When Roy Trubshaw and I worked on MUD1, we saw it as a means of giving people freedom. For players, freedom to do and to be; for us, freedom to make our imaginations real (well, OK, virtual). Most of the early UK virtual worlds that followed had that same sense of idealism. After our "high energy" presentation, the questions were even stranger. Someone asked why humanities research got left out, and we had to say that we couldn't find it to be directly relevant on our top 10 list of bulleted points. Ian made the point, and I agreed, that doing the research for this panel made us think differently about academic research. While I'm not going to say that what we've done personally has no value, it was a definite challenge to try and make it *directly relevant* in a BULLETED POINT for developers.

Square Enix has reinstated its "Return Home to Vana'diel" campaign, urging FFXI Gil game players who dropped their online accounts to rejoin the community in time for the release of the multiplatform MMO's fourth expansion pack in November.

The world of any MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is a strange place. It's a universe governed by its own social customs, laws of language and unique economic fluctuations. With FFXI Gil game, these economics have been tainted as of late. Most of the time sale prices for items remain around a certain level once a server's population gets large enough. However, sometimes this increasing stability of item prices is manipulated from outside forces. In the case of FFXI Gil game, it was the influence of illegal Real Money Trading (RMT).

Square Enix is offering a new item from their FFXI Gil game Players' Collection. Called the Tidal Talisman, this little showpiece has a corresponding in-game item which you'll receive when you purchase the item

While the full details are rather long, there's one notable addition that should make playing with your friends more challenging. The level-syncing feature is now up, and it allows higher-leveled players to power down their character and gear to a level appropriate to that of their lower-leveled friend. They can then undertake quests at that level and, in turn, earn experience and reap the benefits of friendship!

Those of you in Vana'diel who want to play with friends of varying levels whilst retaining the challenge of the game will be glad to know that FFXI Gil game (PC, Xbox 360, PS2 ) will be getting a Level Sync system.

The power of the inconvenienced consumer is strange yet wonderful all the same. It seems that due to one consumer's difficulty in canceling his MMO subscription, a new law has been passed in Illinois that essentially makes it illegal to have difficult unsubscription processes in MMORPGs.

Details regarding Square Enix's FFXI Gil game: Wings of the Goddess (also available on the Xbox 360 and PS2) nation quests have finally been revealed. These quests aren't in the game yet but will be coming this September's update which we previously reported on.

First released in 1994 by Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft turned out to be an incredible success, gathering millions of fans from all around the world and winning numerous prizes, including the WoW gold game of the Year Award in 2004.

We all know the game World of Warcraft. The biggest mmorpg in the world with a subscriber base of over 9 million players.