Life as a Game

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to Mass Comm 101 students in June 2018.

Your little brother says, "I can stop anytime I want," as he plays his online game all night and misses school the next day. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially categorized Gaming Addiction in the International Classification of Diseases. Gaming Addiction has officially been identified as a psychological addiction similar to Compulsive Gambling. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Do you know anyone who might be a video game addict? What do they do that seems so addictive?

•Do smartphones make the problem better, worse, or make no difference?

•What steps would you take to make sure your child is not socially isolated and is engaged with the physical world?

Dead Actors, Live Audiences

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to Mass Comm 101 classes in Spring 2018.

If I want to see Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in a movie, I find a copy of their 1949 film, Adam's Rib. Soon I may be able to see them in a whole now movie created many years after their deaths. Movie technology has advanced to the degree that not only do we have trouble telling animation from live action. We now have difficulty telling live actors from dead ones. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is this technology good for the movie business or bad for the movie business? Why?

•What jobs will this technology eliminate? What jobs will it create?

•You are a major Hollywood star. How do you use this technology to fund your retirement? How do you use it to provide income for your heirs?

•Will the audience want to see new movies (or TV shows or video games) with John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe in them? In 50 years will audiences want to see new movies with a young Jennifer Lawrence or Johnny Depp?

Apparently, The Force Was With Us

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in January 2017.

One of the things that makes a great city a great city is that it has cool things that practically everyone can enjoy. That said, Los Angeles bagged another cool thing recently as it was named the site of The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The museum, which will be underwritten by Star Wars Creator George Lucas and his wife, will focus on storytelling through pictures, from cave paintings to present. It will be in Exposition Park, near the Coliseum and USC. It is expected to open in 3-4 years. KCBS News reports.

Questions...

•Name all the ways that we tell stories through pictures.

•What pictures can you think of that evoke an emotion or feeling?

•How do you use pictures to tell stories in your life?

•What academic departments at USC could benefit from having this museum nearby? How?

•Is this museum good for Los Angeles? How?

Gaming While Female

In the early years of online gaming, players were usually young and male and the games were aggressive. In more recent years, both the user base and game content has diversified. Some feminist critics of the gamer culture feel it is time to include gaming in the #metoo Movement. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is it harder to be identifiably female online? How are female gamers treated differently than male gamers?

•Is harassment of women a particularly big problem in gaming, or is it just as bad in social media and other online places?

•How are online harassers similar to people like Harvey Weinstein? How are they different?

•What can be done to combat harassment in gaming?

Shifting Out of Neutral

Imagine a privately-owned toll road. The owner claims it could make improvements to the road if it were allowed to sell different speed limits to different car makers: Lexus has paid for a 75 MPH limit and VW has paid for a 65 MPH limit. Cars over five years old are only allowed to go 40 MPH, which creates a real incentive to buy a new Lexus.

This is sort of similar to what will happen with the end of Net Neutrality. NPR reports.

Questions...

•How much control should Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have over the Internet, and why?

•Do you feel that allowing phone and cable companies to make more money will be good for investment and innovation? How?

•Should cities and counties take over Internet services the way many cities do with water and power?

•Is the end of Net Neutrality good for The Short Head or The Long Tail? Why?

Virtual Thrills

The rollercoaster business has had its ups and downs. Sure, you can create faster rides and bigger drops, but it increases safety risks and decreases the number of people willing to enjoy such an intense experience.
The rollercoaster business has had its ups and downs. Sure, you can create faster rides and bigger drops, but it increases safety risks and decreases the number of people willing to enjoy such an intense experience.

This is where virtual reality (VR) comes in. This summer, Six Flags Magic Mountain started handing out VR goggles on one of its rollercoasters, turning it into a multimedia experience. Will this be the next big thing in theme park rides or is it a novelty that will wear off soon?NPR reports.

Questions...

•Who has used VR? What have you used it for?

•How might you adapt "Avitar" as a VR rollercoaster experience?

•What other stories (movies or other stories) could be adapted for a VR rollercoaster experience?

•How could Magic Mountain use VR to compete with Knotts' Scary Farm around Halloween?

•In your opinion, will VR be a hugely successful technology, or will it be more like a Segway for your eyes?

Gotta Catch 'Em All

Pokemon is a little like a horror movie. Just when you think the monster is dead, it rises up once again.


Just when you thought you were through with Pokemon, it rises up in the form of Pokemon Go, which has become an immediate sensation. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Who has played Pokemon Go?

•How could the Getty Center use augmented reality? How could it be used for a Hollywood Boulevard walking tour?

•How much of Pokemon Go's success is due to escapism during a time of police shootings and other turmoil?

•How could Pokemon Go be used to get children (or adults) more physically active?

•What negatives could come rom Pokemon Go?

•Will this be a short-lived fad, or something that will hang around awhile?

Attention eSports Fans!

Playing video games before an audience now as a name: eSports. And eSports events are increasingly being played in arenas and streamed out to fans. Obviously, there are media opportunities here. NPR reports.

Questions...

•In NASCAR, they say "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday." If a game is selected for eSports competition, will it increase general sales of that game?

•eSports are now being played in arenas. Name all the media opportunities surrounding these events.

•What advertisers (besides game makers) would want to reach the eSports audience?

•Archery and shooting are Olympic sports. Chess used to be an Olympic sport. Should eSports become an Olympic sport? Why or why not.

Driven to Distraction

It has to be scary to be a car company executive watching Google take the lead in driverless car technology. So it makes sense that Ford and Toyota are responding with car navigation and entertainment systems that bypass the rapidly-evolving tech giants. Reuters reports.

Questions...

•If a car self-drives, what communications could potentially be in the car?

•What information could be gathered from people out in their cars? How might advertisers use it?

•Are car radios obsolete?

#Gamergate

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in September 2014.

The "heckler's veto" is a fairly well-known concept in debates about freedom of speech. Here's an example: An extremely controversial speaker is invited to give a speech on campus. Opponents find out about the speech and write threat-filled letters to the newspaper, create hateful graffiti across the campus and threaten to disrupt the speech in a potentially-violent way.

Not wanting trouble, the president of the college cancels the invitation to the speaker. The result is that the aggressive opponents have prevented speech that they hate. That is the heckler's veto.

Something like the heckler's veto may be happening in the game industry. Women who critique the messages in some video games have had their photos and personal information hacked, and even received death threats. Is this a new media heckler's veto? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is an online threat just as serious as a face-to-face threat? Why or why not? Should online threats be investigated as possible crimes?

•"The Internet is looking for a reason to be a total scumbag to you." Is that statement true or not?

•Why do people go to all the trouble of hacking photos and making threats?

•Is the situation in the NPR story a heckler's veto?

•Is the gaming world sexist?

•Is there an answer to this type of harassment?

Game as Teacher

This is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in August 2014.

Some believe video games teach us how to shoot people and steal cars. Others believe it can teach us to type. But can a game teach us about a distant culture, to understand their lives and the challenges they face? National Public Radio reports.

Questions...

•Are video games a mass medium? Why or why not?

•Do video games tear down stereotypes, or build them up?

•What are some of the things that games can teach?

•What types of experiences can be taught through games?

•What Mass Comm 101 lessons could be taught through a game?

Is This the 9th Milestone in Communications History?

This is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in March 2014. Virtual Reality is one of those cool ideas that hasn't yet become mainstream. But maybe that is about to change.

Oculus Rift is a gaming device that puts the user into the action to an unprecedented degree. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Does anyone have experience with virtual reality? What current devices have some VR capabilities?

•Will this technology make films and TV obsolete? How should the film and TV industries use this device?

•Will this device increase or physical activity, or decrease it?

•How could this technology be used in a GCC classroom?

•How could advertisers use this technology?

If Johnny Depp had a Twin...

...would he be a Deppelganger? Please allow Your Humble Blogger an occasional moment of (weak) levity. He doesn't get out much.

Actors are having digital twins made of themselves. These twins replicate every facial nuance, every expression, every pore. What's more, these digital doubles are a moviemaker's dream: they are always available for work, don't age and don't have personal problems. The Los Angeles Times reports.

•Will this technology make actors obsolete?

•Will this technology make the most popular actors essentially immortal?

•Will this technology lead to fewer actors getting more work?

•Should animators worry about this technology?

•How might this technology change the movie, television and game industries?

•Do you have a problem bringing dead actors and others back to life?

•Outside of entertainment, how could this technology be used by criminals, including terrorists?

A Parent in Your Pocket or Purse

One feature of having a cell phone is that you can always be reached by Mom or Dad. Now there are apps that help parents keep track of what is on their kids' cell phones. Is this good parenting, or overkill? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Are these apps appropriate, or creepy?

•How much privacy should a 10-year-old have? How about a 15-year-old.

•Has today's communications technology made young people more independent, or less independent?

Gameboy, or Gamebigot?

Multiplayer video games are highly competitive, so it makes sense that there is a certain amount of trash talk. But some believe this trash talk often veers into racism, sexism and homophobia. How bad is it? Does it matter? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Who is a gamer here? What is the trash talk like online?

•Are gamers bigots?

•Why do games tend toward racism, sexism and homophobia?

•Are massive user games a form of mass media?

•Are games making us less civilized versions of ourselves?

Face to Facebook

Within days of our MediaNote about a virtual reality system called Oculus Rift, Facebook bought the Silicon Valley startup for a cool $2 billion. Reaction to the purchase came quickly, and not all of it was positive. Backed by Facebook's deep pockets, however, Oculus will have the resources to become all that it can be. NPR reports.

And here's another thing about virtual reality: We should root for it. According to this Los Angeles Times article, the Los Angeles Area could become the epicenter of VR similar to how Internet companies have clustered around the Bay Area. Questions...

•How could Oculus change the Facebook experience?

•How real do you want your Facebook friends to be? How real do you want to be to them?

•Will people have VR avitars? In what situations?

•How might this change professional sports or plays or museums?

•How might this change political campaigning?

•Which will be a bigger success: Oculus or Google Glass? Why?

Games for Grownups

Big-action games aren't for everybody. And not every game developer dreams of an even gorier Zombie Apocalypse.

The motion picture industry has its independent moviemakers, and the recording business has its independent music. So why not independent games?

As with indie music and movies, independent game makers aren't shooting for a huge mass audience. Rather, they are trying to say something with their games that goes beyond the often-superficial messages of mainstream media. The Los Angeles Times reports on this trend toward independent games.

Questions...

•Is gaming a mass medium? Why or why not?

•Are young men naturally attracted to games, or is it really the violent content that they are attracted to?

•Which is a better storytelling medium--games or movies? Why?

•Which is a better teacher--games or movies? Why?

•Which is better at getting you to think about social and political issues? Why?

iStool Pigeon

Is your iPhone an iNformant? Do US, British and perhaps other spy agencies have basic data about you? Are corporations also collecting data about you, your preferences, your whereabouts, and your life?

Yes on all counts.

The New York Times and The Guardian of London recently reported on how the National Security Agency (among others) are using so-called "leaky apps" on your smart phone to collect data about you. Here is the New York Times article.

And just in case you were wondering what a "stool pigeon" is, it's clear that you didn't watch enough 1940s gangster movies. Here is the dictionary definition.

Questions...

•Is this a big deal to you? Why or why not?

•What sort of things may you not want to do with your smart phone?

•Which do you fear more: Big Government, or Big Business? Why?

•Is Edward Snowden a hero, a traitor, or something else?

Is Glass Revolutionary, Or Just Revolting?

Google has spent considerable time and money making its wearable computer, Glass, ready for a general consumer rollout. Google's latest move has been to make the device work with prescription lenses and a variety of frames. But is it just too geeky to succeed?

Here's a video that introduces how Glass works. And here is an NPR story about what it is like to wear Glass around other people.

Questions...

•Is Glass too geeky to succeed?

•Is it more like an iPhone, which a lot of people want, or more like a Segway, which only a few people want?

•Who is most likely to buy Google Glass? Who is the target customer?

•Will people eventually get used to others wearing Glass?

•How might Glass be a bad thing for the wearer, or for others?

•Design a Glass app for the Getty Center.

Shifting Out of Neutral

"Net Neutrality" is a complex legal, philosophical, technological and economic issue that a some people (including a very smart JPL engineer friend of Your Humble Blogger) are deeply interested in. In brief, Net Neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) must offer equal access to web sites. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would have the job of enforcing net neutrality. The counterargument is that ISPs have the right to restrict internet access as they see fit. A recent federal appeals court decision ruled in favor of the ISPs and against the FCC. National Public Radio reports.

Questions...

•Was the FCC regulating for the public good, or was it wrongly inhibiting the free market?

•Phone companies are common carriers, meaning they must allow equal access to all phone numbers. Should the ISPs be treated the same way?

•How does the federal appeals court decision affect freedom of information in the U.S.?

•What does this decision mean for streamed entertainment?

•What are the arguments against net neutrality?