Global Media News

Russia's Gay Propaganda Law Affects the Gaming and Movie Industry

The LGBTQ community has been struggling for their independence and acceptance in Russia for a very long time. However, a bill that was passed on June 11th, 2013 and enforced on June 30th of that same year has only made it harder for the community. The law that was passed is called The Gay Propaganda Law, also known as "For the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values". According to  Rossiyng toskaya Gazeta, a Russian government based newspaper, Article 6.21 of the law states:

“Advocacy of non-traditional sexual relations among minors... expressed in the dissemination of information aimed at the formation of sub-adult non-traditional sexual attitudes…or… challenge guide interest in such relations…shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of four thousand to five thousand rubles…"

The Gay Propaganda Law greatly impacts the LGBTQ community. One way it affects the LGBTQ community is through the online gaming industry. EA, also called Electronic Arts has been hit hard with this gay propaganda law in Russia. The Sims 4, a game created by EA, has been around for 20 years. The guidelines for this game is that people 12 years or older can purchase the game.However, because of this ban, Russians who are less than 18 years of age cannot purchase this game anymore. Why is this? According to TheConversation, “The argument here is that the gay couplings in The Sims 4 are harmful to children and equates the game with violent titles, such as series Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty.” 

Another way in which the Gay Propaganda Law has affected the LGBTQ community is through the movie industry. Elton John, a musician, wrote the song “Rocketman”. The song was created into a movie and is based on Elton John’s life and how he became famous. In the movie, there are multiple homosexual scenes. Due to the law in Russia, the homosexual scenes have been cut out. This upset many Russians and Elton John especially. Elton John expresses his disappointment in an interview. This is what he had to say:

 

Japan's Economy Boosted Thanks to... Dragon Ball Z?

Popular all over the world, Japanese animation (Commonly known as anime) has become a multibillion Yen export. Lots of Anime series and movies are based off their illustrated counterparts, Manga (Japanese comic books). If a single story is created in manga form, chances are it can be turned into an anime series, launch action figure, video game, and apparel sales, even inspire live action films. In some cases, theme parks could even spawn from the womb of artful creation that is manga/anime. 

In 2009 Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso aimed to create 500,0oo new jobs, raise exports of Japanese "soft power" (Anime, film, manga, games, etc.) from 2% to 18% and in doing so, save the economy. Since Japan relies so heavily on overseas sales, it's no wonder the popular anime/manga series Dragon Ball Z (above) has made its comeback in the last few years. 

Although the series ended in 2003, Akira Toriyama's brainchild has still maintained a cult following, remaining one of the most popular anime series in the world. DBZ's follow up series Dragon Ball GT, not so much. Even though the series ended in 2003, it was remastered, re-edited and re-released in 2009 as Dragon Ball Z Kai. The series has still retained its popularity, tying with Spongebob Squarepants in cable TV  ratings just last month. 2013 saw a new feature length animated  film carrying the title of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods. (right)
This film was greatly anticipated by the American fans who grew up in the 90's watching the original show. It's anticipation was met with a theatrical release in over 350 theaters in the U.S. and Canada in August of 2014.

The trailer for another DBZ film, "Resurrection of F" (below) has just surfaced all over the internet, exciting fans worldwide. Some may have criticisms of the film but regardless, another film has emerged from a franchise thought to be dead! This is closely following the American release of the video game Dragon Ball
Xenoverse (left) in the U.S. This is a win-win for fans of the franchise, but also for the Japanese economy which has been following through on their plan to revitalize through the creation and export of more anime/manga, and other soft power products. Perhaps this is contributing the the upward trend the Japanese economy is predicted to have this year.

Online Environmental Gaming

                          
     There are many environmental movements today, some being successfully executed, and some struggling to get results. One common saying to those who advocate progressive environmental measures is that it should start with the children. When I was in elementary school in the 90’s I remember that we planted one tree every couple of arbor days, ( this all being negated by the fact that our principal had the mature oaks taken down because perhaps their branches would fall on some shade-loving parents.) And other than the occasional thought, these were practically non-existent. Today in the school district that I work for, vegetable gardens have been created, and other types of gardens for study. Another form of this education that I found out about recently was environmental online games.

    Now I immediately become skeptical about this because while a child can learn about these pressing issues, and plant trees online, aren’t they better off going outside and planting? Either way maybe I can kind of agree that this is a step in the right direction. Regarding the medium of online gaming, makeuseof.com says, “Children can immediately learn that each action has a contributing effect. Plus, these interactive educational websites on the environment make both the teaching and learning enjoyable without losing out on the lessons”. One online game called the “Climate Challenge” from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/ , was actually pretty enjoyable and educational. It is perhaps for the tween to teenage crowd. It involves the player having to invest in environmental measures put forth by the government at the local, state, and national level. With each decision and subsidy, money is depleted and only a few measures can be taken each year.

     A game that is for kids and tweens would be the game “Acid Lake” . In this game, you are taken through various stages of a lake with the pH scale. It gives children easily memorized facts, and has pictures that accompany the information. This is a simple and basic way for children to learn about one aspect of climate change.

Online Environmental Gaming

    There are many environmental movements today, some being successfully executed, and some struggling to get results. One common saying to those who advocate progressive environmental measures is that it should start with the children. When I was in elementary school in the 90’s I remember that we perhaps planted one tree every couple of arbor days, ( this all being negated by the fact that our principal had the mature oaks taken down because perhaps their branches would fall on some shade-loving parents.) And other than the occasional thought, these were practically non-existent. Today in the school district that I work for, vegetable gardens have been created, and other types of gardens for study. Another form of this education that I found out about recently was environmental online games.

    Now I immediately become skeptical about this because while a child can learn about these pressing issues, and plant trees online, aren’t they better off going outside and planting? Either way maybe I can kind of agree that this is a step in the right direction. Regarding the medium of online gaming, makeuseof.com says, “Children can immediately learn that each action has a contributing effect. Plus, these interactive educational websites on the environment make both the teaching and learning enjoyable without losing out on the lessons”. One online game called the “Climate Challenge” from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/ , was actually pretty enjoyable and educational. It is perhaps for the tween to teenage crowd. It involves you having to invest in environmental measures put forth by the government at the local, state, and national level. With each decision and subsidy, money is depleted and only a few measures can be taken each year.

     A game that is for kids and tweens would be the game “Acid Lake” . In this game, you are taken through various stages of a lake with the pH scale. It gives children easily memorized facts, and has pictures that accompany the information. This is a simple and basic way for children to learn about one aspect of climate change.

Global Media News Webcast 6: October 11, 2012

 @Play: Gaming & Interactvity

Global Media News for October 11, 1012

Global Media News is a weekly webcast covering media & technology news from around the world.  This webcast is a production of  Media Studies students from the SUNY College @ Old Westbury.

This week on the 'Digital Revolution' edition of  Global Media News:

"Game Changer: Are Gaming & Interactivity a Catalyst for Change?"

•  Side-Effects?  Gaming the Future of Medicine.
• Gaming Bots: Tech for Games in Robotics
• Gaming as a Marketing Tool
• Gaming to Save the Environment?
• Are Pro-Gamers Addicts with a Pay Check?
• More Studies on Gaming and Violence
• Gaming for War:  How Is Gaming Being Used by the Military?

See you in two weeks for more news from the Digital Revolution!

Next  on Global Media News:

e-Commerce: Shopping Online

Listen to our webcast streaming live on Thursdays @ 11am EST.

Can't listen live? Our next webcast will be posted by 2:00pm, Thursday, October 25, 2012.

Subscribe Now!

Kiip: Bridging The Gap Between Gaming And Reality

Kiip is one of the coolest start up companies to integrate gaming into our daily lives.  Linking advertisers and developers in conjunction with the latest smartphone technology sums up Kiip.  This start-up company’s co-founder and CEO Brian Wong is only 19 years old.   It seems that the youth of america is truly our future.  Kiip’s innovative technology is not missing a beat.  It is keeping up with the latest iphone ios 6 software and even taking its mission international.  This amazing company bridges the gap between games and reality.

According to a TechCrunch.Com blog post, Kiip was created by CEO, Brian Wong and CTO Courtney Guertin. They met while working together at a startup company called Digg. The two often discussed creating a “rewards layer for the real world- and Kiip was born”. Kiip is just one of the successful startup companies that are becoming an international sensation.  Wong and Guertin used their passion and enthusiasm to keep Kiip relevant in todays ever changing technology dependent world. Their latest software upgrade is linked to the release of the newest Apple IOS 6 software.

Apple released Passbook in september 2012 as a feature in the newest IOS 6 software. Passbook according to the itunes description is,“... the simplest way to store your boarding passes, tickets, coupons, gift cards and more in one place. With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, or redeem a coupon...”

The article, “Kiip Is The Perfect Company To Show Off The Potential Of Apple Passbook. Take A Look.” describes how Kiip linked into Passbook.  When an IOS 6 user plays a Kiip enabled app, their rewards are sent and stored directly in their passbook.  This makes rewards easy to access and organized. Lets say you had won a starbucks coffee and you went to redeem it a week later. Simply open your passbook and the coupon is waiting for you, ready to scan.

The only downside is that passbook is strictly for iphone IOS 6 users. Android users are not given this update yet.  CEO of Kiip,  Brian Wong is not worried. He hopes that google will develop a similar wallet gadget for the Andriod.

Kiip is not only making strides in the US.  This startup company has moved international as well.  TechCrunch.com has been fabulous with covering all the curent milestones with Kiip.  An article found on their site titled, “Kiip Takes Its First International Steps, Inks Reward Network Deal With UK’s Yo! Sushi” by Ingrid Lunden, a Techcrunch reporter based out of London tells all about the newest overseas venture. Yo! Sushi! is the first non-US company to sign up for Kiip. As of right now the deal is localized to London, but CEO Brian Wong, believes this is the only the beginning of many deals to come.

According to Ingrid Lunden’s article,

“ Kiip is planning to announce more brand partnerships in the UK soon, and it is “on the verge” of rolling out its first campaigns in the middle east and Asia Pacific, with Kiip’s London office, led by Eamonn Carey, leading much of that growth.”

 

Wong has good reason to be so optimistic.  Kiip recently raised $11 million for funding.  Wong discusses in an interview why investors would want a part ofKiip,  

 

This is company that investors want to get involved in because it is truly a revolutionary idea.  Kiip’s platform is what sets it apart for all other apps companies.  Wong says, “We’re about rewards, not ads,”.  He tells more about the platform of Kiip in the first 41 seconds of this video.

Brian Wong is adamant about Kiip not being an advertising platform.  Wong believes cramming in advertisements don't work.  He wants people to know that Kiip is a rewards network not a platform for advertisers.  

Personally, I am very excited to see Kiip expands.  Just the idea of getting a free cup of coffee, and a reward that I can use locally is enough incentive for me to play a Kiip enabled game.  Just today I took out my phone and searched for Kiip enabled games.  I simply typed Kiip into the app store search bar and found 32 games involved with Kiip.  I am sure there are more to come, I believe Kiip is the future of gaming and marketing.

Gaming Super Better

    SuperBetter, released in March 2012, is an online, "social game designed to help one build their personal resilience". It was created by Jane McGonigal, developed by SuperBetter Labs, and shaped with the guidance of various doctors, psychologists, scientists, and medical researchers.

    Now when you hear about a game named “SuperBetter” you wonder, how is this game going to really make me feel? Well, the purpose of this game is to really make you feel super better, building up your physical, emotional, mental, and social strengths. All in all, this game builds resilience.

    Jane McGonigal is notorious for contributing to the building of games that can “change the world”, and SuperBetter is now another notch to add to her gaming belt. Two other games that McGonigal took part in creating were “Evoke”, which helped the World Bank Institute fund startups in Africa, and “World Without Oil”, which helped people plan for an oil crisis.

    As you can see, there is a trend with McGonigal, all of her games have a purpose, and SuperBetter is geared towards change. It creates an engaging gaming experience with scientific data that is proven to encourage happiness and personal growth.

    One person that McGonigal can vouch for when stating that SuperBetter really works is herself. This game was originally designed as a way to help her recover from a severe concussion that left her suicidal, and bedridden. In the game, McGonigal set her goal, and invited her twin sister, husband, and other loved ones to play with her to act as forms of encouragement, and “fight off the bad guys”. At the end of this multiplayer game, McGonigal was able to get through this tough time in her life, and feel more resilient than ever. 

In the video below, McGonigal participates in a TEDTalk explaining “The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life”:

 

 

In the video below, Jane McGonigal sits down with Sumi Das of SmartPlanet to talk about Super Better: 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SUPERBETTER INCLUDING HOW TO PLAY CLICK HERE

ProGaming VS. Addiction

Pro-gamers these days are on the rise, with competitions held around the world for the cream of the crop to come forward, and compete on the highest levels. Some of these top players even have sponsers, others are able to make a complete career out of gaming. However, there has also been a major rise in gaming addiction, so much so that it is being considered as an addition to the latest Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Psychological Disorders. So this begs the question: is professional gaming simply getting paid for having gaming addiction?

The following clip from the documentary StarCraft: The World Cyber Games 2005 produced by National Geographic, explains the results of an experiment performed by  psychiatrist Dr. Chae Jeoungho in Seoul, S. Korea to determine the biological differences between pro-gamers and the average user. In the experiment he uses pro-gamer Seo Jihoon, known as Xell0s who earns a salary of $200,000/yr by playing at a highly competitive level greatly supported by sponsors. In S. Korea, Seo Jihoon actually is a celebrity who is celebrated for his incredible gaming skills and even his good looks.

Gamification: Linking Gaming and Marketing

    Online gaming has become part of many companies marketing plans.  Marketing once was based around clever slogans and memorable commercials is moving with the technology craze over online gaming.  The digital revolution is prevalent now more than ever before in the marketing world.  

    According to New York Times article “Axa Equitable Pitches in an Online Game” by Stuart Elliot “...online gaming or casual gaming, is becoming increasingly popular with marketers because it is becoming increasingly popular with consumers”.  An unlikely company to take part in the gaming boom is Axa Equitable.  This insurance company has posted a game called Pass It On, on their website axa-equitablepassiton.com. Pass It On is designed to encourage consumers to purchase life insurance.  The company has even given consumers and incentive to play the game and pass it along to friends.  This incentive is a sweepstakes with cash prizes of $25,000 and $15,000.  

    With life insurance sales an all time low Axa Equitable is using gaming to increase revenue and target the 11 million households with children under 18 who do not have life insurance.

    Axa Equitable is by no means the only company using gaming to increase revenue.  Hollywood is turning to gaming to build up a must see factor when marketing new movies.  The Hunger Games used online gaming to ensure the premier would be a box office hit.  A great New York TImes article, “How ‘Hunger Games’ Built Up Must-See Fever” by Brooks Barnes, gives a great description of the steps the Hunger Games marketing team took to make the movie such a success.

    Before the release of the Hunger Games, a new poster was released, but cut into 100 puzzle pieces.  The digital puzzle was given to 100 web sites and posted on their Twitter in lockstep. The idea of the puzzle was to make fans search twitter to find all the pieces of the puzzle. The puzzle could be assembled by either printing the pieces and putting them together, or using an online program like photoshop.  The Hunger Games puzzle was a great success and more is to come with online marketing. Lionsgate, the production company of The Hunger Games later released a Facebook game as well as a virtual tour of the Capitol ( the city in the movie) in a partnership with Microsoft.

    This is only the beginning of marketing and gaming joining forces.  With the short attention span of todays generation online gaming has proven to be a successful marketing tool.

    Companies like Kiip jumped on the concept of linking marketing to gaming.  Kiip is an app company based in san-franscisco.  They link gaming and marketing through iphone games.  When you play a game enabled game on your smartphone, your rewards are real world prizes.  If you were to win starbucks coffee Kiip would tell you where the closest starbucks is to redeem your reward.  To tell you more about the Kiip, watch ceo Brian Wong.  

Brain Wong has a great concept that appeals to both consumers and advertisers alike.  Personaly I would be more inclined to play a kiip enabled game if I knew I could win a free snack or cup of coffee.  Really... who doesn't want free stuff!? 

According to USA Today article, "Buisinesses Use Gaming Principles in Marketing" by Mike Snider, "gamification" is the future.  M2 Reasearch, a california based research firm has predicted that "Business spending on what has become known as "gamification" will increase from an estimated $242 million this year to $2.8 billion in 2016". The prediction that spending will increase tremendously is because gamification has been working and will continue to enhance gaming and marketing alike. 

Gamification has improved employee incentives, allowed small businesses to connect to consumers through location gaming apps and caught the interest of the consumer.  This gamification business model is they next big thing in Marketing. 

Gaming for Positivity

    For years now there have been many arguments made about how damaging gaming can be to ones mind, but gaming has many positive attributes to it as well. Nowadays, there’s a game for almost anyone and anything, including employee training, general education, combating obesity, managing chronic diseases, and military preparedness and recruiting.

    World-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, author of New York Times bestselling book  “Reality is Broken: Why Games make Us Better and How They Can Change the World”, is someone who has written and spoken a lot about alternate reality games, and multiplayer online gaming. In a 2007 Salon.com article it was mentioned that she was especially interested in using collective intelligence as a means for improving the quality of human life.

    The game that has been created by Jane McGonigal to contribute to the quality of human life is called SuperBetter. According to McGonigal, it has helped more than 120,000 players tackle real-life health challenges like depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury by increasing their personal resilience. This has ultimately allowed SuperBetter players to feel better physically, mentally, and socially.

    Another form of collective intelligence in the gaming world is The Education Arcade, which is a website dedicated to exploring the various types of games that “promote learning through authentic and engaging play”. The mission of The Education Arcade is to:

“Demonstrate the social, cultural, and educational potentials of videogames by initiating new game development projects, coordinating interdisciplinary research efforts, and informing public conversations about the broader and sometimes unexpected uses of this emerging art form in education”.

    All in all, there are many positive attributes to gaming, it all just depends on which games one chooses to play, how much time is dedicated to gaming, and most importantly the amount of knowledge that is obtained from playing a particular game.  

In the video below, renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, visits Zócalo with Ze Frank to reveal why those who understand, design, and play games can create a better future for everyone: