#playing the crowd

[samgirard]

first star: president’s trophy winner tyson jost | col vs. la | 5.13.21

[sims3morgans]

[digic]

A photo posted by jim? jimbo? jimbo macdaddy? (@nameslike_james) on Apr 16, 2016 at 3:48pm PDT

So here is the variety of social gaming that I afford myself lately. The variety of practice and publicity is almost like a performance. Playing the game turns into preparing content to publish for self promotion or playful socialising rather than achieving the implied goal of completing the game itself. This has gone on since arcades. We are social creatures who use the platform of gaming to practice publicity and promotion so why not manipulate that to make money? Fox and Nintendo have taken what Atari made into a social movement that attracts many investments and conflicts.Mainly sharing and providing a Sims like simplicity to the fold that any could probably find problems with at every turn. Ranging from the trend towards users setting public social profiles on transmedia platforms leading to defrauding, and discrimination victims. Whereas the intention was possibly as harmless as any of the host developers creating this content, the impact can be insincere. Bullying and industrial bitching are possibly the most boring products of the practice of game development and gaming moving into mainstream popular culture. Games have existed for longer than the current technology so many of us rely on to replay our favourite platforms games. I personally don’t care anymore for harassment against me on any platform however I bloody love exercising caution with every use because of the poor perception for the majority of social attitudes towards gamers. So please don’t consider me one, I’m only here to post on the practice, I hardly play at all. Yet now I’m at level 54 on The Simpsons: Tapped Out with a friendship score of 5 but I don’t play hardly at all anymore yet this happened earlier today...

So I don’t think there’s much point to the constant conflict online but the satirical side is my investment in social gaming. There’s enough seriousness in the rest of society whether it’s economic or environmental and I believe that’s why the escapism of gaming is what gave rise to the successful strength of the gaming industry to stand alone regardless of society and individual reactions to the reasons for or why there are certain practices on some platforms for particular publics. That’s why it’s best to prepare yourself for the worst when seeking out social gaming but cater the crowd carefully to your own conditions or find yourself struck out by insensitivity. Like a brash young raven once replied “nevermore.” So I think ‘try it before you buy it’ is probably the best mantra to have when it comes to being mindful with gaming practices. Sometimes you have to sell out to save yourself being stuck without social capital. Here’s how I did just that:

Using @LinkedIn for its affordance of self promotion and @Miitomo_JP to seek validation of this #MiitomoStyle look 🐻 pic.twitter.com/HeLKXabnzH

[mindmymarketing-blog]

Is Reality for Losers Who Don’t Play Video Games?

This subject is of real interest to me. I’m an 80s child. Today’s massively connected, multiplayer online games depicting a wide range of worlds didn’t exist then. My idea of a computer game was Pac Man in 2D with a joystick.

I have a teenage boy who spends a lot of time playing online games. To my amazement, my son and his friends are happy and content playing networked games with voice chat, even when they’re in the same room! Is this affecting their social skills? The benefit of voice chat is I can hear everything that is going on. And my occasional peeks at his screen makes me feel better. I can claim I feel I have a good grip in regards to his online activity.

The Benefits of Online Gaming:

Computers are most important tool of modern society

Makes you smarter

Feeling of connection

Builds stronger connections between friends

A major way boys talk with friends

More socially well adjusted

Positive effects on brainpower – visuospatial ability, standard IQ tests, working memory, critical thinking, problem solving, advanced literacy skills

Creativity

Abiding by rules of virtual gaming worlds

Risks involved in Online Gaming:

Cybersafety

Addiction

Cyberbullying

Cybersafety

A must watch video regarding cybersafety is by ZodiacTheMac on Facebook dated 4th February 2016. Stone implores us to violate our children’s privacy. He contests its better we as a parent intrude on their online activities, rather an online stranger. I just admire this advice.

Addiction

You might want to know if your teen a game addict. Let’s investigate the matter.

Apparently, only two of three following warning signs are required for a teen to be considered dependent to his virtual, online gaming world:

Preoccupation – irritable or seemingly distracted when away from a game

Downplaying Computer Use/Defensiveness – in denial about the amount of time he/she spends in the digital gaming community

Lack of Control/Loss of Time – unable to self-regulate amount of time playing games or not realising the amount of time passed away while sitting at a gaming screen

Negative Impact on Other Areas of Life – neglects other areas of life

Hiding From Negative or Awkward Feelings or Situations – may hide in the digital gaming world to escape having to deal with reality

Misuse of Money – overspending on computer-related items

Mixed Feelings – temporary euphoric feelings followed by guilt

What to do if you suspect your teen is experiencing online cyber issues? Phone AMCA on 1800 880 176 (within Australia).

Feel free to leave a comment for discussion. In particular I’d love to hear your experiences with social gaming.

  REFERENCES

ACMA. 2015. Australian children getting smarter about online risks. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/acma-media-release-842009-8-july-australian-children-getting-smarter-about-online-risks. [Accessed 07 February 16].

Glasbergen. 2000. Your spending way too much time on the internet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.glasbergen.com/?s=surfing. [Accessed 05 February 16].

Nam. 2014. Hacking and Cheating Online Games. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/hoangnamnguyen1694/ce-hv6-module-51-hacking-and-cheating-online-games-37231530. [Accessed 06 February 16].

Psychology Today. 2012. The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201201/the-many-benefits-kids-playing-video-games. [Accessed 07 February 16].

Stone. (2015). Alert Alert. [Online Video]. 4/02/2015. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/ZODIACTHEMAC?pnref=story. [Accessed: 05 February 2016].

Video Game Addiction. 2009. Symptoms of Video Game Addiction in Teens. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.video-game-addiction.org/symptoms-computer-addiction-teens.html. [Accessed 05 February 16].

Young. 2014. ASAPSCIENCE: HOW VIDEOGAMES CAN MAKE YOU SMARTER. [ONLINE] Available at: http://pixelkin.org/2014/01/27/asapscience-how-videogames-can-make-you-smarter/. [Accessed 07 February 16].

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Social Gaming: Playing the crowd

Until recently, the vast majority of research by psychologists on the effects of ‘gaming’ has been on the negative impact towards individuals and society; the potential harm relating to violence, and depression. Researchers based their arguments around the media’s attention towards youth who played violent video games and reaped mass killings; such as the Columbine High School slayings 1999 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School 2012. However the nature of games has changed, becoming complex, diverse, realistic and social in nature with positive relations towards video games; cognitive, motivational, emotional and social attributes.

Cognitive: faster more accurate attention allocation, higher spatial resolution in visual processing, enhanced creativity, and superior mental rotation abilities of memorisation and analytical skills.

Motivational: persistence, continuous effort engagement towards success and achievement, and relentless goal reaching.

Emotional: mood management, higher emotional control, positive enhanced emotional states, broader number of behaviours, and building of social relationships.

Social: cooperative, competitive and higher quality and quicker decisions towards leadership and trust decisions.

However, despite the positive attributes towards social MMORPG (Massively, Multiplayer, Online, Role-playing Games), addiction is the predominant issue faced in today’s cultures. Through the aid of ‘crowdsourcing in times of crisis’ journalism and networking, I found an article about a Chinese father who hired in-game assassins to continuously kill his sons avatar to reduce his game time and reengage him in the real world (http://geekologie.com/2013/01/going-the-distance-father-hires-in-game.php).

For a more in-depth evaluation on social gaming visit, <https://prezi.com/rguomx1gls88/untitled-prezi/#>