Online Gaming: E-Sports

 

The box art of StarCraft (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Major League Gaming (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Of recent times the gaming world has gone through as significant change. Gaming competitions are on a far larger scale, even televised in Korea with two E-Sports channels and competitors being rewarded quite well for their efforts.  This is a great achievement as people who are not overly athletic can now partake in sporting competitions, have their favourite teams and players and watch great games that are quite entertaining. 

Personally I’m a huge fan of the work that Blizzard does, in particular StarCraft 2, with the MLG tournaments, the GSL and other various competitions around the globe. There are even Bar Craft events where supporters can go to a bar, much like the common sports bar, and watch online gameplay. Though I’m from Australia and have not been able to find a venue like this the idea thrills me to bits. 

This is not just limited to games like StarCraft which is a Real Time Strategy (RTS’s) game but also to First Person Shooters (FPS’s) like Call of Duty and even Role Playing Games (RPG’s) like Diablo 3. 

Ultimately anyone who is willing to put in the hard work and time to practice to succeed in these types of games can become a professional and really ‘make it big’ in the E-Sports world.

But where does the “Average Joe” fit in?

Well like any sport you can play at home or with your friends, much like playing Marks Up (a small adaptation of Aussie Rules football). Although it’s a little more expensive than buying a football, you can play with a selection of players from right around the world and make some great friends at the same time. 

Feel free to look at some of the online replays through www.YouTube.com you can also check out www.Blizzard.com and see what other great games they have available. There are also some great Casters, commentators of E-Sports, who offer a great insight into strategies and gameplay allowing anyone to learn how to have a great gaming experience.

GLHF!!!

Related articles

• Blizzard: Starcraft 2 is bigger than the NHL (gimmegimmegames.com)
• StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Expansion Review (techspot.com)

A quick guide to Social Media (part 2.)

In my last article “A quick guide to Social Media” we looked at the biggest three Social Media platforms. Today we will look at some that are not as well-known but still worth a mention Instagram, Google+ and Foursquare.

 

To reiterate:

“Firstly, anything you post, tweet, blog, upload (or any other vibrational term used) is potentially viewable by everyone out there. This is a common hazard that many of us overlook when placing intimate details about our personal lives online. So do be careful what you place on your profiles as this can come back to haunt you in the future, especially now that more and more companies are using Social Media as a form of recruitment.”

 

Instagram is a photo based Social Media network where users can upload photos and share with their friends. Instagram allows its users to add artistic effects to each photo uploaded effectively creating a whole new world of photography. Though Instagram is primarily set up for mobile devices, you can link both your Twitter and Facebook accounts to ensure every photo you put on Instagram is instantly available to your Friends or Followers.

 

Google+ was Google’s version of Facebook, and while there are quite a lot of users on this network; Facebook still dominates this arena for social networking. Google+ gives its users access to limit who information posted is given to, these are referred to as Circles, a Circle can consist of whomever you choose and when you submit information you can decide which Circles you would like to see your post. For example: a drunken photo of you dry humping a tree is not something you want your boss to see, Google+ gives you the ability to keep that secure whereas Facebook does not give this freedom as lightly if at all some times.

 

Foursquare is a mobile application that gives users the ability to ‘Check-In’ at locations they visit, while Foursquare does not offer a unique experience, a ‘Check-In’ will give your Friends from Facebook and Followers from Twitter access to see where you are. In addition reviews can be posted on locations to alert you to great foods or services of whether the venue is a place to avoid cause of bad experiences.

 

This brings me to the end of the Social Media side of things, I hope this has helped you decide if you hadn’t already on what type of Social Media you want to use. Just remember we have only covered six of a large world of social networking sites that are out there and should you want to know more please add a reply to this post and I’ll be happy to follow up and write another article.

A quick guide to Social Media

Image via CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

 

Over the past decade or so, Social Media has grown from close net communities into a massive worldwide lifestyle change. Ultimately the real question is which type of Social Media best suits you for the content you wish to display online, and more importantly who do you want to see it?

Well this article may be able to help you a little…

Firstly, anything you post, tweet, blog, upload (or any other vibrational term used) is potentially viewable by everyone out there. This is a common hazard that many of us overlook when placing intimate details about our personal lives online. So do be careful what you place on your profiles as this can come back to haunt you in the future, especially now that more and more companies are using Social Media as a form of recruitment.

Now that the terrible stuff is out of the way let’s look at what you’re going to use Social Media for and what might best suit you. Depending on what content you wish to place online will certainly limit your options on which mediums you can operate across.

Let’s look at the three different Social Media sites today: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. (Don’t worry we’ll explore the others in future articles)

Twitter, this is a quick ‘micro-blog’ where you can interact with other users and famous personalities. Twitter does not offer users a personal profile but rather an identity that you use to post content, otherwise known as a ‘Tweet’ or ‘Tweeting’ to other users and create discussions. One drawback to Twitter is that any Tweets you wish to place online have a character limit of 140 characters, which can potentially make light of a serious topic if that is what you’re trying to achieve. http://www.Twitter.com

Facebook on the other hand allows an unlimited character allowance and give users the ability to create a personalized profile and interact with other users, known as ‘Friends’, however if you are not accepted as a ‘Friend’ by someone you will be unable to interact with that person. Facebook also allows users to play games with each other online and upload photos and videos as well as post links to just about any type of site imaginable, though this content can quickly become lost depending on the amount of Friends you have. http://www.Facebook.com

Lastly we have YouTube, a versatile video library which is the largest singular video library on the internet to date. As with Twitter there is not a large amount of personalization included however your videos are where this comes into effect, you can upload a video on any content you choose and there are even options to edit your video should you choose. People are also welcome to ‘Subscribe’ to your channel (your personal video library) as you are welcome to Subscribe to theirs, just remember if you give your audience nothing new they will ‘Unsubscribe’ leaving you with a smaller fan base. http://www.YouTube.com

If you decide Social Media keep in mind that these sites have strict terms and conditions that you must adhere to in order to keep your account active and skimming over these can cause major problems.

Whichever way you decide to use Social Media, it is an ever changing organism and always be aware that there is a whole world of users out there that you can get in touch with by the click of a button, just remember to play it safe and always read the terms and conditions of the sites you are using.