Got Game?

My knowledge of video games has always been limited to the one game that the de Ville progeny loved to play Super Mario. Not only did they love the game...on occasion I would wake up alone at 3:30 in the morning wondering where Mr de Ville was, only to find him at the computer playing Super Mario. God knows that was a lifetime ago.

Later, a little over 10 years ago, I remember dragging my son to B-school one day and he ended up in the computer lab playing Doom, an online multiplayer game, with a group of guys from my B-school class and kicking their ass.

Now he's busy studying for the CFA and learning how to become a young hedge fund mogul and has no time for games other than watching the Lakers playoffs. But as I've learned there is an entire culture of adults out there who put in serious hours every week playing multi player games.

Recently I got a full tutorial in what is the latest and greatest in gaming and I'm here to report.

Fun Com has just launched the most technically and graphically advanced game The Age of Conan and even a fashionista like me is impressed with the cgi technical artistry of it all.

It's got the usual game features where you choose an avatar based on specific archetypes and have multiple quests to accomplish to gain powers and reach the next level.

But as I've learned there is sooo much more involved.

You can choose to play as a single player against the game environment and artificial intelligence characters of the game. Or you can choose multiplayer mode either Themepark where you are basically led through certain scenarios or Sandbox where multiplayer randomness is thrown in.

Add to that an awesome End Game and there is a cyber world that just gets more exciting the more you play.

With multiple players on servers all over the world you can connect online through the game and join informal groups or formal guilds where you share your talents and work together to fight your cyber foes.

Serious gamers are living in this online world on a daily basis. Online relationships are formed. Forget Match.com or EHarmony.com you can find a cyber lover more easily in a multiplayer game.

It's not only a phenomenon it is a veritable worldwide culture.

Actually. I'd love to try my hand at this game but between the gazillion hours that I spend on the computer for work and on this humble blog I don't have the extra hours just to learn how to manipulate the mouse and the keyboard to make it out of level one where the real fun begins. And I'm all about finding the fun.

Meanwhile the tech geeks at Fun Com are rolling in the cash with initial game sales and all the players addicted and paying monthly subscription fees. We're talking hundreds of billions here.

All I need to find out is whether or not Fun Com is a public company and can I buy the stock.

Orwellian Online Indoctrination

I was just thinking about writing a post about multiplayer online games and the educational and social qualities of them. Unfortunately, just today I was reminded by the Times Online that they aren't all benign.

The Miss Bimbo site was set up by Nicholas Jacquart, a French entrepreneur. He moved to Tooting, South London, recently and with a 30-year-old businessman called Chris Evans set up Ouza Ltd to promote the website in Britain.

Just more of the non stop early sexualization of girls....apparently these days you can't start too early.

As with all online games

Users are set targets:
Level 7 After you broke up with your boyfriend you went on an eating binge! Now it’s time to diet . . . Your target weight is less than 132lbs
Level 9 Have a nip and tuck operation for a brand new face. You’ve found work as a plus-size model. To gain those vivacious curves, you need to weigh more than 154lbs
Level 10 Summertime is coming up and bikini weather is upon us. You want to turn heads on the beach don’t you?
Level 11 Bigger is better! Have a breast operation
Level 17 There is a billionaire on vacation . . . You must catch his eye and his love! Good luck

With the Fashion Industry promoting anorexia, the Music Industry promoting girls as Ho's and the Gaming Industry promoting bimbo-hood, is there anywhere in our culture that sends a positive message to young girls?