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What the heck is Social Gaming?

The words “social” and “gaming” are what you think they mean, which actually just literally mean any form of games that involve social activities with another player. While it doesn’t have to be in personal contact, the internet has made it possible for us to connect with others at a social level through live gaming communities that involve using speaking equipment (mainly headphones and a microphone) often to provide live strategies mid-game especially for popular online games like Overwatch and DoTA.

Unhealthy Video Game Obsessions (at a really unhealthy level)

Gaming addiction is no secret amongst worrisome parents, especially when you’re living in an era where the internet rules over nearly everything. Entertainment is available everywhere, and with games being pretty much nearly inevitable, games are incorporated into our lives and companies have created strategies in a form of achievements that rewards our brain into wanting more.

Even as there are studies that have provided evidence that video games are beneficial for the brain whereby it enhances your cognitive skills (Bergland 2013), understanding how to promote moderation in fun can be difficult as being exposed to video games for long hours have shown that it has brought negative consequences to our health including neck pain, strain injuries, and obesity (Griffiths 2005).

Toxic Sexism Surrounding Video Games

Sexism and online bullying is a prominent issue surrounding online video game platforms, or better put together: sexism in video games is just another form of bullying (Lynch 2017). Some argued that this issue is less likely to go away as women have brought themselves into a male-dominant territory. However, it is a constant conflicting issue whereby women are continuously encouraged to participate in games that are made to cater to both men and women but are then discouraged for gender stereotypes.

This prejudiced behavior can lead to a personal intrusion where women may not feel safe playing online simply because of being a woman. Female gamers have often been fetishized to a predatorial level when players come across a casual female gamer to the point where sexual remarks are given to the point of harassment.

Leena Van Deventer

Writer and Game Developer, Leena Van Deventer had her share of online sexism when she was playing one of her favorite online multiplayer shooter game, “Team Fortress 2” when she was bombarded with reactions expected to happen when other players realize women are present during the game when she began speaking in-game to test the new feature that made her sound like a robot or a giant. Soon enough, she was bombarded with questions such as “hove you got any NODE pics”, “Do you fuck guys who like games”, and “what are you wearing”. One man even went as far as to “stalk” her avatar in the game and masturbated to her username through the microphone (O’Halloran 2017).

While her teammates found it hilarious, Deventer wished that she could focus on other game objectives even though she knew she had to abandon the server.

Fortunately, with the focus shift to create an equal bridge for both men and women, I hope that in time we as females, don’t have to hide our gender identity online to protect ourselves from sexist slurs and instead, look forward to a community that is more acceptable to both genders enjoying the same hobby.

References

Bergland, C 2013, Video Games Can Increase Brain Size and Connectivity, Psychology Today,  viewed 21 May 2019, <https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-athletes-way/201310/video-gaming-can-increase-brain-size-and-connectivity>

Griffiths, M 2005, ‘ Video gaming is safe for most players and can be useful in health care ’, Video Games and Health,  BMJ 2005;331 :122, viewed 21 May 2019, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7509.122

Lynch, M 2017, Sexism in Video Gaming is Just Another Form of Bullying,  The Tech Advocate, viewed 21 May 2019, <https://www.thetechedvocate.org/sexism-in-video-gaming-is-just-another-form-of-bullying/>

I’ve always thought that I’m quite lucky to be living in an era where technology is flourishing exponentially in ways that have provided convenience into our lives. Obviously, we won’t even be able to achieve in all field aspects like medicine, architecture, education, and so on. Getting connected with millions of other people through the internet network has never been so easy and we’ve been taking advantage of this interactive online network by initiating crowdsourcing and crowdfunding activities that can easily provide an impactful change in a short matter of time. Which also means, we’re never away from our phones. 

However, with the convenience to gain awareness or charity provided by networking through technology, the existence of fake news and campaigns have caused some damage towards other legitimate communities trying their best to achieve a goal whereby a major portion of their audience comes from social networking sites.

Connecting Lives Through Crowdsourcing

The future is looking to be human-centric, whereby participation is one of the primary aspects of doing something. The opportunities provided for businesses to work with organizations in order to provide new ideas for conventional processes helps in creating new products that would help the world work better alongside technology (What is Crowdsourcing? n.d). By impacting lives through technology, we’ve seen what crowdsourcing has done to help those in need.

Spreading Awareness through Crowdsourcing

The continuous expanding number of users in social media has made its platform into an affordable method of advertising by easily reaching out to an audience through an ad-space. This is beneficial for businesses, but does it work the same way to spread awareness on crucial matters that can impact the world we live in? A study on the effectiveness of crowdsourcing awareness towards the exploration of ovarian cancer knowledge through the use of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and its surveys concluded that by conducting different forms of awareness campaigns, web-based surveys and other methods. Because of the severe knowledge gap found amongst users on ovarian cancer, the research showed that by crowdsourcing through Mechanical Turk, they’ve received more awareness responses in short compared to conducting non-profit ovarian cancer events that can lead to high expenses (Carter RR, DiFeo A, Bogie K, Zhang GQ, Sun J 2014, p.9).  

Can We Trust Crowdfunding Campaigns?

The ability to reach out to thousands of people all at once through social media platforms can be taken advantage of when it comes to seeking awareness where help is needed. Crowdfunding campaigns have gained a different reputation over the years, and while it has provided success in funding startup prototypes and NGO campaigns, people have begun to be skeptical with numerous crowdfunding projects over news regarding fake projects in need for “funds”.

The recent incident of the flames engulfing Notre Dame has caused a spike of donation website campaigns aimed to fund the restoration and repairs of this historical building. Cyber risk expert, Alan Brill, warned others to be wary of these donation websites as scammers merely go by the playbook in order to gain a quick buck (Cerullo 2019). Conducting research about a certain crowdfunding donation site can help ease your mind on where your money will be going.

As initiating a crowdfunding campaign online is easily low-cost, fast, and risk-free, this gives scammers the opportunity to become con artists to users who will be expecting something in return and put down the positives of how we can actually use crowdsourcing and funding for something good.

References

What is Crowdsourcing? n.d Crowdsourcing Week, viewed 2nd May 2019, https://crowdsourcingweek.com/what-is-crowdsourcing/

Carter RR, DiFeo A, Bogie K, Zhang GQ, Sun J 2014, "Crowdsourcing Awareness: Exploration of the Ovarian Cancer Knowledge Gap through Amazon Mechanical Turk", PLOS ONE 9(1): e85508, vol 9, no. 1, pp. 8-9.

Years since the internet has developed online communities through different social platforms, we’ve experienced our fair share of engaging with people through various methods of interaction. Unfortunately, if you’re someone who may have committed to being active in a platform, you may experience your own form of bullying by none other than “online trolls”.

News and media have covered the disastrous effects of bullying that have to lead to the mental disturbance and significance discouragements in young pupils who might not have the right idea on how to tackle bullying. But how bad can it be when it is brought towards the internet?

Warning: DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS

The phrase: DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS is one of the crucial internet guidelines when encountering online trolls, and why shouldn’t you? Columbia University’s clinical psychologist, Lauren Hoffman explains that a typical internet troll provokes others by triggering conflict through posts and comments with an aim to garner negative attention. Hoffman further states that trolls live off of those outcomes and dwell into the psychological reward received from their nasty online behavior aimed to hurt others as the main subconscious goal. Thus it is important that while online trolls may escalate their behavior to a more toxic and abusive on in order to gain attention the longer you ignore them, learning to understand where the targeted hate is coming from helps in putting a stop to the abuse (Bryan, C 2018).

Wichita Swatting

Swatting is a form of criminal harassment whereby a false report that may include bomb threats or hostage is given in an attempt to dispatch an emergency service response team i.e a group of armed SWAT military officers to a specified address. The fact that swatting exists in the United States and is still ongoing as a childish trolling act to trigger revenge upon a person over a trivial matter is one of the worst parts for handling conflict against a troll.

Image: Tyler Barris

In 2017, Casey Viner initiated swatting expert, Tyler Barriss against an argument with Shange Gaskill over a bet of $1.50 in an online match of Call of Duty. The false threat reported that Gaskill has shot his father and was holding his family at gunpoint. There were no SWAT team members that came to Finch’s residence, but Wichita Police Department officers (Queally, J 2018).

Unfortunately, Casey mistook Andrew Finch’s address for Gaskill and Andrew was later shot and killed by officer Justin Rapp even though Andrew followed their instructions to stand down. The death of Andrew Finch, an innocent 28-year old man who was never related to Viner and Gaskill has caused a major awareness towards the hesitant acts of the police force as well as the unforeseen and unfortunate events that was lead from a “harmless” online trolling act (Sommerfeldt, C & Schladebeck, J 2017).

A Trolling Conclusion

The toxic indulgement of bullying users online provides a significant negative impact on those behind a screen. The internet will always have trolls residing in all social media and gaming platforms, but it is up to us to know when we shouldn’t dwell into their unruly comments. It is important to remember that while you don’t have control of your emotions, you can definitely control how you react to it, so don’t feed the trolls.

References 

C, Bryan 2018, Should I Respond To Trolls, Mashable, Viewed 26 April 2018, <https://mashable.com/article/should-i-respond-to-trolls/>

Queally, J 2018, Fictitious Shooting in Video Game Sparked Real-Life Shooting in Kansas Swatting Case, Records Show, Los Angeles Times, viewed 27 April 2019, <https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kansas-swatting-records-20180126-story.html> 

Sommerfeldt, C & Schladebeck, J 2017, Serial prankster arrested in 'swatting' trick that led to fatal police shooting of unarmed Kansas man, Daily News, viewed 27 April 2019, <https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/unarmed-kan-man-killed-cops-victim-swatting-prank-article-1.3726171?barcprox=true>

March, E 2016,  ‘Sage advice’, 

Don’t Feed The Trolls Really is A Good Advice, The Conversation, viewed 27 April 2019, http://theconversation.com/dont-feed-the-trolls-really-is-good-advice-heres-the-evidence-63657

Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Fatal ‘Swatting’ Case in Wichita 2019, Tyler Barris

The Associated Press, viewed 27 April 2019, https://www.kmbc.com/article/man-sentenced-to-20-years-in-fatal-swatting-case-in-wichita/26988666

Jones, J 2016, Beware of Trolls,

In another 2 months, an annual event held in Yulin, Guangxi, China will begin massacring both dogs and cats.  The Lychee and Dog Meat Festival (or Yulin Dog Meat Festival) is a monstrosity of an event held during June 21st to June 30th annually to which approximately 10,000 to 15,000 cats and dogs are slaughtered to be consumed has erupted major controversies and activists especially among animal rights groups as well as received international condemnation by politicians and celebrities on the basis of animal cruelty. While many strides have already been done to ensure the safety of the animals, the event will still be commencing this year.

Honor Thy Tradition or Abuse?

The recurring Yulin Dog Meat Festival began approximately 4,000 years ago where Chinese practitioners of folk medicine believe that consuming dog meat with lychees would ward of heat through the summer months of the summer solstice. However, the festival to commemorate the ancient practice was only turned to an “honorary” celebration in 2009 (

China Yulin Dog Meat Festival Under Way Despite Outrage 2015

). The festival is locally organized with an abundance of food stalls that crowd the markets and streets of Yulin during the Summer, masses of cages filled with canines of different sizes are surrounded by citizens as they watch the festival commence.

Moral and Legal Issues

Whether the mass slaughter of animals is legal or not was repeatedly questioned towards the Chinese government by global animal activists to stop the dog meat trading industry and the festival itself. However, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying has clarified that the Yulin government has never supported nor did they organized the festival (Koetse, M 2016).

So the important question stands: is it even legal?

Unfortunately, China has no laws regarding the consumption of dogs, therefore its citizens have complete freedom in consuming dog or cat meat. The controversy surrounding the Yulin Dog Meat Festival has continuously ignited moral and legal issues each year whereby petitions and campaign awareness actively circulates around many social media platforms to bring attention to stop the Yulin Dog Meat Festival each year.

Animal Activism and Social Media Awareness

The Yulin Festival went viral in 2015 on Twitter that has led to an explosive social media movement that forces more pressure on to Yulin’s city officials to cancel these festivals. The online spread regarding the consumption of dog meat has caused news to circulate much faster than before even though major attention was only brought to light in 2015 when the festival initially began in 2009 (Keeton, J 2015). Online petitions namely Change.org were created with over 3.5 million signatures, as well as #StopYuLin2015 hashtags were created to further spread the awareness against these festivities.

A large number of animal activists and organizations have worked tirelessly to put an end to this practice. In 2016, the Humane Society International animal campaign group followed by its Chinese partner groups traveled to Beijing to submit a petition with 11 million signatures to call for an end to the dog meat festival. This resulted in numerous threats and undesired aggression from dog meat traders even though most Chinese wants the practice to be stopped due to its barbaric and embarrassing impact on China’s global reputation (Jacobs, B n.d).

As the years go by and the next festival has been set to happen again in another two months, more pressure is placed on to Chinese authorities to put an end to the dog meat trade as a whole before irreversible damage is done towards the country’s reputation and culture.  

References:

China Yulin dog meat festival under way despite outrage 2015, BBC, viewed 13 April 2019, <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33220235>

Koetse, M 2016, Tradition or Abuse? Chinese Views on the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, What’s on Weibo, viewed 13 April 2019, <https://www.whatsonweibo.com/tradition-abuse-chinese-views-yulin-dog-meat-festival/>

Jacobs, B n.d, Yulin Dog Meat: it’s no festival, Hownow Magazine, viewed 13 April 2019, <https://www.hownowmagazine.com/animals/yulin-its-no-festival>

Keeton, J 2015, Social media campaign takes aim at Yulin’s controversial dog meat festival, The Daily Dot, viewed 13 April 2019, <https://www.dailydot.com/irl/yulin-dog-meat-festival-social-media/>

Inside Yulin Festival, China’s Controversial Dog Meat Eating Festival 2016, ‘Controversial Image of a Chinese Man Holding a Dead Dog for Sale’

, All That Is Interesting  viewed 13 April 2019, <https://allthatsinteresting.com/yulin-festival-dog-meat-photos>

Inside Yulin Festival, China’s Controversial Dog Meat Eating Festival 2016,  ‘Dog Meat Sold on a Bike’,

, All That Is Interesting  viewed 13 April 2019, <https://allthatsinteresting.com/yulin-festival-dog-meat-photos>

Jacobs, B n.d, ‘ Dogs on their way to slaughter’

, Yulin Dog Meat: it’s no festival, Hownow Magazine, viewed 13 April 2019, <https://www.hownowmagazine.com/animals/yulin-its-no-festival>

Hanson, H 2017,  ‘Dogs set to be killed at a market preceding the 2014 Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival’

Selling Dog Meat May be Banned At This Year’s Yulin Dog Meat Festival, 

Feeling empowered is something that many of us may subconsciously feel the longer we dwell into the environment derived from Social Media. Of course, there is no doubt there are different kinds of social media platforms. Even so, the way we use them provides us a little more sense of freedom than we actually do when communicating our thoughts and ideas in real life.

Think about it, how often do we actually see your friends express their views in person compared to their social media posts? They might vaguely complain about it verbally, but we can come to an agreement that people are generally more expressive on social media due to the lack of confrontation involved. With the number of thoughts given on various topics, it is easy to be offended online as much as how we get interested in them. And who gets offended the most here? 

What’s with Social Media and Politics?

The feud between Politics and Social Media does not go unnoticed, especially when it comes to tampering with the likes of those who live and breathe social media. Take for example the wide protest that occurred in 2017 to stop FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, due to his decision to abolish net-neutrality rules that would block particular websites or online services unless you pay for special access (In Net Neutrality Protests, US Regulator Ajit Pai Bombarded With Pizzas, 2017). Pai’s action in abolishing one of the most sacred rules for internet freedom angered many people, and even more so with his decision right after Trump won votes as President.

Another example whereby social media is thrown into the mix of politics is China’s controversial social media ban, including Facebook, Instagram, and Google, as this promotes the country’s laws for internet censorship known as the Great Firewall of China (James, 2009).

But why was all of these thrown in the first place to abolish a certain degree of freedom in Social Media? Political Internet Censorship in Social Media

Other than China, countries like Iran, India, and Sri Lanka have faced their own personal internet censorships. In 2007, Facebook in Syria was banned due to Syrian citizens using the platform to criticize the Syrian government. Using Facebook as a way for Syrian citizens to voice out their opinion against the country’s government may be their way of expressing freedom of speech as public criticism against the government can result in imprisonment (Oweis, K, Y, 2007).

This showed that freedom of speech is a dangerous act that is rarely graced upon in countries, especially on topics regarding the government or websites that may include hate speech, religion, or mild pornography content. This includes one of the first reasons as to why China began internet censorship at an early start due to a low-ly alpaca showcased in online videos or as toys in a store with a mythical name: Grass-Mud Horse (Cao Ni Ma). 

Image:  Song of the Grass-Mud Horse (Cao Ni Ma)

In translation, it can be easily mistaken as a vulgar expression to do something to your mother. The lowly alpaca still remains as one of China’s sharpest challenges to improve their internet censorship as to reduce defamation and lower the topics as a country with vulgarity as a language.

Pointing Fingers

Even so, while there are other controversial agenda that links towards the use of social media. It is quite easy for the internet to offend political parties. It’s not to say that the government does not only have the intention “purge” unsafe content for their citizens, but many fingers have been pointed on the culprits of politics on the restriction of free speech everywhere. 

References: 

James, R 2009, Chinese Internet Censorship, TIME, viewed 7 April 2019, <http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885961,00.html>

James, R 2009,  Song of the Grass-Mud Horse (Cao Ni Ma),

, Chinese Internet Censorship, TIME,  viewed 7 April 2019, <http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885961,00.html>