I’m extremely tired at writing moment, but I couldn’t sleep because my head is just filled with thoughts that I just need to get out! So please excuse me for not linking to smart people – this is just me!
I kinda freaked out today, when I realised that my whole thesis is about reputation! It’s everywhere – and I wasn’t aware of it! It really scared the bejeebles out of me! When discussing the ontological state and identity of the avatar, reputation is essential. When discussing ownership and the attachment to virtual gaming goods, reputation is important. I had an interesting conversation with a friend who’s a WoW’er a while back (may have blogged about it actually) and he had been playing Oblivion for a while, which he thought was really cool but he missed the ‘bragging’ that WoW gave him. There he could show off the gains and riches from all his labor, he couldn’t do that with a single player game. And I think this is a perfect example of why players become so attached to their virtual property.
Tag Archives: online community
Korean Energy Commercial
So…I’m on the trail of fact finding! Sigh! I didn’t know it would be this hard? What? Am I too tired to think straight? Anyways – going through some previous blog stuff – like Korea’s legislature on MMOs, which ofcourse led me GameStudy – a study group for gaming culture of Korea which in turn led me to this commercial! It translates to: “All of Youth, It is time for taking “Enerzen”. While your competitors are sleeping, You, brave new worker, should recharge your energy for the win”.
First off – hahahahhahahahaha! Brave new worker!!!! Hehe! How lovely!!!
And then there’s the Americanized singing in the end! Hoooo hooo! Oh, I know I should take these things much more seriously – I’m just tired! And I want to find my freakin facts!!!!!! Anyways…enjoy!
Entertainment, Games, Technology – wOOt?!
There’s been some interesting blogposts lately about the frustrations of what articles to put where, what to discuss where and what words describe what?
Aleks, at The Guardian Games Blog ponders on the acceptability to blog about social software in a games oriented blog. Second Life (which my puter stubbornly is denying me access to), MySpace, Flickr and del.icio.us all encompass play, as well – but is it right to discuss them in a games blog?
“For me, social software often fits the bill more so than goal-directed environments in which I have to shoot things (badly), solve puzzles (incorrectly) or collect items I don’t care about (slowly). Yet in these environments there is play. Even if the play is not formal, there are playful experiences. And so I think they deserve as much time on here as the latest chart toppers.”
I think I disagree. I think we’ve moved beyond this now – these places deserve their own spaces for discussion. But ofcourse, sometimes these social software sites produce games as well and sometimes people make some fascinating gaming observations of them, like “Digg-ing the game”! Which definitely deserves discussion in a games blog!
Meanwhile, over at Wonderland, Alice ponders about BBC’s editorial decision to report that the World of Warcraft expansion is delayed in the Technology section, alongside news about YouTube and Google. I think a lot of news about World of Warcraft is very interesting to technology readers and definitely deserves space there as a lot of what’s going on there has to do with technology, culture and society. But that the expansion is delayed is pure entertainment news, to be sure! I understand that it can be confusing at times, though. Seb Potter has a comment which I agree with:
“I’d like to see “Virtual” as a section, but I guess you’d start to need to just duplicate all the categories of real-life news eventually.”
I’m partial to ‘Virtual Life’ as a section. Some World of Warcraft news is pure gaming news, technology news and virtual life news – we shouldn’t have to think that just because World of Warcraft is a game, that all news from within has to be documented in a games section. And I certainly feel that there is room for another section of news with the title ‘Virtual Life’ – I’m sure most gamers who don’t play Second Life are extremely tired of all the Second Life news in their medium, and well…Second Life isn’t a game! BUT! If someone were to design a really cool game in Second Life – I’m sure they’d love to read about it! And as for the technology section, I’m sure the social impact new technology has had in MMORPGs is only interesting to a certain point, I think it’s time to move on! Unless you’re actually interested in ‘virtual life’! Sigh…am I making any sense?
It certainly is obvious that we’re at a crossroads here, which is so exciting! I can imagine myself as a granny someday saying “Oh…I remember back when we thought these worlds were just games for pure entertainment! Ha ha ha! We were so naive!”
What an excellent way to be a fan!
I’ve been completely smitten by Keane’s “Crystal Ball”! I know, I’m late and everyone else is probably sick of it – but I’m completely and utterly smitten!!! I saw a clip of the music video and there was my favorite B-actor (oh dear…is that an insult?)! Does anyone else have those? Actors that you just adore, but don’t remember the name of?
Anyways, wanted to have a look at the whole video and naturally headed over to YouTube! And, naturally the RIAA had requested the video removed! Idiots!
But ofcourse I found so much more interesting stuff with the song!!! A Lost mashup! An adorable puppet! A Harry Potter love triangle drama! Three best friends portraying the weirdness of growing up (I think)! An amusement park mash-up! And….
Well…I think I’m gonna have to stop there, the song’s starting to wear thin in my ears! Hehe!
I think this stuff is just adorable and entertaining (although I really shouldn’t be spending this much time enjoying myself). And ofcourse….how could I ever mention fan culture without mentioning machinima?!!! Hehe!
So here’s an interesting dilemma!
I’m a terrible sister!! My sister’s birthday is tomorrow and I STILL haven’t found her a gift! She lives in Australia and I’ve been surfing around for a couple of days trying to find something VERY modest for my student budget. There’s a few options out there that seem modest…but the cost is so much more!
So…my sister is an eager WoW’er…and I’m wondering….how unethical would it be for me to buy her a gift certificate for virtual goods?
Velvet-Strike
This is new to me…and oh…how beautiful!!! I’m truely touched!
”
It’s just…beautiful! Anti war graffiti in such a ‘reality-like’ war game? Amazing! And as they state:
and
“Reality is up for grabs. The real needs to be remade by us.”
I’m such a sucker for movements like this!!! Gives me so much hope! And I’m going to stop now before I get all sappy!!
Questions
So…yeah…lost my mind and can’t think straight apparently!!
Here’s a simple sentence I managed to struggle with! Let me know which one you prefer; “When the ‘self’ is projected onto cyberspace…” or “When the ‘self’ is projected into cyberspace…”? Actually may want to change cyberspace to virtual world. Oh the DETAILS!!!
And here’s a thought I had while walking to uni today…I wonder if players who change their avatars often in MMOs have the same attachment to the game as those who like to stick to a favorite?
Ooh! In the spirit of…you know…just airing out stuff…I just had a conversation with a WoW’er about why MMORPGs are great fun! He says that half the joy is the ability to show off all the cool things you’ve managed to win, accumulate and make! We were comparing the joys of Oblivion and WoW. He asked me if this wasn’t true also for The Sims Online and I have to say no – actually the exact opposite is true! The Sims was such more an online hit that The Sims Online because of the community forums! People make stuff and share and download and can really show off with what they do in The Sims – whereas with The Sims Online was too bogged down with rules to spark innovation so rarities became really boring after a while! Funny that!
Oooh…and look at that (yup…reading through written work)! I’ve defined gold farmers as exploiters – I’m not sure that’s right! Which makes me wonder if gold farmers can be included in any players taxonomy. I don’t think so….huh…we’ll see what happens when I try excluding them! Ahhhh!!! The ‘buyers’ are definitely exploiters!
Anyways, have a fabulous day!!! I know I’m not!!
Insurance gaming
Well…it seems insurance companies are thinking gaming as marketing now!
Check out this Farmers Insurance commercial, ‘The Lord of Mishap’! It’s actually quite amusing!
"Girl things" in games
Granted, I really don’t have time to focus on blogging at the moment, so excuse me if I’ve misunderstood this completely! I just….I just couldn’t let this pass by without adding some comments. I’m confused, terrified and well…just a tad insulted, to be honest.
Edward Castronova’s latest Terra Nova post examines one of the ‘theories’ introduced at Ludium 1. Uhm…from what I can gather The Koithuo team proposed a way of looking at ‘the evolutionary theory of human gender differences’ and implementing this as a test into games, using Steen’s ‘girl game modes’ which say “that women will be interested in a) games about rating men’s prowess (The Yenta Game”), choosing men to connect with (“The Marriage Game”), and getting men to stay committed to them (“The Newlywed Game”).”
Now…it seems the crew at A Tale in the Desert have implemented a game in their world to test these theories. Which I completely concur with Castronova when he writes that:
“Regardless of whether you agree with Steen’s theories or not, the exciting thing here is that we get to see them tested, at the level of an entire society. It’s not just a theoretical/political debate any more. We’re getting some information.”
Spore…sigh!
This game is just starting to sound more and more fabulous!! I’ve just listened to a podcast from the GDC 06 of Caryl Shaw’s (Producer, Maxis) talk about “Building Community Around Pollinated Content in Spore” and I’m in complete awe! I almost feel guilty for criticising The Sims Online, but I’m sure anyone would agree with me there. And I almost think they’re kind for keeping the game going as I’m sure there are only a couple of thousand players (huh…need to check up on that) since those that still are there are still passionate about it.
Keywords for the talk: technology, content, community; generative content; small file sizes; “bragging rights”, flickr inspired tagging; stories behind the objects; massively solo player game
I’m truely pumped!!
Also check out Will Wright’s talk with BBC Technology about “User-generated future of gaming”. At one point they actually talk about letting avatars roam through different gaming spaces – interesting!!
Remember What The Dormouse Said 
