Category: Lars Bredahl

I enjoyed our discussion this week about the continually evolving area of online virtual worlds. I think that it is amazing that we have come from the simple text-based virtual world games where the user types in commands like “k rover” to the sprawling fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Lineage. I think that these virual environments are currently only used by a particular albeit large demographic of users. I think that we still have a way to go before we have a Second Life-like virtual world that is as widely used as a social network like Facebook. In response to the questions I posted earlier this week, I came up with the following.

1. The free virtual world program, Second Life, was supposed to be the next big thing for advertisers desperate to break out of the mold. However, the buzz has died down as it has become apparent that the Second Life user base was not growing the way it was first projected too. What is the future of advertising in virtual worlds? Have advertisers found more success in non-MMORPG games such as Madden or Nascar console games?

Second Life was not exactly the behemoth that many advertisers thought it was going to be. However, it would be foolish to rule out virtual world advertising this early in the game. We have seen the massive numbers of users on games like World of Warcraft and additionally there are many other gamers utilizing other console games online. I feel that many advertisers have found effective ways to place ads in games such as promoting new music in Madden or putting a Coke ad on the side of a Nascar race track. There are also businesses who take it a step further and create virtual stores in games like Second Life where users can buy both virtual and real products. I commend the businesses who take the risk and try these new techniques. I think that this area will only continue to grow as more and more people get into gaming. We now see people of more diverse backgrounds (more female and older gamers) and this creates more opportunities for advertising in-game. I also believe that Second Life may evolve into something new or perhaps there will be a rival upstart that takes it place and becomes the Facebook of virtual worlds. If this happens, the advertising potential is limitless.

2. Will we ever see a virtual world game (like Second Life) that appeals to a much wider and diverse audience than these programs have in the past? What changes will have to be made and what benefits will have to be added to a virtual world program to make more people want to utilize it?

I do think that there will eventually be a virtual world program that appeals to a much wider audience. Although it hosts millions of users, World of Warcraft has a very specific audience of hardcore gamers. Second Life seems to appeal to a wider audience but it still has a long way to go in terms of users. I think that to gain more users, Second Life (or an upstart rival) would have to create a very easy to use interface and a much more social network-like experience. They need to make it simple for users to whip out a virtual photo album and show off Facebook photos in game. Or perhaps they can make it easy to swap contact information with digital business cards and create more virtual networking events. The creators need to think about what makes social networks so appealing and take those things to the next level in a virtual environment.

I am really interested in the topic of virtual worlds. In recent years, with the rise of World of Warcraft and Second Life, we have seen a greater advancement in the environments themselves that have allowed for greater immersion of the user. Some of the questions that I have for this week are:

1. The free virtual world program, Second Life, was supposed to be the next big thing for advertisers desperate to break out of the mold. However, the buzz has died down as it has become apparent that the Second Life user base was not growing the way it was first projected too. What is the future of advertising in virtual worlds? Have advertisers found more success in non-MMORPG games such as Madden or Nascar console games?

2. Will we ever see a virtual world game (like Second Life) that appeals to a much wider and diverse audience than these programs have in the past? What changes will have to be made and what benefits will have to be added to a virtual world program to make more people want to utilize it?

I think that it is amazing that in a world of time-shifted television, pirated movies, and free music, one aspect of the entertainment industry has blossomed and grown considerably in the last 20 years: the video game sector.

I think that as interactive media students, it is very important for us to take a good look at video games which could be considered the most interactive of media.

In my questions that I posted earlier this week, I questioned the idea of demographic shifts in the video game audience. In recent years, we have seen a historically young male dominated industry embrace a much more diverse audience. There are now there are many more female gamers and older gamers. It is no longer considered a pastime for nerdy guys in their basements. The game systems have moved from the basement to the middle of the living room and are as ubiquitous as television sets.

Industry legend, Nintendo, knew they couldn’t compete with the hardcore systems like XBox and Playstation, and instead they decided to utilize their low-priced Wii system as a family-friendly device. They have released motion-controlled games like Wii Sports and Wii Party that appeal to families and are positioned to replace the board games of old. There are also games like Wii Fitness that target women and can even be used by the elderly for aerobics. Nintendo has found great success with their Wii system and the industry has definitely taken notice. We now are seeing rival companies, Microsoft and Sony, creating motion-control add-ons that form much more immersive gaming experiences and are targeted towards families.

Gaming is also become more relevant to diverse users via free games on the internet, especially through social networks. We have recently seen the explosion of games like Mafia Wars and Farmville that not only are engaging and addictive but also allow a variety of users to connect with others to compete and cooperate…and all for free.

It’s only going to grow more. As mobile phone technology continues to advance, we see more and more games popping up and being used by all types of users. We are even seeing these mobile games taking it a step further and shifting their game-like elements from virtual to the real world. Apps like Foursquare, could be considered social media video games but still involve people exploring the real world and earning rewards that are both digital and real. There are also QR codes and other scannable interfaces that hide digital content in the real world that transfer to the virtual world.

I feel that this idea of augmented reality will continue to advance and become more relevant in everyday lives. This idea and the increase in motion-based controls will continue to push gaming to the forefront of the entertainment industry and bring in users of all different backgrounds. Will we eventually see every person with a virtual avatar in a virtual world like Second Life? Will we eventually find it difficult to separate the real world from the digital game world? These are questions that remain to be answered and it will be interesting (and maybe a bit scary) to see what happens.

I am excited to discuss the topic of video games this week. It is amazing how the industry has gone from a niche market to a juggernaut of platforms and content, and has helped to advance computer technology along the way. Some of the questions that I have going into this week include the following:

1. With the arrival of the Nintendo Wii, we have seen the traditionally young male-dominated video game industry become much more accessible to female and older gamers. Will we see more demographic shifts like this? Will the amount of older gamers continue to increase as some of the original gamers (Gen Xers) continue to age?

2. The game industry has been currently breaking down barriers of interactivity and creating more dynamic control methods such as motion control. Will we continue to see games become more and more “active” or is this only a fad and traditional control will eventually come back into the spotlight? Also if the current trend continues, what sorts of developments can we expect to see to make the interactive interface more intuitive?

I enjoyed learning more about WikiLeaks this week. It has always been a site that I have heard about in the news and in my media law classes. It always seemed like some shadowy organization that puts on the face of a group of freedom fighters. They mysteriously would come up with classified documents from anonymous sources and post them for the world to see with little fear of the consequences. They had done some great things and some very bad things depending on how people felt about each issue. As we mentioned in class, I think the thing that bothered me most about WikiLeaks is the fact that a site that touts the banner of transparency is also a site that acts very secretive about its sources and the way it works as a whole.

It was interesting to discuss such a polarizing organization more in-depth and learn more about what the people behind it do. I liked to see the face of the WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, on the TED talk video and hear his description of the work that his group performs. Although he still came off as a slightly creepy troublemaker, it was good to put a human face on the WikiLeaks organization and hear what he had to say.

I am in favor of the idea of transparency and believe that our government does not share nearly enough with us that I believe we have the right to know. However, I was pleasantly surprised a while back when Wikileaks released the Afghanistan War Logs. I read that most of the major details of the war logs had actually been shared with the public. The things that had been kept secret were not exactly earth-shattering but they still were important, such as the fact that the insurgents had access to more powerful anti-aircraft weapons.

Although the American government has a ways to go in terms of transparency, I think that Wikileaks has, and will continue to have, a larger rule with transparency in other countries such as when they leaked information about the corruption by the family of the former Kenyan leader.

As much as I sometimes disagree with the information that WikiLeaks posts online, I have to admit that it was refreshing to hear Assange talk more about the process that his people go through to make sure that the documents that they receive are legitimate and come from a reliable source. Even when they have a good feeling about a story, but are not absolutely sure, they make sure to add a disclaimer. It is this attention to the process that I have to respect and it makes WikiLeaks seem less like a rumor-mill and more like a legitimate news source that can be (mostly) trusted. Though their methods may be questionable, they are leading the cahrge to a new era in which transparency is more widespread and “the people are watching Big Brother.”

In the article, Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? the author brings up a lot of good points about young people and social networking websites. Some of the questions that popped into my head were the following:

1.) I really liked the idea of the young people “sticking it to the man” and creating fake beer events to fool the watchful eyes of authority. This makes me wonder, is it really effective for people to use social networks as a trustworthy resource for disciplinary action?

2.) I also like how the article pointed out that some educators are embracing social media as a learning tool. Is this a promising strategy or were educators right to be wary of the dangers of social media?

1.) In Goode’s article, I thought of a few questions concerning the idea of citizen journalism. I really enjoy sites, like Digg, that allow me to sort through the clutter and find some interesting articles to read. However, I also easily fit into the skewed user demographic. To combat this kind of elitist “aristocracy” of users, will there be an increase in Digg-like sites that cater to other diverse audiences? Will there ever be a site an aggregate news site that truly fulfills Digg’s promise of a “democratic” news source?

2.) In the Lilleker and Jackson article, they talk about how interactive media helped Barack Obama become president of the United States. It is inevitable that other future political candidates will  utilize social media in their campaigns but how will it be different from the election in 2008? The Web 2.0 world moves at a rapid pace so what new social media outlets will be utilized? And how else can candidates leverage the tools of interactivity to win elections?

In class, I thoroughly enjoyed our discussion concerning the current state of news media. It made me think about a lot of important factors and allowed me to think more about the questions that we all posted earlier in the week. I was especially intrigued by Alison’s ideas and we talked about these in our small group. Here are my thoughts on her questions…

1.) While people currently turn to major news sources for big events, (September 11, elections, etc.) will people turn to random citizen journalists for the same information?  IF professional journalism declines and citizen journalists fail to form “professional” organizations how will society respond to getting news from “average joes”?

I believe that this is the biggest concern among professional journalists who are basically losing their jobs that they are professionally trained for to people with little or no writing experience. This can seem very scary to these professionals who were taught to believe that they were the “gatekeepers” of information or the “watchdogs” of the government. However, other people think the opposite and believe that the rise of citizen journalism is giving more voice to the people and less to a chosen few. I think that this trend is still new and we will continue to see more and more blogs pop up. But eventually we will reach a point of overflow and people will want to see only the most reliable and trustworthy news reporters move to the forefront. This is when the professional reporters will rise again. Their daily roles may change but if they are truly good writers and accurate reporters, people will come to see them as the premium sources of news.

2.) While all forms of news are struggling, what about the hyper niche markets?  If journalism transitioned to hyper niche topics could the financial situation facing news outlets change?  Would people pay for hyper niche topics since this is a fairly untouched sector of the journalism industry?

We talked about this in our group and I believe that local news could be a place where traditional papers can still do well. It is difficult for local papers to compete against the constant flow of national news online. But often it can be difficult to find out about local events just by searching on Google. This is where local papers should focus: their primary local audience. Whether this means revamping their physical paper of reorganizing their website, they should become the go-to sources for local happenings that are too “minor” for the big guys to cover. And if they are able to corner this niche market, it will be easy for them to find local businesses who want to advertise on their site and in their paper.

3.) How can online advertising change to be more effective?  What are some other ideas?  It seems as though all advertisers try to advertise the same way online, but this isn’t working and not many solutions are being discussed.

It is definitely true that the traditional banner ads and pop-up ads have become trite and oft ignored. However, I still think that if local newspapers strive to become more “localized” they can focus all of their energies on a much more concentrated market that local businesses will clamor to have exclusive access too. However, the news sources and advertisers need to get creative with their ads and need to work together to advertise without actually advertising. Today’s consumers are much more informed and are not easily fooled by clever ads and slogans. Transparency and interactivity are key. News sources need to leverage social media both for news reporting and advertising. The businesses need to get creative with their campaign and consider using Twitter and location-based promotions. For example, they could put ‘clues’ in the paper for a special promotion that involves people “checking-in” to their store with Foursquare. Today’s consumers love to interact and be engaged with brands. They want participate in game-like activities rather than be slapped in the face by an obnoxious ad with bold text. Newspapers can work with businesses to create a win-win situation but they both need to think outside the box.

The State of News Media project is a great resource to study the developing trends in the news industry and some of the sobering statistics that act as a wake-up call to news professionals.

1.) The website talks about how the future of both new and old media are more tied together than most people think. This made me think about CNN iReport which is a prime example of an old media news source (CNN) harnessing the power of citizen journalism and social media to bring news to the people. Could this model work for other news organizations?

2.) Looking at CNN iReport’s model, is it possible that the future role of news organizations is to act as a gatekeepers and moderators for leagues of amateur reporters who contribute news from all parts of the world?

3.) News organizations’ primary source of income comes from advertising but with online news sites becoming the primary outlets, news organizations have had to come up with new ways to bring in the advertising dollars. What are some of the ways that news sites are experimenting with ad placement outside of the annoying pop-ups and banner ads?