eLandscape of the future- Second lives, take two

So I have already talked about virtual lives such as computer games, but as I enjoy the topic I felt like I could talk about it some more. My favourite part of most video games is that you get to live out a life that is different to your own, often in fantastical ways involving things such as magic or mythical creatures. This is because it allows us to escape from the boring drudgery of our everyday lives and do something both exciting and surreal, even if it is only sub-passively through our computers. In the future, I am more then expecting (anticipating would be the closest word) that there will be many more people playing video games and living out secondary (or even in some cases such as myself, multiple) lives very different to our own. In fact I expect that the number of people who play video games in such a way to double by 2020.
The number of people who play RPG video games (remember RPG stands for Role Playing Game/s) is dependant on the style of the RPG, the availability of it, the requirements of it (ie do you need the newest console, or a computer which is above the norm of the off the line models), and how repetitive it is (this is how World of Warcraft is losing so many of its players between expansions). If the future of gaming hold what I pray it soon will, virtual reality gaming!!!, then these games will soon become more popular due to the levels of interaction between the game, the character, and the player, being reduced and improved to allow for more realistic gaming. It should be noted that we are already well on the way to this as we already have games which we can control through movement, and there are experimental virtual reality sets in use by military groups for training, already.
This form of social media is already becoming a major player in the field, as 90% of generation Y who live in developed countries have access to, or at least have played, a video game in the last year alone. As gaming companies continue to advance to meet the standards set by their target audience, the quality of even the most basic (for the time) video game will improve drastically. If we were to compare the basic video game of this decade, to the one of last, we would be amazed and how far our technology has advanced to achieve such levels, and this is just in terms of gaming not to mention transportation, education, and medical care as some other examples.

Did someone mention online documentaries?

Ah more on the delightfully ambiguousness of YouTube and the ways it can be used. Online documentaries are documentaries created by users with basic camera and film editing skills, with the intention of providing information on a product, place, or idea. The reason many people turn to online documentaries is because of all of the 'red tape' which surround professional documentaries in terms of funding and their distribution. The main reason for this 'red tape' is to prevent misleading or offensive information being readily produced and distributed by small name people in big productions that persuade people to believe what it is they are showing them without having all of the facts or having them correct. Many different types or people or groups use online documentaries and for just as many reasons. Some might do it because they are opposed to the industry or what it stands for, others might do it for political reasons, and others still might do it for personal reasons such as to get onto a day time talk show, or to gain revenge against someone.
Online documentaries are a simple and effective way for people to get their voices heard and to use their right to the freedom of speech (but in many cases we do often wonder if those rights should have boundaries. That's right I'm talking to all you racists, and other derogatory persons who put your slanderous filth all over the web and attempt to shove your opinions in the faces of decent people. My opinion is that you are entitled to your opinion, provided you don't attempt to beat me over the head with it! Because then you are violating my right to have MY own opinion!) The reason so many individuals and groups use online documentaries to get their message out there is that it is simple and, thanks to things such as YouTube, it can reach large audiences quickly. Agencies like Greenpeace began recording their rallies and activist events with online documentaries, before progressing into proper documentaries, though they still do post them online on the free medium sites such as YouTube and their own web page for the masses to view in an easy way. Another example of an online documentary is The Thinking Atheist, whom creates video documentaries of religions and their beliefs (among doing other things), and talks of what they find to be the flaw in them. Their website has many such documentaries and even a YouTube page which constantly receives criticism from religious persons who object to his beliefs and to their beliefs being shown 'out of context' (the words of the religious persons not the Thinking Atheist nor mine)

All hail the almighty Mobile Phone

In the modern world of which we live in, there is the predominant theme of if you don't have the best and newest technology available then you are not with the times. Adults whose most major piece of technology in the past would have been their colour TV now have computers with high speed broadband which they can barely understand the use of or how it even works. Kids as young as 10 are now seen with Playstation 3's and mobile phones with more circuitry and technology than NASA had in all of their computers when they first sent man to the moon. In fact, almost everyone has a mobile phone, and in many cases more than one. The mobile phone is slowly becoming the most predominantly used screen of the 21st century, as pretty much anyone that you meet in a developed nation will have one. The most noticeable effect of the modern mobile phones is that they are often seen as hand-held computers with all of the amounts of technology contained within them allowing them to do things such as watch movies and television, take photos, access the internet, play games, listen to music, draw, and can even be used as a phone...
Now, I'm not sure about the rest of you, but it slightly saddens me to see kids in primary school with their own mobile phones. When I was their age I wasn't running around with a mobile, racking up a phone bill by texting my friends whom I saw pretty much everyday and being expected to be responsible for it, I had a Tamagochi which I looked after like many of my friends did, and it taught as a very different type of responsibility which this new generation seems to have missed based on the increase in the number of younger teenage pregnancies globally. The point I am making here is that it is better for them to have a different type of responsibility such as a pet instead of a piece of technology which, while it is useful in rare events such as emergencies, is often more of a problem then help.
The extra screen provided by anyone down to the age of about 10 having on their mobile phone is a necessary evil, though it needs to be controlled in usage. Between the television, computer, digital cameras and movies, are there not enough screens in our world which are causing the rift of sociality within generations to decrease significantly, without adding the mobile phone to the younger, more susceptible generation? At least until the introduction of information, television and movies being beamed directly into out brains (thank you Doctor Who and The Simpsons), can we not reduce the impact upon our world and future generations by reducing the number of screens available to them?

YouTube vs. Politics

Politicians use many different platforms in order to make their appearance during the elections. Some use actual platforms where they stand to address the crowd, others use television and radio advertisements to reach the mindless masses, and of recent some are using the internet, and in particular YouTube, in order to send their message about the gains of them being voted for as president and of their candidacy. The potential problem with using online mediums such as YouTube to convey ideas is the negative effects of produsage such as spoofs, satire and parody, which could potentially destroy a campaign. An example of the positive effects of YouTube would be the “Obama Girl” video which has been seen around YouTube since Barack Obama started running for president. This video which was made by supporters of Barack Obama, Ben Relles and Leah Kauffman along with Amber Lee Ettinger who played 'Obama Girl', initiated a strong increase in his popularity particularly with the under 30 voters who are those most likely to have seen and been influenced by this saucy and humorous video.
Saturday Night Live is a major American TV show which often does satire and parodies of celebrities and other major news makers, and the runners in the presidential campaign were not excluded from this. Another satirical view of the voting system was shown on The Simpsons where Homer Simpson attempted to vote for Barack Obama using a rigged electronic voting machine which turned all votes for Barack Obama into ones for John McCain and recorded multiple votes for the one voter. While these parodies and satirical segments are unlikely to change the opinion of a voter of average or higher intelligence, they are likely to influence those who are either below average intelligence or totally undecided about the vote.
Outside of the elections held in the United States, there have been numerous produsage videos featuring the current Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd. Many of these are incredibly child-like such as over-riding most of his public address speeches with fart sounds and inserting laugh tracks. However there have also been more correctly done ones such as the ones performed by Rove and his team called Kevin Rudd, P.M, where video clips from his weeks dealings were turned into a short video detailing his life as if he was a spy. These properly done parodies are a lot more effective than those done poorly, though are often done for differing reasons, whether it be to detract from the fame or likeability of the person in question, or to create entertainment for the masses which portray them in a positive yet humours light.

What is 'produsage'?

Ok so the title of this blog might have also gotten you asking “What is 'produsage'?”. Produsage is a term used to describe the effect or event of an individual or group reusing an idea in a new way to make it seem like a new product. This is done often in modern society, especially with the internet being such a large source of free media. One example of could be the popular new game 'Heroes of Newerth or HoN'. This game is newly released and is an rpg where players control one hero (or in some cases one hero and a few creatures) to do battle with other heroes and a few npc creatures in the attempt to destroy the opposing teams base. This game is based off of the original map called 'Defenders of the Ancients or DotA' which was a player created map from Blizzard's Warcraft 3 map editor. The original DotA was created by players for a fun new game for people to enjoy. This HoN version was created by other players (with the permission of the original creators), by using similar heroes with new names, looks, and improved graphics and gameplay, yet in its essence it is the same game with new pixels and string commands.
Another example of produsage is the video clip from the original movie 'Downfall', which has been edited numerous times by viewers by changing the subtitles into other humorous things. An example of this re-made video is shown in this blog, which shows Hitler talking about the Pokémon known as Mudkip. These produsage videos featuring Hitler with altered subtitles, are only effective to audiences who do not understand German which is the language being spoken during that part of the film. If they were to understand it, then they would become confused by the differing subtitles thus making the produsage video less effective.
If you are interested in a more researched version of what produsage is I can also help you there. According to Bruns (2008) “There is an absence of producers, distributors, or consumers, and the presence of a seemingly endless string of users acting incrementally as content producers by gradually extending and improving the information present in the information commons, the value chain begins and ends (but only temporarily, ready for further development) with content.”. This comment refers to the fact that many people are refusing to produce new ideas as it is seen as easier to use produsage to reuse old ideas, as almost anyone can do so, and that even if they did create new ideas they would eventually just become produsage ideas like everything else.