Clare Townhill

Stuck Holding The Virtual Leash

I really enjoyed this article about virtual pets and the growing popularity of Webkinz. In May the site had 3.71 million unique users. Unlike some other virtual pets, Webkinz's critters don't die if you neglect them, they just get ill. Webkinz also lets parents access their offspring's pet to help with the care - as in real life, many parents end up with the burden of care. Here's a taster of the article:

"Who's really going to walk the dog?" is a question that parents have long used to avoid buying their children pets. Virtual pets seemed like a good compromise. Yet some parents still end up stuck holding the leash, helping keep their kids' animals well-fed, happy and breathing.

"You got to wonder when you're seeing a lot of site activity at 11 o'clock at night," says Susan McVeigh, communications manager with Ganz, the manufacturer of Webkinz.

Some parents voluntarily pet-sit because they find the activities fun. "I like the bubble blowing game," says Jessica Spizzirri, a stay-at-home mother in St. Charles, Ill., who says she enjoys walking and bathing her daughter's virtual dogs on Nintendo's Nintendogs videogame.

WSJ: As Virtual Pets Soar In Popularity, Parents Get Left Feeding the 'Puffle'

Perspectives on World of Warcraft

Just back from a bit of a wander from all the sites and blogs I visit when I feel a bit starved of digital culture. Here are three interesting (well I think they are) perspectives on the virtual world WoW and the motivations of those who 'play':

The Pleasure of the Completed Quest

What distinguishes Warcraft from previous blockbuster games is its immersive nature and compelling social dynamics. It's a rich, persistent alternative world, a medieval Matrix with lush graphics and even a seductive soundtrack (Blizzard has two full-time in-house composers). Blizzard improved on previous MMOs like Sony's Everquest by cleverly crafting its game so that newbies could build up characters at their own pace, shielded from predators who would casually "gank" them—while experienced players continually face more and more daunting challenges. The company mantra, says lead designer Rob Pardo, is "easy to learn, difficult to master." After months of play, when you reach the ultimate level (60), you join with other players for intricately planned raids on dungeons, or engage in massive rumbles against other guilds.

"Ninety percent of what I do is never finished—parenting, teaching, doing the laundry," says Elizabeth Lawley (Level 60, Troll Priest), a Rochester, N.Y., college professor. "In WOW, I can cross things off a list—I've finished a quest, I've reached a new level."

Newsweek: Living a Virtual Life

Fulltime Gold-Diggers

It was an hour before midnight, three hours into the night shift with nine more to go. At his workstation in a small, fluorescent-lighted office space in Nanjing, China, Li Qiwen sat shirtless and chain-smoking, gazing purposefully at the online computer game in front of him. The screen showed a lightly wooded mountain terrain, studded with castle ruins and grazing deer, in which warrior monks milled about. Li, or rather his staff-wielding wizard character, had been slaying the enemy monks since 8 p.m., mouse-clicking on one corpse after another, each time gathering a few dozen virtual coins — and maybe a magic weapon or two — into an increasingly laden backpack.

NYT: The Life of a Goldfarmer

WoW: A Place for Addicts

World of Warcraft now has 9 million paid up users. With this growing subscriber base comes the proliferation of sinister stories of addiction and broken homes:

Apadme.com: Tales of WoW woe

Australian Courier:Computer Games Ate My Life

Plundered sites and blogs:

Technology News: New York Times

Alistair Beattie's Blog

Lynette Webb: Interesting Snippets

Playing God

Spore the new game from EA the creators of SIMS could well be my downfall. I managed to ween myself off console games in the mid-90's and have successfully managed to stay dry since then. Here's an example of the quiet awe with which the gaming community describe Spore:

There is a magical moment in Spore when you press a button to breathe life into the creature you have designed. His head comes forward, his arms slump, and he begins to walk. Nothing in the gaming world compares to it.

Effectively, the game lets you play God. One of the things that makes Spore unique is that, unlike other God-simulators which give you pre-determined creations, you get clay, and you mould it. The creation is entirely yours. Will Wright describes his vision as "a philosophy tool for people to play with... I want people to think about the infinite possibilities of life. Games can change the world a little for the better."

www.spore.com

If you have the patience and desire, here's a link to a 40 min interview with Will Wright.