Documentary on multiplayer online games

If parents want to understand what's so appealing about MMORPGs ("massively multiplayer online role-playing games"), they might check out a new documentary on the subject, Second Skin. Of the 50 million people who play multiplayer online games, 50% feel they are addicted, the doc reports. It offers insights into who plays these videogames, such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft (the latter grosses $1.2 billion a year, Second Skin reports). Viewers meet all kinds of players, from those who say they're addicted and how they became so to players who've fallen in love with each other in a game (before meeting offline) to "disabled players whose lives have been given new purpose to gold farmers, entrepreneurs and widows," its creators say, adding that "Second Skin opens viewers' eyes to a phenomenon that may permanently change the way human beings interact." On the subject of dating, the doc (which is about 90 min. in length), says one in three women gamers date someone they met in a virtual world and that, for every one female gamer, there are 10 single male gamers. The Guardian gives it a thumbs-up. If you have the time and interest, it's free for the viewing today here.

Games' popularity: Computer-security tipping point?

Online games and virtual worlds - more than social networking or any technology before it - could be where computer-security ed really hits home with users. Why? Because online games and worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life have whole economies in which users buy and sell virtual goods "to the tune of $1 billion a year" industry-wide, CNET reports, citing game security experts speaking at the RSA 2009 security conference in San Francisco recently. So it just may be true that money talks. Two examples they gave occurred in Second Life and WoW. In one hack created just to prove it could be done, a security expert figured out how to "filch Second Life users' virtual currency - which is directly convertible to US dollars - [and] ... credit card information and then use it to buy more of the currency to trade in." In WoW, a security expert wrote a bot (software code that automates certain actions and that's "almost universally prohibited" in games and worlds), which "allowed his character to stay safe from attack from the rear, while also luring in loot-bearing enemies to kill. Once killed, the enemies would be regenerated by the bot, allowing Hoglund's character to kill them and pick off all their loot over and over again, a process that netted him significant profit," according to CNET.

Hateful game gets global press

From the news coverage I've seen, it's not worth the media attention it has gotten (and here I am giving it some, tho' hopefully with a little perspective). I'm referring to an extremely offensive downloadable arcade-style game called "Muslim Massacre," reportedly created by a 22-year-old Australian man, Eric Vaughn, "known online as 'Sigvatr'" (see News.com.au in Oz). "The game begins with audio from George Bush speeches, edited together to sound like a condemnation of Muslims." This story, which may say more about how Americans are viewed from other countries, has been picked up worldwide - probably Vaughn's marketing plan. The Guardian's headline in the UK is, "More evidence that satire doesn't transmit over the interwebs," and the subhead: "A game in which your 'task' is to 'wipe the Muslim race from the face of the Earth' has, predictably, got people wound up" (interesting use of the word "race"). On this side of the Pond, FoxNews.com reports that the game "has caused international outrage." PC World's "Game On" columnist Matt Peckham says it's not worthy of the label "parody" which some online commenters are giving it; "it's just tasteless," probably also not worth being dignified by a ban.

Police on gaming community risks

I don't like the excessive reporting about "predators" online that go way beyond alerting parents to spreading the kind of fears that cause overreaction and shut down parent-child communication (the latter can put kids at greater risk because they go underground at a time when grownup street smarts are needed more than ever). But this is a predation story worth parents' awareness. "FBI officials said they are now investigating a number of cases in southern Ohio in which sexual predators have used online gaming systems to find victims," WAPT TV in Cincinnati reports. "What makes the new technology especially dangerous, agents said, is that players can talk to one another using headsets." Last year a 30-year-old woman was arrested by the FBI for using Xbox Live to exchange nude photos with a teenager in another state, and in 2006 I blogged about a
26-year-old man in California who was accused of grooming a boy in the same gaming community. To learn about one small group that's there for young gamers in Xbox Live, see "Support for young gamers." See also a 2005 item "A mom writes: Trash talk in online games."

Game worlds: Growth economy

The virtual economy is strengthening - for gamers, anyway. This is a business story, but of interest to us parents because it offers indicators of where the industry's going. Electronic Arts will soon be offering the next version of its popular Battlefield Heroes game for free, the New York Times reports. You heard right - it will be downloadable for free. EA will make its money on advertising and in-game sales of virtual gear - weapons, clothing, etc. This is not a big leap of faith, of course. EA tested the approach in South Korea, "the world’s most fervent gaming culture," according to the Times, which adds that "in 2006, the company introduced a free version of its FIFA soccer game there ... [and] signed up more than 5 million Korean users," generating more than $1 million a month in virtual-objects sales. [See also "Virtual money, real income" and "Converting virtual cash to real."]

Child-porn trading alleged in Second Life

If anybody needed confirmation that the online virtual world Second Life is not for kids, they got it this week. Law enforcement in Halle, Germany, is looking for Second Life players “who are reportedly buying sex with other players posing as children, as well as offering child pornography for sale,” The Guardian reports. A German investigative reporter who’s a member of Second Life told The Guardian “he had been ‘shocked to see’ the virtual child pornography meetings to which he was invited for 500 Linden dollars - around £1.50 [$2.99]. He said the same group of people subsequently put him in touch with traders in real child pornography.” Second Life’s parent, Linden Lab, in San Francisco, is working with police to find the offending players. Virtual child pornography is not a crime in the US, but in Germany it’s a crime “punishable by up to five years in prison,” The Guardian adds. Here’s the BBC’s coverage. According to just-released comScore research, 16% of Second Life users are German, making Germany “the largest country of origin in the ‘game’" of some 16 million players (followed by the US), The Register reports.