Have you jumped off of Xbox Live due to homophobic comments from your fellow gamers? Well I’ve got the answer. Some of the people behind Live are homophobes too. 

Jamie Durrant is a gay video game producer at Microsoft who works with a team of homophobes. I can’t decide what shocks me more. The fact that Mr. Durant endured name calling like “Fag Boy Jim”. Or the sad realization that the people taunting him were grown men who should have known better. 

I’m sure there are lovely and open minded people working at Microsoft. Unfortunately, the company is allowing itself to be seen as a homophobic sausage den. I don’t feel comfortable gaming online for this very reason: I’m sure to encounter sexual harassment. As a woman who would like to work in the gaming industry I’m incredibly disappointed. 

It’s time to carefully revise the community standard’s on Live so that gay gamers are not punished for being harassed. I also see a business need to recognize the diversity of employees and customers in a business as global as gaming. Revising HR standards to embrace the diversity of today’s workforce would be a great first step.

[Via - DailyMail]

Update: I want to thank my readers (Eye-Shuh and Denis) for pointing out that this case is still being investigated. These are alleged claims. But I’m definitely interested in the story. I believe it’s worth discussing and I’ll be following it to see how it develops.

For some, video game testing is a great way to break into the gaming industry. So if you want a career in gaming, I might have the right gig for you! Today I received a note from Kaos Studios’ Mitch Cross.

We’re actually going to be running a focus group very soon!

Check out the flyer I’ve posted in our group and message me with your email if interested and I will get you a questionnaire and more information.

THANKS!

Mitch Gross
Community Manager
THQ|Kaos Studios

It seems like this is closer to a focus group rather than a game testing session but it’s a great oppotunity for game tester newbies. If you want to learn more, join Kaos’s Facebook Group and send a message to Mitch. 

For more information on becoming an awesome video game tester check out Nixie’s post, So You Wanna Be a Video Game Tester?

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Today, I came across this video from Alice of Wonderland. It’s probably a marketing stunt but I honestly don’t care. It’s clocked over 300,000 views on Youtube after being posted for less than 24 hours. My fellow tech bloggers and youtubers don’t seem to care if it’s fake either.

*[C]ould be fake, could be marketing, is beyond awesome. I italicised that, because it so is. [ Alice - Wonderland]

*Most likely a commercial viral, and maybe even fake, but does it matter? beyond awesome [ Andy Baio - Waxy.org]

*espenlg (8 minutes ago) – I hope you guys understand this is just a fake viral ad for Guitar Hero? Cool though [ Via -  Bike Hero Comments]

*bnuiransder (7 minutes ago) If that is… still pretty awesome. [ Via -  Bike Hero Comments]

My takeaway? You can’t beat delicious content. Even if it’s a bloated marketing scheme. It looks like this took one LONG take. But it was definitely worth it.

The Institute for the Future is launching an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) to save the world. Superstruct aims to “address real-world problems by harnessing the wisdom of the crowds.” The game’s release comes on the heels of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. With many people feeling powerless against the tide of changing times, SuperStruct offers the chance to collaborate with others to address the culmination of the human race’s folly in 2019.

An MMO that lives in Social Media

Superstruct is played on forums, blogs, videos, wikis, and perhaps even twitter. Players are presented with bleak scenarios of the future and react. I know this might be difficult for some to wrap their heads around (I’m still figuring this out myself) so I’ve developed a quick guide on how to play the game when it launches on October 6, 2008.

How to Play

1. Read the Scenario (Living life 10 years from now)

Put on your imagination cap. It is the year 2019. A computer called the Global Extinction Awareness System (GEAS) is now live and has delivered a forecast on the threats facing the human race. The initial report lists five main threats to humanity: Quarantine, Ravenous, Power Struggle, Outlaw Planet, and Generation Exile. The forecast predicts that these will culminate in our eventual extinction in 2040.

Ok you can take off your imagination cap now. Notice how the threats listed could all conceivably happen. The scenarios are defined by a unique set of “future parameters” taken from the IFTF’s forecast research.  Wars over energy resources and global hunger issues are real and could worsen in the future. The IFTF hopes that this game will get people thinking about how we could deal with these threats in the coming years.

[Via - IFTF ]

2. Using Social Media to Play

Now its time to play! Put your cap back on. Imagine yourself living life within these parameters. The Ravenous Scenario foresees the collapse of the food supply chain in 2019. We are inventing new ways to feed ourselves. The video below describes this Superthreat.

Mexico, China, Middle East and the processed food industry are the hardest hit. In Austria over 100 university students have mounted trains with hatchets and bio hazard bags. The students are calling for the slaughter of the region’s chickens after the birds were diagnosed with the Avian Flu.

Would you travel to Austria to participate in the University student riot? Would you take similar actions if you found out your local food supply had been contaminated and were faced with government inaction? How has life changed for your family, friends and community? Document your journey. Set up a video blog, twitter account or join a forum to discuss solutions to these problems.

3. Stay tuned for more information on SuperStruct.

The game is set to launch on October 6, 2008. More information on the game can be found here. You can also connect to over 700 people on the SuperStruct Facebook group here.

Four Tips for Using Social Media and Gaming at Your company

1) Ask the Right Questions: Is Your Industry Ready?

This applies to any social media effort you might want to tackle. Technology and web companies like 37signals and Dell have had great success using social media.  They benefit from their industries proximity to the space. Dell sells computer hardware at a time when people are spending a lot of their ‘computer’ time on social networks. Same thing goes for 37 signals. The founders of the company are relatively young (gen x/y). They’ve likely seen how social media impacts their lives so using a blog for their business isn’t a leap of faith for them.

But for public companies that rely heavily on SEC regulations (ie. financial and mortgage companies) it might be more difficult to implement social media initiatives. That’s why it’s important to think about whether it is feasible for your company to pursue them. However, the SEC’s move allowing public companies to use their Web sites and corporate blogs to meet Regulation FD’s public disclosure requirements is a step in the right direction.

2) Get Entrepreneurial

Koelling, Bendt and Bernoff  credit Best Buy’s support of its entrepreneurial-minded employees in helping the company pull off BlueShirtnation. If your employees are excited about social media tools for your business provide them with support . Best Buy’s support of an unconventional approach to problems was key to their initial success with Blueshirtnation and now their social game, Orbit.

3) Hire Good Help

If you don’t have the capabilities to produce a game in-house then you should look into hiring an agency or a game developer to create it for you.  Catalyst Studios did an great job for Best Buy. They punched out an awesome game that fit Best Buy’s specifications in under four weeks.

4) Employ a Bottom Up Approach

The worst thing you can do is develop a social network, game or wiki for your company without involving your employees in the process. If you’re going to move forward with social media tools you will need your employees’ support to ensure success. Get them involved, ask them questions and give them some ownership of the project. Jared Lukes said it best last week: “Best Buy’s success with the site was based off the idea that, fear of what you have in open forum shouldn’t outweigh what you can gain”.

Best Buy Launches a Social Network

Two years ago Gary Koelling and Setev Bendt began work on a social networking site for Best Buy to help gather insights on advertising campaigns from employees on the front lines. Koeling and Bendt tackled the challenge of bringing 20-something, high turnover, retail employees together by launching BlueShirtNation. The network’s name comes from the signature blue polo shirts associates wear in-store.

With the help of Blueshirtnation Best Buy inspired and harnessed community engagement among its employees and accomplished, “higher participation in Best Buy’s 401(k) plan, lower employee turnover and photos of staffers’ pets”.

Marrying Social Media and Gaming

To get their employees on board with a new internal initiative Best Buy approached the interactive shop, Catalyst Studios, to build a game for BlueShirtNation. According to Catalyst, “the game, named Orbit was inspired by arcade [gaming] which centers around a leader board that allows employees to see high scores company-wide as they compete against one another”. Acutely aware of gamers’ tendency to talk trash, Catalyst added a twist to the game in the form of a verbal lashing: after every game, the players are taunted no matter how high the score.

I had a chat with Jared Lukes, the Interactive Director at Catalyst to discuss the game design process.

Jared Lukes on the Game Development Process

Ms. Pixel: So how did this project come about? And could you shed more light on the game development process?

Jared Lukes: Best Buy approached us and said, “We’re going to use a game to roll out an internal project. We don’t want to use obtuse banner ads”. They wanted something that would be fun to engage employees internally. To reach mass engagement we had to think about getting one player to evangelize another by building a competitive nature into the game.

Ms. Pixel: That sounds like fun. The inclusion of features like a leader board can make for an intense gaming experience (just look at Braid). Could you shed more light on how those features came about?

Jared Lukes: We made it easy for players to integrate the game into their profiles. After playing it users don’t have to worry about logging their score. The game is aware of who is playing the game and automatically updates it for them. When you achieve a fairly good score at the end it asks if you want to put a badge (gold, silver or bronze) on your profile. We also created a character called Orbit whose sole purpose was to go around the site taunting people by leaving notes on their profiles. By taunting the users we were able to get them fired up.

Ms. Pixel: What else is in store for Blueshirtnation?

Jared Lukes: We’re talking about making an iPhone version of the game in addition to spreading it across more platforms.

On the Success of the Game

It looks like the game has been successful so far. Jared told me that players have been known to log long hours on the game only to leave a note saying, “Must go to sleep now”. It’s too bad the game isn’t open to the public because I’d like to try it out.

UPDATE: You’ll find more information on the game that Catalyst Studios developed for Best Buy here.

Dead Pixels: Every week Ms. Pixel selects a Dead Pixel (or Loser) of the week. Check in weekly for her thoughts on the losers of gaming and social media.

Background: For those of you that missed it: “Scrabulous” is a free, online version of the classic Hasbro game that was released on Facebook earlier this year. The game was really popular on Scrabulous.com and it gained alot of traction when it was released on Facebook.

Scrabble’s persistent failure to offer up a viable alternative to Scrabulous is baffling. So let’s review how Hasbro reacted to Scrabulous and what they can do to harness the renewed excitement around Scrabble.

1) Hasbro pulled Scrabulous from Facebook

Hasbro mounted a campaign to have Scrabulous’s App on Facebook removed. Despite the application’s enormous popularity, Hasbro threatened legal action against Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla (the creators of Scrabulous). Pulling the application had an enormous effect: disrupting thousands of games that were taking place all over the world.

2) Hasbro released a sub-par Facebook application

I understand why they pulled the game. What I can’t understand is why they thought a sub-par version of Scrabulous would cut it. It’s bad for a couple of reasons (poor design and bugs) but the main reason why their version is not doing well is because they don’t allow world-wide game play. People used Scrabulous to help stay in touch with friends globally. It’s a social game.

Patrick Klepekof MTV Multiplayer reports that they restricted game play over a rights issue. “The rights on ‘Scrabble’ are split between Hasbro and Mattel,” said a company representative. “There is no licensed worldwide game. We have the rights through Hasbro so our game is for US and Canada players only — whether it’s iPhone or Facebook or any platform.”

I have a friend who played Scrabulous with his girlfriend overseas. Now that the game is banned on Facebook they can’t play anymore. This guy and his girlfriend don’t care about some rights issue. The ratings for the game on Facebook are also abysmal. It currently has less than 2 out of 5 stars. This needs to be fixed or else the Scrabble version is not going to gain any traction.

What Hasbro Should Do

I understand that people don’t aspire to make bad games. Everyone wants to produce excellent work. Budget shortfalls, management hiccups and staffing issues happen.  That’s business. But what should Hasbro do now?

1) Give Up

You have to hand it to Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla – they saw an opportunity where Hasbro didn’t. They listened to Scrabble fans and gave them what they wanted. Meanwhile, Hasbro’s version is failing. Releasing a public beta of the game is not going over well because people are not in the mood to test out an incomplete version of the game. And despite Hasbro’s enormous resources they couldn’t beat a two man team of developers.

At this rate I don’t see Hasbro’s Facebook application being successful in the long term. That’s ok. They should cut the Agarwalla’s a check for their good work, acquire Scrabulous and move on.

2) Be like John McCain and Learn the Internet

The creators of Scrabulous understood that people who loved Scrabble as kids are more likely to be engaged online. They have to understand the Scrabble customer of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

If Hasbro doesn’t catch up it will quickly lose its relevance as people migrate away from board games. This is already happening.  Meet WordScrapper, the Agarwalla’s answer to the Facebook ban. I like it and it has a 5-star rating on Facebook. It’s daily audience size is expected to surpass Scrabble’s version.

At the rate things are going Hasbro is going to lose to the Agarwalla’s… again.

*Note: The photos below are from Tomb Raider: Underworld due to be released in November 2008.

1) Online Gaming is Growing Rapidly

Online gaming is by far one of the fastest growing entertainment industries of our time. According to Business Week, “the global online games market, which currently is worth about $4 billion, is expected to triple in the next five years.” The main driver behind sustained growth will be the continued adoption of broadband and internet services around the world. The promise of a growing customer base will attract new entrants who seek to harness the power of this emerging market.

2) We’re All Gaming Now: The Potential to Reach Multiple Target Segments

As gaming continues to increase its position as a mainstream media deployment platform there will be more opportunities to tap into demographics beyond the usual suspects (males between the ages of 14 and 34). The most influential group will likely be women. Those over the age of 30 and mothers who possess the strongest influence over household purchases will be available to court in the digital realm. Those who remain conscious and aware of these emerging segments of players will be better poised to develop successful digital and social media experiences.

3) The Social History of Online Gaming: The Importance of Community Building

When the internet went live in the early 90s gamers used the web to form online communities. It started with the use of e-mail as people in different locations discovered the benefits of playing games remotely. Then came Internet Relay Chat (IRC), an instant messaging client that continues to be a popular gaming community management tool. IRC channels (also known as chat rooms) were established to share knowledge, and to coordinate activities among community members. Soon gamers were launching their own websites to provide a base camp for schedules, scoreboards and gaming instructions. The social history of online gamers reveals a willingness to create and manage communities.

Gaming is an inherently social enterprise. People play games to meet people, to compete with others and to maintain ties. The proliferation of social media tools presents us with the opportunity to enable gamers to easily connect AND maintain bonds outside of their gaming environments. Helping players focus less on community management logistics and more on gaming will be critical in the months and years ahead.

Much of Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference was expected. They debuted the new iphone 3G which will be thinner, cheaper, and faster than the original.

What I Didn’t Expect

• Apple using the phone’s accelerometer and touch screen to develop more games.
• Jobs wising up to the benefits of independent software development.
• Consumers being able to download fresh games to their iphone wirelessly through the App Store.

A Sneak Peak: Super Monkey Ball

This is my favorite. Players manuver a monkey through a series of mazes within a 3D environment by tilting the iphone. Can you guess what platform this classic was originally played on?

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=SFj0xlzmf6Q]

Hope for Mac Games

Writing code for the 3G iPhone is surprisingly similar to writing code for the MAC. If the games gain enough traction they might jump to the MAC opening up the flood gates for traditional game developers as they seek to engage the growing number of MAC owners. This might lead to more gamers taking a second look at the MAC.

Recently, news broke that Konami Productions placed limitations on what reviewers may discuss in their write-ups on Metal Gear Solid 4. The revelation has caused an uproar in the gaming community, a well-deserved uproar. For those of you who missed the drama, you’ll find a recap below:

• Gag Orders on Reviewers and Their Anonymous Protest – May 30, 2008
• Gamers Respond by flaming Konami on blogs that report the story – May 30, 2008 through Present
• Konami Removes the Gag Order and Issues Their “Delayed and Frankly Unconvincing” Response – June 5, 2008

In my previous post, I discussed how this practice robs gamers of useful reviews to guide purchasing decisions.

What Konami Should Have Done (How Companies Should Respond to Critical Bloggers)

1) Become Aware of Your Company’s Reputation Among Bloggers

Its important that you become aware of your company’s reputation in the blogosphere. This can serve as an indicator of customer opinion as well as inform you of both positive and negative feedback to drive innovation within your company. You can accomplish this by:

• Making Google Work For You: Set up a Google Alert for your company name and the names of your public facing partners (customer service reps, marketing and pr companies that you’ve retained). When any of the names are mentioned Google will send you an e-mail directing you to it.

• Staying Up-to-Date: Subscribing to and staying up-to-date on influential gaming blogs and community forums will alert you to conversations involving your company and your competitors. Taking part in the conversation will increase your level of engagement.

2) Consider the Criticism

Consider the criticism and take it seriously. A negative perception of your company could spread and take hold in the mind of consumers . This may result in a lack of trust for your brand and lost business.

3) Respond with Speed and Authenticity

A swift and authentic response will show that your company cares about the concerns of its customers. A strained and delayed response will feed into negative perceptions and doubts about your brand. You need to address the criticism directly and show how your company will prevent the issue in the future. There are many ways to do this. I’ve outlined two effective methods below.

• Submit yourself to an interview with the blogger. Providing bloggers with exclusive interviews can result in a win-win situation for the blogger and your company. Bloggers shore up their credibility and attract more readers to their blog as they ‘break the news’ of the exclusive interview. Companies answering the concerns of bloggers show that they are listening and willing to talk to their critics . Caution: Do not interview unless you are willing to accept responsibility (if your company erred) and offer a genuine response to the questions. This is especially important with gamers. Your message will not spread if you choose to be evasive or less than honest in the interview.

Pros: Bloggers love exclusive interviews. Gamers will appreciate you walking in front of the firing squad.

Cons: If you fail to take responsibility for actions made in error, you will be mercilessly flamed by the community resulting in another headache for you to deal with.

• Join the conversation by posting in the comments section. Be sure to state your company affiliation and answer questions that have appeared in the comments. For example, if the community has concerns about a new policy your company has enacted explain the rationale behind the policy. Listen to their input. Are you achieving the desired goal of the policy?

Pros: You’ll learn valuable information from the gamers themselves which can guide and improve the way you communicate with the community in the future.

Cons: You’ll need a thick skin to do this effectively. This method demands rapid fire and genuine responses to questions and concerns. Comments riddled with evasive ‘corporate speak’ will be regarded as ‘BS’ and will not help you win back the people who have soured on your company’s brand. You will be flamed but it will likley be more intense than the flame war that would follow a botched interview.

In my next post, I’ll explain how Michael Gallagher of the Entertainment Software Association bombed his recent interview with Kotaku.com and how you can avoid the wrath of angry gamers.