The computer game The Sims was a
big hit when it first released its first version back in the year 2000. This
game allowed gamers to create a virtual person, build its house, and ultimately
control what their Sim does in the virtual world. Many years have passed since the originally
game… well actually 13 years have passed where many new versions of the Sims
game were created. And much more technology was researched and developed. Also,
with so many years passing by, The Sims fan bases were created online and kept
growing to where it led Sim gamers to share and talk about their love and
passion for the game.
The online fan bases that were
created online are a perfect example of McLuhan’s explanation of a cool medium.
The reasoning behind this is that articles and posts are created constantly
through the Internet where readers can easily comment back and forth by sharing
their opinion and idea to the articles.
EA Games
the creator and developer of the Sims created a social page through Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TheSims3) where gamers can collaborate ideas and be informed of new updates and new
downloads that were released. This form of media is pretty fast and easy to be
informed compared to a hot medium such as a newsletter being sent out to
households about other gamer’s input/sharing’s and new updates for the game.
This example of social media goes along with Paul Du Gay and colleagues (1997)
especially when it is explained about when with this statement “users can
engage with the technologies and identity
concerns the way in which such consumption practices are intricately
connected with the development of individual and collective subjectivities.”
Technology is ultimately a way to share media in a user-friendly way where each
reader has an ability to interact with it.
In-conclusion,
The Sims may have started off with just the game and no social media but has
grown to a online medium of social interaction. In present day, the Sims and
the advancement in technology allowed the Sims fans to an ease of interaction
of sharing their Sims online and receiving most up to date releases instantly.
This is a great advancement and ultimately a cool medium.
