Comments on: Ludium Scandal Spreads, engulfs Dibbell and Rickey

By: urizenus

urizenus — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 16:43:16 +0000

It’s not *that* Mia Wallace. Sorry for the confusion.

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 13:12:10 +0000

You know, I’ve been thinking about this Mia “Wallace” Consalvo thing here. Are you saying that’s *the* Mia Wallace, the Overlord? And…after googling her and finding she’s a Ludensian and a professor and expert on cheating on games…are you saying that maybe the whole SSG thing and the shadowifying of all the major lots, etc. was an academic exercise tested on unwitting subjects? Fun! Were *all* the people in it professors and students or did they sign up some rubes within who thought it was an actual game thing? What *is* an actual game thing in a virtual world though lol? But I only see one paper, about the dark side of sex in TSO or something. Interesting. Hmm, is there a book in this?

By: Urizenus

Urizenus — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 14:02:38 +0000

That would be Ted Castronova.

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 13:46:38 +0000

BTW, too bad nobody labels those pictures. There’s one guy in there who looks like he was separated from you at birth, Uri, or like he’s your edit-shift-mode clone lol. Who is he?

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 13:21:42 +0000

Uri, don’t tell me the Evil Overlord of the SSG was involved in this??? Well, seemed like frat boys, I only saw one girl in the picture *shrugs*. I’m waiting for the alcoholic fumes to subside so we can hear more what it’s actually *about* other than *itself*. Why only 5 topics? Why those topics, including some that sounded non-serious like a dating service?

Sounds like some people used some RP games to do a conference, something that’s been going on for 25 years all over the world. Ho-hum. Oh, the difference now is, you put your avatar in an immersive world instead of playing the RP in the outworld or manipulating online communications tools. Ok. But did anybody stop to ask if putting the avatar in an immersive world is really *good* for the seriousness of an enterprise like disaster planning? Hell, having your avatar bounce around isn’t even good for trying to just go into build-mode in SL, he gets in the way. Stuff like IMing and alts interferes with the seriousness of the enterprises.

I’m also not sure that the organism that evolves from alcohol-fueled group think is a smarter entity than an individual or a group writing snail mail to each other.

By: urizenus

urizenus — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 12:27:43 +0000

Ted, just so you don't call it Michigan State I won't be offended. Prok, you call this a "frat boy initiation", but I submit that the champions of "sink the biz" were Betsy "Pirate Grrrl" Book, Constance "Where to Begin" Steinkuehler, and Mia "Wallace" Consalvo.

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 11:42:14 +0000

OH, I’m glad Elle got in here first so I don’t have to be the one. I know when the full details emerge from this sordid frat-boy initiation rite that I’m going to want to use words like “pernicious”. I know I’m still trying to think up a good term for the Ludensocracy, the elite academics studying Homo Ludens. Oh, maybe I did already.

By: Edward Castronova

Edward Castronova — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 10:07:44 +0000

“…the Ludium recently hosted by Ted Castronova at the University of Indiana…”

So Peter, how things up there at Michigan University?

By: Elle Pollack

Elle Pollack — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 00:55:51 +0000

Um…yay for the injokes of the FIA! (Fetted Insane Academians)

By: urizenus

urizenus — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 23:00:57 +0000

Yah, well so what if I said that. I choked it down, didn't I? This despite the fact that it tastes like the juice in the bottom of the: sink the biz bucket And I might add that it is so nice to get back to the Herald Lodge, where we have a proper cellar and always have some Cris on ice.