Facebook virtual worlds

 Posted by (Visited 16779 times)  Game talk
Nov 082007
 

So everyone is talking about embedding virtual worlds on Facebook. There’s an article on Virtual Worlds News, for example, listing the few that are out there. I’ve written several posts about stuff like ActiveWorlds launching a Facebook app. There’s even an f13 thread wondering about ActiveWorlds versus Metaplace.

But one thing that hasn’t been pointed out is that really, nobody is using these very much. As of today, for example:

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The Road to Ensenada

 Posted by (Visited 7797 times)  Misc
Nov 082007
 

ensenada-panorama-sm.jpg

(Above, a photo of Ensenada’s harbor, with cruise ships docked, in the persistent light fog that is shrouding all of SoCal and Baja lately — you can click on it to get a larger image).

Yesterday I gave a magistral conference at CICOMP ’07, in Ensenada, Mexico. This was my first time to Mexico, first time driving through Tijuana, seeing Baja California, etc.

The talk was basically a reworking, in Spanish, of material from other talks centered on A Theory of Fun and game grammar. Given the audience of mostly compsci students, it was mostly new to them. It was fun giving a talk in Spanish — it’s been well over a decade since I had reason to speak the language regularly. I only had to fumble for words a few times.

I have many observations about the experience overall:

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Chen: tech changes, people don’t

 Posted by (Visited 2999 times)  Game talk
Nov 052007
 

Andrew Chen has a nice essay up on how Technology always changes, but people always stay the same, with a bunch of pics of old nickelodeon style amusement machines, with extrapolations to what their modern day entertainment equivalent is.  It’s a great reminder that human nature and the sorts of entertainment we seek don’t really change.

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The Sunday Poem: Why Wulfric Lived to 90

 Posted by (Visited 5709 times)  The Sunday Poem
Nov 042007
 

“The third guy from the left, along the trestle board,
Who drank a bit more mead than strictly needed… Him,
The one with orange hair and braids all down to here.

Yeah, that’s the guy. He slept through the whole thing, the jerk.
When Grendel came and ripped our arms and popped our skulls,
He slid, plain drunk, right under the roast pig, and snored.

I want his saga privileges revoked. I won’t
Put up with crap like this. Last time we slew a drake,
He tripped. What sort of hero trips on dragon tails?

He makes us all look bad. So yank him from the books.
Declare him warg, or extirpate him from the band.
We’ve got our quest to finish; he just holds us back.”

Poor Wulfric, all Valhalla will not sing his name.

But grandkids might.

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