Richard Moore’s Pac-Txt is even more brilliant than his Paper Pong (which, ironically, you can play online).

Here’s a transcript of my best Pac-Txt game to date:

Pac-Txt!
--------
You awaken in a large complex, slightly disoriented. Glowing dots hover mouth level near you in every direction. Off in the distance you hear the faint howling of what you can only imagine must be some sort of ghost or several ghosts.

> go east
Huh?!

> look
You are in a long corridor. You may go forward or backward and there are glowing dots in every direction. There is a glowing dot hovering near you. 

> eat
You have eaten the glowing dot!

> go forward
Huh?!

> forward
You have moved.

> look
You are at an intersection. You may go forward, backward or right and there are glowing dots forward and right. There is a glowing dot hovering near you. 

> eat
You have eaten another glowing dot!

> check score
Huh?!

I’m not much of a gamer, but Matt got me following video game law with curious interest. And now, via ArsTechnica, I’ve learned of crazy things going on in role playing game economies.

To some, the only surprise in Jon Jacobs’s US$100,000 purchase of in-game real estate is that nobody thought of it sooner.

The first thing to know is that unlike most other MMORPGs, Project Entropia mixes its virtual economy with the real world. Money can be earned in-game, or “transfered” at a fixed exchange rate of US$1 for PED$10 (PED = Project Entropia Dollars).

The $100,000 purchase netted Jacobs a space station that he plans to develop into “a cross between Jurassic Park and a disco.” Visitors to the station can hunt dinosaur-like monsters and spend time in the stations nightclubs. The AP story quotes Jacob’s saying “I want to operate this thing at the level of a major nightclub in a major city,” and explains that he expects to make $20,000/month on hunting fees and other activities related to the station, though the article doesn’t make clear whether that number is in US$ or PED$. It’s also not clear how he’d extract his game earnings as US$.

He refinanced his house shortly after and considered investing some of the cash in the hot Miami real-estate market, but he realized that if he bought a rental property, it really wouldn’t generate any income beyond what he’d pay for the mortgage and repairs.
So he invested the proceeds in the game.

Interestingly, the article notes that IGE, “the leading MMORPG services company” has handled deals worth more than $100,000, “but would not provide details because of client confidentiality.”

tags: $100,000, $100000, game, game law, gamer, jon jacobs, mmo, mmorpg, real estate, role playing, role playing game, rpg, space station, video game, virtual economy, virtual real estate, virtual space station

Matt says my attempts to analogize online roleplaying games to more familiar contests like chess or automobile racing are “just silly.” But his response appears to reinforce my point rather than refute it. It is the responsibility of the gamers and gaming organizations to create and enforce rules. People violating those rules are subject to sanctions by the gaming organization first, but it’s hard to imagine how any contestant who follows the rules of a (legal) game can be subject to legal sanction.

I said as much in my comment on his post, naming sports and game organizations like the World Chess Federation, National Scrabble Association, and National Hot Rod Association that have been successfully enforcing and arbitrating game rules for years. But as better examples of the well trod path between law and game rules, I might have offered smash-up derbies or boxing. Outside the game, drivers and fighters would be subject to civil and criminal penalties, but inside the game, where participants are expected required to be aware of the rules and the risks of the game, we find ourselves intolerant of legal interference. Not that the overall legality of violent sports like boxing hasn’t been question, but that where it is legal, the game rules are the first (and often final) authority in the ring.

tags: game, game world, game worlds, gamers, games, gaming, in game, law, mmo, mmorpg, multiplayer online games, online games, online role playing, online role playing games, real world, real world violence, role playing game, role playing games, rpg, story world, video game, video games, virtual, virtual economy, virtual world, virtual worlds

Matt started talking up the weird issues developing around multiplayer online games a few weeks ago. Then soon after he blogged it, a story appeared in On the Media (listen, transcript)

Short story: online gaming is huge — one developer claims four million paying customers. More significantly, the interplay between real and virtual worlds might create new challenges for this real world legal system. “Theft” of in-game money and equipment among players in the online world is possible, but it’s lead to the real-world arrest of at least one person and the murder of another when authorities refused to act.

One argument is that these games occupy players time and cost money, so in-game theft results in real-life loss. Baloney. Chess and Monopoly occupy great deals of time, but try telling the cops I rooked your knight. Money? A huge number of Americans invest time and money on building and racing cars on the approximately 1800 racetracks around the country. Real time and and hard-earned money are lost when cars crash, but the track has its own rules “rubin’s racin, Cole” — and none of us would excuse a driver for off-track violence against a competitor.

tags: crime, game, game money, game world, game worlds, law, loss, mmo, mmorpg, multiplayer online games, murder, online games, real world, real world violence, role playing game, story world, theft, video games, video game, virtual, virtual economy, virtual world, virtual worlds, weird issues

The Laconia Citizen reported today that Ron Mowry’s 31 year quest for recognition as the real pinball wizard of 1974 has finally achieved some success. The Twin Galaxies Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records will credit Mowry’s 72 hour 8 minute marathon pinball session as a record.

Mowry set his 1974 record at a sandwich shop in Hallandale Beach, Florida, but he was raised in Plymouth, NH, where he now works for the university.

What odd, mostly anonymous lives we all lead.

Technorati Tags: florida, laconia citizen, new hampshire, pinball, pinball wizard, plymouth, twin galaxies, video game, wizard, world record