Erik Bethke
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Erik Bethke
Erik Bethke is a computer games developer. Bethke worked on UV Spectrometer experiments under Dr. D.E. Shemanksy at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Southern California, but did not complete his PhD studies in Space Sciences. He began a career in the games industry working on GoPets, GoDance, Star Trek: Starfleet Command, Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empires at War and Star Trek: Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates. His first book, ''Game Development and Production'', describing the methodology of creating games; was edited by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, Co-CEOs of BioWare. A subsequent book, ''Settlers of the New Virtual Worlds'', co-edited with Erin Hoffman, explored human and property rights in virtual worlds, and highlighted current End User License Agreements (EULAs). In 2003 Bethke moved to Seoul, Korea and founded GoPets, Ltd. which was acquired by social gaming company Zynga. Bethke worked at Zynga from 2009 to 2012 as the General Manager of ...
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United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ...
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BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts. BioWare specializes in role-playing video games, and achieved recognition for developing highly praised and successful licensed franchises: ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Neverwinter Nights'', and ''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''. They proceeded to make several other successful games based on original intellectual property: ''Jade Empire'', the ''Mass Effect'' series, and the ''Dragon Age'' series. In 2011, BioWare launched their first massively multiplayer online role-playing game, ''Star Wars: The Old Republic''. History Foundation BioWare was founded by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, alongside Trent Oster, his brother Brent, Zeschuk's cousin Marcel, and ...
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University Of Southern California Alumni
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the designation is reserved for colleges that have a graduate school. The word ''university'' is derived from the Latin ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". The first universities were created in Europe by Catholic Church monks. The University of Bologna (''Università di Bologna''), founded in 1088, is the first university in the sense of: *Being a high degree-awarding institute. *Having independence from the ecclesiastic schools, although conducted by both clergy and non-clergy. *Using the word ''universitas'' (which was coined at its foundation). *Issuing secular and non-secular degrees: grammar, rhetoric, logic, theology, canon law, notarial law.Hunt Janin: "The university ...
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American Video Game Designers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * ...
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Mafia Wars 2
''Mafia Wars'' is a defunct freemium multiplayer social network game created by Zynga. In ''Mafia Wars,'' the players assume the roles of gangsters while building their own Mafia-type organization. The players fight and "rob" other players online - completing jobs, missions, and operations to gain rewards and strength in an endless game. ''Mafia Wars'' won the 2009 Webby Award People's Voice Winner in the Games category. A sequel, Mafia Wars 2, was released in October 2011 and was shut down on December 30, 2012. However, on April 5, 2016, it was announced via Zynga's forums that Mafia Wars would close down on June 6, 2016. Players were informed of this via an in-game message. The game was taken offline shortly past midnight PDT on June 7, 2016. The game was relaunched on mobile in April 2017 for selected markets, featuring revamped mechanics. In July 2017, Zynga announced that all future work on the game was cancelled and the game was discontinued. Players were pushed to play ...
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Zynga
Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its mission as "connecting the world through games". Zynga launched ''FarmVille'', on Facebook in June 2009, reaching ten million daily active users (DAU) within six weeks. As of August 2017, Zynga had thirty million monthly active users (MAU). In 2017, its most successful games were ''Zynga Poker'' and '' Words with Friends 2'', with about 57 million games being played at any given moment; and ''CSR Racing 2'', the most popular racing game on mobile devices. Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on December 16, 2011,Zynga IPO Goes SplatVille. Wh ...
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Seoul, Korea
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of the 1948 constitution. According to the 2020 census, Seoul has a population of 9.9 million people, and forms the heart of the Seoul Capital Area with the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Considered to be a global city and rated as an Alpha – City by Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC), Seoul was the world's fourth largest metropolitan economy in 2014, following Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. Seoul was rated Asia's most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis in 2015, with a GDP per capita (PPP) of around $40,000. With major technology hubs centered in Gangnam and Digital Media City, the Seoul Capital Area is home to the headquarters of 15 ''Fortu ...
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EULA
An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restrictions which apply to the use of the software. Form contracts for digital services (such as terms of service and privacy policies) were traditionally presented on paper (see shrink-wrap agreement) but are now often presented digitally via browsewrap or clickwrap formats. As the user may not see the agreement until after they have already purchased or engaged with the software, these documents may be contracts of adhesion. Software companies often make special agreements with large businesses and government entitles that include support contracts and specially drafted warranties. Many EULAs assert extensive liability limitations. Most commonly, an EULA will attempt to hold harmless the software licensor in the event that the software cau ...
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Virtual Worlds
A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities and communicate with others. These avatars can be textual, graphical representations, or live video avatars with auditory and touch sensations. Virtual worlds are closely related to mirror worlds. In a virtual world, the user accesses a computer-simulated world which presents perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate elements of the modeled world and thus experience a degree of presence. Such modeled worlds and their rules may draw from reality or fantasy worlds. Example rules are gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication between users can range from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, sound, and rarely, forms using touch, voice command, and balance senses. Massively multip ...
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Erin Hoffman
Erin Hoffman (born 1981) is an American game developer, blogger, and fantasy writer. She has published three fantasy novels, and been the lead designer on multiple games such as ''Kung Fu Panda World'', ''GoPets: Vacation Island'', and ''Frontierville''. Her anonymous post as a disgruntled "EA Spouse" in 2004, based on the working conditions of her husband who was an Electronic Arts developer, led to industry-wide awareness of the frequent use of "Crunch time (video gaming), crunch time" overtime work to complete games in the video game industry. Game designer and author Hoffman graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York in 2003, where she majored in Philosophy. From 1999 to 2004, Hoffman was a contract game designer for Simutronics, working on the multiplayer game ''DragonRealms'', after which she went on to become a contract game designer and director of online communities for ''GoPets'', a pet-based virtual world startup based in Seoul, Korea. She then worked fo ...
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Greg Zeschuk
Gregory Zeschuk is a Canadian businessman who was a VP at Electronic Arts and General Manager at BioWare Austin until 2012. He co-founded video game developer BioWare in Edmonton in 1995 with Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip, after all three earned their medical degrees from the University of Alberta. Zeschuk announced his retirement from BioWare on September 18, 2012. He is currently involved in a number of projects related to the craft-beer industry, including the production of a web-based interview show known as "The Beer Diaries." Greg is also the chairman of the board of the smart playground technology startup, Biba Ventures based in Vancouver, BC. BioWare projects credited with platforms and dates * ''Shattered Steel'' (PC and Mac, 1996) * ''Baldur's Gate'' (PC and Mac, 1998) ** '' Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast'' (PC and Mac, 1999) * ''MDK2'' (Dreamcast and PC, 2000) * '' Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'' (PC and Mac, 2000) ** '' Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal'' ...
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ...
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