You can using the camera.

>Virtual corporation, Raph’s views on it.

Interesting. My views are similar to his in that “virtual property” is, IMHO, essentially a promisory note indicating a promise of a service to be delivered in the future. In which case, shares of a virtual corporation that garners revenue from selling such promisory notes becomes basically a form of derivative.

K
P.S. You *HAVE* to get a better captcha solution

I don’t feel comfortable lumping microtransactions for developer-created content (e.g. for MMO avatars, or pre-generated userpics) in the same group as User-Generated Content. It may scratch a similar itch on the part of the individual, but I feel the two approaches reflect fundamentally different attitudes towards the user community. On the microtransaction customization front, there’s the assumption that users have money, want to personalize or improve their experience, and will give up one to be able to do the other. On the user-generated content front, there’s the assumption that UGC enriches the experience for other users, so allowing more user-generated content makes the game actually better, not just for the creator, but for the entire community. These are not mutually exclusive, but they are different.

Dave has identified something highly important to XBL players, their Gamertag identities, but a fundamental option for Gamertag customization, user upload and creation of Gamertag pictures, has never been available. The other communities that Dave identifies, e.g. MySpace, YouTube, Second Life, all recognize this a “day 1 feature,” because they recognize that the value of the experience comes from the user community, not just from the developer. Some make money off that feature.

Userpics should be the first thing you see when you meet someone new, a chance to make the first impression that you want to present to the world. They’re sidelined in XBL… all you get on XBL is your name (no malleability), a ridiculously short line of text, and scores and achievements, which is more reflective of the money and time one spendes on games and less about how one wants to present him or herself to the XBL community.

There’s nothing preventing Microsoft from charging for the privilege of uploading and making money on it, and it’s not mutually exclusive with developer-made userpics (for the fans of various games), but it comes back to the fear of “losing control” that Dave mentions in his post. XBL has this weird dichotomy where the service parades the community that makes the service genuinely valuable, but gives its users surprisingly few tools to address that larger community, unless you’re a celebrity designer like the Penny Arcade folks. As for giving the community a face, Harmonix’s (Frequency-era) FreQs and Nintendo’s Miis are a step closer to balancing anonymity and self-expression, and I’m hoping Microsoft will step up to the plate to allow UGC to shape the visual aspect of Gamertag identities.

Does the new camera add-on for Xbox 360 allow you to upload a photo? If so, then my entire rant is outdated :)

Which brings me to a really intersting convergence: how can UGC and the free2play model synergize with each other?

Unfortunately not. :-/

At least some sort of Harmonix-type “FreQ” creation system would be extremely welcome… I see Miis as a step above that.

I guess userpics and dashboard customizations are meant to generate revenue through microtransactions. Any info you could disclose about how much revenue?