Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Fox Mulder gets all up in your Second Life]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/18/fox-mulder-gets-all-up-in-your-second-life/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/18/fox-mulder-gets-all-up-in-your-second-life/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/18/fox-mulder-gets-all-up-in-your-second-life/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Realizing the vast amounts of time honest to goodness citizens spend on social media sites and in virtual worlds, the FBI has decided to jump aboard the Web 2.0 train to aid in their never-ending search for terrorists, fugitives, missing children, and new potential recruits.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation now has a presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, iPhone, and Second Life. They even have widgets you can embed almost anywhere to show your support. If staring at billboards plastered with America's most wanted and assorted recruitment ads is your idea of fun, you might check them out.

This isn't just a lame PR attempt, though it may seem that way at first glance. The FBI is truly interested in reaching out to individuals who may be able to help them with their mission, "To protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners."

MassivelyFox Mulder gets all up in your Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 May 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>crimecyber-crimefacebookfbifederal-bureau-of-investigationfugitivesiphonelinden-labsecond-lifeterroriststwitterweb-2.0youtubeMon, 18 May 2009 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Star Wars: The Old Republic goes Web 2.0]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/10/23/star-wars-the-old-republic-goes-web-2-0/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/10/23/star-wars-the-old-republic-goes-web-2-0/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/10/23/star-wars-the-old-republic-goes-web-2-0/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

It's never been easier for an MMO to promote itself with the growing prevalence of social networking plaforms. Star Wars: The Old Republic, only officially announced this week, has already established a following on Facebook. It's also on the usual suspect MySpace, and you can follow BioWare's frequent Twitter updates on the game. Star Wars: The Old Republic also has a Flickr photostream up and running. BioWare has stated that even more is on the way, with plans for a YouTube Channel as well as Digg and Delicious integration.

It seems that most in-development MMOs are seizing onto the fact that Web 2.0 and all that it brings are crucial to making gamers aware of what they're doing. Is it overkill? You decide. But it should be interesting to see how MMOs leverage social networks as time goes on. A good example of what's possible may very well be what's happening right now in Superstruct, a multiplayer game played out almost entirely over social networks and the web. Interesting times.
Star Wars: The Old Republic BioWare has finally unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, their new MMO! Massively's got you covered on all the details -- from liveblogging the announcement to screenshot galleries and more. Join us in the Galaxy far, far away!

MassivelyStar Wars: The Old Republic goes Web 2.0 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>biowaredeliciousdiggfacebookflickrmyspacesocial-networkingstar-warsstar-wars-the-old-republicsuperstructswtortwitterviralviral-marketingwebweb-2.0youtubeThu, 23 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The Daily Grind: Should MMOGs and virtual worlds be separate?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/14/the-daily-grind-should-mmogs-and-virtual-worlds-be-separate/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/14/the-daily-grind-should-mmogs-and-virtual-worlds-be-separate/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/14/the-daily-grind-should-mmogs-and-virtual-worlds-be-separate/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

Friday held the Social Gaming Summit, a meeting of the luminaries of the various virtual worlds -- Gaia Online, Neopets, and IMVU to name a very few -- in San Francisco. This blogger was on hand for several of the panels, and came away with a deeper understanding of where the demarcation between massively multiplayer online game and virtual world was drawn. On the virtual world side, developers are beginning to incorporate more and more elements of what would normally be considered MMO-only features, like quests and leveling up.

However, similar integration of virtual world-like elements in MMOs has so far remained off-spec. Chat aside, games like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, and City of Heroes don't have features like profiles with integrated blogs for players, or spaces in which one could post photos and media for others to enjoy. Is this something that might change as the Web 2.0 landscape evolves? Are MMOs better off remaining "pure"?

MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Should MMOGs and virtual worlds be separate? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>city-of-heroesgaia-onlineimvulord-of-the-rings-onlineneopetsopinionsocial-gaming-summittdgthe-daily-grindvirtual-worldsweb-2.0world-of-warcraftSat, 14 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[MMO 2.0 and the next generation of online gaming]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/30/mmo-2-0-and-the-next-generation-of-online-gaming/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/30/mmo-2-0-and-the-next-generation-of-online-gaming/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/30/mmo-2-0-and-the-next-generation-of-online-gaming/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Geoff at MMOCrunch wrote an interesting piece on the 'next gen' in online gaming. Specifically, why there is no next gen. He comments on some of the recent successes in the MMO space, namely the subscription numbers of the Big Five MMO's and the smooth release of Age of Conan. He also hails EVE Online's break from typical MMO archetypes as a kind of successful deviance, but one that hasn't truly changed how we play.

The forward momentum in the online gaming industry has brought a great deal of fanfare but little true innovation, Geoff asserts. Sure, some MMO's are successful, but it seems they're all a re-hash of what's been done before. A little more polish, a few more features... he laments the fact that "there seems to be very little that is truly pushing the genre towards the next step." He looks to how the web has changed, improved exponentially, while online gaming hasn't kept pace.

Continue reading MMO 2.0 and the next generation of online gaming

MassivelyMMO 2.0 and the next generation of online gaming originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 May 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanarchetypedeviancedevianteve-onlinefacebookiminnovationmmocrunchmyspacesocial-networkingsuccesssuccessfultwitterwebweb-2.0Fri, 30 May 2008 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[The Daily Grind: Do MMOs need more social networking services?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/07/the-daily-grind-do-mmos-need-more-social-networking-services/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/07/the-daily-grind-do-mmos-need-more-social-networking-services/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/07/the-daily-grind-do-mmos-need-more-social-networking-services/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Web 2.0 is all about giving Joe User more choice, more of a voice, and more opportunities for interaction. User-created content is king, as witness the rise of such sites as YouTube. However, many MMOs are still closed systems -- you can't talk to your gTalk friends within World of Warcraft, you can't post to Twitter from Tabula Rasa, and you can't there's no Facebook integration with Everquest 2.

But who cares? Chances are you're too busy playing to care about any of those things anyway. However, as these apps mature, and people find more ways to integrate them with everything else, it probably won't be too long before new MMOs will offer connectivity with them right out of the gate. Will this be a boon or a bother? Do you wish your favorite MMO already had this integration?

MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Do MMOs need more social networking services? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 May 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>everquest-2facebookgtalkintegrationsocial-networkingtabula-rasatdgthe-daily-grindtwitterweb-2.0world-of-warcraftyoutubeWed, 07 May 2008 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[What's new with Metaplace?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/19/whats-new-with-metaplace/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/19/whats-new-with-metaplace/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/19/whats-new-with-metaplace/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Last week MMOG development veteran Raph Koster updated his site with some insights about his newest project, Metaplace. The extraordinarily unique mmo-in-a-website concept is proceeding apace, with their Alpha test now closed and furious systems development work continuing in the background.

Raph highlighted some of the recent posts that have been made to the Metaplace website. For the non-technical, you'll want to check out their business plan or the interview I did with him right after the initial announcement. Artists will be interested to learn what the framework's art integration process is like. Those of us who can only draw stick people can also enjoy the perty pictures. And, if you are technical, you can take a gander at the description of the Metaplace event system - the guts of how gamer input is handled by the framework.

Think all of that sounds fascinating? They're hiring! They're looking for an experienced Flash Programmer, a Software/Client Engineer, and a LAMP Dev.

For an overview of the whole situation with Metaplace as it stands, Next Generation has up an interview with Raph nailing down the particulars of the project in layman's terms: We have a motto: build anything and play anything from anywhere. But Metaplace isn't built solely around massively multiplayer games. You can make single player games as well. We've already made things like puzzle games, 2D overhead space combat games, and we're working on RPGs and MMORPGs, so really it means any of those things. I don't doubt that there'll be things that the platform can't make, but we'll figure out ways so it will.

MassivelyWhat's new with Metaplace? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>internetmetaplaceraph-kosterweb-2.0Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:30:00 EST