The gist of this article is the claim that Second Life failed because it doesn't fill a consumer need.  Brilliant -- welcome to 2007.  Actually, maybe 2003, since this is basically the same criticism that many of us had when Second Life launched (do we really need a Metaverse?) and the reason the more game-focused set of us always had a little trouble liking Second Life.  It seemed like a very cool tool that was not particularly fun to use.  Without a game mechanic that lended purpose to your presence on the platform, what Second Life offered seemed a lot like an avatar-populated uncurated 3-D art gallery.

When I was younger I cheated in every game. It started with the likes of Warcraft 2 and Duke Nukem 3D. I cheated because I was about 11 and wasn’t all that good at games. I liked to cheat because that way I was in control of the game. I could do whatever I wanted, mostly. I’d get really annoyed if a game didn’t have God Mode because I’d have to worry about using a code to restore health or armour. Now I rarely cheat at games, but cheating was a gateway into another form of play. Cheating got me accustomed to playing games wrong. Doing things the developers hadn’t intended. Playing games wrong gives you a different perspective on something you love. I present some of my favourite instances of games played wrong, with some musings about why it was so fun.

Although the study of digital games is steadily increasing, there has been little or no effort to develop a method for the qualitative, critical analysis of games as "texts" (broadly defined). This paper creates a template for such analyses by developing and explaining four areas that game researchers should consider when studying a game: Object Inventory, Interface Study, Interaction Map, and Gameplay Log. Through the use of an extended example (The Sims and three of its expansion packs: Livin' Large, House Party and Hot Date) as well as examples from different styles and genres of games, the case is made for employing these four areas or components as a (developing) methodology for the critical analysis of one or many digital games.

If you're anything like me, you usually think of your pics in terms of content: Here's me smiling. Here's me looking tough. Here's me in Hawaii with that wacky turtle. And so on. Today, however, we'll analyze photography from a numerical angle—we'll discuss flash, focus, and aperture instead. We feel like people don't really think about these things when they choose a profile photo, and yet, as we shall see, their misuse can seriously mess you up.