We are not immune. This statement can not go any clearer than this. CBS, mother company of media company CNET, has brought down the ax on several of its subsidiary companies, merging newsrooms, including TV.com, MP3.com and gaming website Gamespot.

Over at CNET, they've got a news feature up about the mess behind banning people for supposedly violating the terms of service, and there's an interesting dichotomy that needs to be considered here.

On the one hand, players are saying that there's a lack of due course for getting kicked out of the game. Sometimes, things that seem like cheating, such as exorbitantly fast levelling, is nothing more than dedicated play. Even more important is the fact that there's no warning, which really dampens the spirit of dedicated players.

As one of those fast levellers put it, "I think Blizzard is being too tough on their issues with exploitation and like many others, I have fallen (victim) to their harsh system of banning people like me. And when I say 'like me,' I mean people who play lots and level up very fast."

On the other hand, there are others who speculate that guilty parties are banned but fight tooth and nail for their right to stay and play. And of course, some banned folks simply neglect to read the terms of service which they manage to violate. Blizzard isn't the type of company out to alienate their fanbase, and they also assert that they're doing thorough checks when they do perform these necessary actions.

There isn't much of an answer behind the article, but it does go and explain the two sides of the coin that happens when a banning occurs, and we suppose that's best some of us can ask for at a moment's notice, when we wake up one morning, see the banning, and ask ourselves if we were wronged or if we were wrong to begin with.

 

In a report over at CNet News, Daniel Terdiman sheds some light on sentiment that the growth of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) over the years may be going a little too far.

Aside from the usual quotes from industry bigwigs about how big the Conference has grown over the years, and how it is now the largest game industry-only event worldwide, time is taken to note comments that show some caution. To be specific, comments from Patricia Pizer -  a longtime developer of online games, mentions that:

It's gotten so big. ...It used to feel more like a community of my peers, and now it feels more like a frat party. On the other hand, it has also gotten more corporate. It's a funny contradiction. It will continue to get progressively more commercial and less academic.

...It's been interesting to watch GDC evolve over time, from draped tables to a real exhibit hall. ...From small chalk-talks to keynotes filling huge halls.

Now that the industry is big enough to sustain (several other) segment-, market- or platform-specific developer conferences, will GDC still continue to be mecca for game developers? We'll see.

Of course conference director Jamil Moledina reassures that lessons were learned from E3's transmogrification from giant trade show to invite-only marketing event. Moledina expounds:

The main lesson from (the transition of E3) is that we have to stick to what we do best: providing learning and inspiration to independent developers.

Time will tell if Moledina's aim for the middle-ground will help prevent future GDCs from turning into events that are too large to satisfy its original intent.

Cnet interviews Anshe Chung. Interview attacked by, forgive my bluntness, flying wangs. Video of interview makes it onto YouTube. Oh guess what? We use video, too! Now, video no longer there. Why? Anshe Chung herself demanded that YouTube delete the recording, reported Cnet, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) and claiming that her rights were infringed because YouTube "used" her avatar image without permission.

Oh, great. The last time someone invoked DCMA in Second Life, it was during the entire CopyBot hullabaloo, although DCMA stood a snowball's chance in the Sahara in that case. But YouTube took the video down anyway. Which brings up an interesting question: do people have absolute copyrights to their in-game avatars? I mean, say this writer were to come into The Lord of the Rings Online as Legolas' brother Legoland. QJ takes a picture of me and uses it in the blog. Are my rights infringed?

When asked by Cnet, the legal opinion of an attorney from the Electronic Frontier Foundation is that (a) Anshe Chung owns what she creates in Second Life, and that extends to her avatar image. That doesn't mean however, that those rights are not absolute - (b) those rights don't override the fair use doctrine governing screenshots (a critical factor in the use of images in, say, Wikipedia). In short, no dice for Ms. Chung, as far as the EFF is concerned. But that's EFF; Ms. Chung is of a different opinion entirely (hey, what do you expect from a real estate developer?).

The important thing to note here is that none of this virtual property stuff has really been tested in an ACTUAL court of law yet, no matter how well-established fair use doctrine is, so everything might still be up in the air as far as a judge, jury, and executioner is concerned.

Maybe Anshe Chung is just embarrassed of the entire situation? It's like, if there was a video of you with, forgive the bluntness again, flying you-know-whats, would you want the video to be made widely available to the world? No, Ms. Jameson, we're not talking about you.

As of last month Second Life has accumulated two million accounts, an impressive increase from one million just two months earlier. However, CNET reports that critics claim that the two million figure is misleading at best.

As of Wednesday, Linden Lab reported that there were around 2,325,015 "residents" of Second Life. Linden Labs defines each of those "residents" as representative of "a uniquely named avatar with the right to log in to Second Life, trade currency and visit the community pages."

Critics cite that the problem is that the total given out by Linden Labs does not necessarily match with what the community, or even online businesses considers as "active users." Some say that a lot of people who sign up for Second Life try it once and never come back. Moreover some individuals can have as many as five different avatars each of which would count as a "resident."

CNET reports that the real number of active, individual users who log in on a recurring basis is likely in the 200,000 to 230,000 range, according to the internal metrics of Linden Lab, and by others in the industry.

If you're wondering why the exact number of residents of a virtual world matters, keep in mind that population and demographics is a big deal for investors and advertisers.

Given the fluid nature of this virtual world, where a lot of users might not log back in for months at a time, there may not be an easy answer to their virtual census problem.

Signs of success: lot'sa dollars in your bank account, a lawsuit, a hot sex-scandal that is spread all over the intertubes and cable news. If the CNET interview with Ailin Graef (better known in SL as Anshe Chung) will be taken into account, we can now add flying penises into that list.

Graef recently visited CNET's SL bureau for a discussion about her businesses and how best to set up businesses in SL given the nature of competition in that world. Unfortunately, or amusingly, as the interview was commencing, the event was attacked by a griefer. The CNET theater was assaulted for 15 minutes with animated flying woodies.  We're just reporting what really happened here and not being vulgar about it.

The attack happened twice by the way and the second assault managed to crash the entire server where the interview was held. It is speculated that the reasons for the attack could be due to Anshe Chung's inflexibility regarding land pricing.

Vegetable throwing is so last century.

This post is for those of you out there who are having difficulties with their significant other. Don't laugh. It really is. No really, we're not kidding... VIA Technologies, Inc., a developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, announced a unique "Couples, Computers & Gaming" event to be held in San Francisco on Saturday, November 11. The event is set to provide a comprehensive look at the interaction of couples and gaming as the industry adapts to create, develop and promote games.

Team members of the all-female professional PC gaming team, girls 0f destruction will give on couples from the audience hands-on training in the skills needed for pro gaming, and probably skills needed getting along with a pro-gamer (male or female). The guests for the event include John Broady of CNET Gamespot, analyst Rob Enderle, and Mary Shuyler, producer of the Desperate Housewives PC game. They will discuss the relationships between women and gaming, advertising, and the future of the industry.

More details on the event after the Jump!