Net 102 Week 2 Task 1.2 assignment 1 What are the implications of the rise of casual and social games on the internet for online gaming and everyday life?

Net 102


Topic 1.2 Games at work, no one knows I’m a wizard.

TASK 1.2 (ASSIGNMENT 1)

What are the implications of the rise of casual and social games on the internet for online gaming and everyday life? Not more than 500 words.

I switch on my phone and in the menu there are games. I receive adverts via email “join a site” that will enable me to “live a virtual life” and enjoy the benefits of games without physically leaving my chair. Nearly every web page I visit has a column advertising some form of virtual game or another. If I wanted to, I could network my computer and link up with other like minded players to play “War craft” or other such fantasy orientated past times. But why would I?

Social and casual gaming on the internet is on the rise, it has been since the increased use of the World Wide Web. The question being asked here is what? Are the implications? Internet gaming/gambling has become one of the major distractions within the workplace. E.g.: a person with a hidden gambling addiction can log on to a horse racing site, online casino etc and could effectively and secretly squander his or her pay packet without leaving the office. Not only is there a loss of productivity within the work place but within its self their behaviour affects their everyday life, their colleagues and their families, financially physically and cyber virtually. Companies are now taking steps to decrease and most often than not, block certain sites from their networks. Having worked in such an environment it is easy to understand why, when playing games on line all day is counter-productive. But there are ways to circumvent this especially with application phones such as Apple’s iPhones, so the addiction persists but with massive phone bills.

If you turn on your T.V, or pull up a web cast news site, you may at some stage watch a program about how internet gaming has enveloped a person’s life. I will have to use Farmville here as an example. The game is a Facebook application, (personally I loathe it/ blocked it as I was receiving countless “invites” to come tend someone’s garden!) but from observation this game tends to trigger some sort of addictive quality in the player/farmer similar to the endorphin high and low that a gambler receives. After doing some research via the internet I came across an interesting blog article called “I hate Farmville, stop the madness”. I discovered from this article that you actually spend real money on this site, kudos for the creator but a financial addiction for the participant, and similarly the anti social behaviour that affects their “real” lives.

I would have to agree with Nabeel Hyatt (2008, may 23) in the article "The Real and the Game: Game Culture Entering the New Millenium "(p 136) that “the parallel lives conducted in the game worlds may also be opportunities to act out unresolved conflicts or study aspects of the self that are kept hidden in real life.” So? What’s bad in real life is side stepped in virtual life. It’s something to think about.

Reference

Frans Mayra. (2008). The Real and the Game: Game Culture Entering the New Millenium. In An Introduction to Game Studies (pp. 118-151). London: Sage.


I hate farmville, stop the madness
http://www.myownpov.net/general/i-hate-farmville-stop-the-madness/