My Essay for New Com Tech

Kristian Rutlin S2647749

New Communcation Technologies

Tutor Adam Muir

Social and professional nerds? A revolution in game play

Guilds in World of Warcraft should take a lot of credibility for the attraction to the game because the complex setup of a social environment makes playing in a guild a daily challenge. Whether you are an officer or a casual player every day game play and fun is enhanced by the social environment of the guild. Without guilds and the social aspect they create, World of Warcraft wouldn’t be as popular as it has become. The high numbers of people who play the game has attracted sponsors to have a look at top guilds, and sponsorship agreements are given to those which stand out. Whether this sponsorship destroys the fun of the game or not is yet to be answered.

World of Warcraft (WoW) belongs to a fairly new type of games belonging to the genre called massive multiplayer online game (MMOG), which has grown immensely the last eight years (Flew 2005, p. 104). The game itself has gotten a lot of attention because of its awards and how it has managed to attract so many gamers during the 4 years since its creation. By the end of July 2007, WoW had attracted over 9 million subscribers, which made it the most popular game in its genre (Blizzard Entertainment, 2007). The subscribers are bound to join a guild at some stage of the game, be it a hardcore endgame raiding guild, or a casual family guild. Most players are in the game for the fun, even though fun varies from person to person. Richard Bartle argues that “there are a variety of types of activities people prefer in multiplayer games … His now oft-repeated categories – achievers, socialisers, explorers, killers – form a continual basis for discussions of players” (Taylor 2006, p. 69).These four different understandings of player roles roughly divide WoW players into the guilds they are likely to end up in: achievers and explorers go into endgame raiding guilds and the most dedicated join the hardcore guilds, playing in a professional environment; killers join guilds mainly dedicated to the player versus player aspect (PvP) of the game; socialisers may end up in any of the guilds, but usually choose the family guild where the objective is to help lower level characters. There is little focus on requirements to join the family guilds; the player just has to be a social player who is willing to help others, and have fun while doing it. However, a contradiction to this rough divide is explained in research by Ducheneaut, Yee, Nickell & Moore (2006, p. 308) where they say: “It is quite clear that at Level 60, WoW becomes a much more intensely social game” (Level 70 after the expansion). This shows that World of Warcraft is still a social game when it comes to endgame play, and this is also the part of the game where most social communication happens because the game play changes from levelling to group play and reputation goals.

There are many differences between hardcore and casual gaming, but one of the most obvious is the time each group spends online. Casual gamers view the game as being for relaxation and fun. Many of these players log on occasionally to gain a few levels or do some five man group instances, then log off and forget about the game for a while. On the contrary, there are players who log on every night to either join raids (10 – 40 man instances) or collect ingredients so they can make items which enhance their stats. This second group contains the players who end up in the endgame raiding guilds, because for such a complex society to work everyone has to participate and help out wherever they can. Being explicit, loyal and stubborn is the definition of a hardcore player (Fritsch, Voigt & Schiller, 2006, p.2), and the most dedicated of these are the ones that play at the highest level of the game. At this level, the game isn’t an extracurricular activity anymore, but has evolved to a standard most would relate to a working career. In an interview with Kungen, the guild leader of Nihilum, which is one of the leading guilds in the world, he says that: “Managing a guild like Nihilum is a full-time job—if not more.” (McDoug 2008) This guild was the first one in the world to get a sponsorship. In 2007 they got a sponsorship with SteelSeries which produces gaming equipment designed by and for gamers (McDaniel 2007).

However, even though hardcore guilds like Nihilum are being sponsored, players don’t think that WoW will be a hit when it comes to e-sports (electronic sports tournaments). Neg from Nihilum says that “as a real e-sport, nope; there are just too many problems (with the concept). The immense success WoW is having could also be one of the biggest problems. …Blizzard is making a lot of money on WoW … but that will also make Vivendi scared of losing this insane cash cow, so changes can't be implemented quickly anymore” (Robert 2008). Still, sponsorships are handed out to arena teams, which are PvP groups fighting in a gladiator style environment in battles with two versus two, three versus three or five versus five, and the sponsors are eager to both attract and sponsor other teams in this particular gaming style in WoW. Sponsor groups like CheckSix and Team Pandemic, which sponsor teams in other games like Call of Duty 4, Counter Strike Source and Guitar Hero 2, on the other hand, says that Blizzard does whatever they can to make the Arena system as good as possible, and it is going fast (Dormer, 2007).

Should the consumers be believed, the game can continue to grow on the terms of the players, and Blizzards capabilities, and not on the needs of a game suited for international gaming competitions and multinational companies’ influence. World WoW and other games in the same genre are quickly growing because of these factors. Fallows’ (in Williams, Ducheneaut, Xiong, Zhang, Yee & Nickell 2006, p. 338) research on online activity in America shows an immense growth: “…more people play online games and a reason for this might be the social aspects it brings. In 1999, 8% of all Americans (not adolescents) said they played games online. By 2003 that number had risen to 37%, and it continues to climb”. The social aspect of MMOGs creates a new style of game play which is unpredictable and interesting, no matter if you are a hardcore raider or a casual Tuesday-night-with-nothing-to-do gamer. Social gaming is here to stay, and hopefully it will continue to be based on what the majority of gamers want, without any interference from sponsors and others who ruin the fun.

References

Flew, Terry 2005, New Media; an Introduction, Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Calif, Irvine 2007, World of Warcraft® surpasses 9 Million Subscribers Worldwide, Blizzard Entertainment,

http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/070724.html

Bartle, Richard in Taylor, T. L. 2006, Play Between Worlds, MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts

Ducheneaut, Nicolas, Yee, Nick, Nickell, Eric, Moore, Robert J. 2006, Building an MMO with Mass Appeal: A Look at Game play in World of Warcraft, Sage Publications http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/4/281

Fritsch, Tobias, Voigt, Benjamin & Schiller, Jochen 2006, Distribution of Online Hardcore Player Behavior (How Hardcore are You?) http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1230040.1230082&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE

McDoug, Joe 2008, Nihilum – Magtheridon – EU, http://wow.stratics.com/content/features/Interviews/Nihilum.php

McDaniel, JP 2007, SteelSeries sponsors WoW Guild Nihilum, http://www.gotfrag.com/wow/story/36879/

Robert, Allison 2008, Exclusive Interview: Nihilum, the Sunwell, and the future of high-end raiding, WOW Insider

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/26/so-whats-going-on-with-nihilum

Dormer, Dan 2007, How Pro Gaming Will Change World of Warcraft,

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158429

Williams, Dimitri, Ducheneaut, Nicolas, Xiong, Li, Zhang, Yuanyuan, Yee, Nick & Nickell, Eric 2006, From Tree House to Barracks The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft, Sage Publications http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/4/338

Tutorial 8 (part 2)

I checked out ActiveWorlds, and I would say I don’t understand why people use time in these worlds. I am a computer games enthusiast but this seems like a waste of time even for me. There aren’t many people around and I’m walking around aimlessly as this visitor avatar, always uploading graphics. Compared to MSN, which I usually use, I feel this is a bit much for just chatting with friends or other people. You are probably able to meet a lot more people, but then it is more close to a dating forum or myspace sort of thing. The thing that might seem useful is the avatar changes. You can look whatever way you want, and do whatever you want, but when you see people running around as dogs, it kind of takes the seriousness out of everything. There is probably someone that would like talking to dogs, but I don’t know. It’s all weird.

Having said that, a 3D chatroom and IM can’t be compared at all because I think that IM are used more for the contact with friends, and not meeting totally strangers like 3D worlds are mainly used for.

Answering the question that Adam asked about where this sort of application might lead us, I would say: into the future. If it’s good or bad I can’t say, but its definitely an invention that will develop further and change in the years to come. Maybe one day we will have holographic messaging shown on a wrist band or on our mobile phones?

We’ll see.

Lecture 6: Exploring Wikipedia

Article 1: Snowboarding

1. Is this an accurate article?

The article about snowboarding goes really deep, and has a lot of the history behind it.

Now I usually say snowboarding was founded by some crazy surfers from California which took their boards up in the mountains and rode on snow. This article confirms this and also talks about the big inventors in the snowboard industry. It also covers all the events, styles, movies, competitions and a lot of other stuff. It mentions some of the most famous riders through history and today. The external link section and the referencing section contain a lot of sites which is filled with information about this sport. All this makes the article quite accurate and I think it is very reliable information.

2. Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?

Like I said in the first question, yes it does. There even is stuff in this article about safety and precautions, and what magazines and films there are out there.

3. Does this article follow the Wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?

The Wikipedia guidelines are about being neutral, stick to the subject, displaying facts and back up the article with external links or references. The article about snowboarding contains all of these guidelines but maybe lack a little bit on the neutral front.

4. Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?

The article is written in a very factual way. It takes into consideration the negative facts about snowboarding with injuries and how to be prepared for that, but you can also see that this article is written by someone who loves snowboarding because it might seem like an advertisement at certain points. But I think that is all good, because it is a great sport and it is fun.

5. What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider wikipedia community?

Nothing actually. I think this article is well written and don’t need any changes. You get a basic understanding of what snowboarding is about and the major things in it.

Article 2: Angels and Airwaves (AVA)

1. Is this an accurate article?

Angels and Airwaves is a relatively new band formed by former Blink 182 lead-singer, Tom Delonge. This article tells their history in a good way, referring to several interviews, articles and Angels and Airwaves own homepage. It is accurate enough but still there are a lot of things in the article which isn’t referred at all, which makes it all a little untrustworthy if you read it for the first time and have no clue from before hand.

2. Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?

Well it is music. The history of the band is described very vaguely, but the main thing that might be missing is the question ‘why’. Why did Tom Delonge start this band? Now it says a lot about the albums and prior to those, but still everything is much generalized and it is hard to find any relation to it.

3. Does this article follow the Wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?

This article follows the guidelines to some extent. It misses out on the factual side a little bit because of the bad referencing at some points. I think this article is more about letting people explore AVA’s homepage and finding out by themselves. To summarize, it is neutral, verifying to some extent and factual to a certain point.

4. Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?

There isn’t much of an argument or sides in this article. It is just plain facts about their CD’s, a little about Ryan Sinn who left the band (which might be the only negative sided thing about the article). It is more of a chronological story of events than anything else.

5. What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider wikipedia community?

Add some more whys and what’s in it. Why the band got started, what their plan is, what kind of music it is and why they play this way. I think adding that would get people more aware of who they (AVA) are and what they do and mean by what they do.

Walter Benjamin writes in a way I can't understand!!

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?

- Now this is a tough one which I can't really get my head around properly, but I’m going to try anyway. Let’s talk about music. If you saw an artist preform live, and this was your favourite song of all times, would it be different to hear them live, than on a CD? It probably would because of the setting, lights, atmosphere and the joy you have because you managed to get tickets. You could say that the song loses its aura when it’s printed on a CD, but still you would enjoy the song, and you can hear it as many times as you want to.

So, if I understand Walter Benjamin correctly, I would say that the ideas apply for digital media as well, because “mechanical reproduction” brings art to a new level and it still do. It makes the audience come closer to the art, and they can draw out what they think or feel about the piece of art, wether it be a musical piece or a painting. I think Benjamin wants to tell us that mechanical reproduction makes art and media more liberal and are we not interested in having a free press and a free flow of art? Art is what the eye sees and the heart and mind feels and think, and no reproduction would ever take that away from what art means for the individual.

There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?

- It means art is more common and liberal. Everyone can express their feelings and thoughts on a piece of paper, on an image or on a video. People can make art that means something for one self and don’t think about what everyone else thinks about it, because it will probably not go out to the big audience. If it does, you might be lucky and earn money on it. But I think you can’t call yourself an artist though. Maybe more of an “expressor” of ones own feelings.

But isn’t that what art is all about? To express feelings and create something for someone else to enjoy? Hell yeah it is!!

Is a photoshopped image "authentic"?

- If we go by what Benjamin writes a photoshop picture wouldn’t be authentic. But if you edit something, makes something new out of something else, wouldn’t that be authentic or original?

I think so at least.

Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?

- According to Benjamin, recreated things have lost its aura because the aura is in the original piece of art. But it sounds a bit old fashion and radical to think that way, because you will always get something out of the work of art, and you will always feel this ‘aura’ if you like the piece of art. I think it does have an aura; you just have to know what to look for and be connected with the piece to actually feel it.

Answers to tute 4 questions

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
I think most of the search engines rank the stuff in their databases recording to how many hits each page has. For instance, if I searched for "computer" in google, then the page which relates to this word, and has the most hits from other searches, will be the top one. It might also be ranked after which page has the most credibillity. Like, the page with the most reliable sources or something like that.

Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Im not sure if I got this question right, but I think it depends on how many words you typed in the search box, which relates to the thing you are looking for. So it would be the one searching for information.

what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
You got to love google. I don't know much about others, because I havent really checked them out that much. And most of the other big search engines are often "powered" by google aswell.

week 4 scavanger hunt using search engines!!

I found the 3 first using a Norwegian search engine named www.kvasir.no

1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?

The lovebug virus was created by a phillipino school dropout named Onel de Guzman.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040209/login/main1.htm)

2. Who invented the paper clip?

The inventor of the paperclip was a genius Norwegian man named Johan Vaaler!! Woohoooo!!

(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm)

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?

There are different answers to this one it seems. Some say it comes from the Hantaan River in Korea, and some say a river in Africa. Some are even more specific and say it comes from the Ebloa River, which flow in Congo.

(http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/the-ebola-virus.html)

The 3 next I found using http://search.aol.com/

4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?

The largest earthquake ever recorded was in Chile on the 22^nd of May 1960.

It reached a magnitude of about 9.5 on the Richter’s scale.

(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/10_largest_world.php)

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?

There is about 1 billion kilobytes in a terabyte. Or to be more specific, there is about 1,073,741,824kb in a TB.

(http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/)

6. Who is the creator of email?

The creator of Email is Ray Tomlinson in 1971 actually! That’s a long time ago.

(http://www.forbes.com/asap/1998/1005/126.html)

The next two I found at www.dogpile.com

7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?

The Storm Worm is a computer virus launched in mid-January 2007. It contains some vicious Trojans and Systemfile “duplicates”.

(http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp)

8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly,
what is the most efficient way?

NO IDEA

The Last two I found at www.ansearch.com.au

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School
of Arts) a member of?

Black Assassin. Couldn’t find anything about it on this searchengine but I heard it in class so I looked it up on Google.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Assassins)

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?

Web 2.0 is more or less the next level of internet, which takes the common man more and more into the internet. Sort of speak…

Some pics from back home