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Are you the type of person who watches every second of behind-the-scenes and deleted scenes footage on your DVD bonus disk? If you are, then this recent EverQuest developer blog from Keith "Merloc" Turkowski might be right up your alley.

In it, Merloc shows us a photo of the whiteboard he used during The Buried Sea expansion. This is where his ideas (and those of a few others mentioned in the post) were sketched out into what would eventually be real game content. Of course, not all of it made it into the game -- such as a giant green tank sketch in the middle of the board -- but for those sketches and ideas that did make it in, it's exciting to see the initial thought processes involved.

Since around the middle of 2006 a debate has swirled back and forth, over Immersion vs Augmentation, sparked by Henrik Bennetsen. Discussion groups in Second Life have wrangled over it, blogs have argued the point in no less than three directions, papers have been presented on the topic. We've been a part of that ourselves, in the past.

The curious thing about the debate, though, was just how spectacularly varied the positions were, and how none of them seemed to form divisional boundaries-- a very curious thing in what you'd expect to be such a polarized topic.

And then, just recently, we finally realized ourselves that the reason was that the terms of reference were essentially flawed and as a result, more than half the material written on the topic is invalid for all practical purposes.

Mounts in World of Warcraft are essentially organic vehicles that allow the player to traverse the landscape more quickly. Level 60 Epic mounts are faster than level 40 mounts, and of course flying mounts grant vertical movement. Mounts in other games are mostly the same, barring, of course, smaller games of which we might know nothing. It's a big game universe out there; it's possible.

But it seems that there's unaddressed potential with these mounts. Sure, they look menacing, and it's better to ride than to walk, but is that all? Watching the recent Vanguard mounts video made us yearn for more from our noble steeds. Here's what we'd like to see in future games.

Another exciting aspect of Funcom's upcoming Age of Conan is the Guild City System. This is mostly unique to other MMOs, in that you build the guild city not as a hall, but as an actual city with multiple buildings within. Each building serves its own purpose for offense and defense against other guilds and attacking forces, and is upgradeable to different tiers, much like an RTS.

In a recent article at MMORPG.com, they run down the details of each of these guild city buildings, and their biggest advantages. Also in this article are some details on guild leadership itself. In order to create a guild city, your player will need to be a guild leader, level 40 or higher, and have a guild membership of at least 24 players. You will then have the choice of 3 environmental locations currently for your guild city. Let the land-grab begin!

He uses an electric razor on a frying pan for a space ship sound. He uses marbles in his mouth to sound like an alien. No, this isn't a low-budget director in a 1950's monster movie, this is the brilliant work of NCsoft's Audio Director Tracy Bush who uses everyday household items to create the unique sound effects we've heard in some of NCsoft's top games of the last 4 years.

If you've ever played Dungeon Runners, you know that along with the wonderful sense of humor in the game, the sound effects are equally as entertaining. The same goes for Tabula Rasa. The Bane drop ships and the horrifying whispers of "Kill them all!" are all part of this wonderfully immersive experience that is just as important as graphics, gameplay or anything else in the game.

So the next time you're playing a North American NCsoft title, listen closely to the sound effects and see if you can guess which household item was used in its creation.

Feeling bad for neglecting the kids? Want to do something for society? Well ladies and gentlemen, NASA wants you! Not for the vigorous life of an astronaut, but to stay in bed. They will even pay you (US)$17,000 to do it. What about World of Warcraft or the other MMOs we play? How are we to survive for up to 90 days away from the internet? Too easy says NASA! They will provide the internet and anyone is welcome to bring their own system. Since we spend hours in bed or sitting at the computer hacking away at gnomes, why not get paid for it?

The NASA experiment has nothing to do with video games. It is actually an experiment to test the bodies reaction to low gravity. The fine folks at NASA want us to help them understand just what happens to a person who spends a long time in space. We already help promote economic studies through the games we play so why not take it one step further? As long as our fingers and thumbs do not wither away, it could make for a fine opportunity to play, get paid, and benefit the entire human race.

This past weekend, scientists gathered on World of Warcraft's Earthen Ring server to discuss how WoW changes and is changed by its ten million, hugely international player base. They might have held their "Convergence of the Real and Virtual" conference in a conference room near some airport somewhere, but that would have been dull. Airport hotels don't provide photo opportunities with Thrall -- and Thrall doesn't DO hotels. Any session notes that advise attendees to get the flight point AHEAD of time are sure to end up someplace fun.

Sessions included the use of online games as laboratories to study human behavior; the interrelationship of virtual and real-world economies; the future of virtual worlds; and why Professor Abercrombie won't let elemental shamans on her Karazhan runs. Well, maybe not the last one. We have some questions of our own. If you could do your real world job in an MMO such as WoW -- would you? And if you did work in WoW, and your boss was dressed in blues and greens he picked up from the Murlocs in Southshore while you were fitted in epics from Black Temple, would you still respect him?

[Via Virtual World News]

Ten years ago, the idea of putting something like being an officer in a hardcore raiding guild on your resume would have been laughable. When trying to sell yourself to a prospective employer, you want to put your best foot forward. The last thing you'd want them to know is that you spend upwards of 20 hours per week frittering your time away on something as silly as a videogame. Businesses want employees who are punctual, intelligent, analytical, and driven -- problem solvers and team players. What's funny, however, is that those are exactly the same qualities which a guild looks for in its raiders. Good luck trying to explain that to a non-gamer, though.

Fortunately, gaming is slowly becoming a mainstream activity. As the generation of gamers that pioneered the online gaming craze begin to climb into their 30s and 40s, a younger generation of gamers is just starting to graduate from college and enter the mainstream workforce for the first time. Unlike their older peers, these young men and women face a business world where their boss is as likely to enjoy playing World of Warcraft in his free time as golf. For the first time, it's possible that your hiring manager might actually view your dedication to your guild as a reason to hire you, rather than a reason to dismiss you. Does that mean that it's time to start putting your MMOG experience on your resume?

Kristen Kalning, the games editor of MSNBC, asked her readers, "What game hooked you and why?" After the flood of e-mails finished cascading through her inbox and she tallied the votes in each one, it wasn't surprising that World of Warcraft came up as the leader.

While she does say that other games like City of Heroes, and other non MMO games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and even Guitar Hero came up, her article took the time to mostly focus on the addicting properties of WoW. Readers added their own tales of addiction and the addiction of others, and Kalning relates some of the most woe-worthy stories she received in her inbox.

However, the article isn't all doom and gloom. One reader took the time to talk about how Guild Wars helped her with her shyness while another reader explained the proud feeling his Halo 3 accomplishments give him. It's always nice to see that games aren't harming the social habits of every gamer who picks up a controller or keyboard and mouse.

If you're fascinated by addiction, or just looking for a story to scare your WoW addicted spouse, be sure to drop by and check out her article, as well as the original. If it's the addicted spouse, however, may we interest you in a detox clinic?

Guild Wars has been an innovator in so many different aspects of the MMO genre, but none more than the introduction of ally NPCs to fill out a party and make soloing easier.

This was nothing new to online gaming though. Diablo did it way before Guild Wars, but GW refined the process with Henchmen. They made it simple to hire a few NPCs standing around near the city gate and get them to join your party for their share of the loot. It started out simple enough, but it eventually evolved into something much more advanced (and exciting) with Heroes.

Doctor Helen Farley (Lecturer in Studies in Religion and Esotericism) and Doctor Rick Strelan (Senior Lecturer in Studies in Religion) were awarded a $30,000AUD Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant by the University of Queensland (Australia) in October of last year to construct an island in Second Life for Studies in Religion.

Dr Farley has already had practice teaching meditation via Second Life, and used it successfully for student work thus far. The new University of Queensland island will be attached to the New Media Consortium region, which has over 250 educational institutions involved.

You've never been to Singapore? Just point and click.

Singapore's Media Development Authority have announced plans for a 3D interactive online version of their city, dubbed Co-Space. There's no shortage of interest from potential developers; fifty firms have come forward in answer to the MDA's call for proposals. Although the amount set aside to fund the project hasn't been made public, interactive and digital media are considered 'strategic' to Singapore, with a overall backing of $500 million.

Previously reported, the Social Gaming Summit is full steam ahead and ready to go on June 13th at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, CA. It will be a day full of interesting panels and discussions about the interface between social networks and game spaces.

If you were thinking of going but were on the fence, perhaps this will sweeten the deal for you: Massively readers have been offered a 10% discount code by the kind-hearted organizers behind the Summit! To register, visit the site and enter 'MASSIVELY' (minus the quotation marks, of course) where appropriate. This blogger will be in attendance, nosing around for news and interviews -- hope to see you there!

[Thanks, Charles!]

How pointless are so-called "pointless mini-zones," really? Michael did a post the other day which examined the history of a zone in EverQuest called Surefall Glade. Hitting his links gave me a nice little walk down memory lane -- I have fond memories of Surefall, being an old-school EQ fan who cut his teeth in Qeynos Hills, back in the day. There really isn't all that much to the zone, though. It's like the article says: a cabin, a lake, an archery range, and a few hidden caves with some bears. There's nothing to do but raise your fletching skill, and nothing to kill that's worth killing. Eventually they added some stuff to it, but it was still never anything more than a small, transitional town.

Surefall was the essence of a pointless mini-zone: Most players never had any compelling reason to go there. Still, did it add something to the game with its mere presence? Like Moonglade in World of Warcraft, you could argue that it was kind of a neat place for players to discover and hang out. We get so focused on the "content" of these games that sometimes we forget that exploring a new zone you've never seen before, even if there's really nothing to do there, is content in its own right. Besides, does every single zone in our MMOGs have to be a big quest hub tied to a specific zone? Can't some places just be places?

The Terra Nova site views virtual worlds and massively multiplayer gaming through the lens of academia. Don't hold that against them, though; the insights of commentators like Richard Bartle, Ren Reynolds, Edward Castronova, and Timothy Burke make for some darned interesting reading. This week Mr. Burke writes about the player-driven economy in Pirates of the Burning Sea. Plagued with problems from even before launch, the developers are working hard to correct some economic inequalities.

Burke examines those economic problems, discussing the issue of perceived player wealth, and the system's input/output issues. "In Pirates of the Burning Sea, the faucet-sink relationship is skewed in an odd way. The faucet is as it is in many virtual worlds: players run missions and sink NPCs to earn money. The sink, however, is player-produced commodities ... The economy is a kind of Potemkin Village: on the surface, it looks like the economy of an economic-sim game like Port Royale with many primary and secondary goods being produced and listed that evoke the setting and mood of the game. But it doesn't function very well, though a few players are fooled by the surface into imagining its depths."