· Games are a significant aspect of digital media but in an online world also show significant aspects of our culture. They will show both the positive and negative aspects of our culture and also allow us to politically, economically, socially and culturally reflect within such games.
· World of Warcraft (WoW) has a subscription base of 11.5 million people who pay $15USD a month. This highlights the massive economic concerns within gaming media.
· In comparison to games, movies as a media have a defined end point whilst gaming media is an ongoing involvement by the consumer, both within the game and other overflows media such and books, music, clothing, toys, cards, calendars, phone apps. Games can more commonly be played on the move thus freeing consumers from the constraints of time and space.
· Fan bases can also construct their own media remediating and networking around games such as WoW and also affects mainstream media such as broadcast TV where WoW has been seen in shows such as South Park, in music clips. This demonstrates the convergence of media, discourses and cultures.
· Feedback loops are formed where fan created content inspired by the original game affects the development of the original media forming a media feedback loop. This encourages further fan engagement as they see that they can have a meaningful affect on the media they are a fan of, unlike push media model which are a one-way communicative process,
· Games are commercial media products which are consumed on a global scale free of the effects of the digital divide as they are also free of time and regional media restrictions unlike old media models where film, TV and music content is released in different time periods.
· With gaming being a bigger industry than the movie industry one cultural issue within gaming is the dominance of men in the creation of the media. When considering this against the size and scope of the gaming industry and its cultural reach there is a clear cultural imbalance which needs to be addressed so it reflective of true society.
· Open design games are ones in which the users can alter the world they play ion such as second life.
· Closed designed games are those in which users cannot alter the world they play in such as WoW which is a highly regulated game space that has strict social and cultural guidelines for users.
· These two designs create different user experiences and cultural results.
· Commercialization of games. In WoW anything done within the realms of the game are owned by its creators, chat discussions, everything so they can maintain regulation of the economy, play experience, fairness etc. In open design games players maintain ownership over their creations as they would in real life and so is a much more realistic convergence.
· Scarcity gives value within gaming worlds online and also in the offline real world. Thus economics online and offline converge in these cases as value is created out of scarcity.
· Time is scarce in game play as it take time to build value to progress, thus “gold farmers “ who will save this time add value to these game spaces and generate real world money as people pay for this commodity with these virtual spaces. “Time is Money”
· Authenticity of the world is important part of the player experience so that they feel an even playing field for all. Without the sense of fairness virtual world breakdown and player migrate to new games and communities.
· Convergence of offline and online worlds can be found as result of gaming. Marriages, murders, funerals as a result of online game play all raise ethical questions in the real world that leads to critical analysis that a distinction between the two can longer be made as people increasing interact with online digital media and the communities that forma round them.
· World of Warcraft (WoW) has a subscription base of 11.5 million people who pay $15USD a month. This highlights the massive economic concerns within gaming media.
· In comparison to games, movies as a media have a defined end point whilst gaming media is an ongoing involvement by the consumer, both within the game and other overflows media such and books, music, clothing, toys, cards, calendars, phone apps. Games can more commonly be played on the move thus freeing consumers from the constraints of time and space.
· Fan bases can also construct their own media remediating and networking around games such as WoW and also affects mainstream media such as broadcast TV where WoW has been seen in shows such as South Park, in music clips. This demonstrates the convergence of media, discourses and cultures.
· Feedback loops are formed where fan created content inspired by the original game affects the development of the original media forming a media feedback loop. This encourages further fan engagement as they see that they can have a meaningful affect on the media they are a fan of, unlike push media model which are a one-way communicative process,
· Games are commercial media products which are consumed on a global scale free of the effects of the digital divide as they are also free of time and regional media restrictions unlike old media models where film, TV and music content is released in different time periods.
· With gaming being a bigger industry than the movie industry one cultural issue within gaming is the dominance of men in the creation of the media. When considering this against the size and scope of the gaming industry and its cultural reach there is a clear cultural imbalance which needs to be addressed so it reflective of true society.
· Open design games are ones in which the users can alter the world they play ion such as second life.
· Closed designed games are those in which users cannot alter the world they play in such as WoW which is a highly regulated game space that has strict social and cultural guidelines for users.
· These two designs create different user experiences and cultural results.
· Commercialization of games. In WoW anything done within the realms of the game are owned by its creators, chat discussions, everything so they can maintain regulation of the economy, play experience, fairness etc. In open design games players maintain ownership over their creations as they would in real life and so is a much more realistic convergence.
· Scarcity gives value within gaming worlds online and also in the offline real world. Thus economics online and offline converge in these cases as value is created out of scarcity.
· Time is scarce in game play as it take time to build value to progress, thus “gold farmers “ who will save this time add value to these game spaces and generate real world money as people pay for this commodity with these virtual spaces. “Time is Money”
· Authenticity of the world is important part of the player experience so that they feel an even playing field for all. Without the sense of fairness virtual world breakdown and player migrate to new games and communities.
· Convergence of offline and online worlds can be found as result of gaming. Marriages, murders, funerals as a result of online game play all raise ethical questions in the real world that leads to critical analysis that a distinction between the two can longer be made as people increasing interact with online digital media and the communities that forma round them.