Liveblogged from SXSWi in Austin, my rough notes from the panel "SXSW 2008 Notes: Stories, Games, and Your Brand."

Dan Hon case study: Cloverfield.
-- More people heard of the marketing than saw the movie (based on informal audience survey)

Rachel Clarke case study: Honda.
-- Puzzles built into posters, web site, game play engages viewers, every time you play the game it takes you closer to the brand

Roo Reynolds case study: Perplex City.
-- PC had a nice collecting element, but a great backstory, bits of everything in it... in my work in virtual worlds, I've been disappointed to not experience this level of depth (although VWs are good at turning people into participants)...

Continue reading: SXSWi 2008 Notes:  Stories, Games and Your Brand

• FoE2: Fan Labor [MIT CCC Archives]
  Liveblog from Futures of Entertainment panel on fan labor, featuring Mark Deuze, Jordan Greenhall, Catherine Tosenberger, Elizabeth Osder, Raph Koster.
  (tags: crowdsourcing fandom work productiveplay tv motionpictures business academic presentation events)
• Virtual bicycles which translate to real bikes for real children [SLNN]
  Buy an African bike in Second Life, $1USD goes towards the purchase of a real African bike. Report: "In 2008 there will be a grid-wide virtual bike-a-thon."
  (tags: charity commerce mixed.reality secondlife society life africa)
• The DIY Future: What Happens When Everyone Is A Designer?
  Joe Lamantia's slides from Italian IA Summit. Seems to me a this question came up back in 1984 along with Macs and desktop publishing. These days I see the question being relevant to sandbox virtual worlds.
  (tags: business collaboration consumption crowdsourcing design interface participation reference research culture)
• The Seven Tenets Of The Information Workplace by Erica Driver, Connie Moore - Forrester Research
  Tenet #6: "Information should be social. Again, this has been one of the major arguments for a 3D virtual work environment that allows users to collaboratively access and edit information in real time."
  (tags: whitepaper research work virtualreality collaboration social socialsoftware)
• Terra Nova: The History of Play and Leisure (Syllabus)
  Timothy Burke's "first stab at actually teaching about games." The history of play can teach us a lot about work (and the leisure/work dynamic), I reckon.
  (tags: academic education games gaming play reference bibliography productiveplay)
• Rich Halverson: Games and Leadership
  "Can building pyramids and killing Lokthar the Ice Lord make you a better leader?" Short answer (and you'll already know it if you've been in a serious MMO guild): Yes.
  (tags: groups leadership society games simulation productiveplay training education youth gaming)
• Harnessing Status Competition On Wikipedia [Techdirt]
  Gaming Wikipedia: "...there are competing factions battling for control of the site, they conduct their battle by competing to make the best contributions to the site, thereby earning the respect of other Wikipedians..."
  (tags: gaming wikipedia status reputation groups griefing groupthink work research socialsoftware)
• Virtual Workplace - a 2011-2012 Vision [Cisco Virtual Worlds Blog]
  Five technology questions, four technology predictions. My favorite question: "If it went away tomorrow, would anyone really miss it within 3-6 months?" Most interesting prediction: "People will stop talking about Virtualized Environments in terms of 'avatars.'"
  (tags: avatar technology predictions business work collaboration web 3pointD socialsoftware virtualreality mmo)
• Crowdsourcing Law Enforcement [Techdirt]
  "...the FBI has announced a plan to begin using some 150 Clear Channel digital billboards in major American cities to show national security alerts..." Throw some game mechanics in there while you're at it.
  (tags: crowdsourcing law communication socialsoftware policy business advertising crime)
• Kids on Club Penguin Donate Virtual Coins... [TreeHugger]
  "Coins for Change" virtual charity campaign brings in reported $1M in cash, split between 3 organizations based on an online vote of Club Penguin users. World Wildlife Fund got $330,000.
  (tags: charity youth mmo social activism productiveplay)
• World of Answercraft [Terra Nova]
  Summary and link roundup of Amazon's game-like "Askville.com" feature, which involves experience points and Quest gold.
  (tags: list links reference productiveplay work web status crowdsourcing economy games rmt groups)
• Getting Real Work Done In Virtual Worlds [Forrester Research]
  "...within five years, the 3-D Internet will be as important for work as the Web is today. Information and knowledge management professionals should begin to investigate and experiment with virtual worlds."
  (tags: reference resource report research business collaboration data development life marketing online predictions secondlife mmo virtualreality 3pointD)

If games are good teachers, what do/could/should games teach? Here's a quick dump of topical links relating to this theme:

• Values At Play
  "Our ambition is to harness the power of video games in the service of humanistic principles, or human values, knowing that their work can have a tremendous and wide-ranging impact on our world." Yes, but will publishers buy in?
  (tags: ethics society culture life groups design games productiveplay education politics)
• Scientific American: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids
  "Hint: Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life." If true, most MMOs are preparing a legion of youth for future success
  (tags: mmog games gaming culture youth casestudy anthropology development education psychology parenting science)
• Scientists explore how violent video games are exemplary aggression teachers
  Summary of research which found that video games are great tools for teaching skills transferrable to real-world situations. Skills like beating whores to death with baseball bats, presumably.
  (tags: education games gaming media psychology research technology violence society)
• What kids learn in virtual worlds
  CNet.com: "Kids who are active members of virtual worlds are learning how to socialize, how to be technologically savvy, and how to be good little consumers." Last year, I did some concept-development for a consumer-driven kiddie-world. Feeling a bit sheepish about it now.
  (tags: development education games gaming research business consumerism youth mmog mechanics design)
• LSU players use video games to prepare [Yahoo! News]
  "LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton has used a custom-made video game to help his quarterbacks learn to read defenses." Built with the aid of EA Sports.
  (tags: education gaming sports training simulation games)
• Games so real the best of drivers take them seriously [The Japan Times Online]
  Gran Turismo reportedly "significantly blurs the line between the virtual world and reality, making it possible to drive quickly and safely on a real circuit on your first lap."
  (tags: simulation training mixed.reality sports game gaming design)

Applications are due February 1, 2008, for next year's Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, a 10-day program designed to give eight teams of documentary-makers a taste of new media, gaming, and cross-platform possibilities. Hosted and organized by the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) in San Francisco, the Producer's Institute is intense, energetic, and highly productive. The program runs May 30 - June 8: For complete information, or to submit an on-line application, please go to: bavc.org/producersinstitute.

I was a mentor at the 2007 Institute (held earlier this year), and thoroughly enjoyed working both with BAVC and the invited documentarians. It was a fantastic opportunity to teach, learn, and cross-pollinate, and I'm sure the 2008 event will offer more the same.

Canada's largest city becomes the backdrop for an alien invasion in City 7: Toronto Conflict, an unofficial expansion to the Half-Life 2 story created by a team of George Brown College students lead by instructor Sean Guadron. The initiative was the first thesis project of the College's postgraduate Game Design program (in which I teach several courses), now in its third academic year.

City 7: Toronto Conflict puts the player in Gordon Freeman's well-worn boots as he teleports unexpectedly into Mel Lastman square, raining carnage upon a variety of other well-known Toronto landmarks, all recreated faithfully by the students, who spent months taking photos of the city, mapping game levels based on real locations, and making detailed models including recognizable street furniture. The project also involved a scripted storyline and original voice acting.

The expansion has enjoyed more success than its creators hoped for, getting published via DVD in PC Games and PC Action magazines in Europe, and written up on a variety of web sites, including GameSpy, which recommended the student-made project as an alternative to the official Half-Life 2 expansion pack. Personally, I found the landmark recreations to be very impressive--anyone familiar with the city is bound to agree. Congratulations to the team on the recognition they've received.

• Open Social: a new universe of social applications all over the web
  Ning's Marc Andreessen broadly explains the features of Google-spearheaded open web API "Open Social," compares, contrasts with the Facebook platform concept. Sounds very promising.
  (tags: technology google software platform development facebook business socialsoftware web sns networks)
• Active Worlds Embeds 3D Worlds in Facebook
  Active Worlds has reportedly announced Facebook integration of its virtual world (no link to the announcement provided by source). Works with IE only, sadly.
  (tags: facebook synthetic.worlds 3D 3pointD activeworlds technology software business)
• Turbine to Users: “We own your CC information”
  Horror story with chatlog explains how Turbine is screwing players of Lord of the Rings Online: "You either keep your [credit card] information in our system or the game that you PAID for will no longer work, ever."
  (tags: bullshit business policy administration mmog game gaming)
• Games and Storytelling: A Working Definition of Storytelling that Encompasses New Media
  Link to PDF: "PJ's Attic explores the story vs. game debate in this white paper and presents a new model for storytelling that encompasses both traditional and new media formats."
  (tags: filetype:pdf design games storytelling narrative technology interactivity whitepaper)
• Sheepish
  Prokofy Neva crunches various CSI:NY / Second Life crossover numbers. Prokofy isn't buying that this was a success. Interesting tidbit: "An RP group that says they've been playing CSI in SL on their own for a year have 175 members."
  (tags: synthetic.worlds secondlife tv transmedia statistics data criticism roleplay groups)
• Epistemic Games- "How Computer Games Help Children Learn"
  "...how video and computer games can help teach kids to build successful futures--but only if we think in new ways about education itself... [the book] revolutionizes the ongoing debate about the pros and cons of digital learning."
  (tags: book books games gaming education academic psychology technology youth)
• vSide Forums: Buying Creds without permission is a REALLY bad idea
  Maker of vSide chastises users for stealing their parents' credit cards in order to buy in-world currency, threatens to ban offenders. I can almost see the giant virtual finger wagging.
  (tags: synthetic.worlds law crime youth emergence policy vside)

A reader recently asked me where he could find examples of game sketching, a technique for rapid real-time game play design spearheaded by John Buchanan which I wrote about earlier this year. Coincidentally, last week I discussed game sketching with a class I teach, but had a hard time finding useful videos of the process in action.

I'm still not sure where to find demonstrations of exactly the process and tool-set Buchanan uses, but I can offer readers the Game Sketching web site and a link to a few YouTube videos which I think capture an iota of the spirit behind the sketching idea: 1, 2, 3, 4. The videos generally feature canned (and sometimes polished) game demos, prototypes, or tests, and shouldn't be mistaken for the raw immediacy and dynamism of "proper" Game Sketching.

Buchanan described sketching as a tool last month in a BBC Digital Planet interview, but I see it as more of a process (having participated in a Buchanan-lead sketching session myself). Tools be damned, I'll sketch game-play with hand-puppets if I have to.

• Teaching in World of Warcraft
  Field trips to Azeroth can be deadly. Ah, I remember taking a class to 'Second Life.' The first location they found contained a series of brutal rape-simulators. Talk about first impressions.
  (tags: worldofwarcraft game gaming education academic casestudy research ethics logistics)
• Flash Earth ...satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash
  Oh, that magnificent Paul Neave and his flying machines. Astounding Flash front-end to Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and more. Think of the web-game possibilities. What if this was mashed up with the Wiicade system? Wiimote-controlled earth!
  (tags: design flash visualization maps google software interactivity)
• Kids take a few clues from Quebec City's history [TheStar.com]
  Story-driven, self-directed live-action urban game played on the streets of historic Quebec City. I'd like to see this merged with some of Quebec's nocturnal "ghost walk" tours for an additional layer of cool. New catchphrase: "adventure entertainment."
  (tags: larp narrative storytelling history place game gaming education)
• X-OOM Media Centre for the Wii
  "...will transfer media files to the Wii with a few clicks using the built in Wi-Fi connection, entirely eliminating the need for any cables, CDs or a memory card." No hi-def, so who cares? I'd rather save games or export Miis wirelessly to my PC.
  (tags: software media technology wii nintendo wifi data)

• AGDC '07: Habbo Hotel manager checks in - News at GameSpot
  Quick 'Habbo' stats: 80 million registered users in 7 years (most aged 13-16); 7.5 million unique visitors / month; $50 million in virtual goods sales in 2006; userbase comprised of "rebels," "achievers," "loners," "creatives," and "traditionals."
  (tags: mmo data statistics groups habbohotel)
• Pop Cosmopolitanism » Welcome to pop.cosmo
  University of Wisconsin-Madison research team lead by Constance Steinkuehler investigating collaborative problem solving, literacies, leadership, apprenticeship, and "pop cosmopolitanism" in MMOs and VWs.
  (tags: academic research mmo collaboration leadership literacy games gaming blogs)
• Koolu
  Low-cost, fan-less PC. Uses less than 10 watts of power. Purportedly saves "a tonne of carbon emissions per year when compared to a PC." Does the average PC generate over a tonne of carbon emissions annually?
  (tags: hardware ecosphere tools)
• Quirky Games: Making Boring Tasks into Great Games
  Musings on how we're tricked into executing repetitive, boring tasks through game-play. I think casual games are better at this than MMOs, which is why I find 'Puzzle Pirates' so appealing (it's the best of both worlds).
  (tags: work play productiveplay games gaming life design)
• Lessons learned [Psychochild’s Blog]
  Brian 'Psychochild' Green gives us his lessons learned from WoW: Outspend your rivals; Have a known name; Have an existing, committed fanbase; Enjoy total freedom (release game when it's ready); Know how to lie with statistics.
  (tags: list WorldofWarcraft casestudy game gaming statistics business development publishing)

• Letter to Linden Lab: Intellectual Property, and Respect
  Hoo, boy. Forseti Svarog says Linden Lab not only ripped off a video he created for the iVillage fashion show, but stripped out the credits. Seems this isn't an isolated incident, either: "I am upset for all the folks who have been hurt by this very this very thing for years, and now I have something concrete that I can write about."
  (tags: secondlife lindenlab law ip video bullshit WTF)
• MIT Comparative Media Studies: Theses (2007)
  A grand pile of theses mostly dealing with cross-media / transmedia matters. I have a few minor nitpicks with Peter Rauch's assessment of the game 'Fable,' for example he says we never hear the main character speak. Poppycock.
  (tags: academic thesis transmedia communication gaming tv technology internet mobile mmog)
• Landcraft
  Impressive 'Bryce'-style terrain generator built with Flash. My wish-list: Export as 3D model as well as texture map, height map, etc. for use with common applications. Sort of useless otherwise.
  (tags: 3D art design flash generative procedural visualization)
• Econ Dev Blog - Market Overview For Mineral Markets
  Why I don't play 'EVE Online': Charts and spreadsheets. Good little stat from this blog post, though-- "EVE Online's population has increased by 0.9% per week since launch, currently residing at 190.000 paid subscriptions."
  (tags: game games mmog work productiveplay)