1. The topic for the week was online gaming communities. The tool that we used that related to this topic was dungeon blitz. It was an online game that allowed users to interact and make choices based off of what they did or said. Dungeon blitz relates to the topic of the week because it does all of the things that online games should do. It allows people to either talk or chat with other players. People can create groups in the game and play throughout it with each other.
2. The function that dungeon blitz serves is to allow people to interact in different ways than usual. Online gaming is an ever increasing trend and people really enjoy it. Dungeon Blitz offers this to people. It allows players to work together to solve quests and missions while allowing players to chat with each other about it.
3. While i was playing dungeon blitz i found that it was really addicting, which is not a good thing for me. I started playing and then i looked at the clock and two hours had passed. There really isn't much to the game other than solving quests and then solving some more quests, but it really does a good job of keeping the players entertained and engaged. This is what I found most interesting about the tool of the week.
4. Because the controls and concept of dungeon blitz were so simple and easy to understand, I really didn't find anything about the game to be too difficult. My main problem with the game would probably have to be the currency system. If I wanted to buy a pet of some new armor I needed a ridiculous amount of in-game currency. To solve this problem dungeon blitz would allow players to buy currency with real money. This is something that I found very annoying about the game.
5. I think that dungeon blitz help improve communication. It allows people to interact in ways that are different from normal. I think that people really enjoy playing these kinds of games. It lets users act like teammates and work together. Also, dungeon blitz is integrated into Facebook and twitter so people's friends can know how they are doing in the game and even join in on their adventure.
6. I had a really great time playing dungeon blitz. I really am not that big of a gamer, but after playing this game my opinions on it have changed significantly. I can definitely see myself playing this game a lot more even though we won;t be talking about in class anymore.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Virtual Communities/Cyber-Cultures
1. The topic of the week is cyber-cultures and virtual communities. A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific social media, potentially crossing geographic and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Second Life builds on this idea because it allows users to find other people who share similar interests. Users create a avatar who will essentially be them and go about different areas and interact with other users. The possibilities in Second Life are almost unlimited. People will most likely be able to find similar interests with other users.
2. Second Life is very similar to the video game, The Sims. It uses avatars to allow people to express their ideas and interests with anonymity In my use of Second Life I found that most of the people that actually chatted with me were very open. I wasn't comfortable sharing personal information, but some people were extremely comfortable doing so. Second Life is a social media tool and its main function is to allow users from different areas to converse via avatar and share beliefs and interests. Second Life allows users great customization with their avatars. This is something that sets Second Life apart from other social media tools. Facebook and Twitter don't allow for much customization other than a profile picture. Second Life lets users be anyone they want to while still sharing their real interests with others.
3. My experience with Second Life was definitely very different than other things I have done. The main factor of this was the ways users were able to customize their avatars. There are a few different categories of which people may choose their avatars. Vampires was one of them and I had the strangest encounters with these avatars. Eventually I just avoided chatting with these avatars haha. The other choices were humans, animals, robots, and vehicles. My avatar was a robot. I'm not to sure why I choose a robot, but it did look interesting. People customized their avatars in really intriguing and impressive ways. My avatar was just a robot from the list of avatars you can choose from. I'm not the most artful person. This was what I found most interesting about Second Life.
4. There were some things that I found difficult about Second Life. One was that it was hard for me to go into some of the worlds because of lag. I'm not sure if it was the Second Life servers or just a bad internet connection. This is something that can probably be fixed fairly easily though. The main issue that I had while exploring Second Life was finding people who actually wanted to chat with me. It seemed like most of the people were either not interested or just jerks when I tried to talk to them. In my whole experience of using Second Life I was only able to intelligently communicate with about 8 people. All of the others just typed obnoxious and mean things. I feel as if the creators of Second Life can take some kind of action to make sure that their users are using the tool properly. This was my main issue with Second Life.
5. I feel that when Second Life is used properly it can help people communicate, but when used improperly it complicates communication. Second life makes it easy for users to find niches that they are interested in. For example, if somebody id interested in playing pool, they can go to a bar in Second Life and find a pool table and play with others. In this aspect I think that Second Life improves communication. It may be very difficult for people to communicate effectively with others while using this tool. Most of the users seem to not care about the others and just do whatever they want. This makes it hard for the users who are using Second Life for the correct reasons to find other people with common interests. In this way I believe that Second Life only complicates communication. Also, Second Life uses a great amount of anonymity, which can also lead to complications in communication. It is hard to have a personal conversation with other users in Second Life because you don't know who you are talking to. I also think that this only makes it more difficult for communication.
6. My experience of using Second Life was interesting, but also disappointing. I initially thought that my experience would be mostly positive, but after a few hours of exploring Second Life I know that it is something I will most likely never use again. I hate when people can hide their real identity behind things and Second Life allows just this. It just creeps me out to not know who I am talking to. When used properly I think that Second Life can be an effective way of communication and be a great virtual community. Unfortunately most of my interactions with others within the tool were negative and I have a hard time recommending it to others.
2. Second Life is very similar to the video game, The Sims. It uses avatars to allow people to express their ideas and interests with anonymity In my use of Second Life I found that most of the people that actually chatted with me were very open. I wasn't comfortable sharing personal information, but some people were extremely comfortable doing so. Second Life is a social media tool and its main function is to allow users from different areas to converse via avatar and share beliefs and interests. Second Life allows users great customization with their avatars. This is something that sets Second Life apart from other social media tools. Facebook and Twitter don't allow for much customization other than a profile picture. Second Life lets users be anyone they want to while still sharing their real interests with others.
3. My experience with Second Life was definitely very different than other things I have done. The main factor of this was the ways users were able to customize their avatars. There are a few different categories of which people may choose their avatars. Vampires was one of them and I had the strangest encounters with these avatars. Eventually I just avoided chatting with these avatars haha. The other choices were humans, animals, robots, and vehicles. My avatar was a robot. I'm not to sure why I choose a robot, but it did look interesting. People customized their avatars in really intriguing and impressive ways. My avatar was just a robot from the list of avatars you can choose from. I'm not the most artful person. This was what I found most interesting about Second Life.
4. There were some things that I found difficult about Second Life. One was that it was hard for me to go into some of the worlds because of lag. I'm not sure if it was the Second Life servers or just a bad internet connection. This is something that can probably be fixed fairly easily though. The main issue that I had while exploring Second Life was finding people who actually wanted to chat with me. It seemed like most of the people were either not interested or just jerks when I tried to talk to them. In my whole experience of using Second Life I was only able to intelligently communicate with about 8 people. All of the others just typed obnoxious and mean things. I feel as if the creators of Second Life can take some kind of action to make sure that their users are using the tool properly. This was my main issue with Second Life.
5. I feel that when Second Life is used properly it can help people communicate, but when used improperly it complicates communication. Second life makes it easy for users to find niches that they are interested in. For example, if somebody id interested in playing pool, they can go to a bar in Second Life and find a pool table and play with others. In this aspect I think that Second Life improves communication. It may be very difficult for people to communicate effectively with others while using this tool. Most of the users seem to not care about the others and just do whatever they want. This makes it hard for the users who are using Second Life for the correct reasons to find other people with common interests. In this way I believe that Second Life only complicates communication. Also, Second Life uses a great amount of anonymity, which can also lead to complications in communication. It is hard to have a personal conversation with other users in Second Life because you don't know who you are talking to. I also think that this only makes it more difficult for communication.
6. My experience of using Second Life was interesting, but also disappointing. I initially thought that my experience would be mostly positive, but after a few hours of exploring Second Life I know that it is something I will most likely never use again. I hate when people can hide their real identity behind things and Second Life allows just this. It just creeps me out to not know who I am talking to. When used properly I think that Second Life can be an effective way of communication and be a great virtual community. Unfortunately most of my interactions with others within the tool were negative and I have a hard time recommending it to others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)