Technical Limitations & Online Identity
Somewhat outside of the scope of this space, but I have to express some of my frustrations with technology - or rather, my limited ability to use certain types of technology to their fullest extent.
Throughout the development of this site, it has been my intention to add short mpeg films of my personal play experiences to demonstrate relevant posts. I wanted to show my progression of dexterity and demonstrate how it impacted my ability to play and broaden the potential for immersion and to understand what 'they' mean when talking about 'intuitive' controls. It was my intention to demonstrate this progression through a series of posts describing the films - but I haven't been able to work up the technical ability and extra cash it would cost to buy the appropriate software to record my playtime from console and upload it to the web. Besides hosting issues of such material, I just haven't been able to think of a (inexpensive) way to do this.
Through this frustration, it made me think about my larger body of research; the impact of design and structure on the construction and maintenance identity in mmog's (yea yea, I know - long title!). But the main ideas transpose themselves quite well when talking about the internet, or any other 'structure' that limits 'total freedom' of expression. Ideas are only as good as their implementation. When constructing an identity online, even in a game such as Final Fantasy, the player can only construct it within the tools offered by the design. Of course, in some games such as EverQuest and WoW, Counterstrike and Quake, players design skins and other prgrams that are able to be layered over top the original design to broaden the scope of potential tools - but the player is still limited.
In the case of this site - the identity of the site is limited to by my technical abilities, as well as by the tools offered to me by Blogger. To add photographs, I had to install an add-on called Hello. Through these limitations, individuals are forced to create a false representation of sorts with the limited selections at hand. How is a player to truly create their own identity in someone else's sandbox?
Throughout the development of this site, it has been my intention to add short mpeg films of my personal play experiences to demonstrate relevant posts. I wanted to show my progression of dexterity and demonstrate how it impacted my ability to play and broaden the potential for immersion and to understand what 'they' mean when talking about 'intuitive' controls. It was my intention to demonstrate this progression through a series of posts describing the films - but I haven't been able to work up the technical ability and extra cash it would cost to buy the appropriate software to record my playtime from console and upload it to the web. Besides hosting issues of such material, I just haven't been able to think of a (inexpensive) way to do this.
Through this frustration, it made me think about my larger body of research; the impact of design and structure on the construction and maintenance identity in mmog's (yea yea, I know - long title!). But the main ideas transpose themselves quite well when talking about the internet, or any other 'structure' that limits 'total freedom' of expression. Ideas are only as good as their implementation. When constructing an identity online, even in a game such as Final Fantasy, the player can only construct it within the tools offered by the design. Of course, in some games such as EverQuest and WoW, Counterstrike and Quake, players design skins and other prgrams that are able to be layered over top the original design to broaden the scope of potential tools - but the player is still limited.
In the case of this site - the identity of the site is limited to by my technical abilities, as well as by the tools offered to me by Blogger. To add photographs, I had to install an add-on called Hello. Through these limitations, individuals are forced to create a false representation of sorts with the limited selections at hand. How is a player to truly create their own identity in someone else's sandbox?
posted by Kelly at 4:09 p.m.
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