Games & Simulations: UTS Lecture
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This document discusses modeling social interactions through games and simulations. It covers key concepts like McLuhan's theory of cosmic media and new tribalism in the digital age. Various online games and virtual worlds are examined as cultural simulations, including Second Life, which is discussed in the context of virtual concerts and other real-world events replicated in virtual spaces. The history of video games and gold farming in China are also briefly mentioned.
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Games & Simulations: UTS Lecture
- 1. Week 11: Modeling the social Games & Simulations Chris Caines Thumb http://chopyourownwood.com/thumbcandy/?cat=5 Lecturer: Dr Tatiana Pentes
- 2. KEY TERMS McLuhan’s cosmic media new tribalism, hypermedia games, online gaming simulating the social convergent media devices Second Life, next PodLove, Girl Friday http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html http://www.half-real.net/dictionary/
- 3. Conceptual Development 1. new tribalism: time & space cosmic media
- 4. Conceptual Development time & space cosmic media http://digital-lifestyles.info/2005/10/20/nokia-unveils-lamour-collection/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
- 5. CASE STUDY CASE STUDY Video Gaming :: Break Out of Woomera Video Gaming :: Break Out of Woomera http://rt.airstrip.com.au/article/issue55/7103 http://rt.airstrip.com.au/article/issue55/7103
- 6. Technological Determinism (Marshall McLuhan): COSMIC MEDIA: the media ecology McLuhan :: electric technology:: digital convergence
- 7. Technological Determinism (Marshall McLuhan): COSMIC MEDIA: the new tribalism 1 Myspacebook.past. Friending, Ancient or Otherwise http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/weekinreview/02wright.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
- 8. Technological Determinism (Marshall McLuhan): COSMIC MEDIA: the new tribalism 2 Myspacebook.past. Friending, Ancient or Otherwise http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/weekinreview/02wright.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
- 9. Technological Determinism (Marshall McLuhan): COSMIC MEDIA: the medium is the message McLuhan believed “…that human cognition and perception are “miracles” (Catholic Humanism: 80) that make possible a shared experience of the everyday.” Janine Marchessault, (2004), COSMIC MEDIA, p10 BCM100 Communications & Computer Technologies Pentes Lecturer: Tatiana
- 10. Conceptual Development 2. gaming Cultural simulations
- 11. Online Gaming Online Gaming Videogames represent a new lively art, one Videogames represent a new lively art, one appropriate for the digital age ..They open up new appropriate for the digital age They open up new aesthetic experiences and transform the computer aesthetic experiences and transform the computer screen into a realm of experimentation and innovation screen into a realm of experimentation and innovation that is broadly accessible. that is broadly accessible. Henry Jenkins, Director, Corporate Studies Media Henry Jenkins, Director, Corporate Studies Media Program, MIT Program, MIT http://www.acmi.net.au/gameon_essay.htm http://www.acmi.net.au/gameon_essay.htm
- 12. Online Games:: SIMULATION Online Games:: SIMULATION ““Thesimulacrum is never what hides the truth – The simulacrum is never what hides the truth – it is truth that hides the fact that it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. there is none. The simulacrum is true.” The simulacrum is true.” -Ecclesiastes -Ecclesiastes Jean Baudrillard, (1983), SIMULATIONS, Semiotext(e), USA Jean Baudrillard, (1983), SIMULATIONS, Semiotext(e), USA ““HYPERREAL” HYPERREAL” SIMULATION by Gonzalo Frasca SIMULATION by Gonzalo Frasca http://www.ludology.org/articles/sim1/simulation101b.html http://www.ludology.org/articles/sim1/simulation101b.htm http://www.ludology.org/articles/sim1/simulation101b.html http://www.ludology.org/articles/sim1/simulation101b.htm
- 13. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life Second Life Virtual Worlds Clip Virtual Worlds Clip http://secondlife.com/whatis/world.php http://secondlife.com/whatis/world.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s21QgfA7e http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s21QgfA7e http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/secondlife-report-03/3576 http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/secondlife-report-03/357
- 14. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life Second Life 2006 Virtual U2 Concert 2006 Virtual U2 Concert http://vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/02/second-life-u2-concert-report http://vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/02/second-life-u2-concert-repor http://vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/02/second-life-u2-concert-repor
- 15. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life 2006 Virtual U2 Concert Second Life 2006 Virtual U2 Concert
- 16. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life Second Life CNN CNN http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/12/second.life.ir http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/12/second.life.i
- 17. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life Second Life WIRED WIRED http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/scorned-gam http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/scorned-gam
- 18. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life: Virtual Pedophilia Report Second Life: Virtual Pedophilia Report Bad News For Second Life Bad News For Second Life http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/virtual-pedophilia-report-bad-ne http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/virtual-pedophilia-report-bad-n
- 19. Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Online Games:: SECOND LIFE Second Life: Virtual Pedophilia Report Second Life: Virtual Pedophilia Report Bad News For Second Life Bad News For Second Life http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/virtual-pedophilia-report-bad-ne http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/virtual-pedophilia-report-bad-n
- 20. Online Gaming :: CHINA Online Gaming :: CHINA China, the online game workshops:: China, the online game workshops:: Chinese Gold Farmers Chinese Gold Farmers http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4 http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4
- 21. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY China, the online game workshops:: China, the online game workshops:: Chinese Gold Farmers Chinese Gold Farmers http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4 http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4
- 22. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY
- 23. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY
- 24. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY
- 25. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY
- 26. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY
- 27. Video Gaming :: HISTORY Video Gaming :: HISTORY
Editor's Notes
- 50300 Communicating the Social : Welcome to Week 11 Modeling the Social: Games & SimulationsThis lecture will explore the impact of media convergence in relation to the ways in which we imagine ourselves and communicate with each other. The proliferation of mobile media devices, new forms of social media and collaboration on the Internet, and the emergence of the virtual realm has had a significant impact on the way that we interact socially (virtually). This session will prefigure our electronic age with some of McLuhan’s (new tribalism) & Baudrillard’s (simulation) theories and look at some contemporary digital media artefacts (cultural products) that have evolved as case studies to demonstrate the theory. We shall be focusing on the emerging phenomenon of gaming & simulation, and its delivery and distribution on the mobile device, tracing an historical map of the development of online gaming & simulations in the context of new & emergent technologies. The session will also looking at some immersive technologies and aesthetics, and some examples (case studies) of simulated virtual environments (worlds) such as Second Life, and new program content. The image above is from Chris Caine’s Thumb Candy: A blog based documentary about texting and SMS culture in the Philippines – this will be further enhanced in Week 13 lecture.
- PART 1: NEW TRIBALISM: cosmic media: digital McLuhanText/Image messaging, online social media environments, convergent media devices ….have transformed our sense of time & space…our perception of reality and the unfolding of world events…OLD MESSANGERS; NEW MEDIA (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innis-mcluhan/002033-2010-e.html) 1960’s Marshall McLuhan known as the “oracle of the electronic age” has become more relevant than ever in the digital convergent & participatory culture of the media today. With the prevalence of new media environments, in the technologized world, how are they reshaping the ways in which individuals, societies and cultures perceive and understand their environments?…”McLuhan put forward that technologies in a culture, like words in a poem, derive their meaning from context…McLuhan believed that the introduction of new technologies into a society has a determining influence on how that society is organized, how its members perceive the world around them and how knowledge is stored and shared. McLuhan believed that media were biased according to time and space, McLuhan paid particular attention to the "sensorium," the effects of media on our senses. He posited that media affect us by manipulating the ratio of our senses. Some would understand this position to be the ultimate in media determinism. If the content is obliterated by the channel, "what" we say is of little importance-only "how" we chose to deliver it. McLuhan's belief in technological determinism is obvious by his phrase, "we shape our tools and they in turn shape us" (quoted in Griffin, 1991, p. 294). McLuhan saw electronic media as a return to collective ways of perceiving the world. His "global village" theory posited the ability of electronic media to unify and retribalize the human race. What McLuhan did not live to see, but perhaps foresaw, was the merging of text and electronic mass media in this new media called the Internet. McLuhan is also well known for his division of media into hot and cool categories. Hot media are low in audience participation due to their high resolution or definition. Cool media are high in audience participation due to their low definition (the receiver must fill in the missing information). One can make an argument that the Web results by combining two cool media into a new synthesized, multimediated experience. If print is hot and linear, and electronic broadcast media are cool and interactive, hypermedia on the Web is "freezing" and 3-D. McLuhan's philosophy "was influenced by the work of the Catholic philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who believed that the use of electricity extends the central nervous system" (Wolf, 1996, p. 125).
- PART 1: NEW TRIBALISM: cosmic media: digital McLuhanText/Image messaging, online social media environments, convergent media devices ….have transformed our sense of time & space…our perception of reality and the unfolding of world events…screensavers on your mobile, PDA, the boxes, frames, and arrows that make up the interface on your personal computer, and many televisual and cinematic image sequences have been constructed from 2D and 3D digital images. Today we are experiencing a new media revolution, a digital revolution, and this has arguably been prefigured historically by the mechanised (industrial) revolution. Digital networked cultures have profoundly transformed the global media landscape. This virtual environment of the internet, mobile device, mobile broadband, PDA, satellite feeds, text/image messaging etc. have altered the way in which we communicate with instant connectivity in this new technological landscape. Simultaneously, the technologies and processes of cultural production and the creation of art has been shaped by these new media technologies. 1. L’amour mobile campaign2. iPhone media campaign3. QR code These two advertisements when read critically (against the grain) provide some insights about the way we are imagining ourselves – or are being convinced to imagine ourselves. The first campaign for Nokia L’amour mobile (2005) as a fashion accessory – communication marketed as just another commodity – the commodification of “communication” – an aesthetic where you can create your own reality – the painterly animations and device give the “player” entry into a fashionable world of elegance and grandeur. Nokia Unveils L’Amour Collection http://digital-lifestyles.info/2005/10/20/nokia-unveils-lamour-collection The second recent campaign for iPhone draws on themes of conquering the outer-space frontier – using 2001: A Space Odyssey metaphor – the iPhone is analogized to the Monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s legendary film. The meaning that could be read is – we don’t know what it is – but it is really important/significant and we will learn why in time to come. The third artefact – QR Code “…A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese & Nokia mobile phones phones can read this code with their camera…. QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone's browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks ” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
- “It made the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald: “Escape game wires the minister” (April 30). You’ve probably heard about Escape from Woomera (EFW), the new Australian game being developed with funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. Needless to say, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock is less than impressed about the project, which recreates 4 detention centres, including the now mothballed but infamous Woomera, for players to escape from. He and Arts Minister Rod Kemp have been highly critical of the Australia Council’s decision to award $25,000 in development funding to the Melbourne-based team, with Kemp demanding an urgent explanation from the Council. Chairman of the New Media Arts Board, Michael Snelling, told the media that while he was aware the project could be controversial, the application had ranked competitively and met all the criteria. Ruddock’s main claim is that the game will promote unlawful behaviour, and support for his position came from unlikely directions. Some refugee advocates were keen to denounce the project, claiming it “trivialised the plight of asylum-seekers”, and was “tasteless”. And Human Rights Commissioner, Sev Ozdowski, issued a press release calling the project “at best...insensitive.” At least one refugee spokesperson took a different view, welcoming the Council’s support for any project that highlights the horrors of mandatory detention…. These quick opinion grabs, framed adversarially by the news media, conceal much that is of interest about this project. A significant cultural intervention, its complexities should give us pause. EFW is the first computer game in this country to tackle such a contentious issue. And while a few games elsewhere comment on important politics (the Syrian intifada game Under Ash being a notable example), this project has the potential to transform the way we think about games. Computer games possess a rare capacity for mobilising public anxiety, so it’s unsurprising that some have reservations about the project. But what needs to be understood is that, far from constituting training for ‘real life’ actions, computer games enable players to do things that they can’t do in ‘real life’. Players report that this is one of the things that makes playing a game enjoyable. Claims that EFW will encourage detainees to break out, jeopardising their chances of a visa, or that the project characterises them as criminals trying to “bust out of jail [sic]”, as Ozdowski puts it, largely miss the point. Rather than being a game ridiculing the situation of detainees, EFW will enable those who are unlikely to ever get inside a detention centre, to imagine themselves there. Virtually recreating these sites elegantly undermines their ‘no go’ status, simultaneously shrinking the space between ‘us’ and ‘them’. As Julian Oliver, one of the EFW team says: [This] is something that we’re in a kind of public detention from, we don’t have access to Woomera, let alone its insides. Woomera, and detention centres like it, are not only strategically isolated to ensure they’re harder to escape, but also to ensure the public will forget it’s even there...The inherent tension within this situation, in the country that you’re standing on, [is that] you don’t have access to this stuff. EFW is all about taking a highly representative impression of life in a detention centre, mobilising it throughout public networks, and installing it onto people’s desktop computers inside their homes. Games are an ideal medium to engage with this kind of content... because to play is to become a subject of the content. EFW is, therefore, an exciting project with a bold vision. It is edgy because it addresses one of the most divisive issues that citizens of Australia have faced in recent years: the governments’ detention of refugees in their name. The game will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as it is planned to offer the game for free download over the internet, no one need play unless they want to. To equate the playfulness of this project with triviality, as some have done, is a mistake. Like humour, play is anything but lightweight: play is important because it enables that which has become stale, old news, a source of anxiety even, to be reapproached. In playing a game, one partially leaves behind the workaday world and its competitive pressures—to ‘keep up’ and ‘get ahead’. Play enables different engagements and encounters, making it possible to envisage things being otherwise. In inviting us to play at escaping from Woomera, then, the makers of this game are returning something precious to us, namely agency. Amidst the government double-speak and blaming, where enough seeds of doubt are sown (about asylum-seekers’ motives, backgrounds, health and wealth) so we never really know quite what to think, EFW offers action, for players to actively experiment with what it’s possible to do and be, in a game. Making a game that enables players to seize some initiative in relation to the refugee question is significant. The EFW team knows it takes more than a good idea to make a great game. While their credentials as refugee activists have received attention in the mainstream press, their expertise in game design and development is arguably as important to the final product. Gamers are astute judges of interactivity, and any game that sacrificed gameplay for an earnest political message simply would not cut it. Between them, the EFW team has many years experience in the commercial games industry, including work on the biggest budget Australian game for international release. Other credits include public art commissions and work on the popular ABC satire CNNNN. The main assembled team includes Mark Angeli, Julian Oliver, Ian Malcolm, Stephen Honegger, Kate Wild and Morgan Simpson. Rather than trying to offer solutions to mandatory detention, the team’s focus is, as one member puts it, on asking “what are the great game elements about these stories, and trying to make a game out of those, rather than actually try to present all the information and points of view.” With all the controversy over this particular game and its content, it is easy to lose sight of the significance of this project receiving Australia Council support. Many already recognise that as a medium, games are ripe for artistic experimentation. But this funding indicates that the New Media Arts Board also recognises the maturing of games as a medium, and the significant potential of games for contemporary art. The release of a playable demo of the EFW game is still some 6 months off. But the importance of this project is already becoming apparent. Since it hit the headlines there has been an amazing degree of discussion of the project. Apart from postings on gaming message boards, pro-refugee e-lists, and games industry news sites, EFW has made it into classrooms, onto TV comedy shows, and, significantly, onto talkback radio. Over the space of a few weeks, it has become a powerful meme, a concept for thinking with—about refugees, their detention, and the humourless state of current politics in this country. Evidence that it has fired imaginations is contained in the witty suggestions for sequels, posted to newspapers: Escape from Nauru and Manus Island and Escape from Camp X-Ray. We might not have known it, but we needed an Escape From Woomera. It broadens the field of what can be said, thought, and felt about Woomera, refugees and detention. That is where the art lies. That it also leaves Ruddock spluttering with indignation is icing on the cake. Melanie Swalwell is a media theorist and scholar. She lectures at the University of Technology, Sydney RealTime issue #55 June-July 2003 pg. 24
- “Marshall McLuhan's writings have shaped the way we look at media today. He was, foremost, a literary man, but was often criticized for undermining the authority of the book.” His concept that media is the extension of man might be understood in the current global setting as (http://www.mcluhan.ca/sound_video.phtml) WHO IS McLUHAN http://www.mcluhan.ca/mcluhan.phtml an online research group on McLuhan may reveal further insights into this pop icon of media theory suggesting that McLuhan makes more sense today than ever (!) when understanding the current global media culture. “Signs abound indicating that Marshall McLuhan lives again in the 21st Century, as the media and cultural transformations that he diagnosed continue to unfold. Lewis Lapham writes that McLuhan makes more sense now than ever in his introduction to the republished Understanding Media. TV and radio shows mention McLuhan. Plays are written, and performed in San Francisco and Ottawa. In Toronto, the McLuhan family prevents a Jason Sherman play from being performed, as it takes liberties with McLuhan's persona. A CD-ROM appears in the 1990s, and many now have trouble running it, thus showing the obsolescence of the once new medium, while brilliantly showing how his ideas hold up in new media formats. The Economist and other magazines that once disdained Canada's intellectual comet now routinely refer to McLuhan in discussions of the meaning of new media. McLuhan as intellectual and pop icon has survived the millenium, and become part of the invisible background to our thought. A computer-weaned generation turns to McLuhan as it explores the invention and habitation of new media environments. An inter-discipline emerges, called Media Ecology, deeply inspired by McLuhan, Innis and their heirs including the late Neil Postman. Baby boomers watch in amazement as the once revolutionary impacts of television collide with the subversive effects of inter-networked digital media. The Oxford English Dictionary listed 346 references to McLuhan in 1997. His phrases now turn up constantly, and in surprising places. Take for example the U.S. federal court decision to overturn the Communications Decency Act: "Any content-based regulation of the Internet, no matter how benign the purpose, could burn the global village to roast the pig." Time Magazine (June 24, 1996). Everywhere his metaphors have new currency, as his cliches have become archetypes. [LJ] "After three thousand years of explosion, by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies, the Western world is imploding. During the mechanical ages we had extended our bodies in space. Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man - the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the various media.” Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media (1964) http://www.mcluhan.ca/mcluhan.phtml
- In a famous statement by McLuhan in Playboy Magazine in 1969 he states “I feel that were standing on the threshold of a liberating and exhilarating world in which the human tribe can become truly one family and man’s consciousness can be freed from the shackles of mechanical culture and enabled to roam the cosmos. I have a deep and abiding belief in man’s potential to grow and learn, to plumb the depths of his own being and to learn the secret songs that orchestrate the universe. We live in a transitional era of profound pain and tragic identity quest, but the agony of our age is the labor pain of rebirth. I expect to see the coming decades transform the planet into an art form; the new man, linked in a cosmic harmony that transcends time and space, will sensuously caress and mold and pattern every facet of the terrestrial artifact as if it were a work of art, and man himself will become an organic art form. There is a long road ahead, and the stars are only way stations, but we have begun the journey. (McLuhan, Playboy interview, 1969/ 1995: 268) (quoted in Marchessault, 2004, p9) COSMIC MEDIA. Ironically, McLuhan’s worldview is taking on a new resonance “…. a particularly telling example: the emerging theory that the web is ushering in a return to a tribal society more reflective of oral, pre-literate culture…” (http://uncivilsociety.org/2007/12/mcluhan-facebook-and-the-new-t.html)Alex Wright, December 2, 2007, “Myspacebook.past. Friending, Ancient or Otherwise”, The New York Times [online] (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/weekinreview/02wright.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) – explores the new phenomenon of “Facebook friending” or online social networking through Second Life, Bebo, Twitter, Flickr has created an electronic tribalism….. “… “Orality is the base of all human experience,” says Lance Strate, a communications professor at Fordham University and devoted MySpace user. He says he is convinced that the popularity of social networks stems from their appeal to deep-seated, prehistoric patterns of human communication. “We evolved with speech,” he says. “We didn’t evolve with writing.” The growth of social networks — and the Internet as a whole — stems largely from an outpouring of expression that often feels more like “talking” than writing: blog posts, comments, homemade videos and, lately, an outpouring of epigrammatic one-liners broadcast using services like Twitter and Facebook status updates (usually proving Gertrude Stein’s maxim that “literature is not remarks”). “If you examine the Web through the lens of orality, you can’t help but see it everywhere,” says Irwin Chen, a design instructor at Parsons who is developing a new course to explore the emergence of oral culture online. “Orality is participatory, interactive, communal and focused on the present. The Web is all of these things.” An early student of electronic orality was the Rev. Walter J. Ong, a professor at St. Louis University and student of Marshall McLuhan who coined the term “secondary orality” in 1982 to describe the tendency of electronic media to echo the cadences of earlier oral cultures. The work of Father Ong, who died in 2003, seems especially prescient in light of the social-networking phenomenon. “Oral communication,” as he put it, “unites people in groups.” In other words, oral culture means more than just talking. There are subtler —and perhaps more important — social dynamics at work.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/weekinreview/02wright.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) (Accessed 10 September 2008)
- Alex Wright, December 2, 2007, “Myspacebook.past. Friending, Ancient or Otherwise”, The New York Times [online] (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/weekinreview/02wright.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) “Michael Wesch, who teaches cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, spent two years living with a tribe in Papua New Guinea, studying how people forge social relationships in a purely oral culture. Now he applies the same ethnographic research methods to the rites and rituals of Facebook users.“In tribal cultures, your identity is completely wrapped up in the question of how people know you,” he says. “When you look at Facebook, you can see the same pattern at work: people projecting their identities by demonstrating their relationships to each other. You define yourself in terms of who your friends are.” In tribal societies, people routinely give each other jewelry, weapons and ritual objects to cement their social ties. On Facebook, people accomplish the same thing by trading symbolic sock monkeys, disco balls and hula girls. “It’s reminiscent of how people exchange gifts in tribal cultures,” says Dr. Strate, whose MySpace page lists his 1,335 “friends” along with his academic credentials and his predilection for “Battlestar Galactica.” As intriguing as these parallels may be, they only stretch so far. There are big differences between real oral cultures and the virtual kind. In tribal societies, forging social bonds is a matter of survival; on the Internet, far less so. There is presumably no tribal antecedent for popular Facebook rituals like “poking,” virtual sheep-tossing or drunk-dialing your friends. Then there’s the question of who really counts as a “friend.” In tribal societies, people develop bonds through direct, ongoing face-to-face contact. The Web eliminates that need for physical proximity, enabling people to declare friendships on the basis of otherwise flimsy connections. “With social networks, there’s a fascination with intimacy because it simulates face-to-face communication,” Dr. Wesch says. “But there’s also this fundamental distance. That distance makes it safe for people to connect through weak ties where they can have the appearance of a connection because it’s safe.” And while tribal cultures typically engage in highly formalized rituals, social networks seem to encourage a level of casualness and familiarity that would be unthinkable in traditional oral cultures. “Secondary orality has a leveling effect,” Dr. Strate says. “In a primary oral culture, you would probably refer to me as ‘Dr. Strate,’ but on MySpace, everyone calls me ‘Lance.’ ” As more of us shepherd our social relationships online, will this leveling effect begin to shape the way we relate to each other in the offline world as well? Dr. Wesch, for one, says he worries that the rise of secondary orality may have a paradoxical consequence: “It may be gobbling up what’s left of our real oral culture.” The more time we spend “talking” online, the less time we spend, well, talking. And as we stretch the definition of a friend to encompass people we may never actually meet, will the strength of our real-world friendships grow diluted as we immerse ourselves in a lattice of hyperlinked “friends”? Still, the sheer popularity of social networking seems to suggest that for many, these environments strike a deep, perhaps even primal chord. “They fulfill our need to be recognized as human beings, and as members of a community,” Dr. Strate says. “We all want to be told: You exist.””
- In COSMIC MEDIA Marchessault argues that McLuhan’s insights can reveal much about the present condition of MEDIA CONVERGENCE and emergent or unstable media cultures. She explains in COSMIC MEDIA that McLuhan’s writing is consistently concerned with understanding media as a problem of method. “……. The key to any analysis of the media, which for McLuhan was always connected to the spaces and temporalities of the lifeworld, is a reflexive field approach. Oriented around the archival, encyclopedic, and artifactual surfaces but also “haptic harmonies” and ruptures, this method draws out patterns that render ground assumptions and matrices discernible. This was encapsulated in his most famous neologism, “the medium is the message”. McLuhan drew his insights from philosophers of language and modernity: the Cambridge New Critics (Leavis and Richards especially) who were his teachers, along with Nietzsche, Bergson, and Heidegger all-important influences on his experimental pedagogy…McLuhan?s contribution to the study of communication is distinguished by an approach that is aesthetically based, highly performative and historically grounded. Utilizing formal techniques drawn from the Symbolists and twentieth-century avant garde forms (James Joyce in particular)…..” (Janine Marchessault, (2004), COSMIC MEDIA, p10)
- PART 1: GAMING: cultural simulations Online social gaming has become a ubiquitous online and off-line activity amongst youth in accessible parts of the metaverse, Particularly amongst young men. The release of Grand Theft Auto IV this year caused as much (if not more) inter/national media sensation And contention as a Hollywood blockbuster film. The status of multiplayer online games could be said to be over-taking the popularity of the Cinematic experience and a cursory overview of profits provides evidence that the “gaming” industry is economically surpassing the dominant Hollywood image in box-office takings. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ces-2008-microsoft-reveals-xbox-live-stats “Microsoft has revealed a number of user statistics for Xbox Live now that the popular online gaming service has registered over 10 million users. Unsurprisingly the most popular game based on Xbox Live connectivity in 2007 was Bungie's Halo 3, even though the game wasn't released until late September. Last week, Microsoft stated that the game has sold over 8.1 million units worldwide. “ http://www.half-real.net/dictionary/ “Abstract game: An abstract game has rules, but no fictional world. Many traditional non-electronic games are abstract, but very few video games are abstract….. Affinity between games and computers. Games and computers have historically demonstrated an affinity, whereby traditional games have found a new home on computers, and where the computer allows new game forms to appear….. Transmediality: Games are a transmedial phenomenon, meaning that a game can be implemented in different game "media": Chess can be played on a board, on a computer, or blind. Soccer can be played as a physical sport or as a video game. Computer chess is an implementation of chess (everything that can be done in normal chess can be done on the computer and vice versa), but computer soccer is an adaptation (only selected aspects of the sport is included in the video game). (Half-Real, chapter 2.)”
- http://www.acmi.net.au/gameon_essay.htm“As we enter the twenty-first century, videogames have begun to dominate as the most compelling form of popular culture. More than just entertainment, videogames offer audiences a new relationship with the screen. They explore new social and spatial concepts, and are becoming the place where growing numbers of people spend much of their recreational time.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMO“A massively multiplayer online game (also called MMOG or simply MMO) is a video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on personal computers. Most of the newer game consoles, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Wii can access the Internet and thus can have MMO genre games. MMOGs can enable players to cooperate and compete with each other on a large scale, and sometimes to interact meaningfully with people around the world. They include a variety of gameplay types, representing many video game genres.”
- As media theorist Jean Baudrillard espouses in his theory of SIMULATION and contemporary society the virtual and the real or the imaginary and the real have imploded in cyberspace. He tells us that we are no longer able to distinguish between the material, physical, lived geographic experiences and “virtual” ones. As I understand he is making a Philosophical statement about the social reality of those in the technologized world that can access these technologies…. That interacting with others online is increasingly making up a large part of reality or lived experiences. While there are many debates about this we can certainly agree that he has contributed the entry of the term “simulation” into contemporary vocabulary. Simulation is crucial to understanding what takes place in these online gaming environments. Gonzalo Frasca argues in “SIMULATION 101:Simulation versus Representation” © 2001 that the simulation that occurs in online video games Is not the same as narrative experience – the primary reason being the player can enact with the virtual world, having an impact on the environment & become part of the story…the story is not being told to them…they are building that world. Second Life is a excellent example of what Frasca is claiming. http://www.ludology.org/articles/sim1/simulation101.html “I am part of a rather small group of theorists –including Espen Aarseth, Markku Eskelinen, Jesper Juul, among others–who claim that videogames should not be viewed as an extension of narrative, literature, theater or cinema. Nevertheless, the majority of theorists see no problem in linking games with narratives. The idea that videogames and other interactive software is an extension of narrative is very strong in our culture and has been developed both by academia and the industry. Recent games such as Metal Gear 2 do really try to look and behave like an “interactive movie”. I find that "interactive fiction", "interactive theater" and other "interactive" flavored inventions do miss the point by trying to force games into something that they are not. Respected theorists such as Janet Murray, Lev Manovich, Brenda Laurel and Henry Jenkins insist on explaining games by analyzing their similitude with previously existing media forms. While I do not necessarily discard these approaches, I think that games are ontologically different from narrative because they are not just based on representation. Instead, they rely on simulation, which is a way of portraying reality that essentially differs from narrative…. Historically, we have relied on representation to portray both reality and fiction, generaly articulating it under the form of narrative. However, the introduction of the computer has unleashed a new way of communicating and understanding our world and thoughts: simulation. Simulation does not simply represents objects and systems, but it also models their behaviors…. the outcome of a simulation is a narration "for an external observer". This is because in many simulations, particularly in videogames, the player does not feel like she is being told a story by a narrator, but rather experiencing events as a personal experience. Unlike what happens in theater, these events are not just being enacted, but the player has a certain degree of control over them. Phenomenologically, the player generally experiences videogames more as an alternative reality where she has certain freedom to act than as a story.”
- “Second Life® is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe…. The most important thing about the Second Life world is that it is constantly changing and growing. Here's why: Thousands of new residents join each day and Create an Avatar Those avatars Explore the World and Meet People * These people discover the thousands of ways to Have Fun Some people decide to purchase Virtual Land, which allows them to open a business, build their own virtual paradise, and more! * Linden Lab creates new land to keep up with demand. What began as 64 acres in 2003 is now over 65,000 acres and growing rapidly.” Second Life is not just a virtual space for individuals to meet people & have fun (!) It is increasingly being taken up by corporations & global media networks. Telstra (Australia) has become a stakeholder, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and recently CNNnvesting in land and virtual architectural spaces. Performers are using the cyberspace as venues for the global broadcast of virtual concerts: in 2006 U2 the UK Band utilised Second Life for a cyber-concert. Virtual vending machines gave away free tickets…there were virtual tee-shirts that could be worn and virtual memorabilia used by the virtual concert goers (avataars). http://vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/02/second-life-u2-concert-report.html “Second Life: U2 Concert Report: The concept in brief: players stream a soundtrack into the world and create character animations for the performance itself. The major problem was the number of avatars the server could accept without the latency becoming too noticeable. Otherwise, a truly fantastic performance with every detail thoroughly worked out. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/12/second.life.irpt/ “CNN aims to find out by opening an I-Report hub in Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world created entirely by its residents.There, CNN will look to those most familiar with the virtual world -- the Second Life residents themselves -- to determine what constitutes news "in-world.” Developer Linden Labs opened Second Life to the public in 2003. According to its Web site, Second Life is inhabited by millions of "residents" from around the globe. However, traffic at any given time hovers around 40,000 users.
- http://vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/02/second-life-u2-concert-report.html “Free snacks and drinks from the "official sponsors". The other stand "sold" beer (Sam Adams included). UPDATE: One of the players behind the band asked me to point out that there are no "official sponsors" behind the event. Quote: We have no sponsors official or otherwise. We do it all for free. We sell nothing. HOWEVER, to correct any misconceptions such as the one stated publicly in your blog, we are taking down the food and drink booths. They were merely provided to give a more "real world" concert setting. No copyright infringement was ever intended. Again, we sell nothing--no show, no food, no drinks, no souvenirs--all is offered for free. "
- http://vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/02/second-life-u2-concert-report.html “Free snacks and drinks from the "official sponsors". The other stand "sold" beer (Sam Adams included). UPDATE: One of the players behind the band asked me to point out that there are no "official sponsors" behind the event. Quote: We have no sponsors official or otherwise. We do it all for free. We sell nothing. HOWEVER, to correct any misconceptions such as the one stated publicly in your blog, we are taking down the food and drink booths. They were merely provided to give a more "real world" concert setting. No copyright infringement was ever intended. Again, we sell nothing--no show, no food, no drinks, no souvenirs--all is offered for free. ” “…Each song seemed to have original animation scripts and light settings…The band avatars are controlled by an elaborate set of animation scripts…. Bono talks about making poverty history…. After the show, the band departed into their band room near the stage... ..only to come out later and give out autographs…. A happy grouppie poses on the stage after the show.” Corporations are using Second Life as the venue for their board meetings.
- http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/12/second.life.irpt/ “Just as CNN asks its real-life audience to submit I-Reports -- user-generated content submitted from cell phones, computers, cameras and other equipment for broadcast and online reports -- the network is encouraging residents of Second Life to share their own "SL I-Reports" about events occurring within the virtual world.The thing we most hope to gain by having a CNN presence in Second Life is to learn about virtual worlds and understand what news is most interesting and valuable to their residents," said Susan Grant, executive vice… When Second Life residents observe an in-world event they deem newsworthy, they can take snapshots, shoot video, or write a report about the event and submit to CNN. Submissions selected by CNN I-Report producers will go back into Second Life for residents to view throughout the virtual world. SL I-Reports may also be viewed and discussed in the real world at CNN.com’s…”
- But it is not all freedom & liberation, just as in the lived, physical, geographic world, Second Life is a space where people are playing out negative actions and experiencing conflicts. WIRED magazine blog network reports:: October 24, 2008 http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/scorned-gamer-j.html “A 43-year-old Japanese woman was arrested after deleting her virtual ex-husband's Maple Story avatar in an apparent act of retaliation following the couple's online divorce. The unnamed woman faces hacking charges and if convicted could serve a prison term of up to five years or pay a fine of $5,000. "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the woman has been quoted by investigators looking into the issue. The woman planned no retaliation in reality, reports the Associated Press. Even more interesting than the woman's apparent overreaction to the end of her virtual relationship is the overreaction of the media covering the event. Every report I've seen qualifies her act as some form of "virtual murder," when in reality it's no more egregious than dragging a Word document to the Recycle Bin. To wit: The Associated Press story I'm currently reading says "she killed her online husband's digital persona." Killed! As if she somehow stabbed the avatar in the head and watched it bleed out in an alley! Admittedly, people spend years grooming their virtual selves, but by even mentioning the word "murder" in connection with the deletion of an avatar the media seems to be once again hoping that Maple Story (like Second Life before it) will finally bring us the world described in William Gibson's Neuromancer. No matter how attached you might be, these are just strings of 1s and 0s.” http://instinctthephone.com/?dl=video/vs&id9=Ad_2008q3_instinct_refresh_EWRM_roadtrip_300x250
- Virtual Pedophilia Report Bad News For Second Life by Duncan Riley on October 30, 2007 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/virtual-pedophilia-report-bad-news-for-second-life/ “Linden Lab’s Second Life has seen its fair share of controversies in the past; an FBI investigation led to a shut down of inworld casinos, some media reports suggested that Second Life may be being used as a training area for terrorists, and in July there was suggestion that Bestiality may be driven out of the metaverse by a crackdown under a new TOS that banned “Broadly Offensive” behaviour. UK authorities may soon be entering Second Life as part of a crack down on virtual pedophilia following the above report being shown on Sky News. The report investigates an area in Second Life called “Wonderland” where users dressed as children offer virtual prostitution in a space designed to mimic a kids playground. Someone recently said to me at a conference that Second Life’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: pure uncensored freedom; they are completely right. No self respecting person could argue that the staging of virtual pedophilia is anything but sick and should have no place within Second Life, and yet libertarian governance has been the key driver of the Second Life success story . The whole thing is yet another tarnish on a space where some really great things are happening, a space that is slowly finding a much wider acceptance in the broader community. The quicker Linden Lab cracks down on these sickos, the better for the many Second Life fans out there who preach the Second Life gospel where ever they go.”
- Learning to Teach in Second Life http://learningfromsocialworlds.wordpress.com/learning-to-teach-in-second-life/ “Carr, D. (2008) ‘Learning to Teach in Second Life’, report for Learning from Online Worlds; Teaching in Second Life. Institute of Education/Eduserv Foundation, April 2008. Learning to Teach in Second Life. What follows is a summary of the things that we found out by teaching 4 sessions in Second Life between November 2007 and March 2008, as part of the ‘Learning from Social Worlds; Teaching in Second Life’ project (supported by the Eduserv Foundation, June 2007 to May 2008.). The various pieces of research that we undertook alongside our teaching (examining communities of practice, ‘gate-keeping’, the Second Life ‘pain barrier’, etc.) are not covered in this report. Please note that there are lengthy reflections on our teaching in SL at the project blog, as well as links on a page of SL Resources to information from many other educators working in Second Life. We found that: Second Life can be useful, that Second Life can be ambiguous, and that participants may have very different perspectives on a session. These issues are discussed in the report that follows. During this study we chat-logged our sessions in Second Life (i.e. recorded the live text-chat that participants typed) conducted post-session interviews the course tutor on one of the modules, and follow-up interviews with students. We also had access to the students’ reports and comments on Blackboard, the conventional VLE used for one of the courses. Our conclusions are based on this material, in addition to our experiences in Second Life. The students were informed of our research at the start of their module. The sessions in SL were elective. Students who did not wish to be involved with this research could opt out and instead follow the sessions as chat-logs. These were made available to students after sessions. To plan these sessions the project team (Diane Carr, Martin Oliver and Andrew Burn) worked closely with the course tutor for one of the modules, our colleague Caroline Pelletier. For more details on our preparations and data collection, see appendix 5. Appendixes 1 to 4 contain interview excerpts. Second Life can be useful We were a bit surprised. We expected that Second Life (or platforms like it) might be useful to students working on collaborative building, scripting or creative arts projects. Our recent experiences suggest that educators working within curricula where such options seem irrelevant might also find Second Life useful. Our experience suggests that educators can use SL in combination with a conventional VLE to enhance the experiences of distance learners, and benefits can be achieved with relatively little technical expertise. We found that the SL sessions contributed to the social aspects of the distance course, supporting student confidence and engagement (and thus possibly retention) in the process. Students commented, for example, that the SL sessions were interesting in that I felt as though I was actually meeting the rest of the class for the very first time (from Af’s report). Other students wrote that: I could feel the ‘real class’ when I saw bunch of you gathering at the outside of the ground floor. I felt that finally I would meet all my classmates (even though it was not real). Can you imagine in real life when you meet your classmates for the first time and you will automatically introduce and ask around about people? It was fun (Ae’s report) In all honesty, I felt I learnt more from the single ‘lecture’ in Second Life than I have done through the weekly discussions on Blackboard. That’s not to say Blackboard is of little use or Second Life is a revelation in terms of teaching and learning: the fact it was face-to-face and as close to a real lecture as we have had on this module made a great deal of difference. (G’s report) The impact of the sessions went beyond the ‘learning’ that took place in terms of content delivered, to alter social dynamics and participation in the course more generally. By supporting informal, social peer-to-peer contact, these sessions enhanced the students’ experience of the course as a whole. The class discussions that took place on the conventional VLE (Blackboard) after the taught sessions in SL support this, as do our interviews with students, and interviews with the course tutor. As the interview excerpts included in the appendix indicate, the class tutor and students made similar points when they compared SL and Blackboard. Second Life sessions were regarded as anarchic, chaotic, ‘live’, motivating, compelling and nerve wracking. Blackboard, by contrast, was appreciated for the structure it offered. Those making this comparison did not necessarily value one platform over the other. Instead, they emphasized that the two platforms’ strengths and weakness were complementary.”
- According to http://blog.loaz.com/timwang/china-statistics.php“ A recent report has been generated by the Chinese Media Research Lab. The study indicates the New Media related market is generating 114 billion Yuan (16.3 billion Canadian dollars). The top two marketing growth belong to Mobile Media and Web Media. The Chinese Mobile Media industry alone in 2006 has generated 88.8 billion Yuan (12.7 billion Canadian dollars), a nearly 41.3% growth! Mobile Media industry covers mobile TV, mobile MP3, SMS, and Mobile Gaming. The Chinese Web Media industry generated 252 billion Yuan in profit, which covers Online Gaming, Online Advertisement, Online TV, and Self Publishing (blog, wiki etc...). Among this, there is a 62% growth in online gaming and 48.2% growth in online advertisement. The director of the research lab Wang Liming is excited about the figures. He says, "China's GDP per capital has exceeded 1000 US dollar. According to statistics and studies, when GDP per capital falls between 1000 to 10000 US dollars, there's a surge in media growth. This means New Media industries in China has a huge potential ahead of itself...” http://blog.loaz.com/timwang/online-games.php“There is a video clip released on YouTube describing a new profession in China, the online game workshops. They gave the workers an interesting name: Chinese Gold Farmers. The business idea is simple, you have hundreds of teenagers playing popular international online games (e.g. World Of Warcraft)days and nights (I mean 12+ hours a day), eating boxed food, sleeping on the floor (for a very short time), open up the curtains a couple of hours every week! From the intensive team plays, these players get high level characters, rare weapons and virtual gold. Then the company put these virtual merchandises onto eBay, get bought by the American and Japanese players. This idea may sounds tedious, but the truth is there are hundreds of this types of "Game Workshops" opened in China and there are well organized "outsourcing" infrastructure behind these commercial "services". The profits are real and the business are expanding. What I like about this is that soon people may find thousands of best WOW players in China. What I find sad about is the gamers are taking these "virtual products" way too serious! The hours of online playing are destroying their life and health. But hey, like the kids in the video say, I am earning money while playing my favorite game, what else can one ask?!....According to a recent report (published by Guang Ming Daily) on 2005 Chinese Gaming Industry, there are over 10,000,000 registered students playing online games on a daily basis. There are total of 26.34 million online gamers in China and 38.9% of them are registered students. The majority age group of the total online players is between 16 to 30. 33.3% of them (8.77 million) are between 19 to 22, 28.4% (7.48 million) of them are between 22 to 25.”
- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html “1952 A.S Douglas the first documented computer game, Noughts & Crosses, As part of his doctoral dissertation. This tic-tac-toe game runs on a big Cambridge University computer called the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator.”
- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html “Engineer William A.Higginbotham – who previously helped build the first Atom bomb – is the first American to invent an interactive computer game. Tennis for two is nvented at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York To entertain visitors at the lab’s annual open house.”
- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html “MIT’s Steven Russell creates Spacewar! The game runs on a massive PDP -1 Computer. Spacewar! Spreads quickly to universities and research facilities around the country .”
- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html “Magnavox rolls out the first home game console, the odyssey. This brainchild of ralph Baer can play 12 Different games, including one called Ping-Pong. In time, Bear comes to be known as “the father of video games…”
- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html “Death Race, an arcade game in which players aim to hit zombie pedestrians with cars, causes a stir with its release. Based roughly on the movie Death Race 2000, this game launches one of the first controversies over violent video Games. The game sells poorly – only 500 cabinets are placed in arcades…”
- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html “The Japanese company, Namco, along with America’s Midway, bring the game Pac-Man to the United States. Fearing That the American public will be tempted to alter the game’s name to something more offensive, distributors re-name it Pac-Man prior to its debut. This hugely popular game is the first to have an animated main character with its own name.” The picture is starting to emerge….male oriented…American oriented….comabt oriented…Grand Theft Auto’s debut in 2008 onto the marketstands testimony to the aesthetics of violence, combat, White, male oriented. Analysis of the narrative-simultion content reveals the values that the game promote. This is a troubling fact, given this is the most successful and played game on the market today. Artists and new media producers have worked to create some subversive images – but why is it that “interactivity”, “participation” and “gaming” has Come to be associated with a certain “image” and set of beliefs about what “entertainment” seems to be. The idea of “girl” games or games that are less about The ‘action image’ than the contemplation of interior spaces and conciousness have been invested in by the AFC and other national screen bodies to counter the dominatant “Hollywood” US image. If subjectivity is the means by which players are xperiencing these virtual spaces, then it is becoming imaportant that the voices of those marginalised in the gaming economy start to infiltrate into the utopic cuberspace – images of the feminine, sounds and moving image… interaction with different kinds of spaces…beyond battlefields, and crime scenes….we need to start re-imagining these imaginary virtual worlds to incorporate the possibility of spaces that can articulate multiple identities and perspectives – world views.