The idea of the internet as cyberspace has been a part of our contemporary culture for some time, particularly in the popular medium of film. But is the concept of cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society? Discuss with reference to your own experience of contemporary media.
The term ‘cyberspace’ is derived from the two words ‘cybernetics’ and ‘space.’ The term has various definitions, yet there is one definition that is most commonly known and understood; (1)when objects and identities exist within a communication network and the events taking place are not happening in the locations where individual’s or servers are physically located, but ‘in cyberspace’.(1)
The term was created by science fiction author, William Gibson, when he wrote his 1982 story, Burning Chrome. The world first heard the term in Omni Magazine, a science fiction/science magazine, in 1982, when Gibson’s story was first published.
Over the past few decades, the term has made its way into many films, novels, magazines and of course online. Such films as The Net, War Games, You’ve Got Mail, Hackers, You Me and Everyone We Know, The Matrix trilogy, and Untraceable, are just some of the countless films which base their story almost solely around the internet. Yet only one of these films bases its entire story on cyberspace and the alternate reality it provides. This film is of course the 1999 film, The Matrix, directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is the protagonist of the story. He, just like each and every individual around him, is living in a virtual reality or cyberspace. The events that take place in his daily life are not in fact happening in the real world, but instead in an alternate, virtual reality; this is the very definition of cyberspace. Therefore Neo is living in cyberspace. The Matrix is not as much based on the internet as it is the internet. The ironic thing about this film is that when Neo awakens to the ‘real world’ it is more like a game than the virtual reality in which he has been living.Although this film was made ten years ago, the story has not become obsolete. If anything, it has become even more relevant to today’s society, with a forever increasing number of households obtaining internet connections, the internet has worked its way into the daily lives of individuals, consequently allowing cyberspace to expand.
Cyberspace does not only refer to the virtual worlds seen in online games, it also refers to any virtual society online; for example, MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Habbo Hotel and other social networks. The ‘world’, in which these online events take place, does not exist in the real world. This is why these social networks fit under the category of ‘cyberspace’.
Each day, millions of individuals across the globe log on to their virtual world to update, research, explore and experience things which would not be possible in the real world. Online gaming has become increasingly popular over the years as the amount of individuals with personal computers has increased.
Popular online games such as World of Warcraft, Halo, Counter-Strike: Source, Guild Wars, Team Fortress 2, RuneScape, Second Life, Half-Life, Diablo, Age of Conan, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy and many more are just some of the games which have drawn millions of gamers into their extraordinary virtual world. The majority of these games use impressive graphics combined with violence, strategy and planning to keep players addicted to playing. This only aids the $46billion dollar online gaming industry. Players have a character which they must maintain to stay in the game, or alive. Like the real world, they must purchase shelter, weaponry, food and other commodities, with virtual dollars however. When playing, gamers do not usually use their ‘real life’ name; they use a screen name, adding to the effect of the online persona. Millions of players join their online world each day to see their personalised character undergo more experiences that would, usually, not be possible to accomplish in the real world.
Online social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook, have joined the flourishing online gaming industry, and have brought out their own games, which have become increasingly popular. Most of the games are strategy games and require you to involve your online friends to join you to fulfil your goal. MySpace games such as Heroes, Sorority Life, Bloodlines, Vampires, Mafia Wars and Mobsters, are just some of the many games which require the player to use strategy to successfully gain levels and. These MySpace games have already reached an audience of over one hundred million people.However, it is the Facebook game ‘Farm Ville’ which has taken the world by storm. On June 20 of 2009, after being out for only one day, it had 354 users. Astonishingly, it now has over fifty-six million players worldwide. It is believed to be the largest and fastest-growing social game ever. To put this into perspective of how fast it has reached over fifty million people, one could compare it to other technologies over the decades and how long it has taken them to reach an audience of fifty million people. The radio took 38 years, whilst television took 13 years, the internet only needed 4 years, the iPod spread in 3 years whilst Facebook’s ‘Farm Ville’ only needed 4 months.
This only proves how fast the world is growing and advancing. Technology has become more readily accepted into our daily lives, making us unaware how much technology we actually use. If social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace continue their pattern and become more popular across the world, so will the games with which they provide. So long as online games continue to improve their graphics and have creative ideas about gameplay, they will continue to draw in the millions of players from all over the globe. ‘Cyberspace’ is of course still relevant to our contemporary society. In fact, it is becoming increasingly more relevant. As we move through the 21st Century, we are becoming even more reliant on technology to aid us in our daily lives. The question now is; are we venturing into cyberspace more often than we are aware? When we work on our own virtual farm, drain an innocent on Bloodlines, make a headshot on Call of Duty, do we realise that we are drifting into cyberspace?
REFERENCES:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberspace#cite_note-2
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8&feature=fvw
(3) http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070404124655AAr1ioG
(4) http://www.gameogre.com/reviewdirectory/topten.php
(5) http://www.gameogre.com/topinternetgames.htm
(6) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
(7) http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/PCWorld/story?id=6226347
(8) The Gold Coast Bulletin, Monday, October 19, 2009, p.p. 14, 31.
(9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_(magazine)
(10) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koepsell
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