All the World's a Stage...For Windows Users

You can now enter Arden, Ed Castronova's virtual Shakespearian world:

Arden has yet to become the world that we have envisioned. What is available here in the current version is only a small prototype of what we believe Arden could eventually become. Richard III and The War of the Roses have provided a small starting template for what we hope you will help us improve. The works of Shakespeare are vast and provide us as developers with rich settings into which we can continue to expand the content of Arden.

Well, you can if you run Windows....

eBay Loses the Plot - and its Future

One thing that is evident online is that the line between real and virtual is increasingly evanescent (for the full half-hour argument, read Ed Castronova's thought-provoking Synthetic Worlds.) It follows that the companies that will thrive tomorrow are the ones that can seamlessly accommodate the sometimes disturbingly virtual alongside the comfier real.

Cross eBay off the list:

eBay is now delisting all auctions for 'virtual artifacts' from the site. This includes currency, items, and accounts/characters

So, here's a question for all you entrepreneurs: who wants to become the eBay of 21st century? (Via Virtual Economy Research Network.)

Update: eBay has managed to find a couple of neurons, it seems.