There is never a good time to say goodbye to someone you always thought was invincible. It’s been one of those years hasn’t it? A world full of controversy, technology evolving and people becoming restless as we continue a downward spiral into depression. What makes it even worse, is that people are dying left and right with no remorse from God. Today, God took someone that made this world just a little bit brighter to live in and that man is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs is the Co-Founder of Apple. He was a man that took the creative juices that only some men can contain and colored the world with the birth of computing. Jobs is the man behind the Apple Macintosh, a highly durable and likable computer that has been touted as an easy to use. While others may disagree which computer is better, the Macintosh is still a wonderful computer that is without a doubt one of the biggest sellers in Apple’s library.
Jobs not only conceive user-driven computer, however; the man also loved music. Jobs created the iPod, a real contender in the music industry that changed the game along with iTunes. Most people are more akin to know Jobs as the creator of the iPod and later the iPhone, which also changed the mobile industry. The contributions of Steve Jobs are immeasurable and may never be topped again.
Jobs was man who pride himself in being innovative. The amazing leaps and bounds this man took in his short, but meaningful life has brought people together like no one else could imagine. I am a proud owner of an Apple computer myself and once owned multiple iPhones and iPods. While I certainly didn’t agree with the man’s business model at times, I have certainly respected his reliably for producing great products.
Steve Jobs; the world has lost an amazing person and creative mind to the likes that no one may ever see again. I just want to say thank you for all that you have done and to have given me the hobby that I love more than I can ever know.
Xbox. Today, it’s more than just a game console. It is the means to entertain the world. I remember going back, to 2002 when the service (a paid online service) first launched, there were very few games to play online. Back then, that’s all you could do! There was no Xbox Live Arcade nor was there an Netflix, Hulu or Last.fm. The community of gamers that encompass the service range from 18-35 (source: http://www.thealistdaily.com/news/prime-demographics-playing-xbox-live-during-prime-time/) and games like Call of Duty, Gears of War and other typers of shooters are the main reason people are playing this games.
It astounds me how the Xbox Live service has come to pass these years. Take a look at the original Xbox video below. Can you imagine that the Xbox Live dashboard used to look like this?
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Some of the first Xbox Live games were pretty cool games, but they didn’t really catch on as I believed Xbox wanted. One of those games were my favorite Xbox games Whacked!.
(Sorry for the music, getting things from Youtube is tricky sometimes).
The community at the time was brand new. They were excited for the service to come out. Microsoft even initiated a beta test that got people using the service early and to test some of the features that would be coming for the service. However, there were a lot of broken hearts during the time of the beta. Many didn’t get as Microsoft wanted to keep the field trial limited. (Source: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-954927.html)
This was the first test in building the community and it seemed as though people wanted XBL badly. When the service finally launched, people ran to their local gamestore to pick up the hardware that included a headset and a headset adapter. I was one of the first people to get the service myself; I was such a youngin’ back in those days. During it’s time, it has gained millions of users and a massive slew of features. Not to mention all of the games that have come out on the platform that use the service. DLC, Netflix, Zune and of course Xbox Live Arcade. Xbox Live has been an onslaught of digital presence since its inception.
Whether you like it or not, there has been no better presence than Xbox Live. While the Playstation Network has been a dominant presence in it’s own right. I feel that there is still a lot of catching up to do for the service.
So, get to gaming! It’s a good time to be a gamer.
If you originally visited this blog post, then you will know that it was more focused on Game Designing and what not. Since becoming a Community Manager, I have found a whole new love for our industry and why Community Management has become oh-so-important in today’s era of video games.
There are a lot of people that feel as though video games have gone over and above Hollywood. Why is that? Is it because of the interactive touch that games give to players? Is that that people can fall in love with a character or hate a character in a video game, even though the character isn’t real? The player is a few different things:
- The Controller.
- The Hero
- The Lover
- The Villian
- Anything they want to be.
The player is the controller in the sense that, the player is the one that is effecting the world around him/her. In this day and age, the player can change any part of the game and effect the world around him. Games like Minecraft are games that players can really sink in to and create their own world. Filled with traps, filled with exploration and filled with wonder.
If you’re playing a story based game, the player can be the hero, the lover, the villian, the sidekick. Of course, this is up to the game design team/developers themselves to let you know who you’re going to be. In Mass Effect, you could be a glorious hero. One who is considered to be one of the greatest soldiers in space and on the fictional Citadel. In certain parts of the game, Commander Sheppard can even get into a romantic plot with one or more of the Commander’s squad mates (If I were a commander, I would probably keep it in my pants). However, you can also be the anti-hero. Be ridiculed by your choices on who you save at the end, be an asshole, be a jerk to all that is around you. It doesn’t take much to piss people off.
In a video game. The player can be anyone. This is why people are drawn to video games. It’s a new form of expression. It’s a new form of entertainment. When something is entertaining, people will come!
This is why, I, Jason Bassett will be writing about on my blog. What makes a good community and how they are drawn to certain games and how communities should be handled. I have worked with a lot of different communities. IGN, Player Affinity, schools, the Game Developers Conference and many more. I hope that you all enjoy my blog and take an interest into building game communities or help managed them!
Remember: Without the community, the industry is dead!
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