Coming to an end...

As the semester wraps up we finish up all of our assignments and have time to reflect on the course. We just finished our last podcast last night and took the time on it to explain our favorites about the class, the adjustments from a regular class, and some suggestions. I enjoyed this a lot and I think everyone had a lot of positive things to say about the class in general. Looking back I'm so glad I took this class, even though at first I was on the fence about it. It was a good experience for me and honestly I don't think I will get much more of an opportunity to take another class like this. It opened my eyes to new books and technology that I have never heard of before. New things never hurt anyone, they just make them more experienced. I feel like that is what this class has done for me. Thanks!

Reader Response 10

This quote is from Dibbell as he has to go to San Francisco for awhile.
"...operations here at Play Money are somewhat in disarray at the moment and may remain so for the next few days or even weeks. I have no way of logging in to UO, and no way of delivering the items...I have no idea when or how I will be able to sort all this out....I miss my data. I miss my home. I don't even know where my home is right now."

This virtual selling of goods has obviously had a huge impact on Dibbell. With out it he seems to be lost and confused. He also seems to be worrying about it a lot. This "job" seems to consume your life, much like any job in reality can do. It obviously can become a stress as well as shown in the quote.
Dibbell goes on to say....
"What the hell is wrong with me? My gloom was understandable, I guess, but really: A hard-drive crash is a set-back, not an existential crisis."
He is trying to figure out why he is so thrown off by a system crash. He is realizing how much this virtual world is meaning to him. He gets all bent out of shape because of his hard drive crashing, and to him it is a real crisis.

We can judge this life style and business phenomenon all we want, but it seems that until you yourself become involved you don't fully understand what keeps these people coming back (besides the money). Nor do we understand the pressures and standards put on these people to make money just like we try to do in reality.

Neovox Article #2

I hard a hard time thinking about what to write about for the last neovox article. I thought at first I would write about Second Life, but the website was so confusing and I couldn't even figure out how to make an avatar. Needless to say I don't know enough about it to write a paper.
However, with this semester wrapping up I decided to reflect on this semester. That's when I came up with the idea to write about my online class experience and what I thought were the pros and cons. Having it be my first experience I thought it would be good to really think about and to figure out if I would do it again. I learned a lot from taking an online class and it was like nothing I ever experienced before, so I think it's a good topic for me. So I will be brainstorming the next few days on what I liked and didn't like about my first experience with online classes.

Not my kind of Book

So I have been on the fence with this book since I started reading it. I have finally decided that I can't get into it for many reasons.
Firstly, the virtual selling and buying of goods is appealing to me, but too foreign to me as well. All the words used in this book about this virtual world I feel I don't understand. Not understanding certain words makes the whole book seem confusing. I spend more time looking up words on the computer, then sitting and reading. The words seem to be just jargon in my mind.
Also I have a hard time keeping the characters straight in my head. I feel like every chapter he introduces a new character says a few things and forgets about them till a couple of chapters later when I have forgotten who they and what they have done. I feel as though names are just thrown out there and there's not a lot of explanation about them.
Finally, the last reason is that he mixes reality and virtual. I get into the virtual aspect of the world and in the next sentence he's talking about his life in reality and his family. The talk of "gp's" in the virtual world and real money. I have no idea what money is real and what is just millions online.
I think this book is far over my head and it's making me not as interested. I have tried to look up words and concentrate, but I just can't get into it. I know it's because theres so many reasons all piled up to make the book not so appealing to me.

Reader Response 9

Chapters 17 and 18 in Play Money made me think about this new virtual business the author is starting to get involved in. In chapter 17 a conversation between two virtual sellers is shown throughout. It is an arugement and accusations from one seller to another ("Destiny" and "Rich"). Destiny thinks Rich is coming after him and lying to him, while "Rich" claims to know nothing about the "ex's" and says he had everything stripped of him.
This made me realize this virtual business seems different, but still has the same main issues as real businesses. There is still an underlying competition between people and a reason to succeed to support their family and be successful. It is just as much as a cut-throat business as any other. People are out to benefit themselves and accusations are bound to occur jut like any other business.
Also in Chapter 18 another aspect of any business was seen in this virtual business, as with real busniesses. The last line in chapter 17 says, "I'll tell you what, he said finally, and that was when my situation began to change". This refers to when Dibbell receives help from Bob, an already successful virtual seller. Once Bob put trust into Dibbell and allowed for help him out it was then it gave Dibbella step in the door. After this Dibbell was able to succeed and make more of a profit off from the virtual goods. This is like any business. Many times when your first starting out you must know someone and make connections before becoming successful.
People say "it's all in who you know"...and this seems to be just as true in the virtual world.

Reader Response 8

This is a quote that Dibbell says from Play Money that I found to be shocking...
"The twenty hours a week I was devoting to the game (lizard game) were no big deal compared to the sixty, seventy, and even eighty hours some players put in"
I'm giving this whole online gaming stuff a chance. I actually decided that before I judged this book (because at first it didn't really interest me) that I would join some form of an online game. I joined a website called pogo.com that offers tons of free online games. I started playing a couple of games and tried to figure them out. I actually became somewhat addicted to a couple of the games. The competitive side of me, like Dibbell says, took over me. I wanted nothing more than to beat that game. Just about all week when I have free time I sit down and play the game. I would say I have put in a good 5 hours. I have a lot of other things I have to do, then play a game all day.
That made me think about the fact that these people put in more hours in their gaming then into a full time job, and even overtime. I found the games to be fun, but between 60-80 hours a week. Who has time for that. Do these people work at all? Or do they just make this their full time job? Do these games bring out such a competitive side of these people to succeed that we make them our main focus?
All the power to these people that have the time and make the effort to play these games, they are probably much happier people because of amount of enjoyment they get out of them.
I have decided that online games are for me, but most defiantly not to that extreme.

Play money???

I have just now finished the first part of Play Money. So far I'm confused and I do not find the book to be that interesting at all. Before I started reading I was excited to see what this book had to offer because the title actually interested me. After the first few chapters I'm not all that interested. I think it's crazy people pay an insane amount of money for a house on the internet that is not even real. I mean good for the people that are selling this virtual loot and making money, but you buyers in my opinion are wasting your money. Maybe you have to become involved in an online game like this before you can judge it. I don't know, but as of now I feel it's a waste of money. I'm hoping the book becomes more interesting as we read on because I really don't want it to drag out and read something that's not enjoyable. I'm going to continue to read with an open mind and hope that at some point it becomes interesting to me.