When I learned about goldfarming in my own research for our tech talk in group 5, and after hearing Annie’s lecture about it in class, it got me thinking about crowdsourcing as well. To me these are two very interesting topics regarding the usage of technology and people. In my mind, I automatically think the crowdsourcing is good and legal, and that godlfarming is bad an illegal. Through my research both inside and outside of class I have come to a conclusion that this is not always the case.
As we know crowdsourcing is when a company or person needs to find a solution or get something done, so they post their problem to several people who do the research to try to find the answer, and a reward (usually money) is given to the person who gets it right. To me this sounds like a god idea. People search for others to do research for them and they get paid at the end. But this could easily be used to take advantage of people. One instance of old-school crowdsourcing comes to mind is in Huckle Berry Finn where he has to paint a fence, but gets others to do it for him. This would have been ok if he gave the people a reward who worked for him instead of just left them with nothing. This could easily be done today. A company could refuse to pay someone, or if the company is small enough, just take the solution, money, and run. Crowdsourcing is a great idea and can get a lot of stuff done, but like everything else, there are ways of getting around it, and people who will try to cheat others out of money.
Goldfarming isn’t always a bad thing. Lets look at one specific type of goldfarming, videogames. First off its cheating for the person to sell their character online to someone else to do the dirty work for them. The whole point of a game is to play it, and if you are paying someone else to play it, what’s the point? Why do you even have the game? But on another standpoint, when people sell their character to someone, they are providing a job for that person, and in many cases they are getting paid more working on someone’s character than they would if they had another job. Although the gamer doesn’t want to play certain parts of a game, they are giving other people money to play the game for them which is not only giving a source of income to the goldfarmer, but also opportunities to play the game. Although people are cheating because they are paying others to play the game for them, it’s their choice how they want to play the game. Just like crowdsourcing there are ways that people will get cheated out of their money. Sellers might not pay with a sufficient account, or the goldfarmer might not give the character back without receiving more money. A ransom if you will.
To me, I see goldfarming and crwodsourcing as something very similar. Both want to have a solution to a problem (or in the case of videogames, want to level up their character but either don’t have time, or don’t want to do the tedious job off leveling up) and pay others to find the solution to their problem. Likewise both crowdsourcing and goldfarming require many people to work on a solution for the seller. I think that in time crowdsourcing will become the best and most cost efficient way to get a solution to a problem a company has, and goldfarming will be very similar to crowdsourcing, where people pay others to do a tedious task for them where normally they wouldn’t have the time or the desire to do it themselves.
Here I have found a link to a video where a gamer has claimed how to get lost of gold very fast in the World of Warcraft. This eliminates the argument that paying someone real money to get you lots of gold is cheating, but does beating the system (by using the methods this person displays on their video) make it ok if you are doing it yourself for your character?
http://www.wowgoldfarmingguide.com/WoW/Gold-Farming-Guide/index.php
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Political Campaigns Meet Web 2.0 Benefits
While reading Web 2.0 Powers Political Campaigns – From Presidential Race to Local Elections, it got me thinking how much of an asset the internet has become for candidates, especially young ones who are looking to get their name out there asap and become better known before the election. Having the internet- especially the tools and ease of access web 2.0 offers- makes it possible for candidates to interact with voters and make voters feel like they have more of a personal relationship with the candidate.
Several candidates now are using blogs and personal websites to stay in touch with voters and supporters. Using the internet to help support and run their campaigns is a great way to connect communities due to the mass number of people who use the internet on a regular basis. Having all of their information posted on the internet for anyone to see makes it easier to access and can be done whenever someone has free time. In communities where people are working hard and don’t have set leisure times worked into their schedule, watching the news to see updates on political campaigns can be hard. Internet sites created by these political people really cater to these types of communities.
Another important community that is truly benefitting from political campaigns being posted and run on the internet are young people and especially new voters. These new voters are inexperienced in terms of the voting experience, and are usually not as educated in politics and candidate stands as veteran voters. Having the candidates use the internet to post information about where they stand on issues regarding their election makes this information more accessible for young new voters who are more internet savvy than older voters who do not use the internet as much. Most canidades agree that the new voter vote is one of the most crucial groups of people to win over because their numbers are so huge. Having the internet on a candidate’s side will more likely bring young voters to their site where they can learn where a candidate stands on certain issues. If a candidate does not use the internet to cater to this community of voters, they are only hurting themselves.
To me, I see more positive things coming from using the internet to post blogs, information, videos, and forums than harmful things. Sure if a candidate uses the internet more to keep communities involved with their campaign they will shrink the older audiences who do not use the internet and get most of their information from the newspaper or television, but they will be attracting a greater number of internet users to their campaign and hopefully win their vote. I feel that a candidate that uses the internet primarily for their campaign will gather more communities to their campaign than a candidate who refuses to use the internet to aid them in their campaign. In this case, I’d have to argue that internet campaign information connects more communities than it divides. I guess we’ll just have to see how successful candidates are who use the internet than those who do not. Although just because you are using the internet to attract people, you still have to stand on the right side of issues so you can get people’s votes. It’s your political stance that wins votes, not how many members you have on your Facebook.
Below are a few graphs that I found regarding the political race of 2008. Here I have graphs that show the number of people who visited political websites during the election.
Interestingly enough, this graph shows the number of people in the United Kingdom who vivited U.S. political websites. This shows that with the use of the internet, Candidates are able to get their message out to the people on a much larger scale. Also if people from outside the United States are interested in reading information about candidates can do so easily on their website.
Several candidates now are using blogs and personal websites to stay in touch with voters and supporters. Using the internet to help support and run their campaigns is a great way to connect communities due to the mass number of people who use the internet on a regular basis. Having all of their information posted on the internet for anyone to see makes it easier to access and can be done whenever someone has free time. In communities where people are working hard and don’t have set leisure times worked into their schedule, watching the news to see updates on political campaigns can be hard. Internet sites created by these political people really cater to these types of communities.
Another important community that is truly benefitting from political campaigns being posted and run on the internet are young people and especially new voters. These new voters are inexperienced in terms of the voting experience, and are usually not as educated in politics and candidate stands as veteran voters. Having the candidates use the internet to post information about where they stand on issues regarding their election makes this information more accessible for young new voters who are more internet savvy than older voters who do not use the internet as much. Most canidades agree that the new voter vote is one of the most crucial groups of people to win over because their numbers are so huge. Having the internet on a candidate’s side will more likely bring young voters to their site where they can learn where a candidate stands on certain issues. If a candidate does not use the internet to cater to this community of voters, they are only hurting themselves.
To me, I see more positive things coming from using the internet to post blogs, information, videos, and forums than harmful things. Sure if a candidate uses the internet more to keep communities involved with their campaign they will shrink the older audiences who do not use the internet and get most of their information from the newspaper or television, but they will be attracting a greater number of internet users to their campaign and hopefully win their vote. I feel that a candidate that uses the internet primarily for their campaign will gather more communities to their campaign than a candidate who refuses to use the internet to aid them in their campaign. In this case, I’d have to argue that internet campaign information connects more communities than it divides. I guess we’ll just have to see how successful candidates are who use the internet than those who do not. Although just because you are using the internet to attract people, you still have to stand on the right side of issues so you can get people’s votes. It’s your political stance that wins votes, not how many members you have on your Facebook.
Below are a few graphs that I found regarding the political race of 2008. Here I have graphs that show the number of people who visited political websites during the election.
This chart shows the number of hits on Hillary's, McCain's, and Obama's website.
This is a graph of Democratic Candidates and the number of people who visied their websites.
Interestingly enough, this graph shows the number of people in the United Kingdom who vivited U.S. political websites. This shows that with the use of the internet, Candidates are able to get their message out to the people on a much larger scale. Also if people from outside the United States are interested in reading information about candidates can do so easily on their website.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Social and Culural Implications of the internet: Benefits and harms of the internet and how they divide or bring communities together
Please note before reading:
This is not a summmary of the article “Evaluating the Social and Cultural Implications of the Internet” by Philip Brey. Instead what I have done is taken 10 points he gave in his paper (5 benefits, and 5 harms of the internet) and have applied them in my own thinking and research to how they connect or divide communities. Enjoy! :)
Philip Brey’s article: “Evaluating the Social and Cultural Implications of the Internet” talks about how the internet is affecting society in both a positive and negative way. In one section of his article he lists several benefits and harms that the internet gives us as a community. It is here where I am going to be directing my attention to discuss his claims and go deeper into how his claims about the internet divide or make communities come together. First I’ll start with some of the benefits of the internet and then move onto the harms.
Benefits
Access to Information: Information can easily and quickly be accessed from anywhere. No longer do you have to go to a library to do all your research, you can do it wherever is easiest for you, whenever it is best for you. Having this information easily available is great on society. People can post information that they have gathered and in turn can help other people find the same information easier. Having other people’s work and research available on the internet is a great way to bring communities together because you are helping others find information by posting the work you have done.
Communication: People are now able to communicate in various ways including one-to-one, one-to-many and many to-many through the internet. Meetings with major businesses can all get together in front of their computers in their offices and hold live video meetings in their separate buildings. No longer do you have to get on an air plane or take your private jet to go meet with clients. By using the internet to communicate, families can keep in touch overseas for free, and still get all the benefits, if not more (video) of a phone conversation without the expensive long distant fees. Having the ability to communicate with people all over the globe through your computer in a blink of an eye is a great way to bring communities together.
Developing and Maintaining Social Relations: This one is very similar to the point made above. Basically if a company, or even for private usage, is required to keep in contact with clients across the world, the internet is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to do so. In a matter of seconds a meeting can be called in the United States, and members from China, Russia, Europe, and anywhere else clients are located can get on their computers and the meeting can start. For private use, families and friends can keep in touch with home if they go out of state or country for school, work, business, or vacation. Being able to keep and maintain steady social relations with people is not only vital for most businesses, both big and small, but also a very practical way to keep communities together.
Community Formation and Social Organization: By using the internet to set up social organizations or movements you are broadening the amount of people who will receive this information. If you want to set up a protest, more people will be informed of it if you send your invitations over the internet instead of standing outside the grocery store to get people to sign a petition. Not only is your audience greatly increased, but you also have the ability to condense your audience’s size to specific people or groups of people that you want to hear your message. This is helpful because you can eliminate all the people who you don’t need to contact and this will save you time. Instead of asking everyone on the street to sign a petition about something, and only talking to a small percent of people who are interested in what you have to say, you are only asking those who would already be interested and you can be more successful in your results. The internet is a great way to bring communities together for social movements and formation.
Leisure and Entertainment: The internet is a great way to kill extra time. People can do various tasks on the internet that can bring communities together. One can join an online discussion about a problem in the community that people want to fix. You can read up on current events that are going on in your community or worldwide. If done correctly, your leisure or down time from your other activities can be put to great use instead of watching television or playing videogames. One can use the internet to educate themselves about the things they want to know or things that are important. Since the newspaper is on it’s last leg and won’t be long till it is no longer in print, the internet will become the best way to gain information about current events. By using your free time to gather information on the internet, you are helping to become a better member of society and ultimately bring communities together.
Harms
False Information: Brey argues that the internet is often filled with incorrect information. As a result, it’s often hard to find out if the information you are looking at is in fact false because it’s almost impossible to look at the sources where this information is coming from. He claims that in many cases, “the internet is thought to represent a step backwards compared to more traditional information media.” Having so much false information on the internet can severely divide a community. If someone is doing research and wants to look up information from a specific place only to find that their information is often incorrect, they will stop using that source. If people see this more often, they will stop branching out to look for more information and only look in the places that are most familiar to them isolating themselves from other communities, especially new ones, that might have valuable correct information. To stop dividing communities in this way, all places should provide correct information on the internet, and get rid of those who provide incorrect or false information.
Harmful Information: The internet is becoming a home for inappropriate and dangerous material. Brey states that the internet is containing such harmful information such as “extremist ideology, recipes for making bombs, extreme forms of pornography, libelous information, and so forth.” Having the internet be the home of these things, it’s obvious that people are going to object the internet as an important place to visit because it houses such terrible things. If a house hold bans the internet because they are worried that their child is looking at pornography or looking up how to make a bomb to blow up their school, they are protecting them, but also talking away their ability to quickly look up helpful information for school projects, libraries to check out books, or to interact with a friend who lives out of state. Just because the internet has a bad site on it doesn’t make the whole thing bad. This misconception that many people have about the internet being the breeding ground for vulgar and inappropriate/dangerous information which results in them not using the internet can divide communities, especially since so many communities thrive on the concept and usage of the internet. Communities will have a hard time surviving if they isolate themselves from the internet when the majority of communities are so involved with it.
Harmful Communication: The internet is often filled with vulgar terms, and inappropriate language. When people communicate on the internet, more often than not they will use vulgar language to get their point across. If people are not using appropriate language on the internet, communities who are offended by this language will turn away from the internet and not use it so they don’t have to hear this kind of language weather it is directed towards them or not. If people are using such inappropriate language that results in people not using the internet or cutting their time on the internet shorter, it’s a no brainer that those communities will miss out on relations with other internet active communities thus dividing them.
Harmful Effects on Social Relations: It’s been argued that interaction on the internet is harming face-to-face relationships because so many people would rather spend time on the internet talking and interacting with people rather than doing so in person. If this is the case, then communities will definitely suffer. If people choose to spend more time online talking with people and not doing so in person, valuable communications skill will be lost and people will have problems talking with others face-to-face when they have to (meetings, speeches, checking out at the grocery store). If a community becomes sucked in to online communication to the point where they cannot function face-to-face with others outside their computers, they will suffer as a community, and will have no chance talking with others in person from other communities. Time communicating on the internet should not be greater than actual face-to-face talking off their computers.
Loss of the Sense of Reality: Another claim about the internet is that it makes heavy users of the internet have a hard time distinguishing the difference between virtual reality, and reality off the computer. People who cannot tell the difference between online and offline worlds will develop “ insecurities, disagreements, and a loss of meaning” (Brey). If people really can’t tell or have a hard time distinguishing the difference of between what’s real and what’s not, they will have no chance to survive as a community off their computer. Despite what some people might think, communities will never go completely digital because there will always be a real physical world in which we live in. People need to spend time in this world too and not dedicate all their time on the internet in their virtual worlds to the point where they can’t tell the difference between the internet and reality.
Brey makes several more arguments about the harmfulness and benefits of the inter net in his article. Although it’s pretty obvious what he means by his arguments as he displays his meanings quite clearly, I have taken it in a different direction by noticing his arguments and focusing on how they can be applied to argue how the internet divides or brings communities together. It’s important to think about how the internet can be harmful or useful, but also how it effects society and our ever growing communities on and off of the internet.
This is not a summmary of the article “Evaluating the Social and Cultural Implications of the Internet” by Philip Brey. Instead what I have done is taken 10 points he gave in his paper (5 benefits, and 5 harms of the internet) and have applied them in my own thinking and research to how they connect or divide communities. Enjoy! :)
Philip Brey’s article: “Evaluating the Social and Cultural Implications of the Internet” talks about how the internet is affecting society in both a positive and negative way. In one section of his article he lists several benefits and harms that the internet gives us as a community. It is here where I am going to be directing my attention to discuss his claims and go deeper into how his claims about the internet divide or make communities come together. First I’ll start with some of the benefits of the internet and then move onto the harms.
Benefits
Access to Information: Information can easily and quickly be accessed from anywhere. No longer do you have to go to a library to do all your research, you can do it wherever is easiest for you, whenever it is best for you. Having this information easily available is great on society. People can post information that they have gathered and in turn can help other people find the same information easier. Having other people’s work and research available on the internet is a great way to bring communities together because you are helping others find information by posting the work you have done.
Communication: People are now able to communicate in various ways including one-to-one, one-to-many and many to-many through the internet. Meetings with major businesses can all get together in front of their computers in their offices and hold live video meetings in their separate buildings. No longer do you have to get on an air plane or take your private jet to go meet with clients. By using the internet to communicate, families can keep in touch overseas for free, and still get all the benefits, if not more (video) of a phone conversation without the expensive long distant fees. Having the ability to communicate with people all over the globe through your computer in a blink of an eye is a great way to bring communities together.
Developing and Maintaining Social Relations: This one is very similar to the point made above. Basically if a company, or even for private usage, is required to keep in contact with clients across the world, the internet is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to do so. In a matter of seconds a meeting can be called in the United States, and members from China, Russia, Europe, and anywhere else clients are located can get on their computers and the meeting can start. For private use, families and friends can keep in touch with home if they go out of state or country for school, work, business, or vacation. Being able to keep and maintain steady social relations with people is not only vital for most businesses, both big and small, but also a very practical way to keep communities together.
Community Formation and Social Organization: By using the internet to set up social organizations or movements you are broadening the amount of people who will receive this information. If you want to set up a protest, more people will be informed of it if you send your invitations over the internet instead of standing outside the grocery store to get people to sign a petition. Not only is your audience greatly increased, but you also have the ability to condense your audience’s size to specific people or groups of people that you want to hear your message. This is helpful because you can eliminate all the people who you don’t need to contact and this will save you time. Instead of asking everyone on the street to sign a petition about something, and only talking to a small percent of people who are interested in what you have to say, you are only asking those who would already be interested and you can be more successful in your results. The internet is a great way to bring communities together for social movements and formation.
Leisure and Entertainment: The internet is a great way to kill extra time. People can do various tasks on the internet that can bring communities together. One can join an online discussion about a problem in the community that people want to fix. You can read up on current events that are going on in your community or worldwide. If done correctly, your leisure or down time from your other activities can be put to great use instead of watching television or playing videogames. One can use the internet to educate themselves about the things they want to know or things that are important. Since the newspaper is on it’s last leg and won’t be long till it is no longer in print, the internet will become the best way to gain information about current events. By using your free time to gather information on the internet, you are helping to become a better member of society and ultimately bring communities together.
Harms
False Information: Brey argues that the internet is often filled with incorrect information. As a result, it’s often hard to find out if the information you are looking at is in fact false because it’s almost impossible to look at the sources where this information is coming from. He claims that in many cases, “the internet is thought to represent a step backwards compared to more traditional information media.” Having so much false information on the internet can severely divide a community. If someone is doing research and wants to look up information from a specific place only to find that their information is often incorrect, they will stop using that source. If people see this more often, they will stop branching out to look for more information and only look in the places that are most familiar to them isolating themselves from other communities, especially new ones, that might have valuable correct information. To stop dividing communities in this way, all places should provide correct information on the internet, and get rid of those who provide incorrect or false information.
Harmful Information: The internet is becoming a home for inappropriate and dangerous material. Brey states that the internet is containing such harmful information such as “extremist ideology, recipes for making bombs, extreme forms of pornography, libelous information, and so forth.” Having the internet be the home of these things, it’s obvious that people are going to object the internet as an important place to visit because it houses such terrible things. If a house hold bans the internet because they are worried that their child is looking at pornography or looking up how to make a bomb to blow up their school, they are protecting them, but also talking away their ability to quickly look up helpful information for school projects, libraries to check out books, or to interact with a friend who lives out of state. Just because the internet has a bad site on it doesn’t make the whole thing bad. This misconception that many people have about the internet being the breeding ground for vulgar and inappropriate/dangerous information which results in them not using the internet can divide communities, especially since so many communities thrive on the concept and usage of the internet. Communities will have a hard time surviving if they isolate themselves from the internet when the majority of communities are so involved with it.
Harmful Communication: The internet is often filled with vulgar terms, and inappropriate language. When people communicate on the internet, more often than not they will use vulgar language to get their point across. If people are not using appropriate language on the internet, communities who are offended by this language will turn away from the internet and not use it so they don’t have to hear this kind of language weather it is directed towards them or not. If people are using such inappropriate language that results in people not using the internet or cutting their time on the internet shorter, it’s a no brainer that those communities will miss out on relations with other internet active communities thus dividing them.
Harmful Effects on Social Relations: It’s been argued that interaction on the internet is harming face-to-face relationships because so many people would rather spend time on the internet talking and interacting with people rather than doing so in person. If this is the case, then communities will definitely suffer. If people choose to spend more time online talking with people and not doing so in person, valuable communications skill will be lost and people will have problems talking with others face-to-face when they have to (meetings, speeches, checking out at the grocery store). If a community becomes sucked in to online communication to the point where they cannot function face-to-face with others outside their computers, they will suffer as a community, and will have no chance talking with others in person from other communities. Time communicating on the internet should not be greater than actual face-to-face talking off their computers.
Loss of the Sense of Reality: Another claim about the internet is that it makes heavy users of the internet have a hard time distinguishing the difference between virtual reality, and reality off the computer. People who cannot tell the difference between online and offline worlds will develop “ insecurities, disagreements, and a loss of meaning” (Brey). If people really can’t tell or have a hard time distinguishing the difference of between what’s real and what’s not, they will have no chance to survive as a community off their computer. Despite what some people might think, communities will never go completely digital because there will always be a real physical world in which we live in. People need to spend time in this world too and not dedicate all their time on the internet in their virtual worlds to the point where they can’t tell the difference between the internet and reality.
Brey makes several more arguments about the harmfulness and benefits of the inter net in his article. Although it’s pretty obvious what he means by his arguments as he displays his meanings quite clearly, I have taken it in a different direction by noticing his arguments and focusing on how they can be applied to argue how the internet divides or brings communities together. It’s important to think about how the internet can be harmful or useful, but also how it effects society and our ever growing communities on and off of the internet.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Stereotypes in Videogames Dividing Communities
Having stereotypes in video games and other media is a big problem for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons why it is bad is its effects on society. Having a stereotype in games can make people believe that all people who are portrayed a specific way in games due to stereotypes are really like that in real life. For instance, Leonard makes references about race in videogames. “Cuban drug dealers in Vice City; muscle-bound, violent rappers in Def Jam Vendetta; and Arab terrorists in every war game. Ready to Rumble, a boxing game, like GTA III, covers all bases, including84 Games and Culture Downloaded from http://gac.sagepub.com at UNIV OF UTAH on January 10, 2009 racialized stereotypes of virtually every community of color.” If people are playing these kinds of games, they may think that all Cuban people in California are drug dealers and gang bangers, al rappers are violent, and Arabs are all terrorists. Obviously this isn’t true, but people who play these kinds of games that have this strong of a suggestion and use of stereotypes may not see the difference.
The use of these stereotypes is more heavily influencing people more than TV. There is something about taking control of these stereotyped people, living their life, committing their crimes, and interacting with other people like them that makes these stereotypes seem real as opposed to TV. If you are playing a game and your character gets killed by someone who is a Cuban drug lord, it affects you more than watching a movie on TV where the same thing happens. Since you have more of an emotional tie with your character than your TV show, you will start to develop a hatred towards the Cuban characters, and if played enough (and if one starts to lose the ability to see the difference from reality and the game) They may start to hate everyone who is Cuban because they associate all Cubans as drug lords, just as they are in their game.
How does this divide communities? If someone has a negative thought about someone through stereotyping, they are going to treat that person badly or shun them out of society. This is very common, and everyone knows how blacks were treated badly and shunned from society before they had any rights as American citizens. Basically if there are any negative racial thoughts about someone, it will change their place in society, and will alter society’s current views about that person. If videogames are promoting such stereotypes, and people start to believe these videogame stereotypes, then it won’t be long till these newly developed stereotypes about people branch out from the videogame console and into the real world. Clearly stereotypes, especially those in videogames, and divide a community and society.
Above and belowe are screen shots from GTA: San Andreas. This is a videogame where players take on the role of a black gang member in the streets filled with gangs, hookers, and drug lords. 
Below is a depiction of a typical male hero in a videogame. Hero's are usually attractive, fit, and resemble role models, or something that people would like to become. Oh and they always have good looking hair.
Finally, there is a picture of a female character in a videogame. Like others she is very attractive, like barbie, her boobs are too big making it impossible to stand up without falling over, she is wearing little to no clothing, and in this case is assuming some kind of warior persona making her a girl who can fight, a feature that most men find very attractive
The use of these stereotypes is more heavily influencing people more than TV. There is something about taking control of these stereotyped people, living their life, committing their crimes, and interacting with other people like them that makes these stereotypes seem real as opposed to TV. If you are playing a game and your character gets killed by someone who is a Cuban drug lord, it affects you more than watching a movie on TV where the same thing happens. Since you have more of an emotional tie with your character than your TV show, you will start to develop a hatred towards the Cuban characters, and if played enough (and if one starts to lose the ability to see the difference from reality and the game) They may start to hate everyone who is Cuban because they associate all Cubans as drug lords, just as they are in their game.
How does this divide communities? If someone has a negative thought about someone through stereotyping, they are going to treat that person badly or shun them out of society. This is very common, and everyone knows how blacks were treated badly and shunned from society before they had any rights as American citizens. Basically if there are any negative racial thoughts about someone, it will change their place in society, and will alter society’s current views about that person. If videogames are promoting such stereotypes, and people start to believe these videogame stereotypes, then it won’t be long till these newly developed stereotypes about people branch out from the videogame console and into the real world. Clearly stereotypes, especially those in videogames, and divide a community and society.
Above and belowe are screen shots from GTA: San Andreas. This is a videogame where players take on the role of a black gang member in the streets filled with gangs, hookers, and drug lords. 
Below is an African American videogame character. In most ceses Blacks in videogames are either portrayed as gang members, athketes, of character with big muscles. Here the latter is shown, making a statement that all blacks are either gang members, athletes, or have big muscles making them the bad boys of videogames.
Below is a depiction of a typical male hero in a videogame. Hero's are usually attractive, fit, and resemble role models, or something that people would like to become. Oh and they always have good looking hair.
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