Raph Koster has an interesting write up on what he thinks web designers could learn from game designers and vice versa.  There is so much development going on in both realms that the discussion seems quite useful to me.  Highlights include:

Koster says web designers could learn from games that some of the most important features of a successful design are interface, pre-seeded content and identity.

Game designers could learn from the Web 2.0 space about the importance of APIs, simplicity and much more.

There's good dialogue in the comments after Koster's post, too.

Found via one of my new favorite blogs, 3pointD.com

I love this kind of stuff.  The Alliance Library System and OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) have announced that it will be offering select activities in the virtual reality space Second Life.  “We are excited to be offering new outreach programs, events, and services to people who might not otherwise come to the library,” stated Kitty Pope, Executive Director of the Alliance Library System. “Second Life has almost 200,000 residents and is rapidly growing in popularity. This will allow us to see what works and what does not work in this area. Second Life has malls, residential neighborhoods, online communities – why not a library?”

Examples of OPAL public online programs include book discussion programs, interviews, special events, library training, memoir writing workshops, and virtual tours of special digital library collections.

This is just one more example of SL being put to great use. Via 3pointD

Will Wright, creator of TheSims series of video games, has a new article in Wired describing how he believes gaming is fostering imagination and problem solving in a new generation of young people.  Want to see a fascinating example of this?  Check out the crazy world of Second Life from Linden Labs.  Some people say it's not a game, but Wright's analysis relies on the simulation of social interaction and I know of now better example.

From just the two most recent posts on W. James Au's fantastic New World Notes blog.

• The 1920 film Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is being shown tonight in the Pixel Cinema.
• There's a Linux users group meeting this weekend.
• The Second Life Music Fest will occur simultaneously in Philadelphia and in game.
• There was even a protest this week over failure to support key characters in other languages.  Weird.

Seems Wright's conclusion about gaming is past the point of deniability, doesn't it?  Unfortunately, it appears that it takes some brain power in 2nd Life to get past the glut of sex and commerce there.  Perhaps it's just that gaming has a great potential to help with imagination, etc.

Check out Matchr, an enjoyable if maddenning use of the Flickr API.