As JiK and Raph have pointed out, if you go back to text MUDs then people did have emotional engagement with some NPCs. (I know you know it, but most people seem to forget/not know that there are well over one thousand functioning text MUDs still in existence.)

When a POS is attacked, when it hits the end of its shields, it goes into 'reinforced mode', and becomes invulnerable for a period of time depending on how much 'strontium' it is fueled up with. Both sides know when it comes out of 'reinforced mode' and at that time, it needs a second attack to finish it off. Often the defending alliance will turn up at this time, often resulting in the massive fleet fights EVE is famous for. It’s partly designed to counteract players turning up at 3am and leveling the enemys POS's when the enemy is asleep.

If so, then is the computer socially intelligent, or is social intelligence something closer to social ignorance? 1.) This is a draft document in the early stages of development. Comments here - or here (better for less general audience comments) are welcome, as well as examples if you are a player. 2.) This version of the document relies heavily on the "GoonSwarm versus Band of Brothers" (a dominant super alliance) struggle in-game for example. However, what goes on in the smaller alliances, I think, is sometimes more nuanced. To be introduced in a later version. Good work Nate. I've been watching this come together, and yeah, it’s getting interesting.

It actually discourages going out for hours upon hours and mindlessly grinding away to get to the next level. Quests can be done easily for the most part and are fun. Since quests often give spells and experience as rewards, you can level up off of them and get stronger for when you DO want to go out and grind. Also great about this game are the graphics, they are without doubt the most amazing of any free MMORPG I've seen to date.

Everything. Much of the GUI is not as complete or polished as planned in designs. Room creation/publishing/decorating could be a lot easier than it is now - we're working on that. Social functionality needs to be built out further - finding friends and inviting friends should be easier and more productive. There are some aspects of the client that limit how flexible it is as an element of web design - we would like to have it be more malleable in the hands of web designers. There is a big demand for the ability to create content. We have a tool that our artists and partners use to publish content after its been exported from off-the-shelf DCC tools like Max, Maya and SketchUp. The publishing tool needs a redesign and documentation before its ready for public consumption. However, UI design and development for that is a simpler task than ironing out the policies for user-generated content.

Many real-world attitudes and expectations seem to apply to virtual rooms. Many people are asking for the ability to limit who can visit or decorate a room. Some people just want to hang out with their friends and they want to create a space for that but its awkward if a stranger drops in. There are a variety of use cases where groups, organizations and businesses need to limit access to members, customers or employees. We considered a sharing framework like the one for Google Docs where you choose to have a document be public or private - if its private then you grant access by sending email invites to the people that you want to share with or collaborate with. Now that we have a lot of users, we can test alternative ideas to find patterns that better match what people want to do.

Lively is a platform for virtual socializing that adds a lot of degrees of freedom to ways that people can express themselves on the Web. We want the UI to be very simple so that rooms fit comfortably into the Web context - you should be able to multi-task, web surf, email, IM and hang-out in rooms without shifting gears too much. On the other hand, the UI should be very flexible and productive so that you can socialize and create things in fluid and natural ways. Earlier conversations with Young may or may not have involved interface design changes specific to cybersex, but since Google has no official statement on sex in its virtual world, those comments will have to be left to your imaginations, Terra Nova readers.