For Web 'Game,' Everything New Is Old

Won’t these Internet startups ever learn about business plans? That's backward thinking, says prolific venture capitalist Joi Ito, who has a stake in the new website PMOG. “People make fun of the idea," he told Portfolio. “There are few sites, however, that have a critical mass where they usually don't figure out a business model.”

PMOG, which stands for “passively multiplayer online game,” was born out of its creator’s obsession with World of Warcraft, a “massively multiplayer online game.” Unlike that time sink, PMOG awards points and structures missions around the user’s workaday Web excursions. The site is toying with the idea of using the game to herd users toward sponsors' sites; first, though, it needs more seed money. (More multiplayer games stories.)