My friend Eric Goldman (who I've mentioned before as skeptical of much of "virtual law" scholarship) posted recently about a presentation on Vacheland, a French simulation of virtual farm managementEric says Vacheland was "initiated by a public agency to increase awareness of farm issues and to help address negative perceptions due to mad cow disease." Eric says that: Big Nasty is the paragon of old-brainism: ParanoidAngryUnreasonableJust loves to make you unhappyAnd that's all by designMeanwhile, back in Safetown, Arch-mage Mentoria does nothing but wish you well and praise your accomplishments over and over, just like Mommy: Overprotective, indulgent, spoiling MommyAfter our "high energy" presentation, the questions were even strangerSomeone asked why humanities research got left out, and we had to say that we couldn't find it to be directly relevant on our top 10 list of bulleted pointsIan made the point, and I agreed, that doing the research for this panel made us think differently about academic research. 

While I'm not going to say that what we've done personally has no value, it was a definite challenge to try and make it *directly relevant* in a BULLETED POINT for developersThey looked friendly enough--at least, no one had fruit ready to throw at usIt was simply kind of surreal, after reading the comments on TN this past week and hearing other things at the conference about the problems with game studies and developer/academic relations

After our "high energy" presentation, the questions were even strangerSomeone asked why humanities research got left out, and we had to say that we couldn't find it to be directly relevant on our top 10 list of bulleted pointsIan made the point, and I agreed, that doing the research for this panel made us think differently about academic researchWhile I'm not going to say that what we've done personally has no value, it was a definite challenge to try and make it *directly relevant* in a BULLETED POINT for developersAnd there are huge gaps in what we don't knowWhere is the research about sports games, to take just one example? Anyway, the point is, I enjoyed the exercise, and learned a lot from itI hope the audience did as well

But overall, I like to think that the attendance demonstrates that developers are interested in what academics might be able to tell them (again I will point out: no fruit was thrown)And all week, I talked with developers who were interested in what was going on with research, from the smallest to the largest companiesMaybe the issue is the "larger" communityIt's always easy to abstract and oversimplify at that levelBut I know that on an individual level, there are real conversations and collaborations going onI don't want this to turn into some rosy "it's better than we think" or "can't we all just get along" thing, but I do think that perhaps the situation is not as dire as it's hyped to beBut then again, I haven't gotte my evals back yet

And there are huge gaps in what we don't knowWhere is the research about sports games, to take just one example? Would like to experience wonderful life in MMORPG, here you need to buy some World of Warcraft Gold are on hot sale on all servers, especially on American serversYou can Buy WOW Gold from us, a professional, loyal and reliable SWG Credits exchange corporation work group.Anyway, the point is, I enjoyed the exercise, and learned a lot from itI hope the audience did as well

But overall, I like to think that the attendance demonstrates that developers are interested in what academics might be able to tell them (again I will point out: no fruit was thrown)And all week, I talked with developers who were interested in what was going on with research, from the smallest to the largest companiesMaybe the issue is the "larger" communityIt's always easy to abstract and oversimplify at that levelBut I know that on an individual level, there are real conversations and collaborations going onI don't want this to turn into some rosy "it's better than we think" or "can't we all just get along" thing, but I do think that perhaps the situation is not as dire as it's hyped to beBut then again, I haven't gotte my evals back yet

"Yes, we know that Tom Cruise, whom we watching in "The Last Samurai" is that same guy from "Mission Impossible." But if, at the critical moment in the 19th century, Japanese film he were to whip out a plastic-explosive, pull off a latex mask and say, "Show me the money, $#%!" we would run screaming from the movie

"There's plenty interesting to say about where online gaming convergence is goingCross-over of "stuff" from game-to-game ain't itAll by design.

On one level, the project is a success, with 320,000 people tending a virtual farm and an active community developing to discuss the game and figure out how to optimize participationHowever, on the more important level, the simulation failed to accomplish its goalsMany participants compartmentalized the experience, distinguishing between their virtual cow/farm and their attitudes towards real cows and farms.This, of course, strikes at the heart of any arguments that virtual worlds are unique/special/different because they are "immersive." In Vacheland, despite the richness of the simulation, there was no blurring of reality and fantasy.