1. nebusiness (UK) – Attend meetings without travelling with Teesside University’s DLab. “Have you seen how expensive it is to get a train down the spine of the country these days? It hardly seems worth it if you’re skulking down to a meeting with clients or other folks in your company, only to say about five or six words and slither back up again. This is why virtual worlds should in theory be an ideal solution for businesses looking to meet without travelling, or showcase their wares across the world without shipping them. Virtual worlds such as Second Life have allowed computer users to dip their toes into this strange but oddly thrilling water, while companies such as IBM are already piling into virtual meetings.”

2. IEEE Spectrum (USA) – The End of Gold Farming? “Right now, thousands of gamers are doing menial jobs in their virtual worlds. And they’re earning a living. The process of contracting out a game’s drudge work for real money is called “gold farming.” This happens in the games that involve thousands of characters at a time, interacting in an online universe that players inhabit over the course of months or even years. Some tasks, such as gathering up virtual gold pieces, swords, and magic wands, can be done by any novice player who puts in the time. In other cases, you can hire a master player to surmount a game’s challenges and raise your character to a higher skill level. By any standard, gold farming is big business. Estimates range from a global workforce of 400 000 earning US $1 billion a year to a labor pool exceeding a million gold farmers generating more than $10 billion in annual, real-money revenue. Yet the future of gold farming is uncertain. Some observers see it as a classic market inefficiency—a blip in the history of online games—that game designers can and should eliminate from their virtual worlds.”

3. The Telegraph (UK) – Planet Michael developer interview. “The news that developer SEE Virtual Worlds was planning an MMO video game based on the life and work of Michael Jackson, which emerged last week prompted more than a little confusion. How would it work? What would it look like? How would it compete in such a tough market dominated by the likes of World Of Warcraft, Lord Of The Rings and EVE Online? Most important of all, was it all a hoax? Well, it turns out that, no, Planet Michael is scheduled for release on PC next year, and according to SEE’s Vice President of Development, Josh Gordon, the developer is confident that the King Of Pop’s appeal will prove a massive draw amongst gamers.”

4. New York Times (USA) – Virtual Goods Expected to Grow by 40 Percent Next Year, Study Says. “The booming business in virtual goods — paying real money for things that don’t really exist — is expected to continue booming. That’s good news for the likes of Zynga and Playfish, and of course, Facebook. The Inside Network, a research firm that tracks social media trends, said Tuesday that the market for virtual goods in the United States was expected to grow to $2.1 billion in 2011, up from $1.6 billion in 2010. The figures are estimates based on new research conducted by the company, and put the virtual goods market on a path to double in just two years.”

5. Escapist Magazine (USA) – Second Real Life. “It’s easy to dismiss the people that you meet online as less important than those you see in real life. The contact that you have with them is fast and usually anonymous, and most encounters end as soon as the timer runs out. But that doesn’t mean that all relationships online are so meaningless. To some internet denizens, especially those who frequent virtual worlds such as Second Life, the people that they meet online are just as important to them, if not more, than those they see in meat-space. I didn’t always recognize that fact. With the help of two vampires named K and W, I discovered just what these virtual world and the relationships forged there can mean to the people who actually play them. When I originally heard about Second Life, I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. A couple of friends introduced me to the idea of living vicariously through online avatars, and, after a little research, I was amazed to see the impact these virtual lives had on real-life profit margins. I declared Second Life a giant rip-off and dismissed it as a waste of both time and money. My friend suggested that before I judge, I might experience it myself.”

6. Virtual Worlds News (USA) – Microsoft Buys Vivaty For New Project, May Be Looking For More. “The rumor that Microsoft is bidding on troubled virtual world Second Life just got a bit more interesting. It turns out that Microsoft is the previously unnamed company that acquired Vivaty, a virtual world competing with Second Life that went out of business in April. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed but Microsoft definitely paid less than $75 million, according to Microsoft Managing Director of Corporate Development Marc Brown. The acquisition was confirmed by Vivaty founder Keith McCurdy, in an email to paidContent.org. When Vivaty closed earlier this year, McCurdy said that the company acquiring Vivaty intended to use it as the foundation for an unnamed new project. Given the details that have just emerged, it seems like Microsoft is working on some sort of virtual world or possibly a game-like service with a persistent 3D world.”

7. Wall Street Journal (USA) – Congress Looking at Proposed Changes to Terrorism Finance Laws. “A group of money laundering and national security experts are pressing Congress for major reform of anti-terrorism financing laws, including a controversial measure that would allow bankers limited access to classified records and a proposal that would ease reporting requirements for some suspicious activity. Stephen I. Landman, director of national security law and policy for the Investigative Project on Terrorism, said that the risk in government agencies sharing classified information with bankers was “obvious” but that “through careful monitoring I believe such a move would increase the effectiveness of terror finance investigations.”

8. Modern Ghana (Ghana) – Are You An Eco-Friend Or An Eco-Foe? “Academics at the University of Derby, based in the East Midlands of the UK, are using the virtual reality platform Second Life to gauge people’s unconscious attitudes towards ‘green’ issues such as recycling. Derby academics Simon Bignell (Psychology) and Rosemary Horry (Environmental Management) have created an ‘Eco House’ setting in Second Life where volunteers will be asked to take part in exercises which challenge their attitudes and beliefs towards environmental issues. The pair have secured funding from the Higher Education Academy to run the Education for Sustainable Development project which will offer online tutorials and problem-based tasks for students to complete this academic year.”

9. Gamasutra (USA) – The Realities Of A LEGO MMO. “There are always tremendous complications when developing and launching an MMO. As APB recently handily demonstrated, it’s an enormously time and money-intensive endeavor to launch a game on this scale — and even when it does launch, there are numerous additional considerations arising from audience issues. Of course, from that point forward, a company has to operate the game as a service, and continue to update it with live content. And then there are business model considerations… In this in-depth interview, Ryan Seabury, creative director of LEGO Universe at developer NetDevil — itself a division of well-funded MMO firm Gazillion — discusses the development process of the expansive toy-based title, which was first announced in 2007. He takes in everything from the cloud-based graphics-crunching technology required to get the game up and running, to why it’s a subscription-based title, whether Luke Skywalker might make a cameo, and how the team has been focus-testing the title with the same group of kids for four years now.”

10. Mashable (USA) – Formspring Snags Two Key Hires from Nokia and Second Life. “Social Q&A website Formspring is looking to take its product to the next level, starting with snagging two key senior-level hires from Nokia and Linden Lab, creators of Second Life. Later today, Formspring will announce that it has hired Rob Storrs to be its head of engineering and Tom Wang to be its head of product. They started with Formspring earlier this month, CEO Ade Olonoh told me last week. Rob Storrs was the director of web development at Linden Lab, the company behind the Second Life virtual world. There, he created and oversaw different engineering teams focused on social networking, search, virtual goods and e-commerce.”

1. News.com.au (Australia) – Michael Jackson inspiration for new MMO game. “THE estate of late superstar Michael Jackson has entered a licensing deal to crate a massively-multiplayer online game (MMO) where dancing will be the main weapon.
Unlike many MMOs, which place an emphasis on combat, “Planet Michael” will stay true to Jackson’s claim that he was a lover, not a fighter. “Because Michael Jackson was very much a pacifist and into healing and creativity, our focus isn’t on violence,” said Josh Gordon of game publisher SEE Virtual Worlds. “There won’t be guns in this world or things like that. It’ll tend to use music and dance and more creative ways to navigate through the world.” In the game, dance moves will act like spells as shuffles and jigs are strung together to take the enemy down — and it most certainly won’t be wolves and orcs at the receiving end of a fleet-footed pummeling.”

2. The Press Association (UK) – ‘Virtual worlds’ work up for award. “University of Ulster researchers using “virtual worlds” to train the next generation of students have been nominated for a top UK teaching award, it has been revealed. The team at the university’s Magee campus in Londonderry has been shortlisted for a prestigious Times Higher Education Award for their contribution to information and communications technologies. Formed three years ago, the Serious Games and Virtual Worlds team (SGVW) is quickly gaining an international reputation for cutting-edge innovation in a new and constantly evolving field. Video game technology is maturing and becoming a serious educational tool, with Ulster and many universities using “Second Life” and other virtual world platforms as teaching and learning aids.”

3. Virtual Worlds News (USA) – Crisp Thinking Signs Eight New Partner. “Crisp Thinking has signed eight new deals to bring NetModerator software into top youth-oriented MMOs and virtual worlds. Crisp Thinking’s new clients are Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, the LEGO Group, Kidzbop, Sweety High, Vizwoz, Bin Weevils, and WeeWorld. Crisp Thinking attributes the new deals to a rise in the popularity of social and online gaming. “As online social gaming and interacting have become part of our daily lives, Crisp has emerged as an essential tool for online businesses in the social space. More than 84 million young people around the world upload and download content every day. Socialising via web and mobile technology is part of our daily routine – it’s how we communicate,” said Adam Hildreth, CEO of Crisp Thinking, in a press statement.”

4. The Guardian (UK) – Coins of the online realm. “It used to be that a gold star earned in your favourite video game wouldn’t be worth much in your local supermarket. But that’s changing. There is a thriving economy in valuables like virtual swords and spaceships in online gaming. And Facebook recently released a currency system with which you can purchase services in online games and applications. The growth of these social networks is edging us closer to a structure that bridges the real and virtual worlds. The more these social networks connect with viable online financial systems, the more anyone on the planet can provide knowledge labour based on his or her ability. The resulting meritocratic economy erodes the geographical inequality between the first world and the third world – and simultaneously enables copious criminal enterprise. So far, the most nefarious use of this development has been money laundering. A criminal in one country anonymously buys a game card worth an hour of play and uses it to pick up a load of virtual goods from another character in an online game such as World of Warcraft.”

5. Forbes (USA) – 3-D Avatars Get Their Own Farmvilles In IMVU. “Talk about a game within a game. IMVU, an online community where members interact with each other through 3-D avatars, on Tuesday said that it has launched the first slew of social games in its world. Members can now play more than 75 social and casual games, like fashion game Top Modelz, provided by partnering game developers Viximo, Heyzap and Omgpop. IMVU chief executive Cary Rosenzweig sees this not as a mere feature add, but an entire re-branding and re-positioning of the company. “We no longer call ourselves a virtual world,” Rosenzweig says. “We are a social entertainment company.”

6. BusinessWeek (USA) – Sony’s Wii Avatar. “The living room workout has come a long way since the days of Jane Fonda in spandex. In 2006 the interactive Nintendo Wii system successfully bridged the gap between hardcore gamers and those looking for a cheap sweat. Four years and 30 million units sold later, other companies are looking to get in on the action. Sony’s (SNE) entry in the category, the PlayStation Move, isn’t technically a new console. The Move, released on Sept. 17, can be purchased as a set of hardware add-ons for the existing PS3 system. The $100 starter pack includes a controller, a mounted camera, and a copy of the Sports Champions Blu-ray game package, which includes six games, from bocce to beach volleyball. Those without a PS3 can pay $400 for the console plus the Move accoutrements.”

7. Armed with Science (USA) – How Air Force is Designing Classroom Instruction for the Future. “It will come as no surprise that the Air Force has a systematic approach for just about everything, including how our instruction is developed! Our formal process is called Instructional System Development, or ISD, and it applies to all personnel who plan, design, develop, implement, approve, administer, conduct, evaluate, or manage Air Force instruction. The goal of Air Force ISD is to ensure our personnel are trained to do their job in the most cost efficient and effective way possible. In many ways, our education and training have remained unchanged for quite some time. The ISD process has served us well and will continue to be a solid basis for our course development efforts. The one area in which we will need to make some updates or to at least think differently is in our design, and that design will rely heavily on good analysis.”

8. The Daily Mail (UK) – Can online games be as addictive as heroin? “Despite the restricted view through the letter box, it was clear that something was terribly wrong on the other side of the front door. The hallway of the three-bedroom semi was filled with what looked like a year’s worth of dirty clutter. Deeply worried by the scene in her neighbour’s house, the concerned resident immediately alerted the authorities. Entering the £250,000 property in the Kent commuter belt, police officers, who have seen some squalid scenes in their time, were stunned by what greeted them. Every surface was strewn with rubbish and rotting food. The homeowner, a 33-year-old woman, admitted that things were ‘in a bit of a mess’. But it also quickly became evident that her children had been as neglected as the house. Aged nine, ten and 13, the children told officers that they had been left to fend for themselves, at times being reduced to eating cold baked beans straight from the tin.”

9. Hypergrid Business (Hong Kong) – There’s something about InWorldz. “Last week, InWorldz became the second-largest grid running on the OpenSim platform, after shooting up the charts over the course of just the past three months. Between April and September 15, the grid grew from 130 regions to 531 regions. In addition, the grid now has over 15,000 registered users — up from just over 10,000 a month ago. Their secret? A strong focus on community-building. In this area, InWorldz seems to be picking up where Second Life left off. For example, the latter shut down its mentor program at the end of last year, but the InWorldz mentor program is up and running.”

10. The First Post (UK) – Gamers save shekels as The Bible Online launches. “Even the most esoteric backwaters of Second Life – the online universe in which users interact through avatars – can’t compete with this. A new MMO (Massively-Multiplayer Online game) to be released next week lets gamers live out the Old Testament. They can’t actually play God – but they can play Abraham, Jacob or Isaac. Chapter one of The Bible Online, produced by games publisher FIAA, moves from testing to the real thing next week. The game is set in the time of the Patriarchs – about 50 years after the Flood – and is based on the book of Genesis. Like a cross between the strategy game Civilisation and the role-playing ‘virtual world’ World of Warcraft, the game lets users construct villages, manage resources and protect a tribe. They can even horde a virtual currency – shekels. Users can play either as a Patriarch, or alongside Abraham and his sons and are given quests to complete based on bible stories.”