For those interested in the innards of major social trends, MIT’s Technology Review has a few great links.
First up is this nice info-graphic animation about what’s inside an iPod. Basically little hard drives with a few microprocessors, the iPod and its digital brethren are fascinating extensions of the personal computer and the Walkman, with massive implications for the cultural industries.
Also linked from MIT is this weblog review of The Sims 2, the suburban life simulator and God-playing game. The review is particularly interesting because it’s written by a player that likes to wreak havoc on his virtual world (called a ‘griefer’ in gaming circles). Some upgrades in The Sims 2 worth note for the cultural manager: players can now set up their lives and towns in a Shakespeare-inspired village called ‘Veronaville’; personality and physical traits of virtual parents now carry forward to their virtual offspring in a nod to DNA; characters now have not only user-controlled personality traits in the moment, but aspirations for their lives, as well.
It’s quite striking from the review how this wildly popular simulation game has become a form of playwriting for its players (in this case, the reviewer created an anti-hero specifically designed to mess with the other virtual characters). From costuming, to face design, to set design, to motivation and direction, games like The Sims 2 have become theatrical entertainment, with some of the same richness, depth, and interplay you might find on stage…minus the real people.
In a sort of on-line playwrights’ colony, advanced players can also share and exchange the characters, sets, props, and other world elements they’ve created.
Be afraid.