Virtual spam

I’ve received one piece of blog comment spam, and as a matter of policy I deleted it. However, I have removed the links and I have felt compelled to keep it for posterity: “Welcome to our website for you World of Warcraft Gold,Wow Gold,Cheap World of Warcraft Gold,cheap wow gold,buy Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

eBay bans in-game goods

(Valuable item from Ultima Online) (via Colin Miller) This is an old item, but I’ve just read it. According to Slashdot, eBay has caved-in to increasing pressure from the games industry and has de-listed all in-game items from its database. However, I’ve made a search and you still can find Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

Virtual worlds hit the mainstream

In an unprecedented move for a large media organisation, Reuters is reporting that it will be reporting directly from Second Life. One should expect new reports on market values, the price of customised badger avatars and the latest gig in the Second Life archipelago. I find this piece of news Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

Online gold farming

(Via Terra Nova). There has been a lot of talk in online gaming circles about the gold farming phenomenon. Gold farming is the use of “virtual sweatshops” in which gamers from developing countries spend hours earning in-game currency, rare items or virtual property in order to sell it in exchange Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

D&D online

Online gaming is still making headway into the mainstream by the release of Dungeons & Dragons Online, the new version of the popular pen and paper game. It seems like the online gaming market is heating up, with other large role-playing games set for release soon in order to compete Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

Virtual Rights

I have been looking at a very interesting proposal from fellow Costarican Jaco Aizenman about something called “Virtual Rights”. The idea is to create a set of rights that apply to all citizens, who will have the right to have (or to choose not to have) a virtual personality. This Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

Cybersex and MMORPGs

Someone once defined the Internet as a place where people complain about movies and exchange porn. They should have added that it is also used to play computer games. The definition should include that its other two main uses is the playing of games and dating. It seems like the Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago

Online game plague tops BBC News

Some days ago the Terra Nova blog reported on the curious case of a plague that is killing thousands of players in the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. Apparently, players that killed a new super-boss enemy were infected with a strange disease that started killing characters in the near vicinity. Read more

By Andres Guadamuz, ago