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.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, April 16, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
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.
"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.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Reader Respone #7-games...educational?
I just read the "Play" chapter of A Whole New Mind. The part that struck me the most was the video games. Pink praises video games in saying that they are great and everyone should try them. He says to go get a demo and play it and you will get hooked and not regret it. The he goes on to state, "At the very least, you'll begin to understand the powerful new grammar, narrative pattern, and thinking style those games are teaching"
When I first read all this about video games I jumped to the conclusion that video games are leisure activities guys do that seem pointless to many girls. Reading about the military game that was made for the soldiers to help them do training and learn aspects of the army made me think about other games. The more I read into the chapter and Pink talked about how these games are allowing people to learn new things in a whole different way, I got thinking...
I actually agree with him. He made me do a 180 turn on my opinions just in that one chapter. I mean every time I watch my boyfriend sit down and play video games I think about how worthless that seems to me (he is still playing them at the age of 23, almost 24). However, the more I thought about it they actually require to him to think and learn a lot. For example, his favorite game is an ATV game where you race four wheelers. Seems simple enough. When I try it though all I do is fall off and break the four wheeler. He has learned how to run the four wheeler, what gears work, and what not to do. Something I have not done because I have not taken the time to. I mean learning about a four wheeler isn't something your going to use everyday but he understands them way more than I do and that is because of some help from the video game. The video game allowed him to learn more about gears, and riding, which is something he really enjoys. If the game allowed for him to learn so much about something he loves, then go for it.
Also I babysat a little boy this sumer who was four years old. His mother gave him homework to do such as spelling, or letters. He never wanted to sit down and do them. However, he enjoyed playing video games. His mother got him a Leapster, which is a child's video game. You can buy educational programs or games that teach kids about different aspects of life. Once he got this he didn't mind doing his homework at all. The video game became a way of teaching him without him even knowing it. If this is a form of education that children are willing to do, I say good.
Who would have ever known if you really thought about it video games can actually be helpful in learning many new things for many ages.
When I first read all this about video games I jumped to the conclusion that video games are leisure activities guys do that seem pointless to many girls. Reading about the military game that was made for the soldiers to help them do training and learn aspects of the army made me think about other games. The more I read into the chapter and Pink talked about how these games are allowing people to learn new things in a whole different way, I got thinking...
I actually agree with him. He made me do a 180 turn on my opinions just in that one chapter. I mean every time I watch my boyfriend sit down and play video games I think about how worthless that seems to me (he is still playing them at the age of 23, almost 24). However, the more I thought about it they actually require to him to think and learn a lot. For example, his favorite game is an ATV game where you race four wheelers. Seems simple enough. When I try it though all I do is fall off and break the four wheeler. He has learned how to run the four wheeler, what gears work, and what not to do. Something I have not done because I have not taken the time to. I mean learning about a four wheeler isn't something your going to use everyday but he understands them way more than I do and that is because of some help from the video game. The video game allowed him to learn more about gears, and riding, which is something he really enjoys. If the game allowed for him to learn so much about something he loves, then go for it.
Also I babysat a little boy this sumer who was four years old. His mother gave him homework to do such as spelling, or letters. He never wanted to sit down and do them. However, he enjoyed playing video games. His mother got him a Leapster, which is a child's video game. You can buy educational programs or games that teach kids about different aspects of life. Once he got this he didn't mind doing his homework at all. The video game became a way of teaching him without him even knowing it. If this is a form of education that children are willing to do, I say good.
Who would have ever known if you really thought about it video games can actually be helpful in learning many new things for many ages.
Monday, April 2, 2007
No computers??? how?
I have come to really really appreciate having my own computer at school. All this talk about technology and how far it's come. I couldn't imagine going to college without a computer.
This past week I did not have my computer because it was getting repaired. Wow, you would think I lost my arm. It was such a pain to not have a computer sitting right there on my desk. I had to go to the library to use a computer and many times one wasn't available so I just had to sit and wait. What a waste of time. I wrote a paper, which would have taken me two hours if I were home on my computer but instead it took me four in the library. I couldn't check my email or be on IM. I can honestly say I felt disconnected from the world. I never realized how much not having a personal computer would affect me.
Really though our parents went to school without a computer. They passed, and they managed. So, why is it just in a generation we feel as though we can't live without them. Hell of a question.
This past week I did not have my computer because it was getting repaired. Wow, you would think I lost my arm. It was such a pain to not have a computer sitting right there on my desk. I had to go to the library to use a computer and many times one wasn't available so I just had to sit and wait. What a waste of time. I wrote a paper, which would have taken me two hours if I were home on my computer but instead it took me four in the library. I couldn't check my email or be on IM. I can honestly say I felt disconnected from the world. I never realized how much not having a personal computer would affect me.
Really though our parents went to school without a computer. They passed, and they managed. So, why is it just in a generation we feel as though we can't live without them. Hell of a question.
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