Preserving MMOs

[reposted from Kotaku]

Preservation of 'new media' has gotten some attention in recent months — a lot of venerable collections are moving to figure out the best ways to preserve games and gaming media in an archival setting, while building useful collections for the future. The University of Texas at Austin was recently awarded over $250,000 to study the collection and preservation of MMOs. In addition to the obvious bits of preservation problems — software and the like — the project is also pretty broad in scope, including an oral history component, as the project head Megan Winget explained:

"I'd like to conduct in-depth interviews with all types of people involved in the creation process, from programmers and testers to visual artists and music composers, as well as game developers, producers and visionaries ....
Another part of my research is to collect oral histories from gamers and game developers regarding their experiences playing games, specifically during "epochal" moments, like when Lord British was assassinated in Ultima Online. Some people also happened to record those moments, and it would be very interesting to collect those artifacts for the cultural record."

I'll be curious to see how this project develops, since it could potentially be very influential in how other collections begin organizing and preserving new media and video games more specifically. The idea of oral history is a particularly good one - the historian in me is glad people are working on things like this now, as opposed to scrambling when it's almost too late.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/361264565/preserving-mmos-an-archivists-challenge

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Fairy Tale MMO Secondhand Lands Announced

[Reposted from Kotaku]

Described as an "eternal struggle between two sisters: Little Bo Peep and Little Red Riding Hood," the new MMO Secondhand Lands has just been announced and is currently in closed beta. The game, developed by Austin-based Callipygian, will be distributed by Pixel Mind and will utilize their microtransaction system. Said Callipygian founder and Secondhand Lands lead, "We chose to work with Pixel Mine because they offered us the best value for our company and our players. As an independent developer it is very difficult to find a distribution deal that gives us a package with everything we need to manage accounts and handle payments. Also, we are excited to be working with another Austin company; this town is rich with talent and services tailored for game creation."

Secondhand Lands is the massively multiplayer online game set in a parody fairytale world. There will be none of those pansy elves or cantankerous dwarves in this land. Our heroes are comprised of the Wolves and the Sheep who have pledged their undying allegiance to Bo Peep or Little Red Riding Hood. Well, perhaps not undying... Both the jaded MMOG veteran and new player will quickly find a place among the followers of the rival sisters (or perhaps as a Black Sheep or one the nefarious Wolves in Sheep's Clothing). Secondhand Lands boasts those features players have come to expect of the "big AAA" games along with a few surprises. Sounds interesting, at the very least. I'm always up for clever parodies.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/322109116/parody-fairy-tale-mmo-secondhand-lands-announced

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Virtual Worlds In Motion

See below from games.ign.com. I met Jim Bower (Numedeon) at the Games for Health conference earlier this year and he is definitely worth hearing.

Sept. 16-17, 2008 will mark the return of the Worlds in Motion Summit, taking place at the Austin Game Developers Conference (www.austingdc.net) in the Austin Convention Center. The event, which saw its successful debut at the Game Developers Conference 2008 (GDC 08) in San Francisco this past spring, will map the broadening of the worldwide business market through the expansive and growing social game networking space. The Worlds in Motion Summit, presented by WorldsinMotion.biz, is of particular value to those looking to successfully leverage their content and brands into interactive online worlds.

In an exciting development, Stephen Andrade, Senior Vice President, Digital Development and General Manager, NBC.com will be joined by Rajat Paharia, Founder and CEO of Bunchball in a first-of-its-kind presentation, titled "Dunder Mifflin Infinity: A Case Study in Using Game Mechanics to Drive Community Behavior." Participants will hear how Bunchball's Nitro meta-gaming platform is being used to drive user behavior and increase engagement on Dunder Mifflin Infinity, a social networking and user-generated content site for fans of NBC's hit TV show, The Office.

Additional confirmed speakers for the upcoming Worlds in Motion Summit include:

- James M. Bower - Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Visionary Officer of Numedeon Inc.

- Jonathan Epstein - CEO of Double Fusion

Teemu Huuhtanen - Executive VP, Marketing, Ad Sales and Business Development of Sulake Corporation and President, North America of Sulake Inc.

The conference will examine the results that both independent start-ups and established Fortune 500 companies can derive from actively participating in the virtual world space. The Worlds in Motion Summit will map the intersection of games, business and entertainment in virtual worlds, and provide a look into where these virtual worlds are headed. Beyond traditional notions of linear gameplay experiences, the Worlds in Motion Summit will delve into the increasing socialization of games and online worlds, and the integration of personalization and player-generated content into gameplay.

Additional information on the event and confirmed speakers can be found at: http://www.austingdc.net/wim/index.htm