Advertising within video games

The answer to advertisers’ sagging return-on-investment from television and print? If you believe this Yankee Group article, marketers are setting their sites on video games. Is there no sacred ad-free space left in our consumerist world that someone won’t sell out on?

Computers: A Family Evolution



I went to a public seminar at gameCODE yesterday afternoon which addressed results from an ethnographic study on internet usage for kids between the ages of 7-17 (might be a little off on the age range)

For the most part, the quotes used from the children to make her point about perceptions of the internet, mp3 sharing and the ‘dangers’ lurking online were comical but rang true – as a mother of two (8 & 12) internet using children.

In a connected house such as ours – half of our double living room is dedicated to a network of three computers and a laptop on the wireless network – computers and the internet is the most common form of entertainment, communication and academic tool. After Leslie Shade’s talk, I started thinking about my beginnings in computer usage, and how, with each generation the perception of the virtual – being connected – becomes blurred into what i see with my girls as part of their daily reality. They understand the idea behind the virtual and the tangible, but it is so much part of their lives, that there is little seperation between the two – if any at all.

I think about my father, who was always up on the latest technology, had the home computer introduced to him in his early thirties, I think of myself, where my first home computer was in my early 20’s, my oldest daughter was 4 (i think) when we bought it, and my youngest daughter was born into the house that had a computer…

I remember having to create a simple (asc11 i think) program in grade 7 on our schools commodore 64’s…simple “if x = y then goto” type lines that ran the user through a series of jeopardy type questions.. and I look at the type of things my children use the computer for .. homework, MSN with schoolmates, surfing the net (instead of the channels) when bored…

Getting a chance to touch the computer was such a novelty for me when i was young – and now i think about the fact that my girls have their own today … I guess I’m just starting to feel a little old seeing how far technology and childhood has come … heh

Another Way of Looking at Multi-Tasking

As a woman who played massively multi user online role playing games while raising a family, I had no choice but to multi-task – you know, cast a heal, run downstairs to turn the dryer on and run back up in time to cast another heal while my fellow playmates were none the wiser of my absence.

I had a recent conversation with a professor in the leisure studies department who did her MA thesis on Elite Female Power Gamers – and while discussing my multi-tasking abilities, she introduced me to the term “time deepening”. Many people, when they think of multi-tasking think of it in linear terms of time. The concept of time deepening puts the depth of the tasks per the time it takes to do it. Easier way to conceptualize the sense of depth is: when you do 5 tasks (multi-tasking) in 5 minutes, essentially, you are getting 25 minutes worth of work done in 5 minutes, creating depth to the concept of time, instead of its common linear perception.

How do you spell relief?



After much hard work – thank you sashay for all of your guidance and advice – my presentation has been delivered to rave reviews. The slides worked well, and the content was well received and like most things i work on, there is room for about 5 more papers stemming from this point.

Much to my chagrin, i inadvertently started this current piece of work from the structural functionist perspective – how role identity is constructed to serve the purpose of the overall structure of the institution (of society that is). Now, upon first glance this could have been seen (and was on my part) but the good news is, i found out after a well needed chat with my advising professor that in essence, the foundation of my work was indeed based in role theory, but that my arguement actually demonstrated the deconstruction of the theory in terms of role identity and definitions within the game of EverQuest. Alas! Another paper has been born.

The work is paying off – it felt great to present what has been in my head and on many pieces of paper to a productive group of people. It has given me the confidence in what i am doing, which has been something else i have been working on.

A well-earned drink will be consumed after my exam tonight I promise!

Procrastination or Inspiration?



I have never been one for oral presentations, and so it is normal that i am stressed about delivering the state of my current research. In this light, while i should be dotting i’s and crossing t’s, i have been thinking about my research overall – the virtual book in my mind that all these paths of interest will someday converge.

For the last year, i have tried to make sure that all of my university classes spoke to my interest in video game theory/studies. In some way, shape, or form i have managed to make classes such as sociology of occupations, or social change, speak to this interest. Even within my contemporary social theory course i managed to sneak in a paper on Rational Choice Theory and Everquest guilds.

But it has come to a point where, as a current prof and potential mentor has put it, i am flirting with academic ethical issues of using one paper to serve another (as in all works being part of the same topic or take off points). In theory, this isnt a problem if the boundaries and issues dealt with in one paper are clearly seperated from one another. And so here my problem lies.

Over this past year, each paper topic has rolled out of another as my interest snowballed… but unlike the snowball analogy – which would usually signify something growing larger and larger, i have been suffering from a case of tunnel vision, trying to define each term, each idea, that i have not been able to actually step back and look at the big picture.

So

After a productive discussion with my professor, i think i see the light. A way to seperate the three conflicting papers – and work them so that they are still useable in a larger context.

Literature Review for 498 – Which will allow me to paint a broad picture of the literature within the field of video game studies; my work in progree for the [crosses my fingers] DiGRA conference, and a sociological look at the processes of identity creation (per differing perspectives) related to games that illustrate these processes. (thank you A. for clearing this up

and leading me in the right direction)

This brings me to procrastination…as i excitedly flesh out which theorists and games i would be interested in looking at, i have an unfinished presentation to clean up…

Alter Ego: Pixels & Pores

(cross posted with gamecode)



The idea of people creating their avatars as representations or escape of self is something that i have been exploring throughout my avatar work over the last year.There is currently an exposition running at a gallery in england that shows pictures pf players and their avatars, some of the resemblances are uncanny while others are great departures from the self.

What i like about the exposition is the choice the players made in deciding to participate in the exhibit. There is something in that moment when you share your avatar with the world. It connects the person with the avatar in a way that makes it more concrete – more of an actual part of yourself. The avatar is not merely another interface a player has to go through to get to the game.

I remember the feeling of pride that i had when Bart used an image of Velixious at one of his IGDA presentations…part of me was embarrased as if he was showing baby pictures of me to a large crowd, while on the other hand, i felt that Velix was getting the recognition she deserved (apart from me).. as an individual – an entity onto herself, that deserved the reward of wider exposure, beyond the game space.

Anyways, here are some links to check out.

Terra Nova – Alter Ego post

Official Exhibit Site

BBC Report on the exhibit

How un-feminist of me



The tides of internal struggle between wanting to push forward and read everything out there ever written (…well, as far as my interest would carry me) and the internal desire to stay at home, and raise my children while being supported handsomely by my everloving mate for life – well, its a struggle that rears it’s ugly head in times of stress and self-doubt. For all the anti-feminist feelings i have been feeling, i can’t help but think that at some point, i am not allowed to want to be a stay at home mom/wife. In all the struggle for equality, we have lost sight that, while perhaps it is a conditioned state of feminity, it is one that i sometimes yearn for. Indeed, it is probably a case of greener grass, and knowing me, i would have to be commited after a short period of time from boredom … i still find myself wanting the best of both worlds; an active academic life and a healthy homelife. But for now, it seems that it is always one or the other.

Just Fun & Games?



A friend sent me this link today. Serious games are a growing part of the video game industry, definitely something worth looking at.

The following is their purpose statement:

The goal of this site is to catalog the growing number of video and

computer

games whose primary purpose is something other than to entertain. These

are

also known as “serious games.”

“Game” (i.e. video and computer) has

become a language –i.e. a medium of expression — in which almost any idea

can

be, and is being, expressed. It is our intention to help document this

growing

phenomenon and list, so that:

People who want to locate Social

Impact Games

can find them, and

People who want to create Social Impact

Games can see

what others have done.

A Great Day for Radio



Earlier this summer, I had posted about an online radio station that i LOVED going off the air (online). Well, scrolling through my list of available stations today via Media Player, it seems that they have been able to get some funding and are back online! =)

I am a happy girl!

Natural versus artificial fear?

I’m taking a course this semester on the Sociology of Fear and Risk. To start the framing for that topic later in the semester, I’m currently learning about the constructionist argument for the role of emotionin individuals and society. If I attempt to boil down the entire argument to a few sentences, I guess it becomes an argument that emotions are not necessarily purely natural. Instead, emotions have sociocultural roots, in that individuals within a given community are taught what emotions are supposed to be within that society, as well as what emotions are expected to be felt and displayed in certain situations (i.e. prescribed). Additionally, the individual can expect to be punished if their emotional expressions don’t fall within the allowable guidelines for the society of which they are a part.

This got me thinking ahead to what applications this constructionist argument might have on the concentrated topic of fear and risk in modern society. Note that my thinking here is preliminary, exploratory, nascent.

As Westerners, we live in a world that is, actually, free of natural fears of yore. The urban homeless populations notwithstanding, few people in the Western world today fear hunger, loss of home, loss of spouse or children or indeed their own life in any significant way.

In the past, we could assume that the fear of death coupled with the need to often bring death to other living creatures brought about a certain familiarity and conversely a certain respect with it towards death. The same could be said of life, both plant life and the life of the various birds, mammals, fish and so on. We gathered our food from the land and hunted the land for its natural occupants. A respect for our natural co-existence was natural. Even later, when we became farmers and we bent the land to our will to grow our crops, we still developed a respect for the crops and for the weather and natural forces that could so easily destroy them. Disease was common, so it was normal to lose a child early in its life, or lose a spouse to accidents, childbirth, or illness. We also feared the loss of our culture and so we banded together with others who were likeminded, as kin or clan or tribe or village. We took an active role in the functioning of the community and as a result we had an active participation in each other’s lives. We went to war together against anything or anyone who threatened our way of life. We protected each other and were, in turn, protected. We were connected to one another and to all of life around us. We trusted and loved and lived and died in a time in which these fears loomed large. Fear was therefore omnipresent and very functional to our lives.

So what could be the impact then of our western way of life today, in which these same fears are minimized or eliminated totally? We now live in a world in which our food is purchased pre-slaughtered at the various uniform locations of a supermarket chain. We live in a world in which we know that modern medicine will be able to prevent a large number of formerly deadly diseases, or cure us of those we might develop. We live in a world in which the last two generations have grown up and are growing up with no expectation to have to ever go to war against other human beings, in which we do not ever need to kill another entity. Thus, we live in a world in which we can expect our children to grow to see an entire century of life. We ourselves have the concrete and plausible hope for the same.

We live in a world in which we buy our homes pre-made for us, our clothes pre-sewn, our food pre-killed, our society managed for us by people unknown to us personally who live in cities and communities far away from our daily realm, who participate in processes in which we have only a titular ceremonial part, if any. We are no longer connected to the former process of living.

My exploratory argument here is not about the glorification of the days of yore. Rather, what I am trying to explore is whether or not the fear and risk that were rampant in the more primitive days served a function. And in the absence today of the situations of old in which it loomed large, what is the role today of fear and risk? If these fears no longer exist at a level strong enough to govern and guide us as they did, what is the role today in society for fear? How do our governments exploit it to control us or to exercise power? How do we manufacture it and why? How do we teach fear to our children today and in what situations?

The answers to this are what I expect to ponder throughout the rest of this semester. The answers will, I believe, be enlightening. Whether it be to explain why we love roller coasters, why we participate in extreme sports, why we worry about computer viruses or sexual diseases, why we manufacture fear…these are the things I will be pondering this semester in this course.