The Moscow Times reports that a Virtual Conflict Ends in Real Death, as a leading Lineage II player allegedly stomps another to death. Ironically, the person who died was trying to break up the fight, which started because the two player clans were rivals or something.

This isn’t the first time this has happened, of course, though it’s the first time I’ve seen it reported in Russia. There have been Korean and Chinese cases previously. I guess it’s spreading.

It’s going to be interesting over the next few years to watch good and bad press about virtual worlds try to outrace each other in different territories.

I’m with Tide’s Horizon on this one — it’s about time that more developers embraced the web the way LOTRO plans to.

More interesting is that the game is going to support extensive and complex community functions that twine with the actual gameplay. A Google Maps version of Middle-earth will be accessible to subscribers. Each character you create will get his or her own page on the game’s official website, and you’ll be able to blog it. Minigames on the website will affect your real progression in (currently unspecified) ways. The site will also feature an online Wiki encyclopedia of info about the LOTR Online universe. All in all, it sounds like a very robust package of community tools.

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Dani Bunten named to AIAS Hall of Fame – News at GameSpot

To this day, M.U.L.E. is my favorite game ever. I have a major soft spot for Seven Cities of Gold as well. I have both of them running in emulation on my phone, actually. I made the head of programming for the Sci-Fi Channel light up with glee when I showed him that.

I never got to meet Dani, alas. The first GDC event I went to was the one she had to cancel because she was ill. She passed away just a few months later.

I’ve lost count of how many times I have pitched “M.U.L.E. Online.” A lot.