Izzy Neis

What the heck is wrong with YA these days?

Izzy Neis — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:57:10 +0000

It’s impossible to talk about new trends in young-adult fiction without considering the wildly popular supernatural fiction – much of it terrible knock-offs of the “Twilight’’ series by Stephenie Meyer. One surprising fact remains: Meyer can write beautiful prose, and she creates characters that young people care passionately about.
But why vampires? Why so many books for teenagers about the dead and the undead – about ghosts, ghouls, fairies and werewolves?

Young adults feel affinity with supernatural characters in books – The Boston Globe (via Ypulse)

It’s ranting time.

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks MILLING around book stores, piecing BIT BY BIT through the YA section, and still… why is everything about vampires and self-spoiled teenlet princess-wannabes? Gaaaaaaah.

Seriously – go take a look. There’s like 200 books that allude to, are about, or skip around the idea of Vampires (or, hell, same story lines but with werewolves). Forbidden love with fantastical species that *used* to be horror creatures, but now are modern day Romeos in unlikely situations with a modern Jane Austen heroine.

I liked Twilight. Sure. And I’m sure 10 of these 200 extra wannabe titles are just as good, if not better. BUT SERIOUSLY… can we change things up a bit? I appreciate the attempt at updating Pride & Prejudice with Pride & Prejudice and Zombies… sadly, that title falls FLAT. It literally is Pride & Prejudice with Zombies – seriously. Break all the sentences/paragraphs down, and you get: slightly edited Austen sentence for modern/young readers + ending in something tacked on about Zombies. 1/2 through, I put it down.

If there’s a good title out there with fantastical elements to it – I can’t find it buried on the shelves with all those darn Twilight-wanna-bes. And do you know how hard that is to say? I’ve had TWO books come back from editors with the sentence “Too much like Harry Potter.” Gaaaaah! Any reference to magic = Harry Potter. Okay, okay… I get it. People like Twilight, and with the series “finished” (I say that lightly, as I’m putting money down on a sequel series starting Jacob), and they’re looking for more. I actually saw a display last night at Borders with suggestions for Twilight users pimpin’ out TWILIGHT DARK CHOCOLATE. I actually guffawed at that. Clever marketers. Heck, I’m always looking for my next Harry Potter read. I enjoyed that series. I don’t want to read another book about a boy wizard, sure. And I don’t want some contrived series that feels like it’s wringing a wet towel to get the last drop of magic (I won’t name the 5 book serieses that have been going since 2002 that have boy names in the titles ).

And then there’s the snotty princess books. Pink books with prom dresses and pretty girls who have some sort of mischeif glinting in their eyes. I like the dresses… but then I read the back and it’s a book about cliques and schoolyard heirarchy at the priveliged level. They all feel scripted and gossip-y. Ugh. Not what I want either.

If I were going to suggest books right now to people who are like me – wanting something a little DIFFERENT than the onslaught currently on the shelf – here’s my list (I’ll add more as I continue with my summer reading, and fighting through the crap currently covering the shelves – my apologies to anyone who disagrees and loves the current titles, to each his/her own ):

Foundling and Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo series by D.M. Cornish)- Rich, creative, epic. I really hope the third book comes soon. Of all the series I’ve read in the last two years – I’m the MOST excited about the third book here. It’s inspiring. More boy oriented, or if you like the more colorful/darker side of Harry Potter
The Books of Abarat by Clive Barker – Modern Alice in Wonderland but a little bit more edgy… VERY unexpected. I, personally, think this series is the most underrated of them all. I love it.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I’m sorry, but never before has a book complimented a movie, and vice versa. I absolutely love it. Brilliant!!! And there’s a twist to it… can you ask for anything more? Love it.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore. There’s a follow up Fire, but I’ve not read yet. This reminded me a LOT of Garth Nix’s The Old Kingdom series (Sibriel, Lireal, etc), but with a good dash of Shannon Hale.
The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, and River Secrets by Shannon Hale (3 stories compliment each other). I am not a fan of the new covers (with the human faces) and much prefer the covers with the graceful artwork. I also love her Austenland TREMENDOUSLY.\
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – I LOVED this book (despite not feeling partial to the american book cover – the british cover is designed by Chris Riddell, and by default, much more to my liking). I LOVED this book. Seriously. Very, very well done.
The Edge Chronicles by Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart, these two are my favorite authors of this decade (aside, naturally, from JKR). Their book Muddle Earth is also one of my favorites – fun, light, silly, amazing. They have a shelf of other titles that I also very much recommend, and happily.

Others I suggest (not in any order of preference)

The Neverending Story
Artemis Fowl (mainly the first two books)
Septimus Heap (primarily the 1st book, the follow-ups get a little long-winded)
Fablehaven
Princess Ben
Princess and the Hound, Princess and the Bear
Coraline
His Dark Materials
Stardust
The Grimm Sisters
The Last Dragon
The Inheritance Series
The Naming (It’s a series)
Exodus
The Borrowers
Bartimaeus Trilogy
Ella Enchanted (best of the Gail Carson Levine Fairytale remakes)

And for those of you who want a fairytale, but feel a little too old to read teen/tween books – I wholeheartedly suggest anything by Lynn Kurland. She does both romance and sci fi (her romance isn’t “Heavy Bossums” as my sister has dubbed the books a certain family member of ours reads – not trashy, just fun & light).

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Heads Up: PetPetPark

Izzy Neis — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:29:35 +0000

If you haven’t been adventuring through Neopets lately, you might have missed the quiet beta launch of PetPetPark – Neopet’s Virtual World (finally) within the uber gaming network dynamic world of, well, Neopets. It’s cute, pet-y, seemingly silly (I really hope they come out with that Dragon suit on the splash page), and so far safe! Woo hoo!!

My initial reaction:

YES. Neopets finally has an actual Neopets Virtual World! (All credit for the dynamic “world” site they’ve had successfully for the last ten years, but this is a proper VW in my definition). It seems to have just enough of that Gaia fantasy (where most Neopet-ers go once they feel they’ve grown beyond the Neoborder), and just enough pint-sized cuteness, and just enough of that Neopets sass to really entice.

And it ages down – at least, visually (but that doesn’t always stop the older tweens/young teens from playing). At times, I’m ever-so-slightly reminded of the Littlest Pet Shop VW (which never seemed to shake out well? Buggy and little advertising unless it’s on a product), but BETTER.

More than anything I was jazzed about this: Their filters seem to be hearty. Bueno. One of my favorite “testing” phrases goes as follows:

“I like shadows because they’re dark as holes”

If you don’t see what I did there, then good luck. I won’t ruin the surprise I’ll only say this: PHRASE FILTER PHRASE FILTER PHRASE FILTER.

Needless to say – PetPetPark not only CAUGHT my seemingly innocent phrase (but not innocent phrase), but I also got a message along the lines of Knock if off or you’re gone – not those words, of course, but politely along those lines.

There’s not too much to do, and there’s still a few glitches/bugs here and there, but that’s to be expected in Beta (especially a quiet live Beta, or as quiet as you can get with such a high number of Neopets subscribers & a front page banner ad). There will have to be changes here and there, but again – everything looks promising!!

Check it out… I know I’ll be watching it from afar as they continue to build and improve and grow.

Makin’ the rounds

Izzy Neis — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:56:21 +0000

Planet Cazmo’s Virtual Concert Series, which started in November 2008, has been a boon to the virtual world for tweens and young teens: It has captivated audiences, secured a significant amount of press for the world, and driven user stats and growth.

Today the music-focused site adds another notch on its belt by securing former American Idol heart throb David Archuleta for an upcoming concert.

The virtual concert, June 19 and 20, will help promote Archuleta’s new iTunes gift pack and his upcoming US tour with Demi Lovato.

Virtual Worlds News: OMG! David Archuleta Plays Planet Cazmo

First of all:

I owe my blog (and whomever reads it – crickets…crickets…) a huge apology. Yes, I’ve been a twitaholic of sorts (well, maybe not so much in the last two weeks unless you like seeing foursquare.com updates of me @ airports).

The truth is – I have recently taken a new position at Gazillion Entertainment in San Mateo/San Fran. Gazillion has been a fantastic fit so far – and a truly remarkable company. I’m not going to go too much into my position here, being an industry blogger + allowing lots of transparency with job specifics & titles have (not surprisingly) bitten me in the arse a couple times. Of course, if you happen to located around a cookie or a latte and I (again, not-surprisingly) happen to suddenly appear in search of said-cookie or said-latte, then yes – I will no doubt gush and yammer about my position at Gazillion. Long story short, folks, I am bloggin’ on this here blog for the sack of industry bloggin’, ye kin? If not, no worries, as always – just bear with me.

So, the last few weeks have me traveling QUITE a bit. LA to SAN FRAN (as I’ve not completely relocated as of yet), LA to other cities to visit G’s VW/MMO game studios (weeeee!), LA to Disney World (16th Annual Kid Power Conference), and LA to DC (FOSI – re: COPPA 2.0 & discussion about the Megan Meier Bill).

I feel like a gypsy & I’m starting to befriend various TSA folks. The TSA in Orlando is currently babysitting my brand new California driver’s license. Le sigh.

So, after all that – twitter has been my easy-going, no-hassle, info source & airport-bored friend. Limits my ramblings CONSIDERABLE, and that tends to be where I shine, but I still get the info share happenin’, and ultimately, that’s what it’s about. I actually now have multiple accounts & multiple apps on my iphone (the only account you darlings need know is @izzyneis )

But, as I scan my RSS feeds today, I see I’m not alone in makin’ the rounds. Mr. David Archuleta, amongst other tween super-powers, has been traveling the virtual universe. I believe it was just a month or two ago when the young crooner was on BuildABearville.com – where others have also graced the beartastic stage, like “Ryan” from High School Musical, etc. Buildabearville has CONSTANT celeb support for their bear-devoted audience… and MAN, have you BEEN to that world lately? They’ve expanded quite a bit. Still heavily branded with store products, but hey – gotta pay the bills, right?

Finding ways to work house-hold brands of popularity into your virtual world can indeed be fun! KIDS LOVE CELEBRITY – not just individuals, but CELEBRITY… one famous concept that has inpact on the peer system around them. If they feel like they reach a finger out and touch that celebrity? .000015 seconds of associated celebrity. The 25 degrees of Kevin Bacon. Being able to connect at all, in any weird context, can bring youth closer to that power which they desire. It’s a little spike of happiness.

Chat rooms have been doing this for as long as chat rooms have been chat rooms. Heck – people travel miles around to go to malls to see their favorite stars. I once saw Cameron Mathison (from All My Children - which I have been watching since I was 2 while my mom folded laundry and i slurped on macaroni and cheese) – and, aside from his famousness, Ryan Lavery is hot (sorry, soap-geek-moment). I digress – anyway, so, Cam (as I like to call him) was at the Decatur Mall in DECATUR, ILLINOIS (otherwise known as that nasty mole in the armpit of the midwest…). THERE WAS A LINE AROUND THE MALL just to see this semi-celeb of housewife fame. I nearly passed out as I passed him (he was sitting at a table with handlers at the Sears entrance).

The point is – just cause the character is virtual doesn’t mean kids won’t find enticement & happiness in a celeb gracing their favorite virtual destination. BUT REMEMBER: OWN IN. LIke – don’t 1/2 arse a celeb’s appearance, otherwise you’ll lose faith from your users who are keen. Make it feel as real as you can. You want those users to walk away feeling like they had their moment – their finger touching fame.

Kids have stars in their eyes. They do (heck, I do). Do them, me, yourself a favor – don’t be the one that dims that star. Help shine it and keep it bright and in tact. For as much as some people want to poo-poo Disney… I was a 30 year old girl at Disney World (post-conference), hanging out BY MY SELF, and i shed a tear or two when they played Disney songs about dreams coming true while fireworks (which I don’t like, btw) were shooting like stars over Cinderella’s castle. For whatever happens in business, or behind the big red curtain of marketing & advertising & money makers – Disney does a damn fine job in polishing stars-in-eyes. It’s all about the experience, isn’t it? The full, round, sensory-a-blazin’ experience. That’s what makes a company that lasts decades on end.

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Free Realms: All that and the kitchen sink?

Izzy Neis — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:34:40 +0000

For most of the last decade the online gaming market has been
clearly divided between deep diversions for game-savvy adults like
World of Warcraft — which generally cost $15 a month — and cloying,
cutesy fare aimed at prepubescent children, especially girls, like Club
Penguin and Hello Kitty Online.

The sophistication in Free Realms
lies in how carefully it has been designed to appeal not only to both
of those audiences but also to the broad mass of entertainment
consumers who are discovering (or rediscovering) video games through
the likes of the Wii and Guitar Hero. Free Realms is a bit like a great
animated film: while its core audience may be children, it also retains
enough intelligence and depth to appeal to adults who can appreciate a
little whimsy.

Almost everything about the Free Realms experience
is meant to be as unintimidating as possible. Instead of buying the
game at a store, you just go to FreeRealms.com
on your Windows PC and the client software begins downloading
automatically. The game’s visual style is similar to that of World of
Warcraft, which is to say stylized and colorfully animated rather than
highly detailed and realistic. Relatively simple graphics allow the
game to run on a broad range of PCs rather than forcing potential
players with old computers to upgrade (or, more likely, not play the
game at all).

Most role-playing games are built around the
concept of classes or archetypes, which determine what sort of
abilities players have at their disposal and what type of activities
they can engage in. A player can choose to be a sword-swinging
swashbuckler or a healing cleric or a sneaky rogue or a mystical
wizard. But those who want to experience different classes must make
separate characters for each one, which can be tedious and annoying.

The
great breakthrough in Free Realms is that your character can hold many
different jobs at once. You come into the game as an adventurer but
very quickly can assume different roles like medic, archer, warrior,
wizard, ninja or even pet trainer or postman. If you get tired of
racing as a kart driver, just switch over to brawler or chef mode and
try something entirely different. It’s an innovation that much more
complicated games would do well to emulate.

Each of the various
jobs entails a slightly different play style, often built around
mini-games. Mining and harvesting, for instance, involve engaging in a
match-three puzzle game (line up three or more items of the same color)
familiar to anyone who has played a game like Bejeweled. Combat, by
contrast, means using special abilities as one might in a game like
World of Warcraft or EverQuest. Game tables for checkers and chess are
scattered liberally around the countryside as are various additional
mini strategy games.

Video Game Review – Free Realms – Living Nine Lives in Sony’s New Online Game – NYTimes.com

It’s funny, the one thing I found PERSONALLY (not professionally) discouraging about Free Realms when I played was that it seemed to try and be a fantasy world for any & everyone. I like my context to have some sort of over-arching god-like purpose, not a flimsy “of course there’s a professional looking motor-cross dude in this world of fairies” every-size-fits-all kinda existence… that feels too commercial, too salesy, too $$ in the eyes.

Remember, that’s my personal feelings.

Professionally? Yeah, it’s pretty smart. It’s yet another example of a starter MMO for the n00bs. It has play patterns for all – chess for gramps, checkers for that kid next door, pet taming for the tweens, bejeweled for mom, race cars for cousin joey, guitar hero graphics for the wii-jammers, card play for the pokemon crew, and war for the warriors (ahem, and some dads, ahem).

Oh yes, and did I mention… U13 – no chatty. None, zip, nada. U13 can join and play, speedchat yay! But no UGC communication. Nope. Not even for parents to unlock. Scalable solution in the meantime for proof of concept and low overhead on moderation (well, “lower”). But hey, sweet, right? And for those over 13 – ignore functions will help! From what I remember in my playing yesterday, I couldn’t figure out how to individually report a user. This creates two things (I was playing as an adult, fyi): a) Can’t tattle so i have to deal myself: getting your ADULT community to self regulate is pretty great once it WORKS… takes a bit tho, b) trolls/grieffers are going to be a problemo.

What I find interesting is that – this seems to be one of the first entries into this space that is one size fits all (one could argue Second Life, but I won’t). I think that Free Realms has the possibility of either spearheading (or being an inspirational nugget that sets off spearheading) a new generation of MMO’s… What I mean is this:

Most MMO/Virtual Worlds tend to BUILD life within the fantasty – it’s own network and community and fantastical existence. Free Realms is one that seems to USE life within the fantasy- the blend of fantasy with realistic passions on top. You’re a race car enthusiast wanting to be the circuits best… in a fairie virtual world. You’re a 5 star Chef… for pets and talking puppies. You’re a rockstar guitarest… for gremlins. Do you see what I mean?

Overall, it’s an exciting venture and TOTALLY work earmarking, eyeballing, examining, and forming opinions about… so go join Free Realms. I’d love to hear what you think.

Seriously – if you have an opinion PLEASE SHARE!!

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Hey Random Parents, Your kid WANTS to join!

Izzy Neis — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:14:36 +0000

The way BillMyParents works is that kids shop around for goods they want online and then click on the BillMyParents icon on the page to send payment requests to a participating parent. Then the parent decides whether to complete or deny the transaction. Kids can write little notes along with requests explaining why they want a given item, but parents retain complete control over their own payment information and what gets purchased in the transaction.

Right now BillMyParents is participating primarily with physical goods retailer Amazon, but CEO Jim Collas has made it clear that the technology is compatible with virtual goods and that he’s interested in having BillMyParents handle those sorts of microtransactions. Other future products will include a special BillMyParents debit card that parents can load up with a child’s allowance, so the child can then use it like a credit card when making online purchases.

Something like BillMyParents could be very useful to youth-oriented virtual worlds and games where the friction involved in getting money from young users is always an issue. Inevitably revenue is going to be lost as kids decide paying is too hard to be worth the virtual item. Right now prepaid cards are primarily filling that niche, but it could be argued that BillMyParents attacks the same problem in a much lower-friction way.

While the payment method does lack the immediacy of cashing in a prepaid card in an online world, it’s also much faster and easier to send requests to a parent’s account. Whether or not BillMyParents took off with kids would probably depend on how quickly parents were responding to transaction requests and how they were discussing denials with children. There’s also the matter of the debit card, which sounds like it will work a lot like the cards being provided by competitors like Zeevex.

Virtual Goods News: BillMyParents Offers New Payment Options For Tween Virtual Goods

This… this concept is brilliant.

I’m sitting here reading & re-reading this news item from Virtual Goods News, trying to figure out where the poo-poo factor is, but really… this is a no-duh kinda initiative.

Why ‘no duh’? I operate under the factor that – if you can find a simplistic behavior that has been implemented within grown-up sites successfully for some time now (say… “wishlists” on amazon) and then find a new way to spin it, work it, and offer it to another audience (especially one like tweens that need such a thing), then WAAA-LA! You’ve got a ‘no duh’ opportunity on your hands.

My understanding is that BillMyParents is much like a hub for wishlist requests, and that’s great. What will make this a fire-cracker process is when they start working within virtual worlds. Talking to virtual worlds these days – the biggest issue isn’t getting free users (well, not as much), but converting free users to PAYING MEMBERS. You can get a bajillion users on your site, but if you can’t find a way to convert funds from them (now now, don’t freak – i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again… to make an exciting adventureous atmosphere online for youth you HAVE to have money coming in to sustain and improve. Thems the facts, folks).

Many sites have tried any & everything from giving away free temporary codes, free virtual goods, coupons, push-email parental reminders, etc. “How to get the credit card info” becomes a sketch-ish goal that obscures the point of the virtual experience and makes it about ‘hand out whatever lures the kid in’. Meh, not so hot.

It sounds like BillMyParents offers a third party easy solution, much like the trust of paypal for ebay-ers, where you can pick & choose & be notified about your child’s a) web wanderings, b) web wishlist of environments. Again, i believe this will be much more successful of an initiative if there is a wish list button within the virtual world, on say – the ‘become a member page’. Why? Kids are inherently lazy (or, oddly enough – aggressively lazy, which is as much fun of a concept as jumbo shrimp) in these virtual worlds. You’ll get a better turnover if you make it a ‘one-click easy’ request sent to the BMP site. If you make them have to sign up/in at another website location to inform parents of wishful playing? Boo… too much work. Gotta make it a one-stop-shop for kids somehow. THAT is the important part.

After that – for parents, simplistic info = great. Any time you make a parent/adult feel dumb, the more likely they’ll be turned off (example: ask your parents/grandparents how they feel about that “I’m a PC and I’m four years old” commercial. Cute kid. Insulting. Think about it). And hey, BMP – think about teaming up info with someone like commonsensemedia.org. Why? Because parents might want to see WHY they should have their kid sign up at that site as a member… up to you, but it’d be a cool addition.

Anyway, enough rambling for now. Worth heading over to both VirtualGoodsNews.com and BillMyParents.com to check out more info. I look forward to where this site could go….

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OMG YES! Cosbys re-uniting on the Today Show

Izzy Neis — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:33:05 +0000

Once upon a more active-bloggin’-time I wrote about my adoration for a certain TV family that (still) feels as close to me as my own…

THE COSBYS.

I’m so psyched they’re all going to be together. GUESS WHO IS DVR-ING next week? Lolzers.

If you’d like to ask the Cosby family a question The Today Show (@todayshow) has pointed us to a link where they’re taking questions, check it out.

Noteworthy: Virtual World Play

Izzy Neis — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:19:18 +0000

When toy companies talk about new toy products, there’s often a lot of discussion around a toy’s play patterns. What is it about the toy that resonates with a child? What play patterns will the toy tap into? Will the play pattern extend across age and gender differences?

Sometimes answering play pattern questions like these are pretty straight forward, other times their answers are not as clear cut. Potentially even more complicated is describing the play pattern around a toy product tied to a virtual world or online experience. What kind of play pattern are we talking about now? How does the play experience through an avatar in an online world differ from that of a child playing with a physical toy in the real world?

These are hard questions to answer, but they are ones I’m betting more and more people will be asking in the world of youth marketing.

360blog » Blog Archive » What Works For Virtual Play? – Questions to ask about Web-enabled toys

Head over to 360blog for some great questions & insights into Virtual World play from a toy perspective.

Play. That’s what virtual worlds are about. A sincere engagement of a youth online to encourage play through interaction, exciting environment, emotional attachment, exploration, adventure, a sense of belonging, and mystery – each like crayons necessary to fill in the coloring sheet of your product. Visual:

Give the kids the tools. Purple interaction = chat, friending, forming social bonds through whatever tools you allow. Blues environment = fun-to-look at visuals that help build context and allow the user the opportunity to create assumptions and understandings and attachments to setting. Red emotional attachment = the drama of competition, peer to peer activities, causes to one’s sense of belonging to the world, events, etc. Green exploration = a world to roam, games to conquer, thriving nature of a world that always has a new play pattern to follow or new things to collect or new behaviors to explore, or new story lines to attach to. Yellow adventure = a chance to change up every day, an opportunity to try new things and seperate from reality, new opportunities, escapism and the open world that offers. Pink belonging = a sense of home, entitlement, an opportunity to build connections, a fantastical safe-haven when needed. Black mystery = Never knowing what will come next, being confronted with the excitement of mystery and shadows and how it affects the emotional attachment and exploration and adventure. The coloring page = your property, your virtual world context, your site’s purpose and goal for the end user.

No one color can complete the overall picture, otherwise it would be pretty boring. Mixing of colors helps illustrate all the complex additions to the site, and help the user enjoy the constand “change” of color/behavior/offerings.

In the end, the act of the child using the crayon to fill in the experience you’ve offered becomes the play… keeps them entertained, their minds working, their engagement high.

Anyway – sorry, I got into a tangent I wanted to explore. I found a crayon in my desk and had an epiphany, lol. What do you think? Share!

update:

Thanks to my dirty-minded, darling friends who pointed out that my previous coloring page (an ode to this week’s Star Wars “May The Fourth Be With You” day) was inappropriate with a bit of a different perspective. I’m so glad you work in online communities like me. TEST = PASSED. hahahahaha…….. yeah. Enjoy Squidword cleaning tables.

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Great review of Moderation & tools

Izzy Neis — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:59:19 +0000

Via yesterday’s New York Times, a great article by Leslie Berlin (who is the project historian for the Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford) about the different techniques and technologies used to moderate children’s virtual worlds for inappropriate/dangerous content and risky behaviours. The article focuses on vw’s that try to monitor “intent as well as content”…rather than simply blocking keywords or limiting communication altogether. It also describes that bullying and disclosing personal info remain the most common dangers faced by young people online. According to Berlin, the biggest challenges for vw moderators are keeping up with “user innovations” aimed at bypassing moderation tools (such as “workarounds” or “secret codes”), as well as striking a balance between technological solutions and human judgement when it comes to deciding which words, workarounds and behaviours should ultimately be filtered out. However, this “balance” is becoming increasingly reliant on technology and sophisticated in-game surveillance tools.

Gamine Expedition: Virtual Playground Monitors

Rock on Gamine Expedition! This is GREAT READ for anyone in this biz who needs an intro to the importance of moderation & mod tools, so please click the link above and get to reading. If you want, bring back questions and we can start some discussions about this stuff.

Cheers!

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