When games give way to interactive art. (Cryptic description, I know. I’d also thought of calling this “the most unique reason to purchase a game I’ve ever seen.”)

Everyone should read this post on email communication. Long story short: 78% of email senders believe they are communicating clearly, 89% of email receivers believe they are interpreting the message correctly, but only 56% of receivers correctly interpret the message.

Good article by Bill Fulton on reducing anti-social behavior in online games. I took my own stab at this about a year ago. I couldn’t agree more with Bill – our efforts (as an industry) to address anti-social online behavior are insufficient and not proportional to the damage caused by that behavior. Too many developers are willing to throw up their hands and say “it’s a hard problem” or “jerks will be jerks.”

First the news that Stormfront is shutting down, now the news that Mad Doc has been acquired by Rockstar. Soon Valve and Epic will be the only big independent developers left.

Some research indicating that people seek more game-like (or perhaps “curated”) experiences in the virtual worlds they frequent.

Danc writes a thoughtful theoretical piece on how to leverage your player community for tasks like localizing your online game. (It’s a long article, but worth reading!)

Another long article, but a nice read for those of you interested in community management.