Back in Ohio

I am back in Ohio. I'll be here for 3 weeks attending to matters of great importance, namely seeing that my brother's marriage celebration goes off without a hitch. Ohio is a lot more humid than I remember. It must be all that dry SoCal air I'm getting used to. It's cloudy here. But the air is a lot cleaner.

Since attending E3 a few weeks back, I've wanted to write an article exploring video games and why people play them. Here is an article interviewing the founder of an online "game" called Second Life. Basically it's a virtual world where people can customize their characters, buy virtual land, and interact with each other. What makes it different is that you can build anything you want. I assume there are no/few built-in items, and most of the stuff (vehicles, buildings, weapons, clothes, etc.) is user-designed. People buy/sell these items in-game and then the game currency can be exchanged for real $US. There have been other games where people will buy/sell items or characters in real life on eBay, but this is different because these things are user-created. You can start your own store in a virtual world and earn a living. Making things that don't exist.

Ever heard of funhi.com? It's another social network thingamajig but you buy stuff for other people. Virtual stuff. People are paying money for this kind of thing.