User:Justin Crane1/sandbox

Platforms
Over the years Online Communities have shifted what they use to communicate with one another as technology advances. Depending on how long the group has been around they may have transitioned through many different applications as new and improved ones came out. The biggest 3 in the last 15 years started with Ventrilo. Ventrilo offered a very primitive way for users to communicate but it also was not free to use for groups larger than 8 people. Then after came along TeamSpeak which was free if you were able to host your own server but very often people had to pay for their servers to be hosted resulting in the servers costing money to the group. Finally and the most current and popular application people use to communicate within gaming communities is Discord. Discord offers communities free ways to advertise their communities if they are actively searching for new members. It is totally free to use and have your own personalized server. And unlike the others offers a lot of options regarding not only voice communication but text communication also. While this is the majority of communities there are still those who have yet to change the platform they use for various reasons. One of the main reasons being the publicness a discord server can have. They also like that the same group has been around for so long on that platform that it just doesn’t feel the same for them to move onto a new platform.

Social Needs
Online gaming communities offer to some people the social interaction that everyone needs in their lives. Many people struggle with different social issues weather its emotional, stress, anxiety etc use these gaming communities to find help that they need. Many of these gaming communities have played together for a long time and they have become close friends over the internet which also allows for some distance. Based of many studies people that are seeking emotional support in virtual communities because it is complete anonymous but you are talking to actual people and getting genuine responses from people who care and want to help. Many people feel that these communities' are like another family to them because they spend so much time together and even though they dont know each other personally they feel very connected. Often even if people quit playing the game they will remain apart of the communities and still talk to all of the people that either still play or dont because they have become such good friends over their time playing together

Structure
Online gaming communities are like traditional online communities but they revolve around usually one game but sometimes multiple. These communities form because it allows the players to connect with people they spend a lot of time with playing these games and they can all talk about something they have in common. The way these communities are run varies depending on the game and it can range from autocracies to democracies. Which system they used is usually based on what game they are playing or the style they are playing the game their community was created around.

Autocracies
Usually in games that are fast paced or involve fighting other groups they use an autocratic setup and it is a small group of people who have a lot of experience in the game who lead these groups. They use these over other forms for a number of reasons. They use their knowledge of the game to make decisions for the group so that they can stay competitive and they are able to make it so everyone can have more fun by setting rules for them so there aren't problems down the line. These leaders usually also solve problems amongst the community and can prevent a lot of issues between people that can be caused when playing certain games because fighting within the group can cause the group to break up and split off weakening them. Another reason is in games when you are fighting other groups playing the same game there will be spies that will try to join other groups to be able to know what they other groups are planning or what they are doing so they can give the info to their group so they can have an advantage and make winning easier for them. This is why the most important things are usually left between the senior members of the group and not told to initiates(new members).

Democracies
Then on the other hand communities in games that don't involve pvp and are role playing games where everyone is working together for the same goal or they are all just playing together to make the game more fun because you are interacting with other people are usually democratic. This is because they usually are paying for a server that they can all pay on so everyone who helps contribute to the server has a say in what happens. Full democracy works in groups like this because everyone is always treated as equals because the only thing they look at is if you are a member of the group and what the best interests are for the group. While there are higher ups in these groups they are only to ask questions for the rest of the community to answer. They usually never have any authority to take action without consulting the rest of the group. In games where there needs to be some moderation they usually select people who can enforce the rules decided by the community but all their actions are subject to be questioned by the community and they can't take action against them depending on what they decide as a group.

Assignment 7

Their comments were helpful because I realized I forgot to properly cite inside the text which allowed me to go back and fix the mistakes I made.