MMO anthropologists rumbled by MMO players

Cory Doctorow:
BuhBuhCuh sez,

Students at the University of Pittsburgh are taking a class on “writing and reading practices in digital environments.” This week, they are looking at a MMO called Second Life, and started a discussion on the ethics of researching players – do you tell them you are researching, or does that compromise the research. (A good terra-nova thread).
The ‘net works in funny ways, and sure enough, a student told a SL user about the blog.

Now the users of Second Life are in an uproar about the ethics of the students researching them without asking first. (Not to mention that the fairly intellectual Second Life community wasn’t happy about the insinuations that they are all crazed stalkers.)

There is a long thread in the Second Life forums but registration is required.

…excerpt from: Boing Boing … Foton: ya, mmogamers are all crazed stalkers. Big surprise.

You Can’t Be Anyone’s Master

Check out World of Warcraft‘s latest news update on their beta site. And since the WoW Brain Trust hasn’t figured out how to use permalinks yet, it’s the 10/27/04 post titled “World of Warcraft Policies Updated”.

It’s authored by YouKnowWho.

That’s deliciously ironic in a very metro way. If you know what I mean. And I think you do.