Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What is New Media

New Media is a term used by people to describe different forms of electronic networked communication, mainly those that have emerged recently in the the late 20th century and into the future.
These new emergences are quirky, inventive and allow people to do things perspectively easier.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/new_media.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media

Term Project Description

My term project titled "The Practice of Gold Farming in Online Games" will talk about how underdeveloped countries are finding this new form of business profitable. However, this is often at the expense of their younger male generation who are ensnared by the lure of earning money for playing. It has been compared to that of sweatshops. They force them to work for hours on end without pause, feed them only a small bowl of rice and cabbage, make them sleep together in one room on the floor, and the worst part is making them give up their citizen card so they cannot leave or run away.

The impact of gold farming on the online community is huge. Especially, it causes the dilemma of whether or not this is actually considered cheating. People, who don't want to spend the time required to raise their character's level or get enough money to buy good items, spend real money to buy them from these gold farmers. Is this ethical? legal?