Social Practice

“The Internet has been appropriated by social practice, in all its diversity, although this appropriation does have specific effects on social practice itself”

I don't think anyone could have predicted the massive social influence the internet has had on society in recent years. Although the slow decline and eventual death of 'traditional' social networks is mourned by many, I don't believe it is the devastating blow to society many seem to think it is.

On that note, I don't believe it is a massive leap forward socially speaking either. Virtual space tends to allow for a higher sense of individuality and honesty, but it also allows for complete and utter deception, you can be whoever you choose to be, which some people find disturbing, but it is not so different from the social deception which occurs everyday as we prepare ourselves for how we want to be perceived.

"Besides, I like you better when you start pretending to be the person you want to be rather than pretending to be the person you are." (The Escapist)

Technology vs Society

A concept I find extremely interesting which I have seem discussed before revolves around the question 'Does technology shape society, or does society shape technology?' (“technology does not determine society”) and also generally gives rise to ideas about whether technology is being driven by society, or whether it has accumulated enough momentum to evolve as a self contained entity, but in either case why is it evolving, to what end? But I digress.

A perspective that I had not considered was summed up in the quote “technology is society, and society cannot be represented without its technological tools”. Until this point I had tried to identify them as completely seperate ideals, however it is becoming increasingly apparent that this is no longer the case.

Internet Governance

It is argued that the internet is a heavily regulated and controlled entity with strong statements like “The founding principle of the Net is control, not freedom. Control has existed from the beginning” and such.

I can agree in principle that there are certainly measures in place to have some degree of order to protect functionality (ISOC, ICANN) these are neutral institutions which govern at a very high level the general flow and the way in which information is exchanged.

The internet was never designed with freedom in mind is a sentiment that I completely agree with. ARPANET was originally a closed military network built in the event that a catastrophic military strike was suffered, communication could still continue.

Perhaps I am only challenging the semantics of the arguments presented, but I believe control in any sense of the word was lost with decentralization. The general information flow and the way data is exchanged can be governed, this is true, but the end result is that there are still many unsavoury elements on the internet that if it was at all possible to eliminate, it would have been done by now.

The sheer amount of information and users involved is stupifying. I don't believe it will remain an impossible feat forever, but I don't believe we have the technological means to make that a reality just yet.

Digital Distribution

Although video games are generally considered the bleeding edge of modern technology and are widely considered to be the driving force behind technological progression their distribution models are relatively ancient.

In the digital age we are still distributing video games in boxes with manuals, CD/DVDs, etc. A physical medium is being used to distribute something that exists entirely in the digital realm. This is partially out of habit, people are not yet comftorable exchanging money, which in itself is nothing but a representation of a very tangible force, for something which is significantly less tangible when stripped to the digital form alone.

Another contributing factor is that the physical representation is what distinguishes a legitimate copy from a pirated one. People are not paying $90 or more for a printed box, manual and some discs, they are paying for authenticity.

However physical items must be manufactured, they must be shipped, stored, and then compete for shelf space with other items. These factors alone add a significant cost to what is already an expensive hobby, and reduce what is already a slim profit margin for developers.

This increased cost makes self-publishing almost impossible. Like in the book industry, an author must seek out a publisher for their works. The publisher is responsible for manufacturing, marketing, distribution of the work, and generally finances the operation.

The problem with this model, and many media production industries that use similar, is that publishers have a stranglehold over their respective industries, and will generally hold the rights to the work if they are going to approve and finance it.

Digital distribution doesn't solve all of these problems, but it does make it significantly more viable for developers to publish their works themselves.

Virtual Community Report

My chosen community is fans, players, and general followers of the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game World of Warcraft.

The general purpose of the site is to allow discussion between members of the fanbase, but more importantly it gives blizzard an insight into what the players are asking for, and gives them near instant feedback on the evolution of their world.

In certain instances it also gives members a direct line of contact with blizzard, who not only moderate the forums but will on occasion directly respond to questions or concerns which they feel are especially important.

The playerbase for WoW is huge, I am unsure of the exact figure but it runs in the millions across several countries. Not all players use the forums, or at least participate in them actively, but a significant amount do, and this amount is even higher if you take into account the number of people who use it infrequently as a reference point, which does not require registration.

This actually creates problems as all WoW servers are shutdown at approximately the same time each week for maintenance, and the website / forum servers are bombarded so heavily that it is often difficult or impossible to access the services during the downtime.

User Created Content

I certainly agree that developers are beginning to view consumers as a potential resource and are generally supportive of user created content, as it tends to add value to their product for little to no cost themselves.

The creators of this additional content do it with no expectation of ever being reimbursed for their efforts, financially at least, and in this respect I fail to see how anyone can claim that they are an exploitable resource. There are professional positions for this field and there is an opportunity to be noticed and recruited if you produce exceptional work, as was the case with the Counter Strike team.

The issue becomes a little more clouded depending on the reliance of user created content. In most cases, a full retail release is made independent of user created content, although probably relying heavily on user input from previous titles or exposure through beta testing.

User content adds value to an existing retail product, therefore by proxy earning profit for the developer. Auran took it to a new level by including user content in a retail release which the author was not financially reimbursed for. Lego have been known to employ similar practices.

It is at this level of inclusion that the issue of exploitation starts to become relevant, when users are in fact treated like "defacto employees" of the development team, and although it is leaning towards morally questionable, I dismiss this notion outright.

It must have been like a dream for the people involved to be able to be so involved in what is obviously not only a hobby but a passion for them. They were not forced, and aside from being contracted to silence they had no tangible obligation to continue contributing, and had they chosen to do so there is every chance they would be serious candidates for a paid position.

Modification

The march of technology has made increasingly sophisticated media production devices financially and technically viable for the common consumer, which in turn has seen a boom of people not only commenting and speculating of trends in the media but actively creating their own alternatives.

This trend is occurring across the entire spectrum of popular culture but arguably the most prominent, or at least sophisticated contender is video game modification.

Developers are beginning to realise the power of the consumer as a potential resource pool. The cinderella story of this field is the popular FPS title Counter Strike, which was originally a mod for Valve's Half-Life, which became so popular that the Counter Strike licence was bought out and the team recruited. CS has since gone on to become one of the most succesful FPS games in history.

Not all mods are this aggressive, although a total conversion utilising the same engine / resources is possible, it is extremely difficult. Common mods are new weapons, character 'skins', textures, maps, etc. Some games are even released with complete development kits to encourage user development.

A popular mod for Half-Life 2 is Garry's Mod which creates a 'sandbox' environment utilising environments, resources, but more importantly the physics from the game. Almost anything you can think of is possible, as the potential to manipulate the characteristics and attributes of the various objects is almost unlimited. One significant example is Concerned, a webcomic utilising this technology to create the images (it is also hilarious and well worth a look if you are familiar with Half-Life.)