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Alter-Ego: A quick and dirty guide to Area 51

Krystalle Voecks — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, PvE, DC Universe Online, Guides, Alter-Ego

When it comes to taking your first steps in DC Universe Online, the sheer amount of different types of missions and objectives can be a bit daunting. "What is this Alert thing sitting in my quest log?" you might say. "What does it do? It is PvP? PvE? What's the point of doing an Alert?" Well, to help demystify some of DC Universe Online's content for you, I wanted to offer up a basic overview to the very first in-game Alert: Area 51. However, knowing that some of you have already run this instance, I also wanted to make it useful for those who may have popped in but not spent a great deal of time in the zone. That's why this post not only contains a first-timer's overview of this Alert but also gives more advanced players a handy guide to all the Investigations, Player Briefings and Collections -- as well as a couple of other things I found in the Area 51 zone that might have been missed otherwise.

Ready to dig in and help beat Brainiac back from trying to take over? Curious about what kind of extra goodies can be gained? Join me after the break as I take some of the mystery out of the notorious Area 51!

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Alter-Ego: A quick and dirty guide to Area 51 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Greening up your gaming experience

Shawn Schuster — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Culture, Game mechanics, Academic, Education

While you're engaged in your favorite MMO, do you ever stop to think about the energy consumption you use? Is there an unused light on in the house somewhere? These are the types of questions that Professor Byron Reeves of Stanford University wants gamers to ask themselves, and get more involved with through a system of smart metering technology built into the games. Essentially, players would earn points on a leaderboard for performing certain "green" tasks like turning off lights... in the game.

Reeves recently pitched his idea to the radio show Living on Earth, where he described the process to the host, Bruce Gellerman and "avid gamer" Colin Ahearn. "So people will do something in a virtual world for points that they wouldn't do in the real world for money? I mean, I could save money by simply turning off my lights," Gellerman pointed out. The discussion goes on from there as Reeves explains how the system would be competitive and carry over into the real world. "So the whole goal here is to align entertainment and fun with utility and community value," Reeves said.

You can find out more information on Reeves's research at the Stanford website, watch a video on his plan in action or listen to the interview in mp3 format on the Living on Earth website.

Greening up your gaming experience originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your kids, Green.com and Spyware

Brenda Holloway — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Launches, New titles, Free-to-play, Casual, Education, Virtual worlds, Kids

Is it okay to just be a little cynical when a marketing company such as InterActiveCorp (IAC) announces a new virtual world where kids can learn how to help the environment and "do good deeds in fun ways"? Especially when the current site at that address sells coupon books? No? Not okay? Well, it's possible that this could be the one kid-oriented site that doesn't try to sell children things under the guise of education... but the odds are against it. IAC, owners of such sites as Match.com, Ask.com, LendingTree and Ticketmaster, also announced Zwinktopia, a site where kids can earn (or buy) Zbucks to customize and equip their avatars -- Zwinkies -- which they may take offsite and share with friends or place on their MySpace pages. In the future, children will come home from school, sit at their computers, and actively seek out marketing so that they can earn the Neopoints, Zbucks, KidCash, Popularity Pennies and whatever else they feel they need to farm to have all the latest avatars and accessories. When children raised on virtual worlds graduate to MMOs, will they even notice the grind or understand the objections to RMT?

An additional warning to parents eager to let their children enjoy the pleasures of Zwinktopia -- the toolbar you must install in your browser is known to install a lot of adware and spyware on your computer. Here's the explanation from their site: "Bonus: Also includes Smiley Central[TM], Cursor Mania[TM], Popular Screensavers[TM], the MyWebSearch(R) search box and Search Assistant - relevant search results in response to incorrectly formatted browser address requests." Install at your own risk (the links under each add-on lead to a page where the risks of each are discussed. Suffice it to say that once you install the toolbar, everything you do on your computer will be watched and reported upon.)

Your kids, Green.com and Spyware originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green-themed kids' game nabs $3.2 million in funding

Samuel Axon — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Browser, Casual, Kids

Fluid Entertainment, a game company that employs only 14 people, has raised an impressive $3.2 million in funding for the development of a Flash-based online social game for kids aged 6 - 11. The game has an environment-friendly theme.

After the successes of Webkinz and Club Penguin, these kid-oriented games and virtual worlds are hot items for venture capitalists, according to VentureBeat. Fluid is one of many companies aiming to enter that sector of the industry, but its game is particularly intriguing because it aims to use the medium to "[affect] real-world behavior around environmentalism and sustainability."

This is one more example of the virtual world and MMO phenomenon expanding beyond the hardcore role-playing game niche and "just for fun" design. Fluid is aiming for a summer release of the new game, and its business model will combine subscriptions, micro-transactions, and apparently the sale of real-world merchandise. With $3.2 million in funding, these guys could end up notable players in the kids' MMO space, so we'll be watching them.

[Via Mashable]

Green-themed kids' game nabs $3.2 million in funding originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Life musicians to play San Francisco

Akela Talamasca — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Culture, Events, real-world, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds

Three accomplished musicians with regular gigs in Second Life will be bringing their music to San Francisco on March 12th in the Rock-it Room. Melanie Keller, Cylindrian Rutabaga, and Keiko Takamura will be bringing the Real to their previously virtual shows.

Additionally, this event will be streamed into SL by way of the Friends of the Urban Forest, an organization that helps Greenify the environment by planting trees. Their sim will host the stream for those who can't make the event in SF. For those of you who've never seen a simultaneous SL/Real life event, it's worth the cost of admission alone!

Second Life musicians to play San Francisco originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, Part 1

Akela Talamasca — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Podcasts, Culture, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Free-to-play, Politics, Academic, Education, Virtual worlds

As reported here, today saw the meeting of minds between Second Life's Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden) and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at the New Globe Theater, a meeting held and sponsored by Millions of Us, a metaverse development company (MDC), with Reuben Millionsofus as moderator. This is the mp3 and transcript of part one of the chat. I have chosen to edit out of the transcript, for the most part, verbal tics that don't contribute to the content of the chat, but these elements remain in the mp3. If you're unfamiliar with Second Life, every now and then you'll hear what sounds like a Polaroid camera going off -- this is the sound of in-world snapshots being taken of the proceedings. You will also hear typing sounds from time to time -- this is the default typing animation sound.

Part two will go up tomorrow at this time. Enjoy!

[Mp3] Download the MP3 directly

[Thanks, Celebrity!]

Continue reading The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, Part 1

The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, Part 1 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are MMOs Captain Planet approved?

Chris Chester — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry

Saving the world is something that most have us as gamers have grown rather accustomed to over the years. Almost since the beginning, game designers have used the risk of global destruction as a tool to more completely involve players in the seriousness of a given game narrative. Whether we're preventing our world from being sucked into a demonic alternate dimension, devoured by a horde of merciless alien predators, or being blown up by a clown-faced madman, the stakes are nearly always high. MMOs certainly never bow from using world destruction as a plot-device; it's usually at the center of the end-game.

So what then do we make of a post by Tony Walsh on his Clickable Culture blog earlier this month that questions the extent to which MMOs are contributing to the destruction of the very planet most of us inhabit every day? He cites some statistics that estimate the carbon footprint of your typical computer server, such as the ones that power most MMOs, is as big as a gas-guzzling SUV. When you consider the sheer amount of power it must take to keep the servers for World of Warcraft alone running, you start to get an idea of the magnitude of the discussion. Walsh suggests that the best compromise for those who are green at heart is to simply not play MMOs at all.

While I have to grant that I had never considered the environmental impact of MMOs before, I disagree with his point that the best option is to cut ourselves off. If we took that approach to power use, we'd scarcely have justification to turn on the heat, let alone power on our computer. I don't doubt that we'll see a "green" MMO that uses carbon-neutral power in the future, I don't think it's something we should worry too much about in the meantime.

Are MMOs Captain Planet approved? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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