Relationship
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WoW and The "Impossible" Romance
Nick Yee's excellent Daedalus Project (covering the psychology of MMORPGs) has put up its latest edition, and it includes some interesting articles about players and the meta-game (of which WoW Insider is a part), seasonal play patterns, and active subscriptions per player. But the most interesting one is called "The 'Impossible' Romance," about romantic relationships that originate from within an MMORPG game like World of Warcraft.Nick first covers the patterns of ingame to real life romances-- there's the "First Contact," the "Incubation Period," the "Moment of Truth" (where two people finally decide there's a possibility of having a real-life relationship), meeting face to face, and finally the "Ever After." Surprisingly, 67% of those surveyed had relationships when the survey was collected. I'm not quite sure if that means relationships in an online game work better than other relationships-- seems to me to be a high figure.Yee then covers the reasons why lots of people meet in places like Azeroth: it's a low pressure environment, like work, or the gym. Because first contact is anonymous and remote, shy people often are willing to take the first step when they might not in real life. And he says that online relationships benefit from working "inside-out" instead of "outside-in" like most offline relationships.Interesting stuff-- to tell the truth, I've never met anyone personally from playing with them in an online game, romantically or not. Maybe it's because I'm more focused on the gameplay, or maybe it's just me (I can be pretty smug sometimes, I'll admit). But I'm interested in hearing other people's success (or, maybe more interesting, failure) stories. Does meeting a romantic partner in an MMORPG mean it's more likely to work? Or less?
"I Hate You, E3," declares Escapist writer
Okay, so maybe not hate completely.The eye-catching title of an essay from the latest installment of The Escapist puts the emphasis on the negative aspect of the love-hate relationship many industry vets have with E3, but there's surprisingly a lot of love for the trade show here, even if you don't subscribe to the hardened "I hate E3 because I love it" theory of convention devotion.While the Joystiq staff hasn't been to quite as many E3s as the founder of the International Game Journalists Association (IGJA), we can certainly empathize with the world-weariness that might accumulate after years of weeklong death- press-marches and working in overcrowded, sensory-overloaded spaces. We just hope our love of the game(s) will stay with us as it has for Mr. Thomas, whether we're watching from home or working the show floor in person in post-apocalyptic L.A. The parties will be sure to be awesome.See also: Joystiq at E3 2006 mega-site The Escapist's big E3 issue this week, with references within to Joystiq's Paris Hilton story and some E3 party pics orig. from Joystiq The Game of Journalism -- the IGJA's official web site
Applescript for OmniGraffle to create graphical map of music taste
Another day, another slick new tool for graphically viewing artists in your iTunes library. OGMT (OmniGraffle Musical Taste) is an applescript that will generate an OmniGraffle file containing a graphical map of all of your artists, emphasizing the ones you play most.For those who aren't familiar with OmniGraffle: it's a really popular and powerful app for diagramming and flow-charts. Using OGMT to create a functional, graphical map of your iTunes library sounds like a great way to gain a unique perspective on the music at the top of your list. Too bad I didn't bring any of my music home with me on the PowerBook over the break. Anyone care to give OGMT a try and post some thoughts?[via Ranchero blog, image via DrunkenBlog]
