PUBLIC MARKS with tags "blog post" & terranova.blogs.com

In the past week or so there has been much discussion (e.g. Slashdot) regarding Second Life's use of a corn field as a novel means of punishing misdemeanors.

There’s been an interesting backchannel discussion between several TN folks about the numbers of people in various online worlds. Or at least, the numbers publicly claimed and what they might mean.

"I was reflecting upon the differences between turn-based and real-time game worlds. In the summer we started this with "Is Love and War Turn-based?". From love to war the claim then was that the meaning to the pauses between turns was different than compared to, say, the moments in a Real-Time Strategy game, or to the half-hours in MMOG grinds. I too think the meaning of fear is different..."

Python is a programming language often used to script games. Scripts are the bit of code where most game developers romp, it is the stuff separating the 'game engine' from the elves-in-tights that dance across your screen. Scripts make the elves dance and protect (somewhat) developers from the detail of the orcs-turning-creaking-cranks in the game engine.