Thursday, May 22, 2014
Board Game Geek Analysis
I learned that neatness and less ads would help make everything so much better and clearer. A general cleaner design.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
OCA Field Notes 1
Using the KIM template I will discuss the particular website www.smogon.com on a number of topics. These topics are: Purpose, gathering places, identities and profiles, leadership, code of conduct, membership, real world interaction, and member created sub groups.
The first main point of dissection will be Purpose. What is the purpose of the website? There is a mission statement on the top of the "home" page of the website saying "Smogon is a Pokemon website and community specializing in the art of competitive battling." The objective of the website is very clear, it is all about Pokemon and competitive Pokemon dueling. It effectively helps with the needs of the forum by creating a page for battle stats/simulation, Forums for discussions on Pokemon for the most part, and blog posts for the website. The only "brand" of the website is Pokemon. The target audience of the website is for people who competitively play Pokemon or people interested in learning how to play competitively. There doesn't seem to have any back-story to this website. There are also no sub-groups within this website as it is purely based on competitive Pokemon play. The overall website design does somewhat reinforce the strength of the website, by having the majority of the "important" links pertaining to competitive Pokemon playing on the left of the screen, with Pokemon as the main icons next to the links. Which brings us to the next part of the website: Gathering Places.
Gathering places are where the community comes to a focal point in order to interact with each other. There are a few places here used for the community to interact with each other. There is the IRC channel that is official to the Smogon website, the forums, the quotable database which is about funny "quotes" to say, and the WiFi battle finder which the page is currently under construction. Along with the standard YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch accounts. Which brings the grand total of communal places to seven. The website isn't exactly what I'd call mapped, although most of the main links pertaining to the website can be found on the left side of the website on the home page. There are ranks to the members but that is under construction, so officially no not yet.There is some customization to the user profiles, such as being able to change your profile picture and signature, though there isn't a way to change the color of the websites and fonts etc unless you set that yourself through the web browser you are using. Members are unable to access higher features.
The next section on the list is Identities and Profiles. There are barriers to being able to post on forums, but you can access everything on the website without having to have a profile there. The only information collected upfront anyway is your email address, password, name, date of birth, and what Pokemon is showed on the sign up page. There hasn't been any real perks to membership upfront other than being able to post on the forums. And members/users get an honest feel for the environment because they can access all Pokemon related material without needing to register and everything is clutter free and strictly about Pokemon. Members can create and update their profiles by changing their profile picture, signatures, personal details, etc. The website shows user participation by number of posts they've posted and how long they have been a member for. The only information I have gathered about automatic updating is the people following the specific users and the number of posts posted.
Leadership roles in the Smogen community. When it comes to training new mods in the community I am unsure of how users are selected and trained etc. There is a mentorship program to help the newbies out but There is a list of people who are already mentors as well as a dedicated IRC channel to help new people out with the website. That is the clearest form of technical support and training to become acquainted with the place. The only implied power is the respect in the community from fellow users and newbies because of the sheer number of posts.
The codes of conduct are important everywhere not just with this website. There are rules and responsibilities that you agree to when signing up for the website. They are very short. Although, it was unclear on how to proceed to get changes made to the rules.
When it comes to cyclic events there are really only tournaments that you can sign up for online in the forums and they hold live streams that they announce on twitter and Facebook. There are battles every day but those are also privately announced/held. Every once in awhile the creators post a new blog article and the latest one posted was on March 3rd, 2014.There are no polls to take or are posted as far as research done has indicated. There are periodic tournaments to further the community interests though.
With membership that is a sticky area in any spot anywhere, not just on community websites. Guests can read the policies but can make no updates, set, or request changes to them. New members can read the policies but make no changes, set or request changes. Regular members can also view the policies but I haven't seen any way for them to suggest a change or edit or even set policies either. Owners of the website can edit and set policies as they please, seeing how they are the owners and content creators of the website. Visitors and guests have access to the whole website minus the ability to post on the forums. The only feature new members have over guests is the ability to post on the forums. There isn't anything that older posters can have over anyone except for the super high post counts. The only actions regulars can take over visitors is the ability to post on the forums. Actions hosts and owners can take over everyone else is to ban and moderate posts along with changing content. Individuals aren't independently tagged as members because only members can post on the forums. The only "clear" way to move up in status is to be there a long time and post regularly.
Sub-groups are not really found on this website. The only "sub-groups" found on the website are in the forums for various tournament locations etc. There isn't really a mention of sub groups in the community although there are also not really any subgroups here either. Members do have the ability to set up their own events in the tournament section and private comments in order to set up battles amongst each other.
Finally, at the end of it all we have Real world interaction. The website has its own specific IRC channel which is a group for you to chat in. Like a public chat room of sorts with a pound infront of it. For example #Pokemon. You can also post happy birthday on peoples walls because it shows birthdays and on the side todays members birthdays so you can say happy birthday to them. IRL chats are encouraged among the group and each other. As well as their offiical IRC channel. I do not know of any meet ups to discuss and play Pokemon though.
This website is a tight knit community all about Pokemon. It is very active in the forums and a blog post about once a month. It is encouraging at the thought of digging deeper still!
The first main point of dissection will be Purpose. What is the purpose of the website? There is a mission statement on the top of the "home" page of the website saying "Smogon is a Pokemon website and community specializing in the art of competitive battling." The objective of the website is very clear, it is all about Pokemon and competitive Pokemon dueling. It effectively helps with the needs of the forum by creating a page for battle stats/simulation, Forums for discussions on Pokemon for the most part, and blog posts for the website. The only "brand" of the website is Pokemon. The target audience of the website is for people who competitively play Pokemon or people interested in learning how to play competitively. There doesn't seem to have any back-story to this website. There are also no sub-groups within this website as it is purely based on competitive Pokemon play. The overall website design does somewhat reinforce the strength of the website, by having the majority of the "important" links pertaining to competitive Pokemon playing on the left of the screen, with Pokemon as the main icons next to the links. Which brings us to the next part of the website: Gathering Places.
Gathering places are where the community comes to a focal point in order to interact with each other. There are a few places here used for the community to interact with each other. There is the IRC channel that is official to the Smogon website, the forums, the quotable database which is about funny "quotes" to say, and the WiFi battle finder which the page is currently under construction. Along with the standard YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch accounts. Which brings the grand total of communal places to seven. The website isn't exactly what I'd call mapped, although most of the main links pertaining to the website can be found on the left side of the website on the home page. There are ranks to the members but that is under construction, so officially no not yet.There is some customization to the user profiles, such as being able to change your profile picture and signature, though there isn't a way to change the color of the websites and fonts etc unless you set that yourself through the web browser you are using. Members are unable to access higher features.
The next section on the list is Identities and Profiles. There are barriers to being able to post on forums, but you can access everything on the website without having to have a profile there. The only information collected upfront anyway is your email address, password, name, date of birth, and what Pokemon is showed on the sign up page. There hasn't been any real perks to membership upfront other than being able to post on the forums. And members/users get an honest feel for the environment because they can access all Pokemon related material without needing to register and everything is clutter free and strictly about Pokemon. Members can create and update their profiles by changing their profile picture, signatures, personal details, etc. The website shows user participation by number of posts they've posted and how long they have been a member for. The only information I have gathered about automatic updating is the people following the specific users and the number of posts posted.
Leadership roles in the Smogen community. When it comes to training new mods in the community I am unsure of how users are selected and trained etc. There is a mentorship program to help the newbies out but There is a list of people who are already mentors as well as a dedicated IRC channel to help new people out with the website. That is the clearest form of technical support and training to become acquainted with the place. The only implied power is the respect in the community from fellow users and newbies because of the sheer number of posts.
The codes of conduct are important everywhere not just with this website. There are rules and responsibilities that you agree to when signing up for the website. They are very short. Although, it was unclear on how to proceed to get changes made to the rules.
When it comes to cyclic events there are really only tournaments that you can sign up for online in the forums and they hold live streams that they announce on twitter and Facebook. There are battles every day but those are also privately announced/held. Every once in awhile the creators post a new blog article and the latest one posted was on March 3rd, 2014.There are no polls to take or are posted as far as research done has indicated. There are periodic tournaments to further the community interests though.
With membership that is a sticky area in any spot anywhere, not just on community websites. Guests can read the policies but can make no updates, set, or request changes to them. New members can read the policies but make no changes, set or request changes. Regular members can also view the policies but I haven't seen any way for them to suggest a change or edit or even set policies either. Owners of the website can edit and set policies as they please, seeing how they are the owners and content creators of the website. Visitors and guests have access to the whole website minus the ability to post on the forums. The only feature new members have over guests is the ability to post on the forums. There isn't anything that older posters can have over anyone except for the super high post counts. The only actions regulars can take over visitors is the ability to post on the forums. Actions hosts and owners can take over everyone else is to ban and moderate posts along with changing content. Individuals aren't independently tagged as members because only members can post on the forums. The only "clear" way to move up in status is to be there a long time and post regularly.
Sub-groups are not really found on this website. The only "sub-groups" found on the website are in the forums for various tournament locations etc. There isn't really a mention of sub groups in the community although there are also not really any subgroups here either. Members do have the ability to set up their own events in the tournament section and private comments in order to set up battles amongst each other.
Finally, at the end of it all we have Real world interaction. The website has its own specific IRC channel which is a group for you to chat in. Like a public chat room of sorts with a pound infront of it. For example #Pokemon. You can also post happy birthday on peoples walls because it shows birthdays and on the side todays members birthdays so you can say happy birthday to them. IRL chats are encouraged among the group and each other. As well as their offiical IRC channel. I do not know of any meet ups to discuss and play Pokemon though.
This website is a tight knit community all about Pokemon. It is very active in the forums and a blog post about once a month. It is encouraging at the thought of digging deeper still!
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Blog Assignment Three
The website is clearly a community. It has Population/Identity, Hobby/Interests, language, participation, boundaries etc. I have not made contact with anyone thus yet because I just signed up for the website though this is an interesting opportunity to learn "stocks" with movies in its place. The capital is the fake money and the ownership of "stocks" in the game. There is a forum for which the community can participate and talk about their hobbies and interests. The website is very slow for me as I'm trying to buy stock in a actor and the page isn't loading. Elders would qualify people who have the most stocks and money obviously. You can start sure but the rich elites are the ones really in charge.
Second Blog Assignment
I think the website is a community to its near fullest extent of the word. In class we had elements of community including: hobbies/interest, boundaries, common goals/needs, participation, protection etc. These elements are clearly here on the website. The main purpose of the website is to watch anime/tv shows. There is a huge list of shows/animes to watch. The participation is a huge factor because you can log in to discuss and watch the animes under a name. Common goals is certainly here and participation because if it weren't for the anime and floods of users the website wouldn't be there clearly... The protection is also there, anything not in English although harsh and spammy links are not tolerated here. It is clearly stated in multiple places. These are just some of the elements that create a community and they are certainly there.
First Blog Assignment
When I first saw URL for the website, I wasn't completely sure what to think. At first I thought it may have been pictures of people doing funky things on couches, but then I was hit with another thought that perhaps it was about people offering a spare couch for people to use. A strange concept but Craigslist... so anything is possible. Upon arriving at the homepage of the website I was floored by the simple ultra basic coding put into the website. And the website is chock full of spam links. I think the websites original intentions were to allow a place for people so sign-up and then rent/stay free on peoples couches/spare rooms for a night or two. But this isn't the case. I think a creeper is in charge of the site. With the ultra basic design and spammy links, this creator has nefarious motives for this website. I would avoid it. I wouldn't consider joining the community because I don't really travel anywhere. I stay mostly at home and I wouldn't join to go sit at some random persons house. And a huge concern about staying in someones house is safety. After being robbed on camera, people are nuts and capable of anything...
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
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