I'm astonished by how many of you came to the aid of the children, donating gold, badger pelts and rat tails to the Orgrimmar Children's Fund. Well done! The virtual children are learning the same lesson we are teaching our real younglings, 'If you lay around all day doing nothing, the state will support you.'

Trinity University has taken it upon themselves, or rather upon their undergrads to write up papers that will enlighten us about MMOGs. Credibility went the way of the dodo when this diaspora of writers titled their little jaunt into our favourite hobby, 'Games for the Web'. I love playing WoW and EQ2 on the web, but City of Heroes is even better. Firefox is a dandy game interface. If you have an error in the four word title of the project it doesn't bode well for the 15 research papers you are delivering.

"These students used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to explore sociological issues associated with massively multiplayer virtual worlds. Each student in the class pursued a different research question."

I'm excited that institutions of higher learning are taking MMOGs seriously, but aye carumba! Loosely translated into gamer-speak, "The students played games and formed conclusions about them."

"Time was too short to pursue in-depth ethnographic research, and sample sizes were too small to extrapolate with confidence to the broader gaming community."

But, please take those conclusions with a grain of salt, because we didn't spend enough time on it. Now off to the pub crawl you intellectual types. If you want to really know what MMOGs are like then all of the men have to dress up like women before they go to the pub crawl. That's how we do it in the virtual world.

Cheers to Trinity University for attempting this. Attempt it again. Take longer. Take it seriously. Don't put an EQ2 avatar on a Second Life paper. Note that these games are not played on the "Web". At least half of the males must play a female character and cyber with other males. Don't fill your blogs with comments about how you lost your cell phone.

And now the weather...

It's raining in the Karanas. It will be dark in Nektulos Forest and Tirisfal Glades with continued dark in the long-range forcast. Orgrimmar will have sunny periods broken by other sunny periods. It's hot in the Desert of Flames with scattered sand storms.

Research this. Discuss!

Make your mark. Mark your territory. Post a comment. If you are shy you can E-Mail me.
Every good guild needs a home. A home free of gold ads, secondary market farmers. Look no further than GuildPortal.com.

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Exclusive new TenTonHammer.com Content!
Let us entertain you or at the very least waste some of your time at work.06.28.2006 Exclusive Content

• Dungeons and Dragons Online: Untrained Melody III - Bard Level 3 Spells
  "The level 3 bard spells in Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach (DDO) really give you the chance to make your bard stand out from other classes. As Bard Week at Ten Ton Hammer comes to a close, Ralsu takes a look at level 3 spells and gives us his ratings."
• EverQuest 2: Guide to Freeport Armour Quests - Level 1-19
  "Just starting out in that unforgiving city of Freeport? You don't have a coin to your name and you're wandering around trying to kill Orcs practically naked? Never fear you penniless souls! Savanja has come to the rescue with a lowbie armor quest guide that will get you geared in decent armor for the cost of nothing!"
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - You Bet Your Beta
  "Moving can take the wind out of anyone's sails, but for Shay, moving from Ten Ton Hammer's Turbine community sites to the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes site took the words out of her blog. But she's back now, and riffing on Vanguard's lengthy beta in contrast with DDO's. (How's that for a segue?) "
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - The Classes Nobody Wants
  "As carefully as Sigil tries to balance adventuring classes so that each one brings value to a group in different ways, it seems difficult for fans to trust that there won’t be certain classes that become the redheaded stepchildren of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Every MMO seems to have at least one, or more likely a few--the lonely, the unloved, the ungrouped...the classes no one wants. How do you think Sigil will fare with avoiding lonely classes? Vote in our poll!"
• World of Warcraft: PvP Guide - Arathi Basin
  "We continue (and finish!) our series of guides on the PvP battlegrounds of WoW with a complete guide to Arathi Basin. Find all the information you need to know to be competitive in this fast paced action packed battleground! Everything from tactics to descriptions of each objective point is located conveniently in our guide for your viewing pleasure!"
• World of Warcraft: Super Hip Or Super Hype?
  "World of Warcraft required four and a half years and 50 million euros to develop, and with most computer games these days and in the future likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and take several years to develop, it’s a major investment for a major business! So naturally that investment must be recouped! In short, many people must buy your game!"

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Vin Diesel Fact of the Day - Vin Diesel uses Tabasco Sauce eye-drops.

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Now on to the real world. You can't make this stuff up.

• How To Get Rid Of One Million Chocolate Bars?[Thanks Michael]
  Star Jones seen looking up "Cadbury" on a map.
• Spain Outlaws P2P Filesharing [Thanks Matt]
  In other news, Spain has also outlawed winning the World Cup.
• Polish MP Uses Vodka Mouthwash [Thanks Matt]
  Same MP was injured while ice-fishing when he was hit by a Zamboni.
• Robo-Dogs Join Marine Corps [Thanks Matt]
  All hail our ass sniffing robotic overlords.
• Grenade Explosion Kills Two Palestinians
  How is this strange news you ask? "Family members were playing with a grenade..."
• PETA Buys Shares In Fast Food Outlets
  Furthering my theory that PETA really stands for People Eating Tasty Animals.

As always, thanks for visiting TenTonHammer.com,
-- John "Boomjack" Hoskin