It shouldn't be a shock that governments are interested in MMOs and virtual worlds. We hear that they even pay attention to the film industry, television, DVDs and other such new-fangled technological industries that turn over many millions of dollars and involve significant percentages of the population.

The US Government's Project Reynard is a different breed of fox, however. The idea seems fairly simple on the face of it. Convince MMO and virtual world operators to open up their systems for complete surveillance and then try to establish 'normal behavior patterns' and see if it is then possible to determine 'suspicious behavior patterns'.

Yes, this is technically unconstitutional (like all those warrantless wiretaps you may read about in the news), but as we've seen, a simple Executive Order signed by the Chief seems to be sufficient to brush that trifling obstacle aside.

PBS' Bill Moyers Journal takes a look at the whole issue, and gives a refreshingly non-sensationalist look at Activision-Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Linden Lab's Second Life, in this rather sobering feature.

[Via WoW Insider]

PBS: Bill Moyers Journal on Project Reynard originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The MMORPG genre has come so far in these past few decades, it's almost difficult to believe. The journey from text MUDs to America Online-based dungeon crawlers, and all the way up to Age of Conan and Warhammer Online has been a truly impressive one. We here at Massively would like to invite you to step into the time machine with us and take a visual tour of that journey. We're taking a close look at the most important titles in online role-playing game history!

What was the first MUD? Howabout the first 3D MMO? When did these games transition from niche curiosities to global, cultural phenomenons, and who's responsible? In this series, we'll tackle all those questions and more. Plus, we'll see just how far these fancy graphics have come over the years! Sound like fun? Jump into the gallery!

Gallery: Massively's Visual History of MMORPGs, Part I

Massively's Visual History of MMORPGs, Part I originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.