As an interesting compare/contrast with VW issues, see this re Joe Horn's inability to speak freely (as in "free beer") on a game field -- apparently the phone rates are about $30K per call. (Cell-phone bans are generally content-neutral btw, just like the DMCA supposedly is...) Of course, despite Curt Schilling's proclivity for assassinating dwarven paladins named BingBong, I admit the connections between the EULAs of professional sports and virtual worlds are somewhat tenuous. E.g. Horn may be a football field rebel, but he is being paid to amuse people, not paying people to be amused. (More sports/speech connections to ponder: Salt Lake Olympics zoning, Baseball and Iraq, columnist thoughts, and of course, the Mexico City 1968 Olympics.) Of course, if you take my perspective that much of what is going on in MMOGs involves a genuine community of indviduals, and as such has political, governmental and legal interests, then the silence is also odd.

Another datapoint follows for those tracking the rise of virtual property. A court has ordered the transfer of stolen virtual property back to the original player. Most interesting here is (1) it's a Chinese court which is leading the way, and (2) the court ordered the developer to transfer the property. This latter point merits attention that I don't have time for now, since I'm knee-deep in spackle. Will say some stuff in a bit. [Edit: Go here for more stories. Original Reuters story that I included has been deleted from the post, since copyright is a blunt weapon and copyright plaintiffs have no sense of humor these days] The one unequivocally successful reputation-signalling institution isn't software coded at all, it's human-coded. The guild. The guild not only enforces reputational cues within its members, but it also sends strong and enforceable signals to the outside world about the reputational capital of any individual member of that guild.

As you can see in the segment that aired on MTV2 last night, Rob Pardo, executive vice president of game design at Blizzard Entertainment, told our Tracey John at Blizzard headquarters last week that he doesn't think "World of Warcraft" - which has more than two million paying subscribers in the U.S. - is going to be hurt by the faltering U.S. economy.

Below you will find a full viewers guide to help make sure you don't miss out on any of the action from either of the Extreme Masters Montreal Challenges. WoW gold GotFrag will once again be live on site with a crew of staff members to bring you exclusive content, interviews, HLTV, demos, Gamesense Statistics, galleries, blogs and much much more. So make sure to keep your web browser's locked on GotFrag.com throughout the three day event.

Joining Sir Ian are Royal Shakespeare Company stalwarts such as Robert Stephens (a dynamic Aragorn) and Michael Hordern (superb as Gandalf). This cast comes from the era when British actors were trained in diction, and it is wonderful to hear Tolkien's words so clearly enunciated. (Some listeners may find the ‘BBC diction' English a little stilted, but to my ear, it is perfect for Tolkien's carefully crafted words. And fear not -Sam retains a suitably country accent!)

It seems like a strong possibility that Diablo 3 or StarCraft 2 will be a launchpad for an MMO based on either franchise. A StarCraft 2 MMO would be much more different from WoW than a Diablo MMO would be if only because StarCraft is a sci-fi series while Diablo and WarCraft are both medieval fantasy. Aside from the in-development Knights of the Old Republic MMO and EVE Online, WoW gold there really isn't a significant sci-fi presence in the MMO universe and Blizzard might see potential there.

FunCom's new Game Director Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison posted a lengthy update about the second half of the major "lets finish Age of Conan" patch which is coming our way in the next couple weeks. One of the highlights is the PVP Consequence System

Here we take this opportunity to talk of 9138 patch in Wrath of the Lich King. Nine professions change a lot. That is to say, each profession has its alternation. But at this time, we briefly introduce several professions first. The alternation of those professions, see below information...

With 11 million subscribers, I feel that the claim of "7 out of 10" opposed to the event is both unfounded and idiotic. For argument's sake, I was in the 3 out of 10 who really enjoyed it (and I got my dailies done every day without a hassle). I made the best of it. If I was a Druid, I went about my business. If I was a zombie, however, I was going to make all living things around me suffer.

Glyph of Starfire:Your Starfire ability increases the duration of your Moonfire effect on the target by 3 seconds, up to a maximum of 9 additional seconds.