Global online game publisher True Games Interactive has announced a partnership with secondary trading marketplace provider Live Gamer to support the incorporation of real money trading in the publisher's forthcoming products.

Established earlier this year by former K2 Network publishing and operations execs Jeff Lujan and Bob Drobish, True Games' provides a platform for free-to-play microtransactions-driven titles. The company is currently negotiating several product deals and securing Series A funding. Its first as-yet untitled game is scheduled to launch in Q3 2008. Just last month, True Games announced a partnership with real-time strategy games developer Petroglyph Games (Star Wars: Empire At War, Universe At War) to create an online microtransactions-funded game for PCs.

Live Gamer provides a complete marketplace solution for player-to-player trading of virtual items. With the sales platform, True Games hopes to have a convenient, secure, and reliable outlet to buy and sell virtual goods and objects in its published titles.

Said True Games Interactive chief publishing officer Jeff Lujan: "It is our mission as a company to provide the highest quality entertainment and we can only do that by associating with the highest quality partners and trusting our games to them. Our relationship with Live Gamer represents one of many quality partners you can expect to see aligned with True Games."

Educational software developer Knowledge Adventure has launched JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, a 3D virtual world hoping to teach 3-to-5 year olds pre-reading, early math, social studies, art, music, computer skills, and critical thinking skills.

JumpStart Advanced Preschool World includes unique adventure-based learning activities and covers over 30 core pre-reading, math, and critical thinking skills, as outlined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Kids can customize avatars and design their own virtual homes. The virtual world also offers "rewards" through its adventure-based games that can be "used throughout the neighborhood." This sounds a lot like some sort of in-game currency!

The software will be available at stores like Target and Best Buy at first as an offline experience, but Knowledge Adventure plans to launch a web site in July that will enable kids to share artwork with peers, personalize their environments, and play new games, according to a report from consumer website CNet. The online world will offer a monthly subscription plans, though specifics for the billing model and features haven't yet been announced.

Parents are encouraged to participate in the virtual world, and are invited to specify which holidays will be celebrated in the game, upload photos for arts and crafts projects, and track their child's progress. A My Storybooks CD is also included with JumpStart Advanced Preschool World for parents to read along stories with their kids.

“Blending learning and entertainment is the best possible development environment for kids,” states David Lord, President and Chief Executive Officer Knowledge Adventure. “By being the first to create a 3D virtual world for preschoolers, JumpStart’s adventure-based learning approach raises the bar for inspiring kids’ minds.”

Discussing the "massively multiplayer social web" at a Web 2.0 Expo panel, rmbr CEO Gabe Zichermann coined the term "Funware," game-like behaviors and mechanics embedded in web-based social applications, according to VC news weblog VentureBeat. A new word for an already prevalent trend, Funware attracts users to complete tedious tasks, such as marking photos in Google Image Labeler or filling out profile details in LinkedIn, with game-like rewards.

Zichermann notes that the video game industry has been slow to adopt the Funware approach, leaving new developments and ideas to non-traditional social gaming companies, like Zynga and Social Gaming Network. He notes that this could be a mistake for video game companies, as social networks with Funware mechanics could be sharing and competing for the same audience as traditional games.

Said Zichermann: “Unequivocably, for the first time, games have direct competition for user time. Until now, we’ve been [like] Pac-Man eating the cherry of television and the printed word. Now, a new type of application has emerged that, in the long term, could be more engaging and sticky than what the game industry produces.”

Zichermann has a vested interest in naming the trend and inviting gaming companies to embrace it, as his own company has released its own application that falls under the Funware umbrella, rmbrME. The application allows users to share their Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and other other socially-network friends via SMS.

THQ marketing chief Bob Aniello doesn't yet see traditional games losing its audience to Funware applications and social networks: "If anyone is losing audiences to social networks and games, it’s the traditional media such as newspapers, TV shows, and movies." Aniello instead suggests that traditional games and social networks are complementing each other, not cannibalizing each other.

Virtual item trading platform Live Gamer has announced that it has appointed Kurtis Buckmaster as its vice president of product marketing. Buckmaster brings 18 years of professional and personal gaming and MMO expertise to Live Gamer, where he will be responsible for driving improvements and additions to the Live Gamer Exchange platform, as well as working on product implementations and managing community relations.

Previously, Buckmaster served as the vice president of marketing and product development worldwide at MMOG portal Curse Gaming. Prior to that, he worked as a senior manager in GameSpot's (CNET Networks) Community and Customer Service division. He also held marketing positions at both Ubisoft Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Live Gamer provides a turnkey solution for MMOG and virtual world operators to enable real money trading of virtual assets. The company announced an agreement with Sony Online Entertainment in February to replace SOE's Station Exchange on EverQuest II servers with its web-based Live Gamer Exchange Service. Live Gamer further extended the reach of its publisher-sanctioned transaction platform with a partnership announced today with online games publisher True Games.

Live Gamer president Andrew Schneider said: "Kurtis has an extraordinary mix of talent, passion and professional experience that adds a new dimension to our team's wealth of online gaming expertise. He has credibility as a gamer as well as respect as a marketing leader, lending him the ability to drive and innovate product features and user experience to the benefit of gamers and our publishing partners."

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

This week, our Online World Atlas looks at Dizzywood from Rocket Paper Scissors, a virtual world designed for children between ages 8-12. It allows users to explore a wood in collaboration with other players, and features games to play, mysteries to investigate and items to find or purchase, all in an environment specifically designed to be safe, friendly and fun for children.

Name: Dizzywood

Company: Rocket Paper Scissors

Established: November 2007

How it Works: Flash; it runs directly in the browser window with no installation required. Navigation and gameplay is performed through use of a mouse, and users can talk to each other via keyboard input.

Overview: In Dizzywood, players can create, customize and name a character to explore an enchanted wood. Players can co-operate with others to solve the mysteries of the wood, and can earn rewards, such as items, achievement badges, e-motes and powers for successful completion of events, or they can just relax and chat with friends, take part in games and explore.

Payment Method: Dizzywood is currently free-to-play, but is to offer paid subscriptions in future as an option to access premium content.

Key Features:
-Safe world intended for children ages 8-12
-Solo games to play, but the mysteries of the wood emphasize co-operation
-Clothes, items, e-motes and powers can be unlocked and purchased, allowing avatar customization

Useful Links:
Dizzywood FAQ
Dizzywood Explorer's Journal
Dizzywood Wiki

The importance of virtual worlds has been frequently declared, both in regards to financial potential as well as cultural significance. During the recent Games For Health conference in Baltimore, four researchers and virtual world entrepreneurs spoke on how the growing segment could be key in health education as well.

Tim Holt, Oregon State University

Oregon State University assistant researcher (and Day of Defeat developer) Tim Holt opened the session with the question, "Why should you make a virtual world?" He touched on not just the incentives for entering the space, but some of the pitfalls as well.

Publisher sponsored in-game commerce network PlaySpan has announced the appointment of gaming industry veteran Tony Colafrancesco as its new director of Business Development and Game Integration. PlaySpan will benefit from Colafrancesco’s 14 years of experience integrating gaming and social networks for Electronic Arts, AOL Games, and Wild Tangent.

Based in Silicon Valley and backed by a $6.5 million investment from Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC, and Novel TMT Ventures, PlaySpan delivers in-game search, commerce, and micropayment technologies to game publishers and developers. Gaming platforms, such as K2 Networks and Gala Net, have selected PlaySpan as their official marketplace for virtual goods commerce.

Said PlaySpan founder and CEO Karl Mehta: "Tony's vast hands-on experience in the game industry working on over dozens of AAA titles at large publishers is highly valuable to our publisher partners and a key asset to us and our online community. His expertise with the integration of third party tools and online games ensures the successful integration of PlaySpan technology with game publishers worldwide."

Fresbo World, a social network-embeddable virtual world, has added support for Cherry Credits's Unified Global Virtual Credits system. Users will now be able to purchase Fresbo credits, Fresbo World's in-game currency, with Cherry Credits payments.

Developed by a small team in Singapore, Fresbo World provides an MMO experience through popular social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Friendster. Users can personalize their avatars, decorate their virtual homes, and stay in-touch with friends through in-game mail and a friends list. Clicking another user's avatar can even load that player's Facebook profile.

Users can earn Fresbo credits by completing in-game tasks or playing arcade games. They also have the option of purchasing credits with their mobile phones via OneBip SMS or by using Cherry Credits, an alternative payment solution to credit cards, bank accounts and mobile payment accesses. Users can buy Cherry Credits with physical scratch cards at retail stores or through other services like PayPal.

Developer NTreev Soft has also announced that its users can now purchase Ntreev Cash Points with Cherry Credits for free-to-play MMOs Trickster Online and Grand Chase. Ntreev Cash Points can also be earned through completing in-game tasks, but, as with Fresbo World's credits, there are rare items available exclusively through its currency-purchasing shop.

Social game distribution platform Social Gaming Network has secured $15 Million in Series A Funding, reportedly the largest first round for any social gaming or application company. The round was led by Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Columbia Capital and Novak Biddle Venture Partners.

Based in Palo Alto, CA, the Social Gaming Network specializes in publishing and providing a development platform for social games, such as Warbook and Jetman. Since the company's inception, its games have attracted over 1 billion page views, 54 million installs, and nearly 1.1 milion daily active users across social networks Facebook, Bebo, hi5, and MySpace.

Continuing its mission to offer game developers a way to monetize the popularity of these social gaming hubs, the Social Gaming Network intends to use its new funding to add more features, functionality, and depth to its platform.

Said Social Gaming Network CEO Shervin Pishevar: "We could not be more pleased with the announcement we are making today. This funding is indicative of how SGN is poised to dramatically impact the future of gaming platforms on the social web. Our focus and drive is to develop a dynamic and flourishing ecosystem for gaming on the web and continue to be the obvious choice for game developers who want to create social games that engage millions of users on the social networks and beyond."

Berlin-based MMO developer and operator Metaversum has expanded its team to include Lars Smidt and Andreas van de Caste as head of online marketing and head of product management respectively for its 3D virtual world, Twinity.

Previous to Metaversum, Smidt managed online marketing at FriendScout24, a European dating site, where he worked to draw in new members to the service. He will be doing the same for Twinity, in addition to promoting communication both with and within the user community.

Castel was a "decisive role in shaping product development" as head of product management for student social network StudiVZ before he was brought into Metaversum.
He will be responsible for the conceptional design and implementation of new community features in Twinity.

Currently running as a closed beta with 2,000 users, Twinity invites its users to create realistic avatars and spaces mirroring real life as opposed to fantasy environments. Users can decorate their apartments, chat with friends, watch videos, and participate in other activities that "represent their real life."

Said Metaversum co-founder and chief marketing officer Dr. Mirko Caspar: “Lars Smidt and Andreas van de Castel have many years’ experience working in successful internet companies. We are very happy to welcome such capable reinforcements for these key areas."

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

Dizzywood from Rocket Paper Scissors is a virtual world designed for children between ages 8-12 – which means that we're a little out of its age range. However, that's no excuse to not delve deep into the world and explore its many mysteries for our online world atlas!

Registration is now open for the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC). Presented by Think Services, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC), the Austin GDC is a three-day event taking place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-17, 2008.

The conference brings together the best sessions, speakers and networking opportunities for developers of online games, game writers, and audio professionals. The conference's "Evolve to Win" theme reflects a forward-looking focus on the technologies and methodologies that game developers will need to acclimate to in order to survive in the fast-paced games industry.

This year's addition of the Worlds in Motion Summit (WiMS), an Independent Games Festival (IGF) showcase, and access to the "myGDC" social networking portal further round out the conference and community networking opportunities. Registration information and details for the event, including track descriptions, are now available at the Austin GDC website.

Sony Online Entertainment and Live Gamer, a publisher-supported secondary trading market for virtual goods, have announced that SOE’s forthcoming MMOG titles, The Agency and Free Realms, will support the same Live Gamer Exchange real money trading service currently operating within EverQuest II.

This agreement follows Live Gamer’s appointment of Kurtis Buckmaster as its new vice president of product marketing and partnership with True Games Interactive to provide real money trading services for the publisher’s upcoming games, both announced yesterday.

In February this year, the two companies announced an agreement to incorporate SOE's Station Exchange technology into Live Gamer’s e-commerce platform, providing a secure transaction platform for real-money purchase and sale of virtual goods in EverQuest II.

The Agency, an online action shooter that mixes action with espionage, allows players to customize their characters’ attire, weaponry, gadgets, vehicles, gear, and aliases. Live Gamer Exchange will facilitate in the player-to-player trading of The Agency's virtual objects. Free Realms, a free-to-play, family-targeted fantasy adventure title, will feature a catalog of user-created goods that can be traded in-game with Live Gamer Exchange.

Said Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley: “We are actively exploring free-to-play and other revenue models, and always looking for new ways to engage and entertain gamers. Live Gamer is a proven partner that protects and supports our gamers who participate in real money trading. We trust them to handle this area of the business for us so that we can focus on creating and growing our games.”

In a panel at the 2008 ION Game Conference titled Real Money, Fake Money and Loot: Designing Economies for MMO Games, participants representing a variety of MMO developers, including Big Fish Games and Sulake, discussed the game design and economics issues that can make or break a game.

"Set it up from the beginning so it doesn't hurt you that people will pay someone in China to farm your game," advised ArenaNet skill balancing designer Isaiah Cartwright. "You'll always have a black market conversation rate for your game, so bring it in and use it to your advantage. The game demographic is growing up and having more money than time, and you should take that on from the start."

AristoDigital's Jay Minn, moderator of the panel, agreed: "You need to know the economics from the beginning or you'll get stuck on design decisions about encouraging certain player behaviors over others."

On the topic of the need to plan an economy before the community develops its own, Big Fish Games' Toby Ragaini pointed to Asheron’s Call as an example: "In Asheron’s Call, they made money weigh something, so rich people couldn't carry their money around. So players came up with their own exchange for a small, lightweight item (shards). Everyone traded based on these items."

Habbo Hotel developer Sulake Corporation's CTO Osma Ahvenlampi noted, "In Habbo, at first they made the currency non-tradable, but players were trading everything else. They finally decided it would make it easier for everyone concerned and made bags of gold etc. When that happened, it reduced eBay transactions because it was easier and more trusted by players to do it internally."

"You can't create a complex game without an economist on board, or pretend to be one," Ahvenlampi added, pointing to Habbo Hotel's 10 million transactions per day.

Cautioning designers on the dangers of not planning economies, Cartwright said, "The gold farmers aren't trying to use the in-game money, they're trying to turn that into real money as soon as possible. Anything you do to benefit the casual player, you're also benefiting the gold farmers 24 times, because they're playing 24 times as long" -- to which Ahvenlampi concluded, "This is why game design is turning into economic balancing."

[The preceding article by Wendy Despain originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Research at Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) has found that even 90 seconds spent chatting and interactive with avatars is enough to elicit behavioral changes offline, according to an article from newsmagazine Time. Said lab head and assistant professor of communication Jeremy Bailenson: "When we cloak ourselves in avatars, it subtly alters the manner in which we behave. It's about self-perception and self-confidence."

With the aid of VHIL's $24,000 helmet which allows users to immerse themselves in virtual worlds, Bailenson and his Ph.D. students have been studying how how virtual experiences bleed into reality. In one experiment, volunteers were randomly assigned to look at attractive and unattractive avatars -- attractiveness being rated in a separate survey conducted beforehand -- for 90 seconds before they were asked to interact with other avatars. Subjects who were assigned "good-looking" avatars tended to display more confidence and extrovert traits, whereas the opposite was true for subjects with unattractive avatars.

In another experiment studying avatar interactions effects on real-world health, volunteers were randomly split into groups which watched avatars that looked like them running on treadmills, avatar counterparts just "lounging around," and avatars who did not look like the volunteers but were running on treadmills. The next day, participants who watched similar-looking avatars running on treadmills had themselves exercised an hour more in the intervening 24-hour period than volunteers in the other two groups.

Stanford is currently conducting a study on using older avatars to encourage users to start saving money for the future. Said Bailenson, "The most stunning part is how subtle the manipulations are and how difficult they are to detect, but how much it affects real life later on."

In a 2008 ION Game Conference panel held yesterday, a group of MMOG developers, including Nexon America and Turbine, talked about the differences in culture and expectations between Western and Asian markets that should be considered when localizing a game. The discussion, titled "Creating a Global Marketplace for MMOGs: Can East and West Really Play Together?" gave the developers an opportunity to discuss the difficulties in adapting games for either markets.

"One thing North American developers are still learning that players need to have is a stage on which to show off their achievements," said John Young, manager of John Romero's Slipgate Ironworks. "Sure I can get unique items, but how do I show my friends that I have unique items? It's a social experience. North American developers tend to think of those things as not being 'fair,' which may work best for North America, but it doesn't work in Korea."

Added Min Kim, director of gamer operations at Nexon America: "The difference is the experience players had as they were growing up. In Korea, video arcades were the way to play games from the get-go, so it has always been a social experience."

"In the US market," Kim continued, "it's a personal experience, as players bought a console and brought it home. Asian companies don't even really consider the single player experiences until they localize to the US, although that is changing now somewhat."

Business development Robert Ferrari from MMORPG publisher Turbine's suggested changes were imminent in the future, saying "one way the East and West will learn how to work together better is by studying successes. As we see more success, we'll learn how to do it better."

Neowiz's Won Il Suh clarified the idea of the "Eastern style of gaming," saying that the term is too simplified: "The Koreans play differently than the Chinese, than Japan, and so on. We had to change the gameplay completely for a Korean game that was released into China. And that's important, he concluded. "You should think about localizing gameplay and not just language and culture."

[The preceding article by Wendy Despain originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Independent virtual world developer RedBedlam has announced that it has appointed Fred Hasson, former CEO of developer association The Independent Games Developers Trade Association, as executive director.

Headquartered in Brighton, RedBedlam spent five years developing its virtual world and virtual economics title before releasing its first title in 2006 -- Roma Victor, a historyically authentic and non-fantasy MMORPG based in Roman-occupied Brittanica.

The company has continued to develop the game and its underlying technologies since since Roma Victor’s launch in preparation of “fully realising” the commercial potential of the company's virtual world server, 3D client, database and virtual economics solutions.

Said RedBedlam president and managing director Kerry Fraser-Robinson: “As the virtual world marketplace is finally beginning to blossom, we're extremely well placed to leverage our technologies and expertise but we really wanted to ensure that our management team was a good fit for the coming challenges. That's why we're so excited to have Fred joining the team. He brings an immense amount of practical experience, skills, knowledge and indeed contacts within a diverse and broad range of media sectors.”

San Francisco-based developer Vivaty, formerly MediaMachines, recently launched out of stealth mode to introduce a private beta for its first product based on its virtual spaces platform, Vivaty Scenes, a Facebook application for delivering 3D virtual spaces through web browsers.

Former Electronic Arts vice president and Vivaty's CEO, co-founder, and president Keith McCurdy, talked with Worlds in Motion about the company's virtual spaces platform, why users will gravitate away from 2D worlds and towards 3D worlds, and the trends that have made a browser-based 3d world like Vivaty Scenes more accessible

Can you tell us about the potential for Vivaty's platform?

It's full 3D with animations, avatars, and facial expressions. It's on the higher end of quality, but low end on the barrier for consumers to get to it. There's a very small plugin that gets downloaded to your browser. You download it once, and, like Flash, your browser can display a full 3D environment that looks something like Second Life or The Sims.

The implications for that is you can begin to have these 3D virtual experiences on pretty much any website. It could be on a commercial site like eBay or Amazon. it could be for a consumer brand for Electronic Arts and Nike.

So, you may have seen earlier today that we posted the initial press release about the Worlds In Motion Summit coming to Austin GDC 2008, following our extremely successful appearance at the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Here's what you need to know about the event, for which registration is now open.

- We're running the Worlds In Motion Summit on the Tuesday and the Wednesday of the show, September 16th and 17th.

- It's going to be a complement to the existing and awesome Austin GDC 'Online Games' track, which is still in full effect at the show, discussing the technical and business aspects of MMOs and online games.

- The Worlds In Motion Summit differs from that in that it's particularly focusing in 'metaverse' and business-like topics, understanding that companies who want to understand how to get into the online/virtual worlds space - or represent their business in it - need a flagship summit in this space.

Here's the official explanation of the Worlds In Motion Summit from the Austin GDC website dealing with it:

"The Worlds in Motion Summit @ Austin GDC, is a summit aimed at those looking to bring their content and brands into interactive worlds. This movement is powered by game technology and development, and offers a broadening of the worldwide business market through the wildly popular interface of social game networks.

The goal is to provide a realistic and in-focus snapshot of the intersection of games, business, and entertainment today, and where it's trending for the future. Topics include the viability of promoting your brand in Second Life, the business of kids' virtual worlds, and the future of the Metaverse."

In any case, we'll gradually be announcing and/or highlighting speakers for both the 'Online Games' track and the Worlds In Motion Summit here - you can see an initial list of 'Online Games'-related lectures on the Austin GDC website right now. We're really looking forward to the event!

So, you may have spotted a just-debuted announcement about Austin GDC 2008 opening its registration - in there is the revelation that "an Independent Games Festival (IGF) showcase" will be part of the September 15-17th 2008 show.

However, that's all the information we've released thus far, so I wanted to explain in more detail and offer an informal call for submissions to this IGF Showcase. It will be significantly different from the traditional Independent Games Festival competition, summit and finalist exhibition that we hold every February/March at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. (Though it will be similar in that each picked game will be showcased in a special IGF booth, with free all-access show passes for the developers.)

Basically, we decided that the event doesn't necessarily need another worldwide indie showcase - especially as the Independent Games Festival at GDC does that on such a large scale already, and will always be our flagship event (call for submissions for IGF 2009 will be up in the next 4-6 weeks, by the way!)

In addition, the Texas/Southern game scene has such a rich and interesting tapestry, from Origin Systems to Gamecock Media Group and beyond, and we wanted to honor that by doing a special 'IGF Presents' and picking some 'local flavor' in terms of interesting startups, indies, and game creators from Austin and beyond.

So that's just what we are doing! This won't be a fully-fledged 'competition' as such, but the IGF organizers will work with some of our trusted advisors to pick a select amount of Texas/Southern indie game creators to showcase in a special IGF booth at the event. We've already been making semi-discreet enquiries and have a list of possible indies to choose from, but we're definitely open to more suggestions.

So, if you're a Southern developer (we don't yet have a precise geographical boundary - use common sense!) who would like to be showcased at the IGF in Austin in September - and bearing in mind you'll need to turn up in person and show your game to the assorted publishers, developers, and luminati in attendance, of course - then please email chairman@igf.com with the following information:

- Name/location of developer & URL of official webpage/full contact details.
- What's the game and what's its platform? Brief description, please.
- Can you provide us with links to screenshots, movies, or a playable version of your title?
- A few words about what makes you 'indie', in whatever abstracted form that phrase is valid nowadays.

We're looking for all kinds of neat independently produced games - both professional and student, PC and potentially console/handheld, offline and online - so feel free to contact us on or before June 15th with your suggestions, and we'll start announcing 'IGF Presents' showcase games soon.

Publisher NCsoft has announced the results of its first quarter, showing sales up four percent to KRW 88.1 billion ($84.3 million), and profits down 43 percent to KRW 8.1 billion ($7.7 million) following a write-off after its decision to drop Spacetime's PC MMO Blackstar from its lineup.

The company announced the decision in January to end its publishing agreement with Austin-based Spacetime Studios for Blackstar, resulting in layoffs at the developer. NCsoft says without the write-off, profits would have increased 8 percent to KRW 15.2 billion ($14.5 million). Spacetime announced in early May it had re-acquired the IP and development continues on the project.

Elsewhere, NCsoft says its operating income was buoyed by continued popularity of the Lineage series in Asia, and sales of Guild Wars and City of Heroes in North America and Europe. NCsoft notes in particular that its first quarter saw the highest sales of Lineage II since its 2003 release.

By title, NCsoft saw sales made up by 43 percent from Lineage II ($34.1m), 35 percent from Lineage ($27.8m), 12 percent from Guild Wars ($9.1m), and seven percent from City of Heroes/City of Villains ($5.2m). By region it saw sales of 57 percent in Korea, 12 percent in North America, 10 percent in Europe, 11 percent in Japan, three percent in Taiwan and seven percent from royalty income.

Looking forward, NCsoft says its third closed beta test of Aion is coming this summer ahead of its full launch later in the year, and casual titles Point Blank, Punch Monster, Dragonica, and Love Beat due for launch later in the year.

Said CFO Jaeho Lee said, “As proven once again in the Q1 financial results, we strongly believe our key franchise products, such as Lineage and Guild Wars, will meet our sales target with a strong customer base and continued content updates going forward. We plan to ensure the smooth launch of many new products in the next two to three years, which will strengthen our position as a global leader in online games.”

[The preceding article by Brandon Boyer originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

As online game worlds continue to develop and evolve, so do the legal issues and liabilities affecting developers -- and in this session at the ION conference, Steve Augustino, a United States-based attorney, and Andreas Lober, a German attorney, discussed the differing approaches of the U.S. and the E.U to virtual world law.

The presentation focused on some (real) cases to illustrate legal liabilities in the U.S. and Europe: Bragg v. Linden Lab as an examination of enforceability of EULAs (End-User License Agreements); Blizzard v. Peons4hire as a case where the EULA was of no use; and Familles de France vs. Linden Lab as an example user generated content issues.

With MMOs, community is everything – so how can you ensure your community remains happy and healthy with content changes, server down time or even just a developer misspeaking able to lead to a full meltdown?

They can happen no matter what is done to prevent them, and in this panel at ION the best methods to employ to avert disaster were explored.

Moderated by Craig Dalrymple (Sony Online Entertainment) panelists included Victor Wachter (Cryptic Studios), Katie Postma (FireSky), Alan Crosby (Sony Online Entertainment) and Meghan Rodberg (Turbine).

Seoul-based publisher Joymax has announced an open beta for DECO Online, its free-to-play casual MMORPG. Players are invited to log in and create fantasy-based characters, such as Knights, Snipers, Priests, and Psyches.

The Rocksoft-developed 3D game allows players to join one of two warring nations and learn arcade-style combo attacks which emphasize player skill more so than traditional MMORPG combat systems. Step-by-step NPC tutorials and guides are available to help new players start right away.

Though DECO Online will not require a monthly subscription fee, the game offers a Cash Item Shop, presumably for purchasing virtual goods and avatar accessories in-game, such as armor, shields, weapons, gear, and other customizable options for characters.

Joymax's previous published PC MMORPGs include Bumpy Crash Online and Silkroad Online, the latter of which has grown to operate in over 150 countries since launching in 2004.

According to a study conducted by Stamford-based information and technology research and advisory firm Gartner, nine out of ten virtual world businesses fail within 18 months, partly due to businesses focusing more on technology rather than on understanding user requirements.

Gartner vice president and fellow Steve Prentice notes that businesses need to realize that a successful virtual presence begins with people, not the world's physics: "Realistic graphics and physical behaviour count for little unless the presence is valued by and engaging to a large audience.”

Gartner analysts also blame the high failure rate on businesses starting projects for the 'cool' factor, emulating their competitors. Limited understanding of the demographics, attitudes, and expectations of virtual-world communities is also a common symptom of failing virtual worlds, as is a lack of clear of objectives.

Prentice suggests businesses treat virtual worlds as a complement to web sites, not as a replacement: “Companies need to start thinking what their virtual world strategy is, incorporate it into their internet strategy and merge their two-dimensional web pages to support a '3D web place.' Virtual world presence is not to replace the '2D world' but to supplement it.”

Gartner estimates that 70% of organizations will have extablished their own private virtual worlds by 2012, predicting that they will experience more success due to lower expectations, clearer objectives, and better constraints. Prentice advises organisations to experiment with virtual world on a small and internal scale at first, pacing their development to increase their chances of success while minimizing costs.

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape. You can view Part 1 of our investigation here, and Part 2 here.]

Despite my status as an adult I've spent a fair amount of time in the enchanted world of Dizzywood, a a virtual world designed for children between ages 8-12. So what are my conclusions?

Online youth entertainment and media network GoFish Corporation has announced its first quarter results, reporting an increase in revenue to $657,150, as compared to $24,074 for the same period in the previous year. GoFish attributed the year-over-year increase to higher sales from advertising sold across its network of owned and affiliated publisher websites.

GoFish is the exclusive brand advertising partner for its network of youth-focused sites, including WeeWorld, Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands, Whyville, and other properties targeting the six- to seventeen-year-old demographic and their co-viewing parents. The company launched its youth-targeted online media network in February and signed several new publishers in Q1 2008, growing its audience reach from approximately 10 million unique users to over 20 million unique users as of April 30, 2008.

GoFish also expect to realize greater revenue in subsequent quarters as the sales cycle matures and its network continues its expansion, reporting its full-year revenue guidance projections between $8.5 million and $11 million.

Said GoFish president Tabreez Verjee: “In only a few short months, we have successfully refined our business model, engaged top-tier industry professionals, secured dozens of leading brand advertisers, and built our network to be a leader focused on the youth demographic and the third largest opportunity for advertisers behind Disney Online and Nickelodeon. We are confident that 2008 will be a strong year for us. We continue to secure new relationships and grow our existing ones. We have built a strong foundation, and we are well-positioned to take advantage of favorable trends in the market.”

Disney MMO Club Penguin has announced a new set of tools that will allow parents to provide greater control of, and involve themselves in, their child’s online entertainment experience. The virtual world, which invites its users to create penguin avatars and interact with friends, is designed for kids aged 6 to 14.

One of the new features allows parents to logon and view their child's account history (e.g. bans, account payments), change passwords, and choose whether they want their child to chat with others using pre-approved phrases or by typing in their own messages. Later this month, parents will also have access to an integrated timer which can set the time of day and duration of their child's visit to Club Penguin.

Said Club Penguin general manager and co-founder Lane Merrifield: “While Club Penguin offers children a world of opportunity to play and use their imaginations online, as parents ourselves we understand the value of making sure kids also spend time away from the computer playing sports and being with their friends. We hope the timer and other new parent features are useful tools for parents who are looking for new ways to manage the time their children spend online.”

FlowPlay recently launched its youngster-targeted online world ourWorld in an open beta, and the company claims ourWorld differs from competing virtual environments, with players not only able to build customized avatars, but take in-game jobs, play games from "leading online game developers" and even view YouTube videos in an in-world theatre.

The world is to launch soon with a level-capped free-to-play version (players looking to gain access to premium items and environments and higher levels must pay a monthly fee of $5.99) and we talked to FlowPlay co-founder Derrick Morton about what it is that sets ourWorld apart.

What makes ourWorld different from the other worlds which currently target youth?

Derrick Morton: ourWorld is a game, while most worlds are just destinations with activities. The ourWorld experience unfolds inside a meta game that rewards players with items and status for performing activities such as playing games or working in various jobs in the world (such as role-playing a barista in a coffee shop). Players progress through 50 levels of increasing difficulty in order to obtain virtual items (apparel, accessories, hairstyles, etc.) and status in the community.

We have as much in common with WoW as we do with Habbo. While the initial launch included features for a younger audience, ourWorld's experience appeals to a wide range of gamers, specifically the casual games audience. We know that there is an audience that is too old for Club Penguin and too young for Pogo and they are excited by a product like ourWorld. Over the next few months you'll see us evolve the product to appeal to gamers of all age groups.

Silicon Valley-based online publisher Aeria Games has announced a closed beta for its newest title, Richman Online, a free-to-play, Softstar-developed massive multiplayer online board game that allows players to become property tycoons.

In Richman Online, players compete in a board game in which they can purchase property, buy and trade stock, and create businesses that force their opponents to spend money. Three different modes are available -- Regular Play, Competitive Play and Boss Battles -- and players will be able to set the pace of the game with options to adjust the length of turns and games.

Though Aeria plans to release Richman Online as a free-to-play game, an optional, in-game store will offer custom outfits, dice, pets, and visual effects in exchange for Aeria points, the publisher's purchasable currency for all of its free-to-play MMOGs.

Speaking with designers at a 2008 ION Game Conference session, Spacetime Studios’ Brandon Reinhart, lead designer on the developer's forthcoming space MMO BlackStar presented his ideas for storytelling techniques in game design in a session titled “Narrative Design for MMOs: Using Storytelling to Craft and Convey Vision.”

Ineffective Design Documents

Reinhart began the session dismissing design documents as massive productions that poorly convey their message: “The reason I think these ‘visionary designers’ are different from us ordinary designers is that they understand the design doc is not a good way to get people to believe in what you're doing.”

He continued, “Design docs are great for making plans and scoping projects, so we can't throw them away entirely, but when you're telling your buddies -- or team mates -- about the game, you tell them about it in a story, not a wall of text.”