'Real' World? Produsage, the Internet and Gaming.

Through my recent studies of new media technologies and virtual cultures, I have noticed that gaming is an area that has changed dramatically due to Web 2.0’s capabilities. In the past, gamers had to link up their computers or game consoles in order to play ‘double player’. Even then gamers could only explore the landscape and use the tools that the game publisher had created, follow a set story and move from level to level as they achieved tasks. The capabilities of Web 2.0 seem to have changed all of this, and consequently the gaming environment has evolved dramatically. If someone had told me ten years ago when I was playing Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo 64 that in the future I could play a game on the internet with massive amounts of players from all over the world and that I could create my own content, I would not have believed them.

These days, I believe that this is normal. The geographical boundaries of the past seem to have been eliminated as the internet provides a platform where massive amounts of players can connect from anywhere around the world, provided they have the technology. Players are no longer passive users of technology; instead they are simultaneously producers and users of content. These people of ‘Generation C’ (Bruns, 2007) have been described by Axel Bruns (2007) as produsers, as they are not only content users, they are content creators. Game play has shifted from having “strict narrative structures which are played out by gamers, to providing a rich narrative and social environment in which multiple gamers cooperate in creating their own narrative paths” (Bruns, 2007). The technology is now user-led and gamers no longer have to rely on game publishers to develop content, the publishers simply have to create a skeleton and the produsers will create the flesh and blood. It seems that game developers are becoming increasingly reliant on the content created by produsers, with 90% of The Sims being user generated (Herz in Bruns, 2007). This creates many opportunities for new and interesting content, as who knows where the minds of ‘Generation C’ will wander.

In my study of virtual cultures I have come across many critics who believe that online game play is anti-social, however I (along with many of my peers) believe that massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) are a social technology, as people interact on a social basis just as they do offline. Many MMORPGs such as Everquest and World of Warcraft rely on gamers teaming up, creating friendships and bonds in order to conquer certain tasks to move forward with the game. In some games such as Second Life, gamers can start relationships, get married, pay off a mortgage and even have children. People can use these games just like social networking sites, finding like-minded people and starting friendships, and cultures emerge in these online worlds just as they do in ‘real life’. In my study of these games I have found that groups that mobilise and collaborate in online worlds have more power and influence in the game.

Why does all of this interest me, a non-gamer who has no interest in joining an online world or starting a ‘second life?’ Well, it is because I believe that MMORPGs are changing more than just people’s social lives. The fact that more than 30 million people world wide are involved in MMORPGs (Alter, 2007) is hard to ignore, as there is power in groups, and it seems that the power of people in online communities is growing, affecting many different aspects of our lives such as the economy and politics. MMORPGs help to support the economy, as people spend real money in online worlds in order to buy themselves virtual luxuries such as holidays (Alter, 2007), clothing or more advanced weapons. For example, Second Life’s ‘Marketplace’ takes millions of US dollars every month in online transactions (Second Life, 2008). As for politics, Henry Jenkins (2007) has predicted that in the near future Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will have a debate in Second Life, which is not such a far fetched idea, as many political figures are increasingly utilising Web 2.0’s social capabilities such as YouTube to connect with voters. Politicians could use online worlds to announce new policies and gauge public opinion. Maybe one day we will vote for the next Australian Prime Minister using online polls in Second Life.

Although I believe that MMORPGs are predominantly played for fun and their social aspects, my study has led me to notice that these games are affecting many parts of people’s lives, both gamers and non-gamers. It seems that this is where produsage is taking us; the online is increasingly affecting the offline. Almost anyone can create and collaborate online, and the overall effect that this will have on society really is up to the imagination of produsers around the world.


References

Alter, A. (2007). Is This Man Cheating On His Wife? Wall Street Journal Online. Retrieved April 22, 2008, from http://biz.yahoo.com/wallstreet/070810/sb118670164592393622_id.html?.v=6.

Bruns, A. (2007). Produsage: Towards a broader framework for user-led content creation. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from http://snurb.info/files/Produsage%20(Creativity%20and%20Cognition%202007).pdf.

Jenkins, H. (2007). Henry Jenkins@Beyond Broadcast 2007. [Interview with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast]. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from http://thoughtcast.org/casts/beyond-broadcast-2007.

Second Life. (2008). Second Life: Your World. Your Imagination. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://secondlife.com/.

Online Cultures and Politics

In Terry Flew’s book New Media he addresses how new media technologies are allowing the emergence of virtual cultures. As I have observed, there are many different types of virtual communities that have evolved from people with specific interests and goals mobilizing and collaborating. Online cultures based around social networks, MMORPGs and wikis are possible due to technological developments accompanied by a change in the ways in which people use technology (Flew, 2005, p. 61). A consequence of people using technologies for social interaction is that they have altered the technologies to being ‘cultural technologies’, which are not merely “material forms that impact upon culture, but rather as themselves cultural forms” (Flew, 2005, p. 21).

Many people, including myself and my peers, engage in virtual cultures for an array of reasons such as social interaction and game play, however one reason that I believe is becoming particularly important in democracies is political involvement and activism. People’s engagement in politics online is changing the face of democracy, giving ordinary citizens “political leverage” (Flew, 2005, p. 62). Citizens can use online communities to organize, campaign and debate (Leadbeater, 2008) and by like-minded people mobilizing around a cause they can gain power (Leadbeater, 2008) and influence public opinion, as “in groups people can accomplish what they cannot do alone” (Noveck, 2005). Recently I have noticed that politicians have also caught onto the power of new media technologies for campaigning and reaching audiences that they were previously unable to reach. Many high profile politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair have utilized YouTube and other social networking technologies to talk, blog and vlog (Coutts, 2007) with audiences around the world, and what was an "'information revolution' is becoming a social revolution” (Noveck, 2005).

However, there have been concerns about peoples’ increasing involvement with social technologies and how this may be fragmenting society, as people within specific online communities may get stuck in an ‘echo chamber’, choosing to network and debate only with people who share their views (Leadbeater, 2008). Out of their niche online groups then, people may “project their value system onto others and fail to comprehend how someone else may possibly think differently” (boyd, 2005, p. 199). Therefore, it is important for diverse online groups to connect and affect one another (boyd, 2005, p. 208) and for a range of political views to be expressed.

Due to technological innovations, politics is no longer spectatorial, it is a participatory practice (Jenkins, 2007), and I believe that both citizens and politicians are using the internet and other new media technologies to their advantage. With the political landscape shifting with technological changes, it will be interesting to see where the future for democracy is heading. As long as groups online do not get stuck in echo-chambers and become fragmented from society, I am sure that the future is a bright one.

References

boyd, d. (2005). Sociable technology and democracy. Retrieved April 7, 2008, from http://www.danah.org/papers/ExtremeDemocracy.pdf

Coutts, S. (2007, May 20). Politics and the internet. [Radio transcript]. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2007/1924783.htm.

Flew, T. (2005). New media: An introduction. 2nd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Jenkins, H. (2007). Henry Jenkins@Beyond Broadcast 2007. [Interview with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast]. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from http://thoughtcast.org/casts/beyond-broadcast-2007.

Leadbeater, C. (2007). Social software for social change. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from http://www.charlesleadbeater.net/cms/xstandard/social_software.pdf.

Noveck, B. (2005). A democracy of groups. Retrieved April 7, 2008, from www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_11/noveck/.