I was just weeding out my inbox and came across a set of notes from SXSWi that I didn't know I took! As you might remember, I had some trouble taking notes because my laptop battery was only capable of holding 20 minutes worth of juice. Apparently I managed to dash these off at the "Online Games: Beyond Play and Fantasy" panel and mail them to myself. (And then promptly forget about them.)



The World of Warcraft interface and the Web
Taking World of Warcraft as an evolutionary point in Web interface design, you could imagine that this is how you'd do everything on the Net. You'd get a default display, but you could load add-ins - most of which would be user created. It looks like an instrument display. (Note: this immediately makes me think of widgets, or gadgets, or whatever you like to call them. We are already creating our dashboards on the Web and the desktop. They're built into OS X and Vista.)

World of LinkedIn?
Joi recommends his WoW guild members to his business colleagues. He knows from experience how they perform under pressure, whether they show up on time, whether they lie and cheat. Like a project team, they all use the same interface and share a common in-game language. (Note: see also the Wired article "You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!")

Simulation vs. metaphor
There's a good paper by Douglas Thomas at USC's Web site (this one?) on the distinction between simulation and metaphor. A simulator teaches you how to do something in conditions that mimic a real-world environment. A metaphor is different from the real world but embodies something that you find there. Microsoft Flight Simulator vs. World of Warcraft.

MMORPGs as teaching tools
When you're playing WoW with kids, they suddenly understand why it's important to follow instructions. You can't kill the dragon unless you follow orders...and when you do, you get a reward.

CEOs make sucky guild leaders
Some CEO types try to be leaders in WoW, but they fail. They're used to dealing with employees who are paid to do things, whereas players leave once the task or project stops being fun.

Justin: WoW and blogging nyet, MySpace da
Justin doesn't play World of Warcraft. It takes up too much time, not to mention his entire computer screen. He also doesn't like that he can't take what he achieves in the game elsewhere.

Justin's MySpace page takes the place of his old blog. You can see his Plazes, his music, and so on,  and get a sense of his life that he used to convey explicitly by writing in his blog.

East is East and West is West and work is/isn't play
When new technology emerges, people in the U.S. immediately want to know how it serves the enterprise. In Asia, the first applications are geared toward children. "We've invented a new mobile communications device. Children like to talk with their friends - let's give it to them first."

Here in the West we're for work, against fun, and we certainly don't think that work should be fun. It's suspect. Play eats away at structure. Playfulness lets you look at things from many angles.

Tags: SXSWi, Joi Ito, Justin Hall, Douglas Thomas, USC, World of Warcraft, user interface, plazes, MySpace, learning, simulation, metaphor, work, play