Players of the PC version of Mass Effect are up in arms over the copy protection it uses, and worse, EA says the same system will be in Spore. This is the latest salvo in a year-long shootout over versions of Sony’s SecuROM product, which is getting increasingly intrusive. Each time a new version adds new restrictions, there’s a massive outcry… and then the next game comes out with an even more draconian policy. For a sense of the community’s mood, click this with care; there’s an angry guy in there.

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Massive, the in-game advertising arm of Microsoft, claims to have evidence that in-game ads not only sell stuff; players think they’re “cool.” But game forum discussions all over reveal plenty of resistance. While many gamers don’t mind seeing ads in natural contexts, that’s hardly an endorsement of ads in games in general. Accustomed as we are to getting software free in exchange for ad exposure, we know the value of our brand awareness. So if we expose ourselves to ads, we want something back.

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Age of Conan, released to record sales, has been out for three weeks now. The initial sales reflect massive anticipation: the game promised stunning graphics, innovative combat, attackable guild battlekeeps, and boobs. (It also has a lot of men in skirts, a fetish of mine, though oddly this wasn’t a big marketing point.) And reviews have been mostly positive. But not everything is as perky as hoped.

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I was delighted to be given the opportunity to attend and cover the Games and Mobile Forum / LA Games Conference for GotGame. The conference was at the Hotel Roosevelt on Hollywood Boulevard, directly opposite Graumann’s Chinese theater, on the Walk of Fame. A glittering setting for a games gathering!

This was a conference for industry insiders: game company executives talking to each other and to representatives from related business, focusing on “The Future of Connected Entertainment.” To a gamer, hearing about the industry from this point of view was an eye-opening experience.

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Cameron Sorden poses the question: why would a player leave WoW? Why leave a game which absorbed and enchanted you for years? I left six months ago, and for me the answer boiled down to two words: “guild drama”. It’s an interesting phrase: it acknowledges the passion people bring to the game, while trivializing those emotions as mere entertainment.

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