3.1 Inform me! news media.

The current news media is going through a major fundamental change in how it controls and presents news stories to us. Television and print media is owned by a small but powerful group of corporations who up until recently set the agenda for what we consumed. With the shift to more diversified online news services we no longer have a particular brand of news pushed to us, whereas in the past it was the major networks who selected and edited what subjects and what slant the news would take and what we would see on our screens and in our newspapers on a daily basis. Now we don’t have to wait for pre-set times for our news to be delivered, we switch on our smartphones, our tablets and web browsers to view a near instant stream of current news and reports from every inch of the planet.

Because of time or space constraints it wasn’t possible to cover every news story that was breaking and we relied on trusting news producers and newspaper editors to refine down the stories available to us. With the growth of the internet, space is no longer an issue and as well as the mainstream print and television news services moving into an online form there is now a more diverse range of news sources available to anyone with an internet connection. The issue now is not one of what some third party thinks is relevant for us to view but one of filtering the enormous amounts of information available and vetting it as accurate, reliable, timely and news worthy. As Christopher Harper wrote in Democracy and new media [33] we relied on the gatekeepers as to what is news and to its credibility.

Harper also noted that all traditional media had a defining moment which defined them as a brand, for print journalism it was the Vietnam War, for Radio it was the Hindenburg crash and for television it may have been the Kennedy assassination. The internet, though having many standout moments may still not have found its one true defining moment yet.

So while the old empire is facing growing pressure from an infant but powerful new competitor in the internet, it is also adapting and using this new medium to its advantage by setting up parallel media outlets to promote and compete with its traditional bricks and mortar establishments. Having the existing media players reshaping and putting their own businesses online may lend credibility to online news production while the new kids become entrenched and build their own trusted brands.

2.5 All the worlds a game.

Alternate Reality Gaming and convergence culture:

Ornebring (2007) [31] discusses in this paper the varying differences between corporate and fan produced Alternate Reality Games (ARG’s.) and there being more similarities than differences in their makeup. An ARG is a form of internet based game; which takes place in a fantasy or makes believe world and usually involves working with other online players to solve a problem or carry out a particular task or goal.

Ornebring cites an ARG based on the television series Alias as being one of the first of its type and was originally produced as a marketing tool to further strengthen the television shows brand. It is believed that the main purpose of nearly all industry produced ARG’s is one of their marketing departments strategies to keep a buzz going surrounding the release of a movie or television show and to extend its life and build a fan base that will keep its audience interested and willing to follow future sequels, spin offs or seasons. Many ARG’s will have additional commentary and plot lines not shown in the originating storyline as a method to build hype and bring attention to the original.

Even if the intended goal is to produce an entertaining game to entice and provide its players an enjoyable playing experience based around its onscreen product, the main purpose behind the game is one of brand advertising and product promotion and this is the singularly biggest difference behind Fan based ARG’s.

The fan produced ARG is created usually for a completely different reason to an industry produced one, whereas the industry ARG must generate an income or add value to its product be it in ongoing sales or an advertising role to keep customers involve in a movie, game or television franchise, the fan ARG is done for love of the game or character.

The fan will spend their own time and money to create or prolong their favourite ARG. This may be to bring in new scenarios that the original didn’t have of take the characters in a direction that was never planned or even to keep going an ARG that has been discontinued by the originating company. Creators of fan based ARG’s tread a very fine legal line, much of the work and imagery they use and adapt will be copyrighted by the original creators and will often by used without consent or knowledge of the originating owner. Another reason a studio or gaming company may show disdain for outside people changing their carefully created and managed work is if a fan brings in elements to the work which changes its political or moral stance that a company may not want to portray to its audience, IE having gay characters in a family based series or g rated game. 

Playing on the digital commons:
Coleman and Dyer-Witheford’s article [32] Media Culture Society (2007) Continue on within the same context but separate it into two areas of commodity and commons. Commons is a resources that we all have access to but is not owned by any single individual, an example of this would be the development of the Linux operating system which is based on the corporate Unix operating system but is mostly administered by groups of volunteer programmers and is released under a creative commons licence. Commodity is the corporate product, developed at great expense and tightly controlled in its use.

It is a blurring of this boundary where most consternation is taking place. Gamemakers having invested heavily in the production and promotion of a new title are extremely vigilant and prepared to use whatever legal and often what appears to be a heavy handed means to control any unauthorised use and misappropriation of any of its copyrighted material by anyone who has not paid a premium to do so. What a fan may see as a right to use images, footage or character likenesses in a parody or fan made version of the game the corporate world sees it as piracy and hacking and the courts are happy to agree