 | Researcher: World of Warcaft players make better employees Jan 4th 2013, 20:57 Digital culture researcher John Seely Brown says MMORPG's players have accelerated levels of passion and curiosity, making them attractive job candidates. 
Playing World of Warcraft will make a person a better employee in the corporate world, according to digital culture researcher John Seely Brown. Speaking in a new Big Think YouTube video, Brown said he would rather hire a high-level World of Warcraft player than an MBA student from Harvard. "To understand these massive multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, do not think about it as just game play, but look at the social life on the edge of the game," Brown said. Brown claimed that such high-level World of Warcraft players benefit from the fundamental collaborative nature of the game, specifically with regards to guilds and raiding. He said these guilds, which can number in the hundreds of players, are fueled only by a player's passion, not any external reward or bonus. "When we look into the social structures and the knowledge capability, refining, and generation capabilities of this guild structures, there is something going on here," Brown said. "Now, these are not just self-organizing groups. Basically every high-end guild has a constitution. The leaders of these guilds also have to do dispute adjudication all the time. They also have to be willing to say, 'Let's measure ourselves.' Another reason why a World of Warcraft player would make a better employee, according to Brown, is because players must create "dashboards," or ways in which players measure themselves and things happening around them. In the corporate world, Brown said, these dashboards are applied by managers, but that isn't the case in World of Warcraft. "In World of Warcraft you invent a dashboard for yourself," Brown said. "So this whole idea of thinking about how do I build measurements to facilitate my own performance for me and me alone becomes very interesting. And in fact in the World of Warcraft there's a simple mantra I encounter all the time. If I ain't learning, it ain't fun." Ultimately, Brown said employers would be smart to hire a World of Warcraft player because these gamers have accelerated levels of passion and curiosity. "But it gets back to this notion of passion, it gets back to this notion of curiosity, and it gets back to this notion that this is an interest-driven phenomenon that unleashes exponential learning of a dimension that's almost unimaginable any other way," he said. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | THQ creditors, US Trustee take issue with quick sale Jan 4th 2013, 18:36 Committee of noteholders, Roberta DeAngelis not happy with publisher's expedited sale process or terms. As part of THQ's bankruptcy declaration last month, the company revealed plans to sell itself to Clearwater Capital Group in 30 days for $60 million, subject to court approval. That approval has been contested, as THQ creditors and US Trustee Roberta DeAngelis have raised concerns regarding the publisher's expedited sale process and terms. Distressed Debt Investing reports that DeAngelis, who is overseeing the THQ bankruptcy filing, has entered an objection. Her claim states the timing of the sale (scheduled to be completed January 10) is being held in too short a window to allow interested parties to take part in the sale process. She also notes that fees and expense reimbursements due to Clearlake (estimated at $2.25 million) are "excessive" when compared to the total cash offer in the bid. Some THQ creditors are similarly unhappy with THQ's expedited sale process and filed their own objection. The group claims the sale should not be approved because the terms are "not fair and reasonable and were not designed to (and, in fact, will not) maximize the value of the [THQ's] estates." The creditors claim THQ management set up the auction not to maximize the value of its assets in an effort to make good its debts, but rather to keep jobs in place and ensure THQ, as a whole, will live on. "Taken as a whole, the Bidding Procedures are designed specifically to ensure that Clearlake is the successful bidder and that [THQ's] business will continue as a 'going concern,' whether or not such outcome would be in the best interests of the [THQ's] unsecured creditors and/or maximize the value of [THQ's] estates," a line from the document reads. The claim also takes issue with a requirement that prospective purchasers bid on THQ as a whole, rather than on a title-by-title basis. This would eliminate the possibility of potential buyers bidding on franchises they are most interested in, instead forced into an all-or-nothing option. Much like DeAngelis, the THQ creditors believe the sale process timeline was much too quick. "Under any circumstances, [THQ's] proposed timeline would be extremely aggressive--under the present circumstances, they are unfair and unreasonable and should not be approved." The creditors also bemoaned the timing of the sale. They said holding such a process during the holiday season--when numerous interested parties are away--compounds the difficulty of maximizing value for creditors. A hearing concerning the THQ sale bidding procedures will be held today, with prospective bidders required to submit their bids by January 8. The actual auction will take place January 9 and the final sale hearing will be held January 10. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | GameStop shares rebound Jan 4th 2013, 17:20 Following 5 percent dive yesterday on Sony used games suppression technology patent filing, speciality retailer bounces back. 
GameStop shares bounced back today, up more than 2 percent to $24.85 at press time. Shares of the specialty retailer dipped by more than 5 percent yesterday following the publication of a Sony patent application for technology that would block used games. The technology would make it so only the original purchasers of a game could play a given title. Thus, retailers that buy and sell second-hand games like GameStop would be negatively impacted. Analysts were not keen on the idea, however, telling Bloomberg Businessweek yesterday that such a technology would be detrimental to Sony's overall business. Sony's patent application is by no means a guarantee that a future system, potentially the PlayStation 4, would leverage the used games-blocking technology. Sony has not commented on the matter since the patent application filing was discovered yesterday. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
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