Napster creator tears down the walls for social gaming

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2009 | by Mike Snider

A decade ago, Shawn Fanning gained fame -- and turned an industry upside down -- with his music-sharing service, Napster. His latest project aims to remake the video game world, connecting players not only with content but also with one another.

Long before he began work on Napster, Fanning, now 28, was a gamer. And he was frustrated that he could not maintain contact with players outside of games like World of Warcraft. "You meet new people and friends and lose touch with them," Fanning says. "All these game platforms are walled gardens, and so you often only know someone you play with under their game alias."

So Fanning began work on a network he called Rupture to connect players across various game systems, individual online PC games such as Warcraft and even...