TechCrunch reports on the release of WebFlock, a hosted, in-browser virtual world service offered by The Electric Sheep Company. Formerly Second Life-obsessed (weren't we all at one point), the company brought a number of major brands into the overhyped virtual world (such as Major League Baseball, LEGO, and Starwood Hotels). Now, the Sheep have cut out the middle-world by starting up their own.

Because WebFlock is Flash based, it's accessible by over 90% of the web browsers out there: in other words, everyone can get in easily (unlike the recently-launched Google Lively, which requires a large plugin download and only runs on Windows-based PCs running Internet Exploder). Gotta like low barriers to entry.

Sheep CEO Sibley Verbeck reportedly puts the price of basic private-world hosting at "under $100,000" for a year of service. Well out of the range of any but rich corporations. Showtime is coughing up for the service, bringing an extension of its L-Word TV property to WebFlock after a successful splash in Second Life. I suspect many major brands will follow suit, as controlled spaces are much more attractive than "anything goes" sandboxes.

Clipped this from a Cartoon Network email I received minutes ago, talking about how awesome its upcoming FusionFall MMO is going to be:

"How is FusionFall different from other online games out there?

The biggest difference is that we are combining two play styles: platform gaming with RPGs. That hasn't been done before in an MMO and it's really exciting."

Hasn't MapleStory combined platform gaming with RPGs in an MMO format since at least 2005? Someone tell me if I'm wrong, this Cartoon Network assertion is making me dizzy.

Long-time readers of this blog will know how I loathe in-game advertising and how it is often rammed into games with ham-fisted clumsiness. This being said, I'm pleased to discover that in-game ads are coming to massively-multiplayer superhero games City of Heroes / City of Villiains (known as CoX in combination). Why am I pleased? Because those responsible for the move have obviously learned from past advertisers' mistakes and are being considerate of the players and the world they inhabit:

• CoX world is a contemporary, urban setting. Perfectly suitable for contemporary, urban advertising (unlike far-future sci-fi settings, for example)
• Ads will only be displayed in areas that had already featured fictional ads--not a major impact on the aesthetic of the game, and, arguably a method of increasing the world's "realism"
• Most importantly, players can turn the ads off.
• Players have been invited to submit their own advertisements for inclusion in the world. Great move, getting the players involved and feeling ownership over their environment--players are probably less likely to turn off ads this way
• Ad revenue will bankroll further development of the subscription-based game rather than simply make the publisher richer.

While in Austin for SXSW, I caught the launch of The All-For-Nots, described by BuzzFeed as "a new web comedy about a fictional indie rock band," except that what I saw on stage was just a band--the comedy occurs offstage, apparently. As explained by a friend of mine at the event, the band's scripted between-gig antics are shot for webisodes, which you can check out on the band's official web site. Not entirely clear on the target demographic for this--I'm going to guess 12 - 24 year-olds (the project is going after both MySpace and Bebo users, which seems around that age range).

I suppose what I saw on stage was a salad comprised of alternate reality bands like The Monkees, Josie and the Pussycats, Jem and the Holograms, and Spinal Tap--a pref-fab band appealing to your love of music (if you like derivative indie-rock), comedy (via webisodes rather than on-stage), and presumably to your wallet as well (merch? albums?).

I kept waiting for something crazy to happen during the band's energetic set, but no. What would have been cool is for them to fire their drummer on stage... anything involving fire, actually. Oh well, will keep my eye on this project, maybe it'll blossom.

Rough notes liveblogged from Jane McGonigal's keynote presentation at SXSW...

The Lost Ring has been in pay for a week, there are already over 100 screen grabs from the game trailer posted to flickr.

We need more alternate realities... the real world needs to be redesigned as a game...

Slide: "A game designer's perspective on the future of happiness"

Research around the subject of happiness... the science of happiness... we've started to see a backlash after a period of happiness study... one area of study looks specifically at what makes us happy and function well... it's been all over the popular press...

There's an amazing parallel between what makes us happy and the core tenets of game design...


Continue reading: SXSW 2008 Notes:  Jane McGonigal’s Keynote

SXWi 2008 rough notes: "Human Rights and Property Rights in Virtual Worlds"

Susan Wu- If we don't address legal issues as publishers and developers, we will lose control [presumably through regulation]

Scenario: Your Tier 5 armor which took 6 months to acquire gets nerfed, do you have legal protection against devaluation?

Eric Bethke- No.

Boyd- Game world designers should have control over that decision [to nerf the armor, I think].

Scenario: You lose equipment following a server crash, do you have the right to have that property replaced?

Andrew Schneider- yes

Bethke- yes
Boyd- publishers can treat you however they want within the law. If I were running a game I would bend over backwards to give it back.

Schneider- This is all covered in EULAs, ToS, how rules are communicated to gamers

Continue reading: SXSWi 2008 Notes:  Human and Property Rights in Virtual Worlds

Thanks to Dee Cook and Dan Hon of Six to Start for joining me yesterday on a last-minute SXSWi panel entitled "Cross-Media Cross-Pollination: Mashing Up Video Games and ARGs."

We chatted about how ARGs and video games relate, and how these two game-forms might learn from each other. There were at least 60 people in attendance, many of whom were probably expecting the original panel "ARGs: The Future of Entertainment." Given that we only lost a few people during our panel, and given the number of eyeballs focused on the panelists, I think it was a success. Attendees joined in the discussion during and after the panel--I'm hosting a follow-up conversation on Monday at 3:30pm if anyone at the conference is interested in further conversation about ARGs and video games.

Liveblogged from SXSW... rough notes...

7 tweens and teens on the panel, Goodstein moderated.

-- 12 yo: "goodreads.com" social networking and book reviews. "Purevolume.com" signed and unsigned bands.
-- MySpace, Facebook, "you can create your own layout," "customize your own designs," "communicate with friends and family after school"
-- MySpace, Facebook, prefers FB because of the add-ons "if everyone from my school wasn't there, I wouldn't be there", Digg.com, favorite game is Counterstrike Source
-- MySpace, "high five," helps her keep in touch with friends, "can't live without music," meet new people, talk a lot, make new friends. 12 yo in real life, 16 yo on MySpace
-- MySpace, "Mix Matters" music site, and "DATpif" (?) mix tape web site, keeps him up to date on recording artists. A gamer, plays sports games, plays Halo 3
-- 17.com for hair and makeup tips, Hipster.com for playlists and new artist discovery
-- MySpace, Runescape online roleplaying game, likes to make new friends with people around the world, 12yo in real life, 99yo on MySpace.

Continue reading: SXSW 2008 Notes:  What Teens Want

Some poor bastard paid twenty-five bucks to send me a very nicely-produced clue-package for an Alternate Reality Game, presuming I have time to unravel a ball of yarn. Guess what: I don't. Lucky for you, Despoiler already did. I got the exact same package*, so just hop on over there to view the contents.

Dear Mystery-Package Sender,
You missed on three counts.
1) I'm busy running my own company, and don't have time to play your game.
2) I don't pick up my mail as regularly as you imagine I might.
3) I don't publish a news outlet for ARG-related matters. These days, I barely publish at all. So I'm not exactly worth approaching.

Additionally, I got an email from the makers of the game yesterday that almost ended up in my Spam folder, and was ultimately a wasted effort. I didn't care to rummage through the email contents. There's a link to a video there. I didn't check it out.

Clearly, Mystery-Package Sender is shooting in the dark--I wonder who else might have been targeted. Despite my indifference to their game, they still got free buzz out of me. Twenty-five bucks well spent, I guess.

* Update: Ok, looks like my photos aren't the same. All the more tragic I don't have time to scan and post them.

• Oddworld at 10 [GamesIndustry.biz]
  "We're in early stages on a feature film...pre-production stages...but it will still be a while," says 'Oddworld' creator Lorne Lanning as he heads towards 'Oddworld 2.0' business model. Whatever that is.
  (tags: gaming, games, culture, transmedia, motionpictures, business, development)
• Missed Gaming Opportunity on CSI - Gaming and Licensing [PlayNoEvil]
  Fictional game shown on 'CSI' fails to be launched as actual game. Missed opportunity not just for gaming but for transmedial storytelling. Good opening for a "fiction-jacker" to create their own version of the game.
  (tags: game gaming tv transmedia development design culture marketing)
• Human Computer Interaction in Science Fiction Movies
  "This paper presents a survey of different kinds of interaction designs in movies during the past decades and relates the techniques of the films to existing technologies and prototypes where possible."
  (tags: analysis art article motionpictures culture technology design interactivity interface hci reference)
• TV, film and game violence seen as a threat [Reuters]
  "Violence depicted on television, in films and video games raises the risk of aggressive behavior in adults and young viewers and poses a serious threat to public health, according to a new study." Panic on the streets of London!
  (tags: tv motionpictures games culture anthropology psychology study science people groups media society health)
• Video Ads on Xbox Live?
  Uh oh. December Xbox Live update "Added support for Audio Mute/Unmute for video ads." The static ads are already obnxious enough. And yet we keep paying.
  (tags: business advertising advergaming marketing gaming xboxlive)
• The Joker's latest task is a Piece of Cake [ARGNet]
  Movie meets gaming meets baking: Cake with phone number written in icing contains mobile phone. Someone call the Boston Police.
  (tags: marketing transmedia motionpictures mobile arg game gaming game.mechanic food play)
• Cinemassively: "Lost" island lost in Second Life [Massively]
  Interesting blurb about 3D fan-fiction: an homage to LOST's island in Second Life. 277 members. Pity it wasn't an official ABC venture, given SL rents virtual islands.
  (tags: secondlife culture fandom tv transmedia)