is anyone reading this? (and other concerns)

So league of legends (lol) is this massive online gaming community, that I'd never heard of before, but it sounds pretty cool and also pretty messy. Cool in the way that you can just go online and pick a character and play with a bunch of random people to win. but also, that is my nightmare! I'm 100% not a team player! I don't want people effecting the way I'm gonna win. So i completely understand where the fights and stuff come from online. I mean if you're an extremely good player, you would not want me on your team. Because I literally would have no idea what is going on! I barely have a grip on league of legends, so rules would be no concern to me! Just kill me, and make it easier for the both of us. 

Melissa de Zwart and Sal Humphreys talk about the rules of social gaming on eve online. And basically there's rules for the game, but you can blow up people anyway, so forget about rules. Legal rules I get, you have to manage public interest. But players often form there own rules, so there's a set of rules for gaming culture? as well as a set for your own culture? Very confusing, because boundaries are always crossed.

Now we have people writing fan-fiction (which is always mildly pornographic for some weird reason), drawing art, going to conventions, cosplay (which is awesome!) and endless amounts of forums. There are no clear boundaries for online gaming. Because people always need to extend to more than what they have. 

And it's important for people to have boundaries between real life and gaming life, because we all know that one person who can't stop talking about there games. And i really don't care what your team scored or whatever. I mean sometimes I do have trouble with the above, because in the sims you can be qualified doctor just by playing lots of chess! And real life isn't like that. Otherwise I might have actually taken up chess. And in real life there are no cheats to get endless amounts of money (ctrl, shift- motherlode), otherwise my house would be a lot fancier and constantly clean. So set up some boundaries! I definitely stay away from fan-fiction, that is a dark hole my friends! never go there. 

never.

ever.

Gaming and online gaming is a massive community! And better to tap into it sooner than later, because it is only growing as time goes on and technology gets smarter. I mean I'll stick to the sims for now, new one's coming out soon! (This is not a plug for the sims by the way.) Just try and be nice online, and keep your team battles to a minimum. Avoid casualties. And pretty much just get rid of anyone who slows you down. I've just solved all your problems. 

So trolls go under the "non-harmful" side of kind of internet bullying, but not really, but still kind of. Trolls don't really go out to harm anyone in what they are saying, instead they try and illicit a reaction from anyone on the internet. Now that reaction can either be good or bad, but most forms of trolling are just meant to be funny. Majority of people on the internet can pick up on trolls, but for those very few who are stupid enough to react to the comments- are the people that trolls fuel their fire from. If something sounds stupid and over the top, then it's probably someone behind a computer that is stupid and over the top. They just want to see how people will react if they write that stupid comment. Usually the reactions are the funniest to read, but just don't react to trolls. It's better for us all in the end. 

Trolling always comes along with the subject of cyber-bullying. I think these are 2 completely different mediums. Trolls usually just want a reaction from people, funny or not i.e. rick rolling (which i still find funny, by the way). Where as cyber bullying is personally attacking someone online, just to hurt them. Bullying someone in real life or online is just plain wrong. But online, you can just turn off your computer or phone (also good for trolls) to ignore the harassment. I don't think that many people (teenagers especially) understand that whatever you put online, you are essentially putting up for either praise or ridicule. You can never gage how people are going to react to what you post, you just need to trust and hope that you are putting it out to the right people, that you trust. I hope that doesn't defend cyber bullying though, because that is someone who is going out of their way to attack someone. So cyber bullying and trolling shouldn't come into the same play.

Of course if someone random on the internet is telling you to 'kill yourself' that isn't a troll. And you should report that stuff! But it is so hard to regulate cyber bullying. It is such a new form of public ridicule that governments can't decide to put laws on it, without public complaints. The internet has become such a free space to say whatever you want, and now some people have taken advantage of that. The fact is that trolling is usually harmless...

Instagram is a platform to share images of what you’re doing, but if you take a broad look at it, it makes society as a whole seem quite narcissistic. I’m not saying we’re a society of narcissists, but in the steep rise of digital narcissism it puts enormous pressure on people to achieve unfeasible goals, without making them hungrier to achieve them.

So if you watched Q&A this past week you know where I'm coming from. Mona Eltahawy was on the panel, and she is from Egypt where the revolution is eminent. Anyway she was talking about how no one else is getting involved when history is in the making. The world may be very connected, but we don't incite change unless it directly effects us. Selfish? Perhaps, but it happens all over the world. 

There is no doubt that social media gives younger voters a voice and an outlet to show their concerns. Some politicians have picked up on this, others haven't. But your use of social media can roll in 2 ways, it could be a great thing for your campaign (like Obama); or you could pull out a Palin and be made fun of recklessly. Saturday Night Live and Tina Fey always hit impressions out of the park. For 'pollies' social media use needs to be a balance of personal and national. Social media is there for users to talk one on one about anything, but you need to also be political and right in your answers. I mean I doubt Obama is actually using his own twitter account, but what he says on there, wouldn't differentiate from anything he would do in real life. And that's the medium Australian politicians need to be at!

Obviously you need to be careful about anything you say on social media, because especially if you're a politician it will come back to bite you in the bum! Even in Jericho's reading, Obama says 'be careful about what you post on Facebook', you never know what will come out in an election campaign. But that's where all the fun lies; here's looking at you Rob Ford! Don't smoke crack and expect to be Mayor kids. Because social media will use it against you, gif after gif