New World Notes

Here's Your Last Chance to Say Hello to Glitch (Before It Says Goodbye)

 

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Last week Tiny Speck announced that they would be pulling the plug on their adorably surreal browser-based MMO, Glitch, on December 9th. The day the announcement was made my entire Plurk friends list seemed to cry out in anguish one after the other over the looming loss of this charming game. Tiny Speck has said that there were just not as many users as they had hoped for, leading the game to be unsustainable. Full stop. No new management, no relaunch, no iOS port, no Kickstarter-- just the plain end of one of the most enchanting and original free-to-play games to come out in a long time.

Glitch had drawn in a lot of Second Life users during its beta period, including myself, but by the game's official launch I had already lost interest and never logged in again. At least until last night. I decided to look back in on Glitch to see what I'd been missing, and to enjoy its final days... And I want to help you do the same. Keep reading for your last chance to experience this stunning world.

Academic Virtual World Conference Calling for Papers

Click here if you're an academic who studies virtual worlds -- it's the homepage to SLACTIONS, an interational conference in November that will be held in SL and in several real world locations this November, and has an open call for papers to present then. As the homepage says, they're looking for papers not just pertaining to Second Life and OpenSim, but other virtual worlds and MMOs:

Is the Virtual Economy Contributing to Our Real World Recession?

Edward Castronova, the academic who pioneered the study of virtual world economies, makes a very provocative argument on Terra Nova: Essentially, that the virtual economy is contributing to our real world recession. Castronova isn't just referring to virtual worlds, but defines the term this way:

Let’s construe the notion of “virtual economy” quite broadly: If you receive an experience by yourself through a machine that runs on digital technology, without doing or buying anything physical (other than press a few buttons), it’s virtual.

Because so much of our daily activity is now virtual (so defined), we're less inclined to spend our money on physical goods, and consumer spending is a main indicator of a healthy economy. But virtual activity can impact our spending patterns in interesting ways. For instance:

For Virtual Worlds to Grow, Avatars Must Become More Like Halloween Costumes Where Faces Can Still Be Seen (UPDATED With Responses To Comments)

Last Halloween weekend I hit a big block party with several friends, and observed an interesting phenomena that relates, I think, to virtual worlds: The way people interact with one another, when they're dressed in costume. Most times, the costumes would work as a fun social lubricant that encouraged casual roleplay. ("Hey Wolverine, show me your claws!") Often that roleplay would lead to a deeper connection, which is why Halloween is so popular with single adults -- instant dating scene.

Other Halloween costumes, however, would inspire admiration, but little social connection (besides maybe a quick remark or photo.) With that minority of costumes, people kept their distance. What was the common element that kept people away?