A Microcosm of Change: The Impact of the Videogame Industry on Social Networking and the Consumer Media Experience

Videogame technology today represents an amalgam of major advancement in wireless, data storage, and processing technologies. From the rise of massively online virtual worlds to the power of the next generation consoles capable of parallel processed multi- core computing with wireless interfaces allowing for seamless connectivity and an emphasis on HD experiences, videogames have the potential to change the way we establish community - actually placing consumer electronics at the nodal point of social change. A close examination of this industry gives us a powerful lens to track major changes in the use of digital technologies for working, learning and playing. The use of a virtual online world as a magnet for social networking brings with it a potential for new frameworks of fluid and dynamic learning - using videogames as a catalyst for advanced media-based simulations and the development of a new industry of serious games. New online virtual worlds have attracted millions of subscribers, creating true economic value within these "metaverses" that have rivaled the GNP of actual countries. It is the purpose of this paper to track the latest developments within the videogame industry and discuss the impact it is having on the consumer electronics field as a whole.