can i be the first to report that social media is dead?
Social media is no longer social or media. And that’s deliberate; the battle for attention has morphed the medium into one more like a game. What comes next?
Gaming
Airports And The Privacy Of The Humiliated
I couldn’t help wondering about the privacy implications of airlines calling out people’s names over the airport PA system. In Sydney and Melbourne airports recently I lost count of announcements along the lines of ‘Would Mr and Mrs X of flight X to X please go to gate X where their plane, and hundreds of … Read more
Is It Really The Russian Mafia?
TechNewsWorld, in an article entitled “Worm Variants Part of Russian Mafia Extortion Scheme”, quotes Gartner research director Richard Stiennon told TechNewsWorld as saying of the recent spate of computer worms: “the real intent of the dueling viruses is to deny site availability to online gaming companies and other sites that have not complied with Russian … Read more
Is Online Gaming A Free For All, Or Orwellian Despotism?
More on the story about The Sims Online and the seedy goings on in Alphaville. The Independent’s Andrew Gumbel writes about the case, saying the expulsion of academic Peter Ludlow from the game “was only the beginning of a fascinating new phase”. Since then, he says, “Electronic Arts, through its online game controller, Maxis, has … Read more
The Virtual World Gets Surprisingly Lifelike
The Sims Online – an Internet-only world where ordinary folk can take on another persona and interact with other folk virtually — seems to be exhibiting all the signs of the real world, with a twist. Salon carries an article about a Sims community called Alphaville, and some of its citizens, including an academic called … Read more