Facebook: The Ultimate Social Networking Site

Facebook since its inception has revolutionized the landscape which is social networking. It is arguably at the forefront of a consumer driven force whose sole purpose is to connect with friends and relatives whom are scattered across the globe. It has ultimately turned Mark Zuckerberg, its founder, into a household name and also has made him one of if not the youngest multi-billionaires in the world.

Facebook's main purpose is that of virtual social interaction and also that of social sharing i.e. that sharing of photos and videos. It allows users to update a variety of information unique to the individual which in-turn sets them apart from others whom they are associated with.

What I find fascinating and comforting about Facebook the most is the option to make everything you share private and only available to a select group of people of your choosing. This is what, in my opinion, sets it apart from other social networking sites. Although other social networking sites such as Bebo and Myspace do give users this choice it is not to the varying extent that Facebook does which, in my opinion, makes it appealing to a wider demographic.

Unlike a lot of other social networking sites like Bebo, Facebook attracts a sub-culture of gamers by allowing users of the site access to a variety of applications which not only allow users to play out various scenarios but also allow users to at the same time to communicate and work with their friends and relatives to progress to varying levels which leads to the unlocking of specialized items only available to people who do so. Farmville, a Facebook application, without a doubt has become a phenomenom of sorts as it gives users the chance to awaken their creative side by creating and managing a virtual farm capable of growing crops, nurturing farm animals and also to build buildings which come in handy at various points throughout the applications progression. It is the vast multitude of options that has given this application a massive pop-culture status and continues to grow in terms of content and user subscription.

As our society has and is becoming increasingly immersed in media culture, it is the products of this media culture i.e. celebs, films that are taking advantage of this particular social networking sites popularity to promote themselves and as a result gain mass followings which ultimately leads to the explosion of their popularity and also to our familiarity with the products which they are promoting. Various fan pages and pages linked with familar products in the media also allows users of Facebook chances to enter a variety of competitions, some carying with them massive prizes and also keys users in on information linked to events that are happening around the globe.

On the flipside, like many things out there, Facebook has had its up and downs namely to do with the sites claim to ownership over users personal information and photos which was later retracted after a massive outcry from its users. Like other social networking sites out there Facebook is never going to be safe from hackers but it is our responsibility as users of this site to prevent this from happening by insuring that our personal information, log in names and passwords, are not shared with anyone we done not trust and also that we insure that our profiles privacy settings are set to the right levels.

By Kyle Redpath
18/09/2010

Kill or Be Killed: Negative Representations of Males in Video Games

The 21st century, although in its early stages, has given birth to a new era of gaming where players are immersed in story lines saturated with graphic violence, sexual content and offensive language.

It is these story lines that we the gamer find ourselves addicted to as they are vehicles for which we can participate in acts which would certainly not be accepted in mainstream society.

We find ourselves sucked into a virtual world governed by its own rules and regulations and as a result leave the digital world having witnessed and/ or accrued labels and stereotypes not befitting to our real selves but rather to the gender groups to which we belong.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has certainly opened up a big can of worms in the sense that it adheres to everything I have touched on so far but also may be considered in a positive light in that it also gives us things to ponder and critically analyze that we may have not done so previously.

Yes, the female is portrayed negatively, for example as a crack head, as seen by my recent experience when playing Grand Theft Auto IV where I had to fetch a female characters coke back from an abandoned hospital. But it is the decisions I made and the actions I had to take in this mission which made be think that females weren't the only ones being portrayed in a negative light in the virtual world in general. Males to, whether some like to admit it or not, are equally if not on a larger scale portrayed negatively as well.

Hell, the male character I was playing had to kill about 30 people and outrun a 3 star wanted rating to even complete the mission while also having to steal numerous cars violently throwing its occupants from them to acquire them.

If that doesn't constitute a negative representation of a male then I don't know what does. What this blog has tried to make readers understand is that although it is the negative representation of females that we largely pay closer attention to, the negative representations of males do deserve as much attention and analysis than ever because if we the gamer go on ignoring it any longer it could spiral out of control to depths which it may not recover.

BY KYLE REDPATH

DATE: 02/08/2010

Gender and Gaming

Last semester i researched a similar topic, it was the different interaction between men and women with new technology. Some of the explanations i found were pretty common with many authors on this topic.

They found that:

1. Women are more social, their more expressive
   
2. Men are more focused in achieving their goal

This provides one of many explanations for why women play less games than men. It's not cause they can't play it or anything. it's cause they have no one to play it with!!

Think about it!!

Games on facebook are played with friends and i'm sure you have many messages on latest news on what score your mate scores and there are just as many girls and boys playing them.

World of Warcraft and sims all provide the player with idea their socializing and the female players in those games are almost the same as males. The players can talk to other players in war craft and the conversation option in sim allows the player to express themselves

Girls Gossip

You wouldn't see girls playing counter strike because there's no interaction with people verbally, there no way for them to express their ideas or emotion, hence they have no interest in playing this kind of games. All the male reader reading this would agree when I say all women ever want to do is to express their issues, quote "I just wanna talk".

A blog is also a good support for my argument, Women have the need to keep a blog or a diary just as a platform to express their self, to share their emotions, experience with someone/something.



Men on the other hand, plays games to achieve the best/ top score. To have the best score, to be the BEST!!


This is something that happened to me awhile back where i saw one of my mate watching a game on youtube.
I asked him: what you doing?
He replied: Studying bro
WTF your watching a game, What is that anyway? i commented
He pauses the video and explained: Bro this is a video on how to stay alive in xxxxx(i forgot the name of the game) and this guy stayed alive for over 15minutes, im studying his techniques.

This guy!! studying up on other peoples techniques to improve his playing stills now that just shows how committed and eager he is to win.

Males can spend hours on games, once they push start their in another dimension, with one goal in mind " beat the system" they train, they search for special moves.

This can also be seen as the way males express themselves and relax after a hard day at school/uni/work. As men, we don't like to share how issues with females because that would make us look weak! Men has always been known to be dominant stronger and better in every way than women through out history and for us to express our weakness just lowers our status.

Hence you see that men express their anger and stress on action games where they can let go...


To conclude, I believe one of the reason why women don't play games as much as men is because it doesn't provide them with a way to express themselves.

keep in mind there are exceptions and i am... only generalizing!! All images found on Google images =]

Casual Games: Investment, Time and Effort

It appears to be a trend that those who were not bought up in an environment where gaming was popular, if they later approach games, tend to favour so-called 'casual games'. Many, however, shun games entirely, seeing them as nothing more than a waste of time. More interesting is the group who claim they don't have time 'to waste' on 'serious' games, but nonetheless play casual games.


Figure 1. Bejeweled
Source: Wikipedia

Casual games, such as Bejeweled (fig. 1), may be characterised by the following traits:

• They do not require specialist hardware, such as a console.
  
  
• They do not require installing specialist software, frequently making use of Web-based platforms such as Flash.
  
  
• Many are available free of charge on websites, often as an adjunct to the website's main function (for example Social Networking).
  
  
• The learning curves of casual games are both shorter and less steep than those of 'non-casual' games. This means that the skill differential, as well as time-to-mastery of a casual game is significantly lower.
  
  
• Casual games usually have a high ease and imperative of replayability - forming a tight feedback loop - and commonly (although not universally) also a high replay value.

The penultimate point has the implication that within a short period of time and with minimal effort spent playing a casual game, one can easily become 'good at' the game. This is perhaps the most significant factor contributing to the ascribed 'casual' nature of these games. The final point above, however, contends this nature.

Casual games expect, or perhaps even demand, of the player a significant investment of time during each session of gameplay, to the degree that they have been considered some of the most addictive games (K. Veale, personal communication, February 3, 2010). While the instance of gameplay (from start to 'game over' / replay point) of a casual game may be quite short, an entire session of gameplay frequently comprises many such instances. How many of you have simply put a casual game down after the first go, especially after doing badly?

Many 'non-gamers', including those who play casual games but nonetheless do not self-identify as Gamers, are those who claim (or perhaps once claimed) to not have the time to waste on games. Is it the case that these people feel games are only a 'waste of time' when they require an investment of effort¹ (effort being seen as a subversion of play), or that they simply try out casual games in what spare time they do have and become addicted? If the former is true, does it mean that we are becoming too lazy even for play, and if the latter is true, does it mean that non-gamers are more prone to gaming addictions?

1. In the sense of exertion, rather than ergodicity.

I'm a girl and I love games!

The lecture about media and gender made me think about the differences between "girl" games and "boy" games. I play all sorts of games, Sims is one of my favourites but I have also played first person shooter games (which I have been told I'm actually good at, apart from all the screaming when an NPC comes out of nowhere) but the game at the moment I'm playing is WoW. Yes. I know, what a geek right! But I actually enjoy it because it is quite challenging.

The research quote by DiGiuseppe and Nardi pretty much describes everything opposite to what I am (or the character that I play). I love melee, love the plate wearers and I really dislike the cloth dresses and healing. I know that it is a generalised quote that these researchers have found and they cannot represent every single person's personal taste when it comes to playing a certain class and character but what I don't understand is why we have to gender everything anyway?

So what if a girl wants to sit on her computer all day and play a game, I don't think parents should be too worried especially since our generation has grown up with technology and playing games is now seen a norm in society by most people. I like to think that I've turned out okay... or I'll just keep telling myself that, hehe.