Traditionally PLEX have been a special case in Eve, you couldn’t travel around with them, instead using a redeem/reverse-redeem system and remote activation to take advantage of them wherever you may be in New Eden. Now though, things are changing. Selected quotes from the Dev Blog follow, along with some quick thoughts from me:

Now what?

[...] Therefore we’ll be removing all the special casing surrounding the PLEX items and have them function and behave as any other regular item. At the same time we’re changing the behaviour of the Redeeming system a bit so that items can be redeemed in any station (you could only redeem items in NPC stations before).

What does that mean specifically

• We will remove the restriction on undocking from a station with a PLEX in your cargo hold

• We will remove the restriction that PLEX cannot be put into courier contracts

• We will remove the restriction that items (including PLEX) can only be redeemed into NPC stations

• We will remove the restriction that items (including PLEX) can only be reverse-redeemed from NPC stations

• We will remove the restriction that ETC can only be converted into PLEX while inside an NPC station

If you blow up a ship that happens to be carrying PLEX, it may drop the PLEX as loot or it may be destroyed in the conflagration (much like any other item in a ship’s cargo hold). The refund policies for PLEX will not be any different from any other item..

Are you crazy? Do you know how many people will emoragequit when they’re ganked with PLEX in their cargo?

Maybe we’re a little crazy, yes, but we truly think the benefits outweigh the risks here. One of them is to combat the perception that PLEX is a more valuable item than others in the game which, of course, it isn’t (anyone who has lost a titan/carrier/T2 BS/etc knows this full well). Among the risks of course is that people will start losing PLEXs’ en masse and cancel their subscriptions. We will be monitoring that extremely closely as well as all other aspects of PLEX trade/usage patterns. Remember, we’re not forcing anyone to undock with PLEX, in fact we’re making things a little bit safer (if people choose to use the option) by allowing redeeming of PLEX to all stations instead of just NPC stations. The choice and risk is always at the discretion of the player, just like it should be.

via EVE Online | EVE Insider | Dev Blog.

Reaction amongst the Eve community seems mixed, with both sides being presented on their discussion forum. It seems to me that whilst this may anger a few new players who are unaware of the implications of travelling with PLEX and thus lose game-time, the overall change is logical. The PLEX is effectively just an item worth 300 million ISK (which we can equate to US$15), and there are a number of in-game items worth significantly more that it is possible to lose. However, not everyone agrees as this blog post indicates:

Oh, I’ve been waiting for this one.  This has drama, rage quit, and QQ written all over it.

[…]

PLEX will be set free.  You can carry it around.  You can sell people contracts to carry it for you.

And, of course, people can take it away from you.

And that is where the fun begins.  Somebody scans your cargo, sees you’re carrying game time, and you are suddenly a high priority target.

This goes live Tuesday, July 13, 2010.

I cannot wait to see how this unfolds.  I want to read tales of PLEX piracy.

This is soooo EVE Online.

via PLEX! PLEX for Piracy! « The Ancient Gaming Noob

Will be interesting to see how this one evolves…

From CNN, ‘Want to sound like a world cup expert?’, confirming everything we ever thought about Americans This article included such gems as:

Phrases to impress your boss

“The referee’s blind!”
An excellent phrase to insert when those around you lament a goal that “never was,” a clear handball or a murderous foul not spotted by the official.

“There’s a case for video technology”
Following your previous observation about the referee’s eyesight, join the calls for video replays to help him make the right decision.

“He’s got two left feet”
As frustration grows with one hapless player in particular, make sure you aren’t left out.

via CNN

Fangraphs, which is one of a growing number of sabermetric (mathematical/statistical study of baseball) sites around the web, picked up on a MLB plan to sell what amount to Playoff Ticket Futures — you pay a fee now to have the right to buy a ticket to playoff games down the road. The Math looks a little like this:

Ok, so should you take part in this program? First, answer these questions: would you like to see a playoff game? Is it worth it to pay above the face value of the ticket to ensure you can go? If so, by how much? That is how much more than face value would you be willing to pay for a given game, assuming that game were to take place. Let’s call that amount, x. Now assuming the probability of the game taking place is p, the the value of the option is:

Value = (1-p)*0 + p*x

Say you are thinking of buying the option to see Game One of the Rangers’ potential ALDS. If they make the playoffs at all this game will happen, and using BPro’s playoff odds they are 82.9% to make the playoffs. So you should buy the option if:

0.829x > 10

x > $12.06

Would you pay the face value of the ticket plus $12.06 to see the Rangers play Games One or Three in Arlington of a ALDS? If so, and you have faith in BPro’s playoff odds, you should buy this $10 option now. Seventeen percent of the time it will be worthless, but 83% of the time you will have something you value at over $12.06.

via Fangraphs.com

The highlight is that the break-even price to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series is somewhere in the region of $400 million, yet you can be sure somebody will buy that option. For the Angels it’s about $400, which is probably only indicative of the fact we are struggling with an outside shot this year.

And a couple of randoms from Richard Bartle’s blog, who seems to have fallen for the same airline fail as was inflicted upon me on my journey from London to Singapore earlier this year, getting this as a seat:

via QBlog

Also worth visiting is his photo gallery from Leipzig, where he was speaking at Games Convention Online (where I was speaking this time last year), some good memories there, but what sparked my memory was this one of the station (where I caught trains to/from Berlin):

via QBlog

There’s a really awesome sausage shop below that station, where I stocked up on a ton of Saucisson and Black Pudding to take back to Denmark, where the only thing that resembled a sausage was bright red and revolting.

I’d like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

via World of Warcraft (en) Forums -> Open Letter: Real Names on Blizzard Forums

Oh, and the Cleveland Cavs owner committed one other faux pas I didn’t pick up on last night; via CNN:

Dear computer users: If you’re ever going to write a fuming letter, think twice before setting the font to the oh-so-mockable Comic Sans.

Take it from Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA team that lost its star basketball player, LeBron James, on Thursday night.

After Gilbert posted a rant — in the cutesy Comic Sans typeface — about James’ departure on NBA.com, bloggers, newspaper writers and Twitter pundits lashed back with a collective message that essentially said this:

Unless you’re a fourth-grader, or being ironic, or the author of a comic book, or on vacation from the 1990s, never use that typeface.

via Cavs owner’s letter mocked for Comic Sans font – CNN.com.

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

[...]

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

via Cavaliers: Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert.

We don’t normally think of anonymity as the default state, but it is. There’s 6.25 or so billion people on the planet. There are numerous occasions that we hand over our identification or give our names for one reason or another, but we generally do so only to people that we trust to handle them properly or that simply don’t really care who we are.

Do you know your barista’s full name? Do they know yours? Would you have any idea what their first name was if they didn’t wear a name tag?

We routinely caution our children not to give out their full names to strangers, or indeed to anyone that they don’t have a very good reason to trust (eg: a policeman).

If you ask the person serving you at the grocery checkout or your bank teller what their last name is, they’ll probably be reluctant to tell you. For many establishments it is against policy to reveal that information.

Large and heavily trafficked call-centres and customer-support services routinely assign pseudonyms to their staff to avoid issues of harassment. In smaller outfits, it’s rarer, but still sometimes done if a staff member has a particularly memorable, distinctive or unique first name – or if another front-line staffer has the same first name.

Why do we go through all of this?

Because we know it’s safer!

via Metaverse Journal | True Names: identity, safety and Blizzard’s Real ID

So the question switches to what is the solution, and the below from Randy Farmer basically summarises what I would argue for:

An Alternative Everyone Can Live With

There was/is an alternative – described in the Tripartite Identity Model post from two years ago: Implement Nicknames!

Sure, have a top-level social identity, but present it as user-controlled Nickname and allow users to share a variant of their real name – but don’t require it! Sure, if the Nickname is the same as their RealID, feel free to show an indicator, like Amazon.com does with their Real Name markers. Allow users to reveal what they wish – even provide incentives for them to do so, but don’t bind full disclosure on them. Even Facebook doesn’t do this!

It’s never too late.

P.S.: I can’t stop being amazed – Asking for help on a forum requires disclosing your real name to God, Google, and Everyone? Come on! You’ve got to be kidding!

via Habitat Chronicles: RealID and WoW Forums: Classic Identity Design Mistake.

Blizzard have responded, telling Gamasutra that “we’re listening”, but continuing to insist that the system is opt-in, because players are not forced to post on the forums and ‘their gameplay experiences will not change if they choose not to use the Real ID communication features in game’. Seriously? In the same discussion they also indicate that they will attempt to crack down on players using false identities, stating ‘our Terms of Use agreement requires that players provide us with accurate information’.

Meanwhile, players are exploring how they can use the parental control features to limit or prevent data being shared in-game using Real ID, and others are continuing to explore and expose the personal lives of Blizzard executives and staff, though to my mind some are going too far:. Here’s two (slightly out of context) quotes from the linked page, along with the disclaimer, scrubbed of personal details… to me that’s going too far.

NONE OF THESE POSTS ARE THREATS. I’ve seen people at 4chan and other places saying this site is filled with thinly veiled threats. It’s not. I do not wish to see any harm or harassment come to ANYONE listed here, even Bobby.

But hey, he’s a busy man. He’s got a wife and three young daughters, ages x, y, and z. The oldest is [xxx], she likes skiing. There are pictures of her that can be found, but I’m not posting them because I think I’ve made my point there. Anyone messing with his family or kids is a sick fuck, but you know what? There are a lot of sick fucks who play WoW

The beautiful family’s current address is either xxxx or yyyy ******** Way. They own or owned both but surely they don’t need two houses, do they? ******* Way, Beverly Hills, California 90210. They spent $171,708 for renovations a few years ago, nice place!

via What’s in a name?

But in general the point is well made around the net, you can find plenty of information about almost anyone with free tools these days, as I have shown friends in the past when pointing out their facebook profiles were open for the world to see, and just about anyone can be impersonated. Just a couple of weeks ago I came across this on twitter, using all my personal information (that is on twitter) for (I assume) spamming purposes:

Twitter have now removed the account, but it’s an example of how easily privacy breaches can occur, your identity can get stolen, and why it’s worth monitoring the google results for your name!

So Blizzard are now making it so instead of showing your character on those forums, it’ll instead show your real name with the option of attaching your char name too it (no option of not showing your real name).

Now I think it’s fairly safe to say that this is perhaps the dumbest idea that anyone has ever had ever.

To alleviate people’s concerns, Blizzard employee Bashiok decided to say his real name on the forums, his real name is Micah Whipple

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25712374892&sid=1&pageNo=1 Post #16

So say hi to Micah Whipple

via WoW Riot | WotLK, Wrath of the Lich King, WoW, World of Warcraft, Arena Season 5.

I’m not going to publish his details here, but suffice to say just about every detail of his (and several other Micah Whipple’s) life was made public.

The background issue here though is one of privacy. From what I understand in addition to this implementation on the forums, they also have an in-game/in-world implementation of RealID, which allows you to see the real names of your game friends, and (importantly) friends of friends. Now we all know how well that went down with facebook users.

It seems the idea behind this, and one that Eve have also championed with EveGate, is a desire to create a social network around their player base. This is an attempt to compete with the social element of facebook games, and presumably to keep their players tied to paying a subscription to maintain their social network, rather than using something like Facebook which, for all its faults, is currently free. I happen to think it’s a futile attempt for much the same reasons as I have discussed here before, there’s too much social capital invested in Facebook even for somebody of the budget of Blizzard to compete. Even Google is a long shot I think..

Blizzard responded thus:

“I should point out that showing a real first and last name doesn’t provide any one the right to then seek out additional information on that name and post it here. That has been and will continue to be a violation of the forum code of conduct, and so bans and what have you are incoming. Fair warning. 

That’s just a blanket rule that applies to everyone.”

Which is all well and good, but doesn’t excuse them from the initial privacy violation. What is to stop somebody engaged in an in-game or forum dispute with another player looking up their personal information and then publishing it on their blog, on a guild forum (for harassment purposes) or on one of the many unofficial WoW sites. In all those examples, Blizzard are enabling the harassment, and at the very least are opening themselves up to bad press.

The initial idea of allowing players to connect with each other isn’t horrible (a friend offered the example of connecting with people he used to play with that are now on different servers etc), but why they are relying on real name, as opposed to some non-character tied username I don’t understand.

via Eve Online: Gameplay of Eve Online, Expansions of Eve Online, Dust 514, CCP hf, E-ON Magazine, Eve: The Second Genesis, Collectible Card Game, Escape … video game , Elite video game , Video game: Amazon.co.uk: Frederic P. Miller, Agnes F. Vandome, John McBrewster: Books.

From a gambling forum last week:

“So speaking in general terms, if this play was made at Bookmaker, the bettor WOULD be paid up to a maximum of 15.000 per their own rules. Someone posted Bookmaker’s horse rules per batum above.”

I think I must read ‘per batum’ at least once a day..

What caught my attention was the similarity in many ways with the Ferrari / Hamilton situation from last weekend. To recap, Hamilton illegally passed the safety car, whilst the Ferraris lined up behind it. By the time the stewards issued their penalty (a drive-through for Hamilton), he had pulled so far ahead of the Ferraris that he was able to maintain his lead over them and finish on the podium, where as Alonso languished in 8th.

The Ferrari argument, which the FIA reject, is that Hamilton effectively gained an advantage by breaking the rules, and that he should have been further punished so his advantage was lost. In the Suarez case, he stopped a definite goal, giving Uruguay a chance to stay alive which they did when Ghana missed the penalty, Suarez today called it the new “Hand of God”, showing no regret at all.

What is fair in such cases will be a topic that is sure to be of future debate, but for any one event all you can do is enforce the rules, and both the FIA and the referee last night did that. As for the quote from Bogost, well, suffice to say I don’t really agree with his analogy.

Perhaps this is one reason why Americans dislike soccer so much: we are obsessed with fairness and transcendental truth, while football shows us that the universe is cruel not (just) through God’s will, but because so many factors come into play all at once that it’s impossible to account for them all. Perhaps this explanation also meshes well with football’s popularity in the developing world. In some situations, you can do everything right, and you still can get screwed.

via Ian Bogost – There are no Blown Calls in Football.

After their former hosting provider received an injunction telling it to stop providing bandwidth to The Pirate Bay, the worlds most resilient BitTorrent site switched to a new ISP. That host, the Swedish Pirate Party, made a stand on principle. Now they aim to take things further by running the site from inside the Swedish Parliament.

via Pirate Party to Run Pirate Bay from Swedish Parliament | TorrentFreak.