Participating in media cultures is
something that is incredibly common for people in the 21st century,
especially at the University level. There are many platforms of media cultures
that can be participated in so it is a large branch in which many people occupy.
The gaming industry is something that has been evolving for many years now and
it has become a major player in the entertainment industry. Look at Grand Theft
Auto 5, it currently holds seven world records including, fastest entertainment
property to gross $1 billion, and that includes feature films (Karmali, L, IGN,
2013). Joost Raessens (2005), in his book, ‘Computer Games as Participatory
Media Culture’ discusses how games are now apart of media culture that also
associates with film and television. The principles he mentions that allow
games to be apart of the media culture are, multimedialty, virtuality,
interactivity and connectivity. Other media forms such as social media
including Facebook can also deal with these properties, which highlight how
social media is apart of participatory media culture, much the same as games. A
study in 2009 found that college students in America reported using Facebook
for approximately 30 minutes a day as part of a daily routine (Pembek et al.
2009 cited in Noor Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J). This highlights how much Facebook
is used as a participatory media culture.
The multimedialty of games includes the
stationary and moving images as well as sounds that bring the game to life on a
visual level as well as the sounds that a produced in the game, including
soundtracks and sound effects (Raessens, 2005). Without multimedia there would
be no media cultures at all to begin with, it is vital to all platforms of
media whether it be film and television, games or even social media. Facebook
has a particular layout that makes it unique and recognizable, and even though
Facebook updates and changes its layout as soon as you get used to it, it is a
demonstration of the multimediality involved. Individuals profiles also have an
element of multimediality, a customizable layout to highlight certain aspects
of someone’s life, pictures and videos are a large part of Facebook profiles.
There would be a lot of thought that goes into what the online layout of
Facebook should be, all involving multimedia. When the Facebook ‘Timeline’ was
introduced, a video was uploaded to inform the users of Facebook what exactly
timeline was and how to use it.
Source: http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/blog/en/2013/05/GTA_5_WALLPAPER.jpg
Virtuality is another aspect that Raessens
(2005) identifies as a measure of how games are part of participatory media
culture. Virtuality is the “possibility to simulate virtual worlds a gamer can
explore” (Raessens, 2005). Think again of Grand Theft Auto, in any of the
franchises games, there is a huge platform in which users of the game can roam
around freely completing missions or just casually take a stroll whilst beating
up people for the their money. Grand Theft Auto 4 was a close imitation to New
York City and Grand Theft Auto 5 is set in city of San Andreas, a creation of
the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series. The game seems so lifelike that
Michael Heim’s (cited in Raessens 2005) description of Virtualty sums it up
perfectly, he states in relation to Virtuality that it is “an event or entity
that is real in effect but not in fact.” Facebook is an online world in
essence, you can communicate with others online and post your thoughts and
feelings, due to the fact it is online it does not have to be a true
representation of yourself. “Social media provides opportunities for users to
engage in self-presentation of identity” (DeAndrea et al, cited in Noor
Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J). What seems to real to other people viewing someone’s
profile may not be real in fact. People post photos of themselves on Facebook,
it is quite common to have a profile picture that contains the individual in
it, but if you examine the photo, it is usually a good photo. Profile pictures
are the ones that anyone can see therefore most people will choose a photo that
highlights them in a positive way. If you go through peoples Facebook profiles
you will generally find many good photos of someone, and rarely a bad one. This
is because people can choose what appears on their profile, and usually it is a
selection of photo’s that makes them seem acceptable by society. Perhaps a few
photos of them playing sport, or going out and partying and drinking, or just
photos in general that are of accepted behaviours by their peers. This is
usually a reason why students especially don’t want to be Facebook friends with
their parents. Having family members on Facebook may alter the way someone
presents himself or herself on Facebook.
source: http://www.blueskyresumes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/is320.jpg
Interaction is a vital component to social
media, especially Facebook, a social media platform that is all about
communication. Its sole purpose was for college students to be able to
communicate with one another. Facebook allows for people to interact with each
other at any time, with smartphones we can now do it anywhere too. Facebook has
many uses now; people can organize events and invite people, chat to people on
a real time basis, start groups to communicate and voice opinions or wish
someone a happy birthday. Social media gives people the chance to be creative,
get feedback from friends or keep updated on each other lives (Healy, J 2011
pg. 22). Nearly 50% of Australian children access the Internet after school and
use it up to 6 days a week (Healy, J 2011). Interaction with their peers is
something that is a must to adolescents growing up, much the same as it was
years ago when there was no social media, new technologies allow for this
interaction to occur on a daily basis. Online games are similar in terms of the
interaction, on average; children spend 7.9 hours per fortnight playing online
games, (Healy, J 2011). In online games, it is possible to talk to real people
whilst in the game, that is where the danger is as you are unable to see who
the person is. Even Grand Theft Auto 5 has an online component where you can
form gangs with others.
Connectivity has a correlation with interactivity;
people are able to connect over the Internet in online games, compared to games
where you use a CD –ROM to insert into the console. Connectivity with others
allows for an interaction and communication with other players from all over
the world, there is a multitude of online games that involve this interaction.
Social media fits into the category of connectivity as it is based online,
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube all have communication and interaction that is based
online.
It is quite clear how social media platforms
such as Facebook are apart of participatory media cultures. As discussed by
Raessens (2005), the principles involved in defining games as participatory
media cultures can be linked to other forms of media, such as Facebook. The
multimediality of Facebook such as the photos, videos and general layout of the
webpages can be linked back to games such as Grand Theft Auto that use the
multimedia of stationary and moving images as well as sounds to bring the game
to life. Facebook can be seen as a virtual world in which individuals have
control of what is seen by others, much like gamers have the ability to roam
virtual worlds. Interaction is a major component of social media; the
communication between peers is the central element to the ‘social’ aspect of the
media culture. Online games heavily feature interaction between others online
and the connectivity over the Internet allows for this to occur. Overall it can
be seen that social media is another aspect of participatory media cultures.
Reference:
Raessens,
J 2005, 'Computer games as participatory media culture' in Raessen, J &
Goldstein, J, Handbook
of computer game studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388.
Noor
Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J 2011, Social
Media: Usage and Impact, Lexington Books, United Kingdom
Karmali,
L, ‘GTA 5 Currently Holds Seven Guinness World Records’, retrieved 9/10/13, http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/10/09/gta-5-currently-holds-seven-guinness-world-records
Healy,
J 2011, Social Impacts of Digital Media,
Spinney Press, N.S.W
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