There are a few ideas I was thinking for the project.
1) The cultural impact of Starcraft in Korea.
Starcraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that was created by Blizzard (the developer of World of Warcraft, located at
http://www.blizzard.com/). The game is really fun if RTS is your thing. What is interesting is
that Korea has created a phenomenon around it. There are games played on television
(http://kotaku.com/gaming/korea/starcraft-on-korean-tv-174264.php) and professional
players who get contracts similar to NFL players. I want to focus on the factors that lead to this situation and why this game, which is still very popular here in the US, did not do the
same here.
2) The difference of MMO games in Asia and North America as a cultural reflection.
When it comes to massive multiplayer online games Asia and North America have some
different tastes. Besides crossover hit World of Warcraft MMO games could be divided
between Asian MMOs and North American MMOs. In the US the names Star Wars Galaxies,
Everquest I & II, and Eve Online are usually what comes up in any discussion. If you were
to go to an Asian country the names heard are Lineage I & II, Maple Story, and Kart Racer.
Both fit the description of MMO games but they take different approaches to play style and
business model. I would like to analyze why they are different and if games could be localized for both markets instead of just one.
3) The rise of professional gamers and gaming leagues.
The spread of broadband has brought an increase in online gaming competition. It started
with PCs, continued with the Dreamcast, and really came about with next-generation
consoles and PCs. There was always a nascent interest in organized tournaments and now
there is a serious push to create professional gamer leagues such as Major League Gaming
(http://www.mlgpro.com/) and high stakes gaming tournaments like the World Cyber Games
(http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/main.asp) that cover a wide range of games. Korea
has provided a model of how this could become a big deal in the US. I am thinking we could
look at the factors regarding the rise of competitive gaming and ask whether or not this could
happen in North America.
If you have any ideas leave comments.
Also, is it me, or did OJ Simpson try to pull off some Ocean Eleven type stuff in Vegas? That is just the last thing I would have seen coming. Follow up a tasteless book with a Vegas robbery. I have to say, OJ has imagination if not a knack for getting in trouble with the law or society in general.
Peace out people.
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2 comments:
Hey, this is ejm190 and out of the three ideas you mentioned as a project Idea, I have the most interest in topic #3. I was watching tv the other day and this one show was interviewing 5 guys who were competeting in a Madden 08 tounament and 2 of the guys had jobs and 1 guy was in school but the other two competed professional for a living. They had Eddie George former football player hosting this event and the tournament was as serious as a real NFL football game.
But they played Madden, a video game, for a living and made money. I'm not sure how much money but hey I'll take a seciond job doing that on the weekends, Wow! if I had known that back when I was in H.S or undergrad, I would have focused more. But that was astonishing to me I never thought it would come to a point where playiong video games could be a job. So I'm interested in that as a possible topic
I like the third idea as well. It has a lot of promise and would serve well as a research topic. We should discuss how we should proceed during the next class.
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