nick-yee
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Daedalus Project presents new findings
The Daedalus Project has gotten Massively coverage previously, but it's worth revisiting, as Nick Yee continues to gather information on virtual spaces. In the most recent issue, you can peruse such topics as how changing game mechanics changes social interactions within those games; what do players want to see in MMOs; and thoughts from parents who are gamers on how to manage a child's MMO time.Additionally, there is always a survey in progress to which you may contribute. Your opinions are valid, O Learned Audience. If you're tired of demographic results that don't accurately represent the way you feel about our industry, now's your chance to have your say![Thanks, Nick!]
The Daedalus Project tracks MUD
Actually, it tracks MMOs, but what a clever title, huh? The Daedalus Project is the demographic/analysis website created and maintained by Nick Yee, a graduate student of Stanford University in the field of Communications who now works at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Nick's site is noteworthy both for the online surveys of MMO players that are open to anyone who wants to participate, and also for the conclusions he draws based on those survey results.This statistical data has been used by Washington Post, CBS, TechWeek, CNET, the Associated Press, Nature.com, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Nick always has a survey or two running, so if you're interested in contributing your experiences and thoughts to the collective (and growing) body of knowledge concerning MMOs, you can do so at the 'Current Surveys' section of his site.For those of us interested in metadata, The Daedalus Project is a genuine boon, and we hope he continues his necessary and groundbreaking work well into the future. [Thanks, Nick!]
Judging yourself by appearances
They say you can't judge a book by its cover - an exhortation against judging the character of people based on factors they have no control over. Nonetheless, people do do it, and frequently. There are some interesting aspects to this. One is that we judge ourselves this way. The other comes when we can choose those covers - for example, our avatars. In the physical world, we power-dress, we dress-for-success, we craft visual identities based on celebrities on television, in movies, in books and in magazines. Power dressing was more about how the outfit made you feel, and the way that shifted your psychology and affected your interactions with the people around you than strictly with how you were judged visually by others.
