Are you winning at Digg?
Raph Koster makes the point that virtual worlds are becoming more and more intertwined with (and perhaps indistinguishable from) the web. Anything with an avatar, a way to have both real-time and not-real-time communication, and some spatial metaphors is both a virtual world and… Facebook.
So here’s a downloadable manuscript called The Web: Hidden Games. It’s not the deepest piece of writing, but it’s an implementation of the Raph idea. The author cheerfully suggests that Facebook, YouTube, and Digg are addictive because they’re really games. They’ve got set rules, they’re fun, and you can try to beat the other guy.
For Digg, the game object is to get your story Dugg to the top. With YouTube, you’re trying to charm the game gods into picking your video as a front-page item. And with Facebook, it’s more about the amusing interaction - a Sims-ish game.
Hidden Games is a sweetly-kind how-to. It shows you the main pages of these applications so that you won’t be alarmed when you sign up, and gives you a few friendly tips about life. Here’s one: “Do not be scared to approach anyone on Facebook.” Or this one: “Be proactive and write on others’ walls.” Okay! At any rate, not the most theoretical treatment.
But who am I to be so cranky. The author’s right! You shouldn’t be afraid to say Hi to people on Facebook. Go, team. We can theorize another day.
Tomorrow: ISP filtering around the globe.