technoculture203-09

It's very important that all you pirates see this.



It's the official sequel to this 90s gem for those not in the know.

The famed game designer Peter Molyneux demonstrated the “Milo project” at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. This interactive game provides the new kind of interaction and connection between a virtual character with players through the Project Natal motion camera.

According to Peter Molyneux, he mentioned that the controllers construct the barrier to the connection with players. Following the video, the virtual character in the game is like real person with emotion and action. For example, his head was down and he was not looking to the player because he does not want to obey to do homework. Moreover, the player was feeling worry with the boy who walk carefully on the rock. The interaction between them is fascinating that can challenge our sympathy.

This post is largely in response to Robz' earlier post about prosumers saving the New Zealand music industry. He talked about how technology can lower the amount of money a film needs to gross to become a success, and I believe this is true even outside of New Zealand, and even outside of the film industry. It also works in the music business. For example, The Format, an indie-rock band from America, was dropped from their record label prior to the release of their second album because the label didn't like what they recorded. So instead, they released the album on their own and ultimately distributed it for free because there was no overhead involved (the record company allowed them to keep the rejected songs, and thus paid for them to be recorded). With this method of self-distribution, the band was able to expand their fan base and sell out shows nationwide, all while not seeing a dime from their record company. Much of the technology they used to master and distribute the album was self-developed, so in agreement with what Robz posted earlier, the lower overhead brought upon by new technology can do wonders for music and film.

Every day we rely on signals, whether traffic lights or electronic. Judith Donath talks about Signaling Theory in her article Signals in Social Supernets. She talks about how we rely on these signals when trying to perceive people such as statements made, facial expressions and consumption qualities.

These signals can be divided into three catergories:
1. The Assessment Signal which is normally reliable because one must have the quality in order to produce the signal. E.g. Playing the guitar well involves skill.
2. The Strategic Signal is another kind of Assessment Signal which indicates that a person has a large amount of a resource by wasting it.
3. The Conventional Signal which is when a person describes themselves. This is seen as the least reliable of all signals but can be kept honest through social values and laws.

But as with many things, these signals can be faked with enough perseverance. These signals are easier to fake on SNS sites. This can backfire if friends see you in real life and start questioning. Best bet is to not post anything that you couldn’t justify later.

Some current examples of businesses that are actively using social media marketing in Auckland that I have been quite impressed with are @giapo and @wagamama_nz. Wagamama frequently posts updates about upcoming 'noodle eating competitions' and spontaneous giveaways, e.g. "if your on nuffield st right now near wagamama tweet me for some love..you have from 7.36pm - 7 .42pm go !" Similarly, Giapo's page shows constant interaction with customers. They are clearly inviting the customer to engage with them frequently and in a friendly, casual manner.

This highlights how social media can be a very useful tool to businesses. I would guess this requires very little labour. The casual tone of the engagements don't demand a huge amount of thought or even literacy competency - notice how typos are excused - and thus, any part-time worker would probably be able to handle it. Above all, Twitter is free. Its effect is in regularly reminding the customer of their loyalty to the brand, as well as the fact that the brand is constantly available and providing goods/services.