COMM 303 Blog #7

Gaming to be One of the Many, Not Few

A young male with glasses, acne, physically really skinny or really chubby, wearing high-waters, suspenders and anything else that characterizes a video game nerd might not be exactly accurate. The average age for videogame player is 30 years old (Entertainment Software Association, ESA, 2012). The average number of women playing video games is also surprising for someone who over generalizes the characteristics of gamers—47% of all players are women, even in the total market women, 30%, surpass boys 17 years old and under, 18%, (ESA 2012).  Getting rid of stereotypes is important when looking at this communication technology, so take a closer look at the trends affecting this growing consumer community.

Video games can be evaluated through the three main theories in communication technology, Use and Gratification, Media System Dependency, and Social Learning Theory. While all three have different levels of evaluation, let’s look at one of each to understand better the culture of gaming and the possible future.

Gamers use video games to escape the real world into completely different worlds. Use and Gratification explains this aspect of what people do with the technology. A video game as a software transports the individual not only visually but interactively to a completely new place. Call of Duty which is a war based game, makes a soldier out of common Joe and gives him/her the weapons and abilities necessary to defeat the enemy. Back in 2009 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the top selling video game, with total sales worldwide of $11.86 million (Grant and Meadows 2010, p. 209). The gamer escapes from peaceful suburbia to a dangerous war zone. Who doesn't love that?!

From violent escapism to family fun? Video games allow families to come together and play each other in the Media System Dependency. According to the ESA, 61% of parents believe video games provides more time together as a family. The Wii is an example of a hardware that has put the controller in the hands of the age group who usually repulses technology away, the older folks. “The 2006 release of Nintendo’s Wii game console drew a new audience by attracting large numbers of older users to the motion-based games enabled by the Wii’s motion sensitive remote,” (Grant and Meadows 2010, p. 14).

Social Learning Theory tells us how we model others. In the video game world this is such an important applicable strategy for marketers to sell their products. Gamers are interested in the current trending games, because if they are really connected they play with others all over the world, and they will want what they are playing so they can stay linked with other gamers. By attending social events too people see and try different systems or games, and if they like it enough they are more likely to purchase a console of their own or the specific game.

Looking at the three different theories it is simple to observe the audience within this communication technology. If they are analyzed further there exist possible outcomes to the future of these audiences who demand updating to the current fields of play. More specifically, the reduction of the importance of hardware, and the increase in the demand for software capable of terminating the use of those systems seems to be the way video games are headed. It’s a parallel to the way CDs and DVDs are going, more on the “cloud system” based viewing and listening.

To understand better what cloud systems can do take a look at this video that explains it.

 

Hardware companies like Nintendo, and Sony (Playstation distributor) will have to get to the level of Microsoft (Xbox distributor) who is not only a hardware based company but it is also software. Having the capability of producing software packages capable of providing discless and deviceless ways of playing video games is the next big thing. Not only because it will be less of a clutter around the TV set, but also because virtually, you can play anywhere, even on cellphones, which have become a popular device for gaming.

No stereotyping anymore! Most people in some way or other play video games, and you don’t need the glasses nor the acne to be a professional at it. Take a look at this ad I saw the other day targeting women. Notice the cool and trendy young woman who is playing on the Nintendo 3DS.

What do you think? An artist or a gamer? Do you like the new trend of going to a more simple way of playing games? How long do you think it will take for it to diffuse throughout the gaming population?

As always thanks for reading!

COMM 303 Blog #6

Welcome, You’ve Got An Addiction?!

In the December 2010 article on the “Must Read” section of the US Airways Magazine, John Freeman, author of the book “The Tyranny of E-mail” gives a synopsis of what the book is about. The article is about nine pages long, detailing the impact of email in the average receiver or sender of the web based mail. Exactly because it is nine pages long there is a lot covered, and I will not be discussing it all.

The article characterizes email as being positive as well as negative. The positive aspect about email is that it is quick. It can be sent from one side of the world to the other within “nanoseconds.” The bad part is that like most communication technology, it enables a somewhat of a solitary life.  

My previous blog gave you all a quick reminder to not forget how to communicate with people face-to-face. In this article it particularly points out the same issue, that email has caused a one way mode of communicating and that it takes the time we could have spent talking with actual human beings away.

As I get older, and hold an actual “adult job” I am sure I will be more like the people the author talks about in the article. Those cubicle individualized spaces that only produce the sounds of stroking keys and mouse clicks, and no actual human to human voice is heard throughout the building.

“It has been estimated, the average corporate worker will spend more than 40 percent of his or her day sending and receiving some two hundred messages.” (Freeman p. 2)

However, now, I use email mainly to communicate with my professors and the various organizations I am part of. As you will see though, is that the organizations have found it much easier to use another application to communicate what is going on.

I am part of four different organizations and clubs at UofL, and there is not a single one of them that doesn’t have a Facebook page. Realistically speaking, college students, if they are anything like me, wake up next to their cellphones and go immediately to their Facebook and Twitter accounts to check what they missed while they were in REM. That is what I do at least, even before checking my email I go to those social networks. The organizations have learned that those are the best ways to get in touch with their members, because like me, they go to email afterwards and sometimes they neglect it completely.

How many times have you gone to class and found yourself there with a scattered amount of people one minute before class is supposed to start? Yes, you missed that email the professor sent right before class at 7:37 a.m. telling you “Class is canceled due to illness, will resume on Thursday.” How mad are you that you didn’t check the email before you drove 20 minutes to class? And the sad part that you could have slept in a little longer? Realize, however, that those scattered classmates didn’t check their email either, and that not the whole class got up at 7 a.m. and checked it. The word spread through text messages or twitter, and if you aren’t a friend or a follower of those few individuals who obsessively check their email, then you missed out. Bye bye zzzs.

Now I keep my email open 24/7. I still don’t check it in the mornings before heading to school; I figure I can still do something productive by getting there early. The only times I get obsessive about email is if I am expecting a reply for a job, organization or volunteering position I have applied for, or more recently my study abroad application. Otherwise, my email goes unchecked most of the weekend. The need-to-know is all on Facebook, Twitter and more importantly my cellphone with its text messages. Maybe if I had email set up on my phone I’d refresh it as often as I do my social networks, but I don’t. My apologies?

The final point is that email doesn’t control my life yet, but if that’s the way it is in the “grown-up world,” I suppose I will have to adapt. I do still hope to overcome the ramifications of being stuck in front of a screen all day long. I like actual human contact, the expressions and palpable emotions are best when it’s face-to-face.

“The upshot is that we spend less time dealing face-to-face with other human beings and more time before a machine.” (Freeman p. 7)

Also, I am an astigmatism child, and the screen projected light has harmed my eyes to the point that my vision gets a little worse at my annual check-up. I want my eyes to always be able to see beyond this screen. Don’t you?

“In Singapore, for instance, 60 percent of children are myopic, up from 25 percent just 30 years ago. Close study of books, but also computers and videogames, is thought to be to blame.” (Freeman p. 6)

COMM 303 Blog #5

Cornucopia of WWW Knowledge

Have you ever seen a single episode of Gossip Girl? If you haven’t here is the basic premise: there is a person, a girl from the sound of her voice in the show, who keeps up with the lives of the Upper-East Siders of New York City. She tracks them down and posts things about them through her web page and text messages. Her powers of finding the characters in the most compromising of situations are pretty limitless especially with the technology she possesses.

Why am I talking about this show for this particular blog? In the article “The Terrifying Truth About New Technology” by Daniel H. Wilson, the author discusses the reactions to technology by the older population, whom he says are not really afraid of the new technology, but more so of growing older in the daily evolving world of technology.

I absolutely love the show, but if you look at it from the perspective of the article it is pretty scary having one “person” who does not interact with you face to face to post your life online or through some text messages. People in your own life I am sure hide behind the comfort of their computer or phone screen to post and send cowardly messages.

How many social networks do you have active? Up until last year I had a MySpace, and Facebook account active. Although I did not use MySpace anymore it still held a part of my life in the World Wide Web. Currently you will find me on Facebook, Twitter and most recently Instagram.

Personally, I fought against everything to get a Twitter, because I thought it was so stupid, sorry for the chosen word, but there is no other way to explain the way I felt about people posting their every thought and actions. Now I am all in it, posting the whispering words floating in my head and the steps I take through each day that passes by. I am part of the 500 million people since April of this year to post in 140 characters or less my very existence.

Just like I did not want Twitter I wanted Intagram much less, because as I read somewhere online, “Instagram is for people who can’t read.” One of my best friends convinced me to get it, so after much consideration I dove into the most recent craze. A primary reason why I decided to join another application that will waste my phone’s battery is that I am after all a communications major, and I should be in touch with the new technology that arises. Plus, it is pretty fun becoming a professional photographer with the touch of a few buttons to create some cool edited pictures.

Going back to the show, the problem with all these social networks is that if you do not turn off the GPS setting it will broadcast to the whole world exactly where you are. I do not want a Gossip Girl of sorts to be able to see my every move, even though I sometimes post about it. Let me make the choice on whether I want you to know where I am and what I am doing. If you go to someone that has the GPS on in Twitter, if you click on the location it will take you to Google Maps, and it shows exactly where you are located. Not only with the whole virtual picture of the place but with the coordinates too, just so you don’t get lost.

I think it all comes down to being wise in how the technology is used. There is no need to be frightened by it or by the fact that you are getting older. It’s hard for me to adapt to the new trends, even if I am part of the younger population. I am usually the last one of my friends to embrace a new social network, but I try to at least attempt it just to be in touch with the world. One of my favorite inventions are CDs, I still use them way more than I use my phone, iPod or computer to listen to music, because the memories of holding one, truly transports you to a previous time and place.

I honestly do not want Gossip Girl following me around as much as I like the show. Not that I fit the profile that she would follow, but everyone in a way is a #GG when it comes to knowing about their social circles. You are connected to know what is going on and who is doing what with who. Pay attention to how many times in a conversation you bring up something you saw on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MySpace, etc.

Advice of the day: One more thing, that should be noted. With all these new forms of communicating, don't forget how to actually talk to people. Do NOT send a text message to break up with someone or to argue with them. Have the courage to have a face to face conversation. I think it's important to mention this, because as much as you should embrace new technology, don't let it be your only means of communicating. Get out of the house and socialize.