New Media

      When I was a chiid, before experiencing the influences of television, radios, and internet, life was simple. Fun revolved around hanging-out with other people. I remember me and my siblings did outdoor activities like riding on bikes, playing with mud, caring chickens and burning things.  

 (Not all at ones of course)

    Basically fun revolved on doing things that sounds fun like lets run around the yard, "cool sounds fun." Old media came later on, and sadly being one of the youngest in the family I didn't have control over the remote so I was forced to watch shows such as Marimar and Filipino horror films. With the old media I just had to take in things the way they are presented. There is no judgement whether the show was going to be bad or not. Later on games were like that wherein you have to buy the game and convert it to you own dust collector if the games were bad. There really was uncertainty over culture at those times. Magazine such as the ones below had a purpose before.

      Due to my experience before media influence and old media I realized I reminisce those times where hanging out with my cousins involved playing hide-and-seek instead of video games. So new media. When I first experience the internet this journey would span for my life until this point of time and most likely beyond. I was in Grade Four when I started playing Ragnarok Online. It was a bad addiction. I mean thinking about it right now why would I pay the company to do task such as killing monsters. I seems illogical when I think it in this way but my craving to play MMO stuck with me until third year ... college. I have come to think that the reason people get addicted to these things is that there is a sense of achievement in getting stronger ( for your character of course). Karl Marx would be really shocked to see this predicament wherein people pay to work. The compensation of course is the knowledge that in an alternate reality you are a level 54 knight who care if in real life you just sitting in a chair. Their is an enjoyment in stabbing those Picky and Fire Bolting those Mandragoras for the nth time. There is a real compensation of course in the fun and sense of achievement. A metaphor would be from the book Freakonomics where buying a lotto is financially a stupid investment but it does offer a virtual value wherein a person can imagine scenarios of him winning and spending said imaginary money. There is a joy in imagery. That is why I kind of fear on what is going to happen since time and effort are wasted on virtual items and levels. As an MMO player my addiction even went so far as aiming to be a top player. This was driven by a pride that I could boast on being like a top 10 archer the server this game was not RO of course. There is really value on those virtual goods I remember my cousin selling collected items for 2000php. Hopefully I have retired from MMO's

     I am not criticizing MMO but what I am saying is more of a personal regrets on how I let MMO control me. Instead of being a gamer, I was being played. There is really a different feel between MMO and single-player video games since the social concept actually makes a person integrate themselves more in a game. A person is immersed more.

         The other new media i actively participate is the comments section and ratings. I am just amazed at the ways people respond to things such as videos from Youtube like the one below

there are also times when an Uhh Ahh moment happens since the comments are smarter than the actual articles. (Well I think I have maxed the number of pictures available.) What I love about New Media is that there is really a sense of community where people talk to express their ideas. Where I wouldn't have to suffer watching Clash of the Titans because I failed to check IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. People in the internet really want to say something which they could tell honestly since nothing bad will happen to them when they (subjectively )tell it how it is because of anonymity. That really is the beauty of New Media where in a forum of sorts happen and people can talk. Like young people are often treated with respect in a restaurant not because they are the best customers but because of the advertisement they offer in tweets and comments about the restaurant. 

      In the end I have to agree with the new culture of the forum-like discussion and comments about the new media since it tells a article in a perspective that differs from the author. There is a think tank of discussions that really seems logical. MMO however I have to accept this fact perhaps the real problem is really how I deal with the games. I should play more for fun and not for the virtual items. I may have enjoyed the past when I did not recognize the medias before but now I am not a kid so I have to grow-up to the times. Engage myself more in tweets and comments there is really a bountiful nuggets of wisdom all over the internet.  

Sources image
http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?um=1&sa=N&biw=1309&bih=704&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=0v2mSjxxW0AShM:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickriver.com/photos/iosart/426028415/&docid=j3VUNVib0jpQ4M&imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/426028415_ed807c1981.jpg&w=500&h=333&ei=tXrUUdi-HLGaiQePlYCwBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:15,s:0,i:122&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=183&tbnw=227&start=0&ndsp=17&tx=133&ty=98

http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?um=1&sa=N&hl=en&biw=1309&bih=704&tbm=isch&tbnid=M6YbvKZAj4AA2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.cheatcc.com/cheatcodecentralmagazine.html&docid=HJLbNJbErxf_dM&imgurl=http://www.cheatcc.com/images/cccmagazinefinal.gif&w=420&h=373&ei=xH_UUciaL8uRiQfZyoGwCQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:1,s:0,i:82&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=199&tbnw=221&start=0&ndsp=18&tx=78&ty=68

http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/photos/22-actually-clever-youtube-comments