An online community is a virtual community that exists online whose members enable it's existence through taking part in membership ritual (Wikipedia, 2011). In this tutorial I have explored three different online communities - their purpose and the services they provide. These include:
http://www.neopets.com/
http://www.pokerstars.net/
http://www.kongregate.com/
These are all gaming sites promoting play which is a very important aspect for Occupational Therapists. Play is used in therapy with young children as a means to learn and in adults as a leisure activity / hobby.
Neopets is an online gaming site for children. It allows children to chose a pet, name it and take care of it. It needs to be fed, played with and groomed. There is a large variety of games in the games room which earns points that can later be spent to buy things for their pet. It provides children with a fun way of learning to take care of something, and includes some basic math, and word games.
Pokerstars.net gives poker lovers a place to go to play poker against others all around the world. It provides training and is a great place to get in a bit of practice to suprise your mates next time you are all playing. The best part? It's free to join!!
Kongregate is an online gaming community which allows the user to play and rate online games, post in forums, and gain achievements through play. The user is able to create an avatar and make friends through playing games, which is a great way for the users to find people who have similar interests to them.
All sites that I have chosen to look at are highly interactive as they all encourage active game play. Pokerstars.net and Kongregate also allow players to interact with other players which boosts the level of interactivity. Neopets however does not allow interaction between other players - quite possibly due to safety reasons. However, it does allow the user to interact with their chosen pet through game play. All of these sites are free to use, however there is an opportunity to use real money in both pokerstars.net and Neopets. Pokerstars.net allows users to place real bets on the games being played which will make the game more exciting for alot of users. Neopets allows the user to load real money onto their accounts which is called Neocash, rather than the Neopoints which can be earned through games. Having Neocash allows the user to buy special items for their pet which Neopoints are unable to buy. Such lucky little pets!!
People chose to contribute to all of these sites for entertainment reasons. They are able to post on forums about games in Kongregate which allows game creators to see what people really think about their games, how to improve them and see what the player really wants. Pokerstars is a great place for people to practice their game and also earn a little money if they were wanting to place real bets. Neopets is just a fun site for children to use, however a large range of educational games, and the need of having to take care of your own pet makes it a great site for parents to show their children.
None of these websites require the user to submit any personal details, so therefore they are all doing a good job at trying to maintain security for the user. A big issue for theses sites though is the potential for addiction, or spending too much time on them than need be. Pokerstars.net could be a big concern for someone who has a gambling addiction as I am not aware of any precautions they have in place to do with limits of bets or frequency of bets. It would be very easy to create a fake account to play under, whereas if they were using traditional gambling areas such as a casino, they may not be allowed in if they are attending too regularly. There is also the option to play for free on Pokerstarts.net, which is the same for the other too sites, however some people may not be able to limit the amount of time they spend using these sites. This could eventually effect their work / school performance and/or relationships if they are constantly using these gaming sites.
With the sites directed at younger audiences (Kongregate and Neopets), there is a real concern of potential isolation. They may enjoy these gaming sites so much that they turn down time to spend with real friends. It also means that children will not be outdoors playing the way I or my parents and grandparents would have played and entertained ourselves when we were younger. This could potentially lead to health problems such as obesity, which is obviously a big concern in the world right now.
However, even though there are alot of negative points to consider when thinking of these online gaming communities, when used appropriately, they can be a great tool for people to use for enjoyment and leisure. They provide entertainment for those involved, and may even develop some areas of skill and knowledge.
References:
Wikipedia, 2011. Online Community. Retreived April 2, 2011 from http://www.wikipedia.com/
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