social network experiance

         I revised a lot with the first paragraph it did not seem to have a theme that stayed in it.  I therefore tried to concentrate on  talking about the Call of Duty game and how it related to me.  Also I tried to integrate a few more quotes.  

Carlo Gagliardo

Dr. Mark Crane

English 1010

Social Media Experience

            There are many forms of social media that any one person can attach themselves to.  Facebook, Twitter and Myspace are just a few of wide variety to choose from.  I happened to choose an unconventional form of social networking to attach myself to.   A video game, Call of Duty on Playstation3.  There are eight games in the whole series but it really took off in 2007 when Infinity Ward started the present-day modern warfare branch of the Call of Duty, The fourth in the series.  It then became a different kind of game. Grossman and Narcisse explain how Call of Duty became evolutionary    “The earlier call of duty games rode a powerful wave of saving private Ryan-style WWII nostalgia, but modern warfare tapped into something more primal” (70-75).  This is when I found myself trying to find more time to play.  I had played the previous games in the series but really could never get into them.  They often seemed slow never really grabbing my attention.  The graphics just did not excite me as the modern warfare series did.  Coming from a military family and also spending time in the military myself, I related to the modern warfare game play on an unusual level.  It was almost like being on the battle field and feeling the rush of it without the danger of real bullets flying past you.   Although at time when playing the game with the surround sound on still makes me duck.  Samuel Johnson once wrote, “Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier”(70-75)  Call of Duty creates a way for every man to be a soldier, if only virtually.  I think that may be a reason I did not relate to the older games in the series.  The older time frame was not as real to me as the modern warfare’s were.  Creating this primal feel to the younger video gamer population I feel is what really set this game above the rest.

 If you have never played the game lets go into a little detail about what it is.  It’s a first or third person shooter.  The game is set in periods of war.  You can play the game in several different ways.  You can play and try to complete the campaign in which you follow a story line that is based on modern warfare weapons and techniques.  You have to complete several missions in order to complete the Campaign.   In the online play you battle against other people around the world.  There are multiple forms of online play.  Free for all, and sabbatsh are just a few of many.  The idea is to kill more than you are killed.   At the end of the match the player or team with the greater number of kills is the victor.  While playing on line you can also talk to anyone all over the world online with you, however I have found at times people can be just as annoying as enjoyable. 

  My time spent on call of duty has many experiences but I feel that the best one is the ability to join parties with my family and friends.  Creating another way of staying in touch with one another.   While we are playing the game we are also talking.  We are talking about not only the game but other things in our life.  This created a way to hang out with my family even though we live five hundred miles apart.  Meena kumara said in an article posted on Aussie Articles.  “When time, geography or financial constraints keep you from being with family, a little old-fashioned imagination combined with some of today’s technological conveniences can keep you connected and make you feel…almost as if you’re there.”(web).    I really enjoy this time that we can get together on the game.  It’s like going out to the movies with my family and never having to leave the couch.  Another way of putting it is playing a board game in two different states, although a very graphic board game.  When I moved away from home my younger brother was just eight years old.  The technology was not available, not that he would have been allowed to play the game.  Now that the technology had become available and my little brother is mature enough, Call of duty has in some ways created a relationship with us that we never had.  I would have never thought that a video game would create such a way to bond with my family. 

In November 2011 Activision released call of duty elite.  Elite is accessible from your Playstation3 consoles, computer, and even your cell phone.  You can check in via a mobile app and change your weapons setting.  When you get home your new setting will be waiting for you on your console.  Connecting to your Facebook friends threw your Call of Duty account allows you to show your progress through-out the game, not to mention being able to invite your Facebook friends to play while on the Playstation3 console.  Dean Akahashi explains how you can make personal relations with people threw call of duty elite: “You can join groups based on your interests, such as a sports team”(web).  Meeting new people, with your same interests while playing a video game,   Sounds like a social media site, such as Facebook. 

The variety of social networking sites are growing at a pace no one could have expected.   I would have never thought, 10 years ago while Playing the very first call of duty game on the Playstion that today I would be connected to so many people.  From friends 2 miles down the road, to my family 500 miles away, and a stranger half way around the world all sharing a common interest.  Talking with one another no matter how miles apart you are.  My social media site of choice,  Call of Duty all the way!

Works Cited

Akahashi, Dean “Call of Duty Elite social network”

            VentureBeat  web. Sept. 22 2011

Grossman, Lev and Narcissi, Evan “Conflict of Interest”

            Time; 10/31/2011, Vol. 178 Issue 17, p70-75

Kumari, Meena “To Keep Families connected use Technology”

            Aussie Articles Web. 2010