This week the Massachusetts Institute of Technology named a new director for its high-tech Media Lab, and its choice, Joi Ito, is someone who says he has learned more from World of Warcraft than from traditional academic institutions. Mr. Ito is chairman and former chief executive of Creative Commons, a nonprofit that advocates for new, more-open copyright licenses that make online sharing easier. He has also been a high-tech entrepreneur and a venture capitalist. Though he briefly attended Tufts University and the University of Chicago, he never completed a college degree. Mr. Ito talked to The Chronicle about his hopes for the new job and about how video games have prepared him to lead professors.