identity construction. Even modern identity theorists such as Giddens recognize the importance of these external stimuli: “Mediated experience has long influenced both self-identity and the basic organization of social relations.” This statement is echoed by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin almost a decade later: “[People] employ media as vehicles for defining personal identity”

Throughout, Waggoner focuses on single-user role-playing games primarily (Fallout 2/3, Morrowind, Oblivion), but this is no weakness in his approach. In doing so, Waggoner manages to test and demonstrate his points without considerable, intrusive or distracting noise or complications, as he monitors the interactions and reactions of four diverse subjects as they approach various games.

Throughout, Waggoner examines the motivations, identification, and responses of his four subjects, occasionally highlighting responses that a subject is seemingly unaware of, or unwilling to admit.

If you’re not afraid of some deep ideas about identity, expression, avatars, narrative, genres and spaces, nor of the language required to express these compactly, Waggoner’s My Avatar, My Self should find a place on your reading list.

And now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to go back and read it again.

(You can purchase this book from TMJ’s online bookstore, Amazon or direct from the publisher).

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Education, Review Tagged With: , ,

Alter Ego: A Taste

July 7, 2009 By

It’s been awhile since Alter Ego was touted for release and it even had a proposed late June screening date. That’s been delayed but if you want a taste of what Alter Ego offers, here’s a snippet from Director Shelley Matulick, called ‘Peter and the Wolfie’:

Peter and the Wolfie from Shelley Matulick on Vimeo.

For me, this is a really engaging take on Second Life, What do you think?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Australian News Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »