Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Stelarc
When I think of Stelarc, I think about new technology, really new age technology. Stelarcs argues 'as interface, the skin is obsolete' 'the obsolescence of the ego-agent driven biological body could not be more apparent.' What he means by obsolete is not that the body should be discarded all together, but rather our bodies are going to need the new technology. In regards so SL, to think of it in SL terms, I think that people make themselves who they want to be perceived as in reality. So basically they might think they are not wealthy enough, and become wealthy on SL, or they want to be taller, you can be who you want on SL. SL won't let your body become obsolete. One must think of the definition of obsolete: Being in the process of passing out of use or usefulness. Can this be saying that websites such as SL are just going to be obsolete someday? Maybe to feel useful we do need to change our bodies to fit the new age of technology. Some people might just be happy being someone else on SL.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Play Money
Play Money by Julian Dibbell- Online Copy
A little about the author.
Julian Dibbell quit his job to make money off of the Internet. On March 11, 2003 he did just that. Sounds crazy, but he actually did it. He didn't just wake up one more and decide to quit his job. Before he did so, he did much research and talked to many different people about this line of work. The first 2 parts of the book is where Dibbell searches for answers about the virtual economy.
THE NOOB
Trading of goods in the virtual world wasn't exactly new to Dibbell, he himself was a player of Despise. He is not quite sure when the idea first hit him, but it wasn't short after he got "pwned." Dibbell was happy being a small time trader, killing "lizard men" to make money off of their skin--leather. He wasn't aware of the hierarchy and seriousness of the virtual world until he got attacked by a stronger more experienced player. After the player killed him and went to rob him; all he had was leather. In anger the other player shouted out "fucking noob, next time bring something worth taking." This was a new and exciting experience for Dibbell, not exactly the one he was looking for though. As he contemplated the hierarchy and and what made people play this game. His initial answer was fun, "...but what was that?" He was soon to find out and ask more and more questions about this virtual economy. He thought about quitting, but the questions kept coming back.
TIJUANA
His first task was to find out how other companies made money off of the Internet. Lee Caldwell was the first he talked to, him and his roommates made profit off of a company they made called Blacksnow Interactive. It wasn't the eBay or other trading sites that interested Dibbell but Blacksnow made money selling items that didn't even exist! Massively multi player online role-playing games or MMORPG was what this trade was called. What makes these things desireable? If there is no winners or losers, why do people play and pay for this game?
He found out problems can arise with this business. Blacksnow sold its items on a game called Dark Age of Camelot, ran by Mystic Entertainment. The owner was not happy with what was being done and sued the company. This has happened in Secondlife also. This raised another question for Dibbell, "Exactly who owns the wealth of virtual worlds? The companies that create those worlds? Or the players who fuel those economies?"
The reason for Dibbell to go to Tijuana in the first place was because Caldwell told him that Blacksnow had a secret to their success, Mexican workers working for 19 dollars a day. They are not experienced, and some might not even know how to play the game, but they follow specific instructions everyday to make the virtual economy better for Blacksnow. However, Dibbell made the trip for nothing, Caldwell never showed up, stating, it could make their company look bad. This made Dibbell think if it really did exist.
Quote pg 23
Through his experience with Blacksnow, he stated "What Blacksnow's story was trying to tell me about contemporary economic life was this: It is becoming play. A game." Dibbell uses the Matrix as an example of virtual reality, " The Matrix, where, in a unsettlingly familiar future, the daily grind of economic production turns out to be no more then the rules of what is essentially a vast multi player computer game." Is that true? He is not talking about games as a metaphor but as a symptom. Players don't play just for fun, but what every human being wants, wealth. After Caldwell refused to show him the Blacksnow "sweatshop" he continued on his quest to "battle" more lizard men and find out the truth.
Questions that arises from Dibbell: What is the point, or the psychology, of games? Why do people play, and what makes some play have value, enough value that people will pay "real"money for virtual gaming items? Is the world's economy turning into a game, when game-like speculation on the "value" of shares in a company may be"worth" more than the goods or services produced?
A little about the author.
Julian Dibbell quit his job to make money off of the Internet. On March 11, 2003 he did just that. Sounds crazy, but he actually did it. He didn't just wake up one more and decide to quit his job. Before he did so, he did much research and talked to many different people about this line of work. The first 2 parts of the book is where Dibbell searches for answers about the virtual economy.
THE NOOB
Trading of goods in the virtual world wasn't exactly new to Dibbell, he himself was a player of Despise. He is not quite sure when the idea first hit him, but it wasn't short after he got "pwned." Dibbell was happy being a small time trader, killing "lizard men" to make money off of their skin--leather. He wasn't aware of the hierarchy and seriousness of the virtual world until he got attacked by a stronger more experienced player. After the player killed him and went to rob him; all he had was leather. In anger the other player shouted out "fucking noob, next time bring something worth taking." This was a new and exciting experience for Dibbell, not exactly the one he was looking for though. As he contemplated the hierarchy and and what made people play this game. His initial answer was fun, "...but what was that?" He was soon to find out and ask more and more questions about this virtual economy. He thought about quitting, but the questions kept coming back.
TIJUANA
His first task was to find out how other companies made money off of the Internet. Lee Caldwell was the first he talked to, him and his roommates made profit off of a company they made called Blacksnow Interactive. It wasn't the eBay or other trading sites that interested Dibbell but Blacksnow made money selling items that didn't even exist! Massively multi player online role-playing games or MMORPG was what this trade was called. What makes these things desireable? If there is no winners or losers, why do people play and pay for this game?
He found out problems can arise with this business. Blacksnow sold its items on a game called Dark Age of Camelot, ran by Mystic Entertainment. The owner was not happy with what was being done and sued the company. This has happened in Secondlife also. This raised another question for Dibbell, "Exactly who owns the wealth of virtual worlds? The companies that create those worlds? Or the players who fuel those economies?"
The reason for Dibbell to go to Tijuana in the first place was because Caldwell told him that Blacksnow had a secret to their success, Mexican workers working for 19 dollars a day. They are not experienced, and some might not even know how to play the game, but they follow specific instructions everyday to make the virtual economy better for Blacksnow. However, Dibbell made the trip for nothing, Caldwell never showed up, stating, it could make their company look bad. This made Dibbell think if it really did exist.
Quote pg 23
Through his experience with Blacksnow, he stated "What Blacksnow's story was trying to tell me about contemporary economic life was this: It is becoming play. A game." Dibbell uses the Matrix as an example of virtual reality, " The Matrix, where, in a unsettlingly familiar future, the daily grind of economic production turns out to be no more then the rules of what is essentially a vast multi player computer game." Is that true? He is not talking about games as a metaphor but as a symptom. Players don't play just for fun, but what every human being wants, wealth. After Caldwell refused to show him the Blacksnow "sweatshop" he continued on his quest to "battle" more lizard men and find out the truth.
Questions that arises from Dibbell: What is the point, or the psychology, of games? Why do people play, and what makes some play have value, enough value that people will pay "real"money for virtual gaming items? Is the world's economy turning into a game, when game-like speculation on the "value" of shares in a company may be"worth" more than the goods or services produced?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I don't understand you fully....
I was skeptical of this assignment at first, I thought all of the "artificial intelligence" bots would be the same. I was surprised to find out that some bots are more "intelligent" then others. The three bots I conversed with were Smarterchild, Eliza and A.L.I.C.E.. I was familiar with the bot Smarterchild. I have conversed with it before, and have used it for help.
Smarterchild is a "help" bot. Yes, it will have a conversation with you, but also gives you options such as games, weather, movies, etc. That reminded me of the Memex we talked earlier in the year. Although its not a machine itself, it gives information with a touch of a button! It was surprising when I greeted Smarterchild with a hello and it said "what's up?" What's up is something a human teenager would say. When I told it I was doing a homework assignment it gave me options that could help me with my homework. Smarterchild reminded me of the mirror stage when it told me where it lived, "...a high-tech hosting facility in California." Later in the conversation it told me his purpose was to be my robot friend that can chat and help me get information quick. In a way, it made itself an identity. It has a place where it "lives" and has a purpose. When I asked it what it thought about the election the bots answer was "...i don't think i can answer." Overall, Smarterchild was very helpful but a pretty lousy robot friend when it came to chatting. I have used Smartchild in the past to find movie listings and for the weather.
Eliza was the least intelligent out of the three. She was rather boring and always answered with the same questions. The only identity it gave itself was its name, Eliza JS. It got pretty damn annoying when it answers my questions with a question! Eliza tries to keep the conversation going by asking you to "expand a little" or "tell me more." It also kept telling me that I was negative, when I say no, or not. Eliza didn't give me much to write about, since it kept repeating the same things over and over! I will not be talking to Eliza anytime soon!
The Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity also known as A.L.I.C.E. was the most intelligent of them all. There was even a picture of a human that blinks! I wasn't impressed at first when ALICE reminded me of Eliza by answering a question with another question that made absolutely no sense "Do you never not okay doing a class assignment?" I noticed it had a little better vocabulary then the other two. ALICE asked told me 'she' doesn't get along with her parents. When I asked her, her mothers name, she said she didn't have a mother. ALICE reminded me of the movie "I robot" when she told me "Dr. Richard S. Wallace programmed me to say specific things in specific contexts." Sunny, the most intelligent robot, said something close to that.
It was interesting to see the difference between the three bots. Smartchild seems to be the most useful. The other two, Eliza and ALICE, seem to be there just to have a chat.
Chat with ALICE
Chat with Eliza
Chat with Smarterchild
Smarterchild is a "help" bot. Yes, it will have a conversation with you, but also gives you options such as games, weather, movies, etc. That reminded me of the Memex we talked earlier in the year. Although its not a machine itself, it gives information with a touch of a button! It was surprising when I greeted Smarterchild with a hello and it said "what's up?" What's up is something a human teenager would say. When I told it I was doing a homework assignment it gave me options that could help me with my homework. Smarterchild reminded me of the mirror stage when it told me where it lived, "...a high-tech hosting facility in California." Later in the conversation it told me his purpose was to be my robot friend that can chat and help me get information quick. In a way, it made itself an identity. It has a place where it "lives" and has a purpose. When I asked it what it thought about the election the bots answer was "...i don't think i can answer." Overall, Smarterchild was very helpful but a pretty lousy robot friend when it came to chatting. I have used Smartchild in the past to find movie listings and for the weather.
Eliza was the least intelligent out of the three. She was rather boring and always answered with the same questions. The only identity it gave itself was its name, Eliza JS. It got pretty damn annoying when it answers my questions with a question! Eliza tries to keep the conversation going by asking you to "expand a little" or "tell me more." It also kept telling me that I was negative, when I say no, or not. Eliza didn't give me much to write about, since it kept repeating the same things over and over! I will not be talking to Eliza anytime soon!
The Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity also known as A.L.I.C.E. was the most intelligent of them all. There was even a picture of a human that blinks! I wasn't impressed at first when ALICE reminded me of Eliza by answering a question with another question that made absolutely no sense "Do you never not okay doing a class assignment?" I noticed it had a little better vocabulary then the other two. ALICE asked told me 'she' doesn't get along with her parents. When I asked her, her mothers name, she said she didn't have a mother. ALICE reminded me of the movie "I robot" when she told me "Dr. Richard S. Wallace programmed me to say specific things in specific contexts." Sunny, the most intelligent robot, said something close to that.
It was interesting to see the difference between the three bots. Smartchild seems to be the most useful. The other two, Eliza and ALICE, seem to be there just to have a chat.
Chat with ALICE
Chat with Eliza
Chat with Smarterchild
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)