the corner office

I was doing some more reading on the whole Ultima Online meets real world thing, and I was reminded of something I hadn't really considered: what Julian Dibbell does, is ethically questionable. The whole point of the online game is to earn money inside the game, and use that money to buy goodies in the fantasy world. By moving the economics to the real world, people are cheating by circumventing the hard work aspect of the game, and getting the goodies in that world by spending money from this world

Well, I did say it fascinates me that the good and bad bits of human nature are present. I'm not sure how I feel about this 'cheating' - how would I feel if I devoted hours and hours of real-world time to the game, trying to build up the funds to buy a nice pozzie next door to a home that some lazy, spoiled adolescent bought on eBay?

On the flip side, my thoughts run to two things: no matter how unsportsmanlike it may be, it's inevitable. Railing against it helps nobody, so perhaps this 'immorality' has to be tolerated and confronted, and perhaps accepted, irrespective of the ethics. Or not? Secondly, is it always purely a 'bad' thing? Who says that the Ultima Online world can't mingle with this world? Why can't a dedicated player lay down $750 of his own hard-earned cash for some real estate in the game? Sure, from a game-only perspective it's cheating because it wasn't 'earned', but on the other hand, this bloke spends his real-world money and time to buy and kit out a home, even if it's a virtual one. Is the 'home improvement' any less valid because it's virtual, as opposed to real bricks, plaster and paint? While it might seem a little odd, should a person be begrudged for deciding to spend real-world currency on virtual-world satisfaction, if nobody else is harmed?

The reason why I think it might be different is that these MMOGs are more than just burn & plunder, objective-based games in limited worlds that provide only a semblance of individuality and freedom. They're whole worlds, alternate realities, and sufficiently detailed and broad that a person could be said to 'live' in them, not just go a-hunting now and then. Much like real life, what business is it of yours if your neighbour has cooler stuff than you, unless he nicked it from you?

I'm not sure. It gets a bit messy. I'm still intrigued though.

I've never played a MMOG, and the closest I got to a MUD was downloading software on my Mac circa '97. I don't think I logged on anywhere, though. I played Diablo online in '98, and Unreal Tournament with other South Africans back in 2000, when I was living at our company's office-house and our 64k line was sitting idle at nights.

Despite my limited exposure and experience, online gaming, especially MMOGs, fascinate me. I've loaded up Ultima Online's home page a few times, and thought "should I?" Common sense keeps me away, because I can imagine it would be terribly, terribly addictive. But part of me reckons that much like Everest (or Kilimanjaro) appeals to some, it might be a memorable life experience to simply switch off from the Real World and devote 3 months to an online game. Completely immerse myself, submit to pure addiction, and enjoy the experience, and come out with a few battle scars and a helluva story for my grandkids one day.

If you, dear reader, think I'm nuts, then would it interest you to know that the Ultima Online market at eBay is currently sitting about about $3.5 million per annum? Check out Julian Dibbell's blog. He's a journalist who's trying to make a living selling Ultima Online goods, in the real world. Let me back up - that might not make sense. He's selling castles in the air. Literally. It's blowing my mind, that's for sure.

Extreme? Yes. While I'm no expert, part of me thinks that the Future is tied up in these alternate realities. These online worlds become an escape from the drudgery of reality, to the point where we can't tell the difference, like a freaky cyberpunk novel. It's already happening, and it's mind-bending. Not just because of the fantasy/sci fi possibilities, nor the technology that lets thousands of users interact like they do. It's the fact that thousands of people do interact - that societies and cultures form in this 'cyberspace', and that economies sprout up immediately after.

The fact that real-world economics mingle with these online economies simply underlines the fundamentally fascinating thing: how human nature always manifests itself in any interactive endeavour... both the good and bad bits.

If I join one of these MMOGs one day, I'm calling one of my characters Adam Smith.

Quick weekend roundup...

Ronwen and I went to register to vote on Saturday morning (Ronwen's a clever girl: go register while everyone's watching the Boks get crucified by the All Blacks and you'll miss the queues). The IEC griped that not many people registered, maybe it's because half the country was missioning from voting station to voting station?

We went to the Northcliff Primary School's station, which is 2 blocks away from us. Some auntie in front of us was being given grief because she was at the wrong place and she was whingeing because the people There had told her to come Here and she had a right to vote dammit but nobody would let her register and the lady behind the counter was saying 'sorry for youuu, but it ain't happening at this station 'cause you're not in my area' and yadda yadda.

I was muttering under my breath wondering how this woman couldn't even read a damned map. Then came our turn, and I had to eat my words. Not only were streets poorly labeled, but the maps had contour lines, for crying out loud. It was almost impossible to figure out which lines were roads and which were contour lines and which demarcated migratory routes for sparrows. We couldn't figure out whether we were meant to register at Northcliff or at Fairlands down the road. The registration official seemed quite convinced that if we lived where we said we lived, then we were at the right place, and I wasn't going to argue. So now we're registered in Northcliff.

Ronwen and I also decided to get some exercise and went for a walk through Northcliff on Saturday evening. The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom and the suburb is looking beautiful. I don't know and probably don't want to know how people can afford some of the mansions we walked past.

In between all of that I'd been busting my back with PDAs and FAs and CFGs and all manner of awful Computer Theory.

Sunday morning saw myself and Ronwen head off to Rosebank for breakfast and a look-see around the flea market. In between finding nothing particular interesting, I popped into CD Wherehouse and bought 3 CDs: Fields of the Nephilim's 'From Gehenna to Here', which is their first two EP's wrapped up in one. I had 'Burning the Fields' but didn't have the 'Laura' EP. Effectively, I coughed up 200 bucks for 2 songs I don't already have. That's 'completist' for you. Also got Sonic Youth's Murray Street and Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds - it's taken me 10 years, but I finally have it on CD.

Spent yesterday afternoon coding, took a break last night to watch "Ronin" on SABC2, with Robert de Niro. I missed the beginning, but wow. I'd never heard of the movie, but it was my kinda flick. European locations, car chases and super-mean spy-type dudes. Way cool.

Somebody tried to insert a back door into the Linux kernel but didn't get very far.

Interesting point: BitKeeper, the controversial, proprietary source control management software used to manage the Linux kernel is the antithesis of the IBM-esque server-is-king all-on-one-box centralised systems a la CVS. BitKeeper is completely peer-to-peer: decentralised, distributed, with source code and changes being replicated all over the show.

It's not often I hear other technical folk talk about 'replicas' like us Notes folks do. Warms my heart...

Saw the Matrix Revolutions today, at an Imax Theater nogal. I know lots of people are waiting to see it, and I don't want to spoil the fun for them - so until the dust settles, my impressions are on a separate page (since moved back here).

A bunch of us took a quick sprint up the N1 this evening and went to see Matrix Revolutions at the Imax Theatre in Menlyn Park in Pretoria.

First time I've been to an Imax. Bloody big screen. Quite immersive, even though I believe that made-for-Imax movies are even more kick-ass.

As for the movie. Pffff. I left disappointed. Great special effects (as expected), but the plot didn't live up to expectations.

We expected a 'mindf**k' end to the trilogy, and it didn't happen. I think that Matrix Reloaded is what killed this movie. Matrix #1 had the whole concept of the Matrix, and once this had been established the movie was a story of how Neo 'transcended' this alternative, unexpected reality. Had the sequel simply been Neo aka Superman kicking machine butt, we'd have not minded a lack of further deep shit, so to speak.

Instead, the second in the series raised a number of questions of the mindf**k variety, and left them dangling to be answered in #3. I don't think those questions were answered, and in some cases I think #2 set up cliff-hangers which served no greater purpose than enticing people to see the final instalment. Most of these 'questions' were ignored or ended up as cheesy segues into #3. There was no meat to them, and I felt a bit cheated.

I sat through the entire movie waiting in vain for the 'thing', the mind-bender, the really deep or unexpected reality twist that was hinted at in #2, something heavy. The movie had no "Luke, I am your father" moment, and that imho kills it.

Go watch it for the effects and action scenes, though. They don't disappoint.

RFC 1149

My favourite bit:

Audit trails are automatically generated, and can often be found on logs and cable trays

Or my car.

And naturally, Linux has implemented RFC1149.

A number of folks and many news sites have linked to Michael Hanscom who got fired for blogging/posting a photo about Apple G5s at Microsoft.

Reading his site, I was impressed by his even-handedness and maturity in relation to the whole 'y'all's fired, nah git' episode. Reading through other posts on his blog I came across this post which points to an excellent article by Anil Dash, privacy through identity control. You may disagree with his conclusions, but I think Anil sums up the reality of life in the Internet Age, perfectly.

His article and Michael's comments were enough for me to finally do something that I've been wanting to do for ages, but until now never felt comfortable doing: I registered colinpretorius.com (and .org and .net just for luck).

I've blogged before that Google knows about at least four Colin Pretoriuses. I'm sure there are others on their way. If I didn't register colinpretorius.com, one of these blokes would have, and I'd spend the rest of my life kicking myself for missing this (truly) once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Cool :-)

So, anyone experience oddities caused by the magnetic storm hairball the sun hacked up at us?

Everything seems to be fine h

Woop! Ronwen just phoned from Durbs to say she's safe and sound. She flew down to Durban for a couple of days on account of it being her brother and sister in law's baby shower. Which means I have the place all to myself until next Monday.

Oh man. Freedom like this should never be wasted... all the cool things I'm going to do the next couple of days... WOW.

I'm drawing up a list:

• catch up with work
• sort out the chaos in our spare bedroom
• get all my admin and personal papers and tax up to date
• get some studying done
• clean my car
• recover my toasted hard drive
• see if I can tame the Java/Linux/Domino trio of evil.
• get the whole flat vacuumed and polished up and generally spring-cleaned

If there was something sharp within immediate reach, I'd just stab myself in the face with it.

Gits. The devil was in the details. I'll feel like an idiot if I failed, but I don't think that happened. I know if I'd been a little more diligent in my preparation it would have been a breeze, but as it stands... we'll see. If my mark isn't stellar, and it brings my average down too far, then, well, too bad. For me the most NB thing for these exams is really boiling down to not stressing about it. Which so far is working, more or less :-)

Next exam, Computer Theory on the 10th or so. That one I will need to be well prepared for. But for now - a breather! :-)