AOL Instant messenger open for independent developers

[berserker]

- America Online has announced the Open AIM Initiative, designed to allow independent developers freer access to the company's previously closed-source AOL Instant Messenger service. The system has been used in online games before, such as Sega's The Matrix Online and Electronic Arts' Majestic, but AOL is now openly inviting game developers and other tool developers to integrate the service into their software. "The Open AIM initiative will allow game developers the opportunity to integrate community into their game play to give users a more active and engaging experience while playing some of their favorite online games," AOL Games general manager and VP Ralph Rivera. "This could be game changing for smaller developers considering they may not have had the resources to integrate a communications offering into their games."

URL: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=8414

I guess it might be interesting thing to do for someone who develops multiplayer-enabled games.

[Hamumu]

I looked at the ICQ SDK (ASAP PDQ BBQ) way back when, when ICQ was the IM. The idea was interesting, cute, and kind of appealing, but in the end not nearly as good of an idea as NOT requiring your player to have a certain IM software installed and running to play your game.

[Fost]

Any chance it run completely independent of AOL? or does it require you to set up an account with them?

I pretty much loathe AOL at the moment simply because their policy of blocking random email servers always seems to hit me...

[soniCron]

I pretty much loathe AOL at the moment simply because their policy of blocking random email servers always seems to hit me... And didn't they modify their TOS for AIM several months ago, allowing them to "own" conversations through their network?