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Shawn "Napster" Fanning: Wow Nerd Success Story

Posted by Cole Stryker

 

Remember this smug little prick? The original tech wunderkind (years before Rose and Zuckerberg took it to the top) Shawn Fanning built Napster from the ground up, earning a few million before he could legally drink. He sold Napster and dove headfirst into WoW, where he was inspired to create a social networking site for Wow players called Rupture. He recently sold it to EA Games for 30 million. 

From an ancient 2006 interview with 1-Up:

Using an add on or a software download, Rupture taps into the game to automatically pull together character names, profiles, and resources, and publish them on a personalized site. Rupture will also pull together stats to create individual and guild rankings and provide a place for guilds to organize their playing. As Rupture tracks each member's playing over time, these personalized profiles evolve. And players will be able to chat in groups or with other individuals and download other addons and game demos.

Interestingly, this means that building online communities is a key element in EA's online strategy, just like everybody else. Everyone seems more interested in virtual real estate than producing content these days. Am I the only one out there who has absolutely no desire to share my gaming statistics and habits with others? Maybe I just hate people/society?

Shawn's also a Jiu-Jitsu master. Check out the rest of the story over at Wow Riot.

Related Links:

Night Elves Anonymous: MMORPG addicts seek psychotherapy
Richard Garriot Wants to Fly You to Space
Ragnarok Online Reminds Me Why I Don't Like MMORPGs


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Rob said:

I'd like to punch him in his smug red sawx face.  and then check his pockets for change.

August 1, 2008 8:51 AM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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