""Only a Game takes readers on a fascinating exploration of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) based on the experience of gamers and authors Mark Wallace and Peter Ludlow. When Ludlow's online persona--an investigative journalist named Urizenus Sklar--began reporting in his virtual newspaper on underage cyber-prostitutes, real-life crimes, strong-arm tactics and scams that had become rife in the popular MMOG ""The Sims Online,"" the game's creators (Electronic Arts and Maxis Software) found an excuse to ban Ludlow from the game. Their tactics backfired: ""The New York Times, BBC, CNN and other real-life news outlets covered the story and the cry of ""censorship!"" was raised all over the Internet.Only A Game tells Ludlow's tale and follows him as his virtual newspaper investigates the nature of thriving, realistic MMOGs that have attracted over 10 million subscribers to date. The book shows readers how these virtual worlds reflect the real world around us while also allowing players to construct new realities unencumbered by gravity, resources, laws, sexual identity, or, in some cases, morals. Ludlow reveals the strategies that are useful in exploring these alternate realities, and what these virtual worlds can tell us about ourselves. In a very real way, a glimpse into Urizenus Sklar's world and the parallel universes that surround it is a glimpse into own future. Few gamers have seen as many dark corners of online life than Ludlow, a professor of linguistics and philosophy at the University of Michigan. This book is a real page-turner about an growing cultural phenomenon.
- ISBN10 0596101597
- ISBN13 9780596101596
- Publish Date 18 November 2005
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Out of Print 26 January 2006
- Publish Country US
- Imprint O'Reilly Media, Inc, USA
- Format Paperback
- Pages 304
- Language English