I don’t usually cover WOW and other multiplayer games on my blog, but since this game is after all a community, I found the latest news regarding the fact that many US players are leaving to be an interesting story.

Warcraft Realms reports that the overall number of players online at any given time has been dropping since the latest expansion of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released. In May, the average number of US players online during primetime again fell to just over 380,000 players, while the number of EU players online increased to nearly 400,000.

The below chart shows the decline in player activity in the US & EU combined:

Still, after the decline, there are 8,000,000 active primetime players, which is astounding. I am amazed by how extremely popular this game is, how people spend their hard earned cash on WOW characters on ebay, and how many countless hours users spend daily playing this game. Blizzard has done an amazing job making their product as addictive as possible and making it appealing to users of all ages. I must add that even though I am not really into multiplayer gaming, the visuals are simply breathtaking.

The answer to why US players are leaving may be because as one player comments:

“IMO BC isn’t anything special or really new.
Yes, there’s new content, and new instances, blah blah blah. But when it comes down to it, there hasn’t been a lot of real ‘changes’ to the game. I think a lot people want to see something NEW. Something that hasn’t been done in WoW before. If you think about it, all WoW is, is a grinding game that repeats itself. You grind to hit the next lvl cap, then you grind to get the best gear, which entails rep and instance grinding - only so that you can run raids and grind those instances for even better gear. One day you might have all the gear and gold you need. Finally an expansion comes out, and you do it all over again.
There’s gotta be something new Blizzard can add that would actually be DIFFERENT then what we’ve been doing since day one. I’ve never had as much fun as I did when I first started playing WoW. Once I got used to that, it was the same thing at 60, and now in BC.”

So perhaps this is the reason. Perhaps once players reach 70, they feel they have conquered the game. What do you think?

Thanks to Beketchai for this pic.

Technorati tags: wow, world of warcraft, multiplayer games, the burning crusade, gaming, ebay, blizzard

A while back, my friend Stii asked me how I would define Web 2.0. My answer to him was this: “Web 2.0 to me, is the democratization of content.” Meaning: We the users now hold the remote control of information. We decide what content we want to see and share with others. Often time web 2.0 platforms also develop according to how we the users end up using them.

Throughout time humans have always liked to interact and share with one another. Web 2.0 is only a digital extension of that desire. Web 2.0 communities are for us today what tribal or village communities used to be for our ancestors. They represent a place where we can make new connections, share details of our lives with them, and discuss topics that matter to us.

Our Web 2.0 communities have also gained a good deal of power in the last few years. Politicians and brands are now using these platforms to speak to and interact with us. See my post entitled Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, But What Social Media Can Do For You.

With Web 2.0, we have taken the freedom of speech amendment to its maximum. We must remember however, that as easy as it is to upload content that we do want to see, it’s just as easy for us to stumble upon content that we don’t want to see. That’s the downside of democracy. But still a small price to pay for freedom.

Thanks to Brian Solis for this pic.

Technorati tags: web 2.0, stii, community, democracy, content, information, connections, branding, media, news, blogs, social tools, youtube, freedom of speech

On Saturday, my friends Jeff Pulver and Kfir Pravda broadcasted two short live shows from TLV and Frankfurt airports on blogTV, en route to PodCamp in Stockholm. However, since not many viewers tuned in, this made them think about the different means of increasing internet TV viewership. Here are the tips that Kfir points out as crucial:

1. Announce your show early enough, through blogs (such as mine :-)), Twitter and such.
2. Define a concrete topic for each show, so people would know what they are getting.
3. Find hosts that have good chemistry, so nonscripted situations will flow and be as funny as the rehearsed ones.

Kfir and Jeff will continue to broadcast throughout the week with various interesting & creative people from PodCamp, so tune in.

Technorati tags: internet tv, viewership, jeff pulver, kfir pravda, blogtv, podcamp, tips, broadcasting, blogs, twitter

Yedda, the knowledge sharing community, has just integrated their service with Twitter. To me, this is a great combination. Now I can let my Twitter friends know when I ask a question, when I answer a question, when I give a “thumbs up” to an answer, etc. I can decide which of my actions on Yedda I choose to share with my Twitter buddies. So now I basically have a bigger pool of people who can give me relevant answers to all my questions and who are probably interested in many of the topics that I am interested in. Check out my Twitter profile to see how it’s all displayed.

I also believe that through the questions I ask and answer, my Twitter contacts will get to know me even better than they already do. I must admit that I am not one of the “I just ate X” kind of twitterers. I am still having a bit of a hard time recording stuff like what I just had for lunch. That’s why to me this integration between Yedda and Twitter adds another dimension to my own personal Twitter experience.

Many other sites such as MyBlogLog (which displays your latest Twitter updates) and FaceBook (which allows you to update your Twitter status right on it) have also integrated their services with Twitter. I believe that Twitter is one of those simple applications that allows for so many different variations of usage, it’s amazing. People are using Twitter in such creative ways that probably not even its founders dreamt about when they came out with this product. Check this out: http://twitter.com/laundryroom

Getting back to Yedda, for all those of you who haven’t yet checked this community out, you definitely should. Yedda is a great place to ask and answer questions that relate to topics that interest you. Questions are answered by other users so there is no charge involved, and from personal experience I can tell you that I have usually received great answers to most of my questions. Each user specifies his tags of interest and only receives content based on that information. So I am not bothered with questions about topics that don’t interest me at all.

I applaud this new integration between two such great services. As I see it, we now have a blend of a knowledge community hungry for information with people who love to twitt. Not a bad combination.

Technorati tags: yedda, twitter, interests, friends, mybloglog, facebook, obvious, community, knowledge, information

Last night I attended Jeff Pulver’s annual summer party in Tel Aviv. It was absolutely amazing. Imagine 1800 geeks networking with large volumes of alcohol flowing in their blood streams. I bet that many partnerships were made yesterday. Amongst the massive crowd I managed to find some of my online friends that I haven’t yet met in person. I also bumped into many old faces from the industry, who I always enjoy seeing.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Jeff for his dedication to the Israeli hi-tech industry and also for throwing us the best parties

Technorati tags: jeff pulver, summer, party, israel, tel aviv, hi tech, networking

Chris Brogan, co-founder of Podcamp and community developer for Network2.tv and Video on the Net, has uploaded his new (very interesting) show on blogtv. Here he explains to companies how to use the new media community tools available today in order to spread their message out.

Chris talks about the importance of every business to have its own blog. He says that not only organizations should hold blogs, but also indiviuals within these organizations should promote themselves and create their own personal brand. After all its individuals who make up the organization. He speaks about the fact that In the future there will be a lot of value in people as a brand.

When asked how to make the blog more relevant, Chris emphasizes the importance of always showing faces and names on your blog - make the blog as personable as possible. This is important for the community. Make sure commenting is allowed on your blog. This allows you to interact with your readers. Adding photo sites such as flickr and any other rich media is also a great way to build a relationship with your readers.

When asked how to get the information out to people, Chris discusses the relevance of offering RSS Feeds. By allowing your readers to subscribe to your feed, you can get all the information you want to convey out to people and they don’t need to remember to go back to your site.

Chris also points out that attention tools such as Twitter and Jaiku are great ways of promoting your blog posts or any other rich media you’ve created. He also speaks about the importance of branding yourself on virtual worlds such as second life and using podcasting platforms such as blogtv or ustream to deliver your message. Video hosting sites, such as youtube for example, also present an interesting platform to send out your information.

This show is filled with great tips on how to use all these new social tools we have to brand ourselves as individuals and as companies. A must see for anyone trying to use new social tools effectively.

Technorati tags: chris brogan, podcamp, network2, video on the net, blogtv, media tools, social tools, community, blog, flickr, rss feeds, twitter, jaiku, promotion, branding, second life, podcasting, ustream.tv, video, youtube

After reading my Love is the Killer App post, my friend Gil Rimon was inspired to write some poetry 2.0. Here’s his latest masterpiece:

How to twit a lady

You don’t have to be beautiful
To get her to read
Your most meaninglessly nothingful
Recent Blogger feed.

You don’t have to be super geek
So she stumbles upon
The boring pictures of your cat getting sick
After licking Poupon.

You don’t have to be rich
You don’t have to be wit
You don’t need to be a leech
You just got to twit.

You don’t have to be a rapper
You don’t need to be Slim Shady
You just have to learn from Daddy
How to twit a lady.

Bravo Gil! I do think it’s great that people are writing poetry and songs about our web 2.0 culture. I welcome all of you to get inspired and comment back with some creative pieces of your own.

Technorati tags: poetry, web 2.0, gil rimon, poetry 2.0, twitter, blogger, stumbleupon, culture

A song entitled Love Two Point Oh has been uploaded to YouTube by johnnyOnline. In this song, Johnny aggregates his affections in a tale of unrequited love told through the medium of Web 2.0 services. There are references to Digg, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, del.icio.us and the Digg key. Mashable writes: “A full understanding of the lyrics probably means you need to go outside more often. ” I guess they are referring to me and you

Songs written about love in the Web 2.0 generation - I love it!

If you’ve got any interesting Web 2.0 love stories of your own to share, please do. I’d love to read them and do a follow up post on love in our Web 2.0 generation.

Johnny has also created his own version of the song On Broadway by the Drifters - changing the title to On YouTube. Keep it up Johnny. Soon you’ll have enough songs to come out with an album entitled: Songs from a Web 2.0 Age.

Technorati tags: love2.0, youtube, johnnyonline, web2.0, digg, myspace, facebook, delicious, mashable, love, music

Following up on my Blogs VS Social Networks discussion, I ask you: How do you choose your online friends? Do you check out their profiles, get to know them a little and only then make them a connection, or do you automatically add anyone just by looking at their pic?

Thanks to Trinity for this pic.

Technorati tags: blogs, social networks, online, friends, connections, community