Week 11 LectureNotes COM 325follows the assigned reading plus additional industry info about the video game industry

1. Week 11 Lecture Notes
Personal Connections: chap 6, pages 144 - 172
Videogaming statistics plus readings in weekly content folder

2. Digital
Relationships
 We form relationships by communicating
 Most interpersonal relationships are weak ties
 The internet helps people have more specialized and
intermittent contact with more people
 Strong ties: encourage frequent, campanionable
contact that is reciprocal, supportive, and long term.
 People with social anxiety prefer media with fewer
cues

3. Hyperpersonal
Communication
Theory
 Reduced identity cues can cause people meeting online
to like each other more than they would have if they
had met in person.
 Online, people “fill in the blanks” about identity with
idealistic thinking and without any supporting
evidence (fantasy relationships).
 “Our messages are the tools with which we build and
tinker with our connections, and the mirror through
which we see them” (Baym, 2015, p.145).

4. Whywelike
peopleonline
 Sparse cues give room for the imagination of qualities
and for ideal or fantasy thinking.
 Sparse cues give us more control over our messages so
we can appear more attractive to others.
 People who receive validation for their online self-
presentation are likely to become more like the selves
they present.
 Asynchronous media allow people to revise.
 The excitement of anticipation creates a sense of
relationship.
 The majority of people connected through social media
sites never interact with most of their “friends.”

5. Self-disclosure
 Self-disclosure is one of the most powerful
communication practices we have for building
relationships
 Self-disclosure can backfire and cause repulsion
 Self-disclosure leads to more intimacy online than in
face-to-face contexts, yet longitudinal studies that
follow online friendships over time do not show
meaningful differences between them and offline
friendships.

6. Relational
Maintenance
 Handled through Social Network Sites, texting, phone
calls, video chat
 The primary motive for using social media is to
maintain rather than create relationships
 Most relationships maintained in SNSs are weak ties
 People use SNSs to communicate with multiple weak
ties simultaneously
 Weak ties connected through SNSs can grow into
strong ties through SNS use
 Research found that in Facebook, only 15% of friends
ever exchanged messages.
 Video chat platforms can be important in long-distance
relationships

7. Economic
modelsofSNSs
 Social Network Sites rely on building detailed models
of users
 User info is sold for targeted advertising
 SNSs prompt people to “share” likes, dislikes, opinions
to be able to build models of users
 People use “Facebook Relational Maintenance
Behaviors”:
Responding to news,
giving advice when requested,
posting birthday greetings,
answering questions.

8. MobilePhone
Relational
Maintenance
 Differs from SNS relational maintenance, which is to
weak ties. Mobile ties are likely strong ties
 Keeps peers and family more interdependent
 Allows people to micro-coordinate their actions
 Can feel overwhelming and imprisoning
 Using mobile phone for texting and talk creates
expectations of phone use in the relationship

9. Media
Multiplexity
 Relationships connected through more than one
medium
 Closer relationships use more media in addition to
face-to-face communication
 Media use is based on the goals for the interaction
 Polymedia: multimedia context of how people in a
relationship communicate
 Example: “They have a texting relationship.”
 The choice of medium has implications for the
relationship. Texting too soon, too much, comes across
as ‘desperate.’

10. Theendand
aftermathof
relationships
 The “unfriend” breaking up happens across media
 Most SNSs have a way to disconnect from specific
individuals
 Legal questions are not settled as to who controls a
profile after death
 Some people may stop using a medium to avoid
another person

11. Uncertain
Norms
 Do new media undermine or replace face-to-face
communication?
 Cultural contexts define appropriate behavior for
media use
 A “friend” online is not the same as a friend offline
 Oversharing online can repulse or result in severed
connections
 The presence of media during face-to face
communication can be a problem
 As mediums are domesticated, social norms are
established
 People negotiate how they will use media with one
another

12. VideoGames
 A video game is an electronic game that can be played
on a computing device, such as a personal computer,
gaming console, or mobile phone.
 The Global Games Market reached $108.9 billion in
2017 with mobile taking 42% (McDonald, 2017).
 China is the single most important market in the world
for mobile games, with more than $14 billion in
domestic mobile games revenue projected by 2021.
 U.S. Video Game Industry Revenue reached $36 Billion
in 2017, up 18 percent from 2016, according to the
Entertainment Software Association.
 In 2016, the industry contributed $11.7 billion in value
to the U.S. GDP, employing 65,678 Americans in 50
states.
 In 2016, Nintendo was the most recognized gaming
brand in the United States.

13. VideoGame
Industry
 The Entertainment Software Association in 2014
reported that games were getting more mobile and are
played by families, engaging households as well as
teens.
 Video game sales ($24 billion) have outpaced movie
box office sales (just $10 billion per year) for several
years.
 Companies and businesses are using games to promote
products and drive sales.
 Educators are using games to enhance the learning
process. Universities offer video game degree
programs

14. Additional
industryfacts
 Adult women represent a greater portion of the video
game-playing population (31 percent) than boys age 18 or
younger (18 percent).
 53 percent of the most frequent video game players report
playing video games with others.
 67 percent of parents play video games with their children
at least once a week.
 Mobile games make more money than console and PC
games, according to Business Insider (2017).
 More than 150 million Americans play video games,
and 65 percent of American households are home to at
least one person who plays video games regularly, or at
least three hours per week.
 The average gamer is 35 years old and 72 percent are age
18 or older.

15. References
 2017 China topic report: Mobile games. Research and Markets.(2017).
Research and Markets. Retrieved from
https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/n95h5w/2017_china_topic

 Baym, N. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age (2nd ed). Malden,
MA: Polity Press.

 Industry Facts (2017). The Entertainment Software Association. Retrieved
from http://www.theesa.com/article/two-thirds-american-households-
regularly-play-video-games//

 McDonald, E. (2017). The global games market will reach $108.9 billion in
2017 with mobile taking 42%. NewZoo. Retrieved from
https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-
108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/

 Video Games (20170. Statista: The statistics portal. Retrieved from
 https://www.statista.com/topics/868/video-games/