Virtual quests lead to real love and death for World of Warcraft fans
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft has resulted in a thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game
Image :1 of 2
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter, and Rob Fahey
When it began it was just a computer game. Now it is seen as a cultural force that sparks love affairs, breaks marriages and creates “sweat shops” to satisfy a black market in virtual goods.
World of Warcraft marks its fifth birthday today as something more than just an online role-playing game where users become wizards, warriors, orcs and elfs.
“It has had an enormous cultural impact,” said Tom Chatfield, author of Fun. Inc, a book about the growth of the games industry. “It has proved that online gaming can make huge profits, making a billion in revenue a year. It has proved that gaming could be for a truly global audience.”
Analysts say that its popularity has paved the way for other blockbuster games. This month Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, made a record-breaking $500 million (£303 million) within 24 hours of its release.
Related Links
* Computer games fan 'planned school killing'
* The Warcraft widows
Others argue that the game’s success has suffocated rivals. “Pretty simply, it’s one of the best games ever made,” said Oli Welsh, a writer at Eurogamer.net, the video game news website. “But it’s a mixed blessing for the games industry. People are trying and failing to match Warcraft, and get enough players to take it on. Other games have been strangled by it.”
An estimated 12 million people play the game, paying a monthly subscription of about £9. They spend many hours taking on quests and doing battle with each another, building up their character — or “levelling up” as it is known in the game — to gain powers and abilities.
But it has a dark side. A thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game, such as swords and animals, has emerged. Some top-level goods take thousands of hours to earn, and impatient players are willing to pay up to $5,000 on eBay to get them.
The real financial rewards on offer have created an underground industry, where players play in slave-like conditions to obtain the items and sell them on. “You effectively have sweat shops in China,” Mr Chatfield said. “If you were to visit one of these gold-farming things, you’d find a building with maybe 20-40 people in it, playing in shifts on banks of computers. They do it because they can earn more money doing that than producing garments in factories.”
The addictiveness of the game has been accused of destroying relationships, creating “Warcraft widows” as players set it above anything else.
One “widow” told The Times: “We’ve had to enter into some heavy negotiation to work out the nights and weekends when he can play without me nagging to stop. Because it’s not just the odd half-hour. Sometimes if he’s locked into a group he’ll break only to eat and visit the loo.”
Blizzard Entertainment, which owns the game, will not reveal the average time that players spend on it, but academic research estimates that it is between 25 and 40 hours a week.
This obsessiveness has even led to violent consequences. Last week, police in France said that they had thwarted a plot by a boy, 13, to murder his school teachers. He was allegedly addicted to Warcraft. He was found by officers with his father’s shotgun and cartridges.
In 2007, two parents were arrested for allegedly killing their child after becoming obsessed with the game.
However, fans say that the game’s popularity stems from the social atmosphere that it has created. In the game, people often have to join together to compete quests. Mr Chatfield said: “I know of several people who have got married through meeting in games. I even play the game with my wife.”
Blizzard said that they would mark today’s anniversary by introducing surprise elements into the game, such as the “Onyxia Brood Whelpling Pet” as well as new “bosses” for players to battle against.
Fans are also awaiting the latest “expansion”, which is an update to the game. Cataclysm is likely to be the biggest release of next year.
Mike Morhaime, the president and co-founder of Blizzard, said: “We never expected the series would grow into a social and pop-culture phenomenon. We’ve always simply made the games that we wanted to play ourselves and I hope that approach will continue to serve us well in the years to come.”
The darker side
Attempted murder In October 2008, ABC News in Australia reported that Zhenghao Shen, 21, a student, had stabbed a friend in the head with a knife and nearly severed one of his fingers. The reason for the attack? The victim had asked Shen to turn down the volume on his World of Warcraft game. When Shen refused to compromise, the victim challenged him to a fight. Shen responded, turning from his computer screen with a blade
Divorce A Californian woman, 28, who identified herself as “Jocelyn” told Yahoo Games that she divorced her husband of six years after he spent all his free time on World of Warcraft. Jocelyn ended her relationship with her husband, Peter, by explaining to him: “I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real”
Suicide The parents of a Chinese boy, 13, who died after jumping from a building, attempted to sue Blizzard Entertainment, the developers of World of Warcraft, because they believed that the game led to the death of their son. The boy’s parents said that he had jumped on the morning of December 27, 2004, after playing World of Warcaft for 36 hours without a break in a “game hall”. Zhang Chunliang, an attorney and a well-known campaigner against the game in China, supported the parents in their claim
Monday, 23 November 2009
World of warcraft
Virtual quests lead to real love and death for World of Warcraft fans
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft has resulted in a thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game
Image :1 of 2
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter, and Rob Fahey
When it began it was just a computer game. Now it is seen as a cultural force that sparks love affairs, breaks marriages and creates “sweat shops” to satisfy a black market in virtual goods.
World of Warcraft marks its fifth birthday today as something more than just an online role-playing game where users become wizards, warriors, orcs and elfs.
“It has had an enormous cultural impact,” said Tom Chatfield, author of Fun. Inc, a book about the growth of the games industry. “It has proved that online gaming can make huge profits, making a billion in revenue a year. It has proved that gaming could be for a truly global audience.”
Analysts say that its popularity has paved the way for other blockbuster games. This month Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, made a record-breaking $500 million (£303 million) within 24 hours of its release.
Related Links
* Computer games fan 'planned school killing'
* The Warcraft widows
Others argue that the game’s success has suffocated rivals. “Pretty simply, it’s one of the best games ever made,” said Oli Welsh, a writer at Eurogamer.net, the video game news website. “But it’s a mixed blessing for the games industry. People are trying and failing to match Warcraft, and get enough players to take it on. Other games have been strangled by it.”
An estimated 12 million people play the game, paying a monthly subscription of about £9. They spend many hours taking on quests and doing battle with each another, building up their character — or “levelling up” as it is known in the game — to gain powers and abilities.
But it has a dark side. A thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game, such as swords and animals, has emerged. Some top-level goods take thousands of hours to earn, and impatient players are willing to pay up to $5,000 on eBay to get them.
The real financial rewards on offer have created an underground industry, where players play in slave-like conditions to obtain the items and sell them on. “You effectively have sweat shops in China,” Mr Chatfield said. “If you were to visit one of these gold-farming things, you’d find a building with maybe 20-40 people in it, playing in shifts on banks of computers. They do it because they can earn more money doing that than producing garments in factories.”
The addictiveness of the game has been accused of destroying relationships, creating “Warcraft widows” as players set it above anything else.
One “widow” told The Times: “We’ve had to enter into some heavy negotiation to work out the nights and weekends when he can play without me nagging to stop. Because it’s not just the odd half-hour. Sometimes if he’s locked into a group he’ll break only to eat and visit the loo.”
Blizzard Entertainment, which owns the game, will not reveal the average time that players spend on it, but academic research estimates that it is between 25 and 40 hours a week.
This obsessiveness has even led to violent consequences. Last week, police in France said that they had thwarted a plot by a boy, 13, to murder his school teachers. He was allegedly addicted to Warcraft. He was found by officers with his father’s shotgun and cartridges.
In 2007, two parents were arrested for allegedly killing their child after becoming obsessed with the game.
However, fans say that the game’s popularity stems from the social atmosphere that it has created. In the game, people often have to join together to compete quests. Mr Chatfield said: “I know of several people who have got married through meeting in games. I even play the game with my wife.”
Blizzard said that they would mark today’s anniversary by introducing surprise elements into the game, such as the “Onyxia Brood Whelpling Pet” as well as new “bosses” for players to battle against.
Fans are also awaiting the latest “expansion”, which is an update to the game. Cataclysm is likely to be the biggest release of next year.
Mike Morhaime, the president and co-founder of Blizzard, said: “We never expected the series would grow into a social and pop-culture phenomenon. We’ve always simply made the games that we wanted to play ourselves and I hope that approach will continue to serve us well in the years to come.”
The darker side
Attempted murder In October 2008, ABC News in Australia reported that Zhenghao Shen, 21, a student, had stabbed a friend in the head with a knife and nearly severed one of his fingers. The reason for the attack? The victim had asked Shen to turn down the volume on his World of Warcraft game. When Shen refused to compromise, the victim challenged him to a fight. Shen responded, turning from his computer screen with a blade
Divorce A Californian woman, 28, who identified herself as “Jocelyn” told Yahoo Games that she divorced her husband of six years after he spent all his free time on World of Warcraft. Jocelyn ended her relationship with her husband, Peter, by explaining to him: “I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real”
Suicide The parents of a Chinese boy, 13, who died after jumping from a building, attempted to sue Blizzard Entertainment, the developers of World of Warcraft, because they believed that the game led to the death of their son. The boy’s parents said that he had jumped on the morning of December 27, 2004, after playing World of Warcaft for 36 hours without a break in a “game hall”. Zhang Chunliang, an attorney and a well-known campaigner against the game in China, supported the parents in their claim
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft has resulted in a thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game
Image :1 of 2
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter, and Rob Fahey
When it began it was just a computer game. Now it is seen as a cultural force that sparks love affairs, breaks marriages and creates “sweat shops” to satisfy a black market in virtual goods.
World of Warcraft marks its fifth birthday today as something more than just an online role-playing game where users become wizards, warriors, orcs and elfs.
“It has had an enormous cultural impact,” said Tom Chatfield, author of Fun. Inc, a book about the growth of the games industry. “It has proved that online gaming can make huge profits, making a billion in revenue a year. It has proved that gaming could be for a truly global audience.”
Analysts say that its popularity has paved the way for other blockbuster games. This month Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, made a record-breaking $500 million (£303 million) within 24 hours of its release.
Related Links
* Computer games fan 'planned school killing'
* The Warcraft widows
Others argue that the game’s success has suffocated rivals. “Pretty simply, it’s one of the best games ever made,” said Oli Welsh, a writer at Eurogamer.net, the video game news website. “But it’s a mixed blessing for the games industry. People are trying and failing to match Warcraft, and get enough players to take it on. Other games have been strangled by it.”
An estimated 12 million people play the game, paying a monthly subscription of about £9. They spend many hours taking on quests and doing battle with each another, building up their character — or “levelling up” as it is known in the game — to gain powers and abilities.
But it has a dark side. A thriving black market for virtual goods to use in the game, such as swords and animals, has emerged. Some top-level goods take thousands of hours to earn, and impatient players are willing to pay up to $5,000 on eBay to get them.
The real financial rewards on offer have created an underground industry, where players play in slave-like conditions to obtain the items and sell them on. “You effectively have sweat shops in China,” Mr Chatfield said. “If you were to visit one of these gold-farming things, you’d find a building with maybe 20-40 people in it, playing in shifts on banks of computers. They do it because they can earn more money doing that than producing garments in factories.”
The addictiveness of the game has been accused of destroying relationships, creating “Warcraft widows” as players set it above anything else.
One “widow” told The Times: “We’ve had to enter into some heavy negotiation to work out the nights and weekends when he can play without me nagging to stop. Because it’s not just the odd half-hour. Sometimes if he’s locked into a group he’ll break only to eat and visit the loo.”
Blizzard Entertainment, which owns the game, will not reveal the average time that players spend on it, but academic research estimates that it is between 25 and 40 hours a week.
This obsessiveness has even led to violent consequences. Last week, police in France said that they had thwarted a plot by a boy, 13, to murder his school teachers. He was allegedly addicted to Warcraft. He was found by officers with his father’s shotgun and cartridges.
In 2007, two parents were arrested for allegedly killing their child after becoming obsessed with the game.
However, fans say that the game’s popularity stems from the social atmosphere that it has created. In the game, people often have to join together to compete quests. Mr Chatfield said: “I know of several people who have got married through meeting in games. I even play the game with my wife.”
Blizzard said that they would mark today’s anniversary by introducing surprise elements into the game, such as the “Onyxia Brood Whelpling Pet” as well as new “bosses” for players to battle against.
Fans are also awaiting the latest “expansion”, which is an update to the game. Cataclysm is likely to be the biggest release of next year.
Mike Morhaime, the president and co-founder of Blizzard, said: “We never expected the series would grow into a social and pop-culture phenomenon. We’ve always simply made the games that we wanted to play ourselves and I hope that approach will continue to serve us well in the years to come.”
The darker side
Attempted murder In October 2008, ABC News in Australia reported that Zhenghao Shen, 21, a student, had stabbed a friend in the head with a knife and nearly severed one of his fingers. The reason for the attack? The victim had asked Shen to turn down the volume on his World of Warcraft game. When Shen refused to compromise, the victim challenged him to a fight. Shen responded, turning from his computer screen with a blade
Divorce A Californian woman, 28, who identified herself as “Jocelyn” told Yahoo Games that she divorced her husband of six years after he spent all his free time on World of Warcraft. Jocelyn ended her relationship with her husband, Peter, by explaining to him: “I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real”
Suicide The parents of a Chinese boy, 13, who died after jumping from a building, attempted to sue Blizzard Entertainment, the developers of World of Warcraft, because they believed that the game led to the death of their son. The boy’s parents said that he had jumped on the morning of December 27, 2004, after playing World of Warcaft for 36 hours without a break in a “game hall”. Zhang Chunliang, an attorney and a well-known campaigner against the game in China, supported the parents in their claim
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Channel 4 and Youtube
Channel Four is the first broadcaster to Monetise Youtube and give out all its services through youtube for free, legally and have no restrictions.
Within months, the Google unit will start offering full-length, time-delayed TV shows and archived hits from the British broadcaster.
Channel Four Television has signed a deal with YouTube to bring its flagship shows to the video-sharing site.
The agreement will see programming from Channel 4's catch up service, 4oD, made available for free through YouTube, a unit of Google (GOOG).
The broadcaster's best-known shows such as Skins, Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners and Peep Show will all feature on YouTube, along with around 3,000 hours of full-length programming such as Teachers and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares from the Channel 4 archive.
The first Channel 4 content will begin appearing on YouTube in the coming months—shortly after the programmes appear on TV—with a full service available by early 2010.
The partnership will initially run for three years and the two parties will share advertising revenues.
Under the terms of the deal, Channel 4 will have a branded presence on YouTube and will be able to sell advertising around its own content, as well as around some non-Channel 4 content on the site.
The broadcaster hopes that syndicating its programmes on a non-exclusive basis will help 4oD to expand its market share.
"Syndication deals are key to Channel 4's strategy for monetising on-demand audiences," said a spokeswoman for Channel 4. "YouTube…already has 20 million users in the UK and we believe it is certain to be a major player in the UK [video on demand] market."
While the Channel 4 deal may be the first time a broadcaster has put its catch-up service on YouTube, it seems unlikely to be the last. "We look forward to other similar agreements to come," YouTube's director of partnerships Patrick Walker said in a statement.
Channel 4's original programmes are already available over the internet via its own on-demand 4oD platform, which it launched at the end of 2006. According to the broadcaster, the 4oD platform had more than 10 million views of long form content in September—a year-on-year increase of 204 per cent.
Within months, the Google unit will start offering full-length, time-delayed TV shows and archived hits from the British broadcaster.
Channel Four Television has signed a deal with YouTube to bring its flagship shows to the video-sharing site.
The agreement will see programming from Channel 4's catch up service, 4oD, made available for free through YouTube, a unit of Google (GOOG).
The broadcaster's best-known shows such as Skins, Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners and Peep Show will all feature on YouTube, along with around 3,000 hours of full-length programming such as Teachers and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares from the Channel 4 archive.
The first Channel 4 content will begin appearing on YouTube in the coming months—shortly after the programmes appear on TV—with a full service available by early 2010.
The partnership will initially run for three years and the two parties will share advertising revenues.
Under the terms of the deal, Channel 4 will have a branded presence on YouTube and will be able to sell advertising around its own content, as well as around some non-Channel 4 content on the site.
The broadcaster hopes that syndicating its programmes on a non-exclusive basis will help 4oD to expand its market share.
"Syndication deals are key to Channel 4's strategy for monetising on-demand audiences," said a spokeswoman for Channel 4. "YouTube…already has 20 million users in the UK and we believe it is certain to be a major player in the UK [video on demand] market."
While the Channel 4 deal may be the first time a broadcaster has put its catch-up service on YouTube, it seems unlikely to be the last. "We look forward to other similar agreements to come," YouTube's director of partnerships Patrick Walker said in a statement.
Channel 4's original programmes are already available over the internet via its own on-demand 4oD platform, which it launched at the end of 2006. According to the broadcaster, the 4oD platform had more than 10 million views of long form content in September—a year-on-year increase of 204 per cent.
Project Canvas
Project Canvas
Freeview via Broadband!
The main incentive behind this idea is a cross between watching TV online (which is a very underdemanding market at the moment), and watching traditional television. The answer is to simply watch normal television but entirely through your broadband stream, offering (HD, etc) services for free.
Project Canvas is the current working name given to a proposed endeavour concerned with internet-connected television in the United Kingdom market. It is intended to combine broadcast content with broadband content, delivering both through the television (as distinct from the computer).
The endeavour's core principle is around developing a set of standards - including both technical and content standards - that once confirmed will be open to the industry as a whole. These standards will be used to create the necessary hardware (such as set top boxes) and programming content to allow for content typically accessed via the computer on the internet to be delivered to the television, combined with existing digital terrestrial television.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/february/project_canvas.shtml
http://www.projectcanvas.co.uk/
1 Sep 2009 Stakeholder comments to BBC Trust based on further in-depth information close
Autumn 2009 BBC Trust due to publish their provisional conclusions, followed by a four week period of public consultation
Before Xmas 2010 First Canvas set top boxes anticipated to go on sal
Freeview via Broadband!
The main incentive behind this idea is a cross between watching TV online (which is a very underdemanding market at the moment), and watching traditional television. The answer is to simply watch normal television but entirely through your broadband stream, offering (HD, etc) services for free.
Project Canvas is the current working name given to a proposed endeavour concerned with internet-connected television in the United Kingdom market. It is intended to combine broadcast content with broadband content, delivering both through the television (as distinct from the computer).
The endeavour's core principle is around developing a set of standards - including both technical and content standards - that once confirmed will be open to the industry as a whole. These standards will be used to create the necessary hardware (such as set top boxes) and programming content to allow for content typically accessed via the computer on the internet to be delivered to the television, combined with existing digital terrestrial television.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/february/project_canvas.shtml
http://www.projectcanvas.co.uk/
1 Sep 2009 Stakeholder comments to BBC Trust based on further in-depth information close
Autumn 2009 BBC Trust due to publish their provisional conclusions, followed by a four week period of public consultation
Before Xmas 2010 First Canvas set top boxes anticipated to go on sal
Wikinomics
Sharing of Information
Based on 4 powerful new ideas:
- Openness
- Peering
- Sharing
- Acting Globally
Traditionally, Heireachy type companies with management levels are the opposite of Peer sharing. Peer sharing is the idea of a horizontal community with no sublevels of importance in its users.
An unofficial term for this is "Cyber-hippy"
File Sharing (p.2.p peer to peer file sharing)
Collaboration of Products, Ideas.
Acting Globally and Development of Information
Interacting/Communicating of knowledge
By Everyone
SNS (social networking sites) - pictures and information
Wikipedia - Knowledge
Music/TV/Film/Programmes/Knowledge/Development/Contact/Ideas
Openness
News/Fact or Opinions
Linux - Contribution to growth of a new operating system by thousands of Volunteers, BETA testers, etc. to rival Microsoft Windows without money. Entirely run by contribution by code sharers
Book: Wikinomics by Anthony D. Williams and Don Tapscott
Creative commons license agreements. "You can use this, but you cannot make money out of it". E.g. Beyonce sharing her music free for fans to make remixes.
Posted by Liam at 11/03/2009 09:26:00 AM 0 comments
20 Oct 2009
Project Canvas
Freeview via Broadband!
The main incentive behind this idea is a cross between watching TV online (which is a very underdemanding market at the moment), and watching traditional television. The answer is to simply watch normal television but entirely through your broadband stream, offering (HD, etc) services for free.
Based on 4 powerful new ideas:
- Openness
- Peering
- Sharing
- Acting Globally
Traditionally, Heireachy type companies with management levels are the opposite of Peer sharing. Peer sharing is the idea of a horizontal community with no sublevels of importance in its users.
An unofficial term for this is "Cyber-hippy"
File Sharing (p.2.p peer to peer file sharing)
Collaboration of Products, Ideas.
Acting Globally and Development of Information
Interacting/Communicating of knowledge
By Everyone
SNS (social networking sites) - pictures and information
Wikipedia - Knowledge
Music/TV/Film/Programmes/Knowledge/Development/Contact/Ideas
Openness
News/Fact or Opinions
Linux - Contribution to growth of a new operating system by thousands of Volunteers, BETA testers, etc. to rival Microsoft Windows without money. Entirely run by contribution by code sharers
Book: Wikinomics by Anthony D. Williams and Don Tapscott
Creative commons license agreements. "You can use this, but you cannot make money out of it". E.g. Beyonce sharing her music free for fans to make remixes.
Posted by Liam at 11/03/2009 09:26:00 AM 0 comments
20 Oct 2009
Project Canvas
Freeview via Broadband!
The main incentive behind this idea is a cross between watching TV online (which is a very underdemanding market at the moment), and watching traditional television. The answer is to simply watch normal television but entirely through your broadband stream, offering (HD, etc) services for free.
The Ignorance of Crowds The Open Source model can play an important role in Innovation, but know its limitations.
Informal group of volunteers
Radical development of software
Combining of Knowledge
Coinciding with the birth of the World wide web
Peer production
Forums/Blogs/Reviews
Social Activism - Organisation of masses, Riots, Propeganda, Mass sharing of ideas, Congregation.
Organisation and Speed.
It was not until things could be sent out to people so cheaply on the net that people had the ability to codeshare and collaborate so fast. High-Speed communication in the last 10-20 years has meant that there is an explosion in mainstream sharing and expansion.
Radical development of software
Combining of Knowledge
Coinciding with the birth of the World wide web
Peer production
Forums/Blogs/Reviews
Social Activism - Organisation of masses, Riots, Propeganda, Mass sharing of ideas, Congregation.
Organisation and Speed.
It was not until things could be sent out to people so cheaply on the net that people had the ability to codeshare and collaborate so fast. High-Speed communication in the last 10-20 years has meant that there is an explosion in mainstream sharing and expansion.
Problems with Wikinomics
\Problems with Wikinomics
Who is to authenticate it?
Do I trust the information?
Just because it is built by passionate volunteers, does it make it more trustworthy than if it was built by a company?
Competetiveness?
Democracy/Disagreement - finishing the project?
Do the projects ever end? Will we be constantly bothered with updates? Improvement.
With accuracy comes quality.
Lazy?
Money and rights.
Legalised productation
Democracy
Who is to authenticate it?
Do I trust the information?
Just because it is built by passionate volunteers, does it make it more trustworthy than if it was built by a company?
Competetiveness?
Democracy/Disagreement - finishing the project?
Do the projects ever end? Will we be constantly bothered with updates? Improvement.
With accuracy comes quality.
Lazy?
Money and rights.
Legalised productation
Democracy
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