Blizzard is beating a familiar drum again, fresh off their recent launch of WoW:TBC. No Starcraft MMORPG, but a hint at a 2008 date is enough to start the rumor mill turning fast. I can't wait to see Starcraft with 100+ players on a single map...

In other news, they have said flat out that they have no plans of bringing WoW to consoles. Initial reactions are they are missing the boat, but I suspect they're falling victim to their own success: Their economy is already plagued by rampant inflation and black market activity, with the only solution provided being to ban those who blatantly abuse the system. What will happen when you lower the barrier to entry so low that any living room occupant can wreak havoc on their family member's account? The problem is negligible when the money isn't real, but rapidly spirals out of control when you try and merge the two communities without some serious attention to economic balance.

It's unfortunate too. I probably would have to play myself if the barrier was that low.

Life as an independent developer is... interesting. You get to make all sorts of fun decisions, and then promptly change them to fit your budget ( or lack there of ).

For instance, the upcoming Game Developers Conference. Of course we have to be there, and we want the entire company management team to go. Even our CFO thought most of us should trek on down to San Francisco for the week! Later we sat down and took a look at our budget, and the cost of attendance and quickly came to terms with the fact that, sadly, not all of us will get to go to GDC this year. So now it's I.O.U.'s and games of rock-paper-scissors or ro-sham-bo to decide who gets to go.

Dealing with the budget is something that we are always doing, every dollar counts when you are a start up, and when you are an indie start up in an industry full of giants you start tracking those dimes and pennies too. Not only do I track how much I'm spending, I track how much I am costing. Salary is, and always will be, our number one cost. Even the price of bandwidth to host bandwidth heavy MMOG's is a drop in the expense accounts compared to paying staff.

So every now and then I calculate how much a certain project or task costs based on my man hours used. This post, for instance, looks like it is going to clock in at about $3.50 USD, give or take. Just one of the many strange things I have picked up being part of an independent game developer.

In response to, it seems, the South Korean government looking at banning or controlling sale of virtual currencies gold farming outfits in that country have formed themselves a trade association! The Digital Asset Distribution Promotion Association is born.

It is interesting just how large the economy of people sidestepping the grind truly is. Governments are concerned, trade associations are formed, in-game economies inflate, and debate never ends.

Of course as this arstechica article points out there are other ways of getting money in an MMO.

The economy of WoW, in particular, is robust enough to support all sorts of activity, including cyber-prostitution. Rob Conzelman recently published a story that described his experience in World of Warcraft, concluding that it's much simpler to turn tricks (don't even ask how this is done) with a scantily-clad female avatar than to earn gold by actually playing the game....

I guess they'll need that Trade Association... According to a trusted source in the industry, eBay is banning the sale of all virtual goods from their site. The sited reason is a blanket move to enforce a sticky ownership issue where the seller must 'own' the goods they're selling.

Well this opens a can of worms, doesn't it? I have to wonder if people won't start selling worthless goods, and gifting the virtual items to the winner as a way of saying, "But I'm selling physcial goods, the rest is just a bonus gift and isn't for sale.". I understand they do this now with bottles of rare beer since they're not allowed to sell alcohol on eBay, stating they're selling the bottle which is rare and collectible, and the contents are incidental.

For Sale: Used Gum
Description: One large piece of chewed gum. I believe it was mostly Hubbie Bubbie, but there could have been some Bubble-Blast, definitely cherry and watermelon flavor. Purchaser is responsible for picking it up, cannot ship. Also, as a gift to the winner of this auction, I will give you 100 gilded clams on the shard of your choice. Contact me for delivery time.

So how can I resist combining my two favourite things: video games and politics. My goodness, is this ever becoming a major issue these days. I can't go a week without reading an article on gamasutra about the heaps of legislation coming down on the gaming community. There are even dedicated lobby groups springing up fighting for and against the bevy of new laws being set into place.

But is this a bad thing? Are video games actually being singled out? Do video games need to be singled out?

My honest opinion is that a lot of this legislation is brought about by lazy parenting and political rhetoric. People are always looking for the easy out, and passing the buck for bad parenting practices on to the gaming industry is a great solution. I firmly believe that the industry is not responsible for parents letting their kids play GTA for 4 hours a day. But the industry is certainly responsible for producing the graphic content these kids are getting exposed too.

Do I think that the video game industry needs to grow up and take a serious look at the content produced and who it is marketed and geared for? Yes.

Things like the the ESRB are virtually useless, because retailers sell to all and sundry, regardless of age. I've seen ten year olds walk into EB Games and pick up a copy of games clearly rated 'M'. At the same time, I've seen ten year olds walk into a blockbuster and rent Saw III, no questions asked. The entire entertainment industry is rife with serious content exposure problems, from television to film, from dead-tree media to electronic. It is the responsibility of a large group of people to deal with these issues that are facing not only the video game industry, but all forms of entertainment and content delivery. Producers of the content, and the sellers, and the consumers all need to work together in a constructive manner. What that is remains to be seen, but it will certainly have to include legislation.

As an industry we really need to look into ways of producing and selling content in an ethical manner. We have a responsibility to our communities, and our customers. To ignore the problem or fight the problem with counter rhetoric and legal battles will just lead to a disaster and alienate our customer base ( or at least the parents of our customer base ). There is an opportunity for the video game industry to step up to the plate and show the world we are mature and are actually thinking about these issues, and more than just thinking, that we are looking for solutions. Solutions at a fundamental product level, at a distribution level, and at a sales level.