Blog Post 4 - Extra Credit

    Future of Convergence

The future of convergence is both bright but uncertain. What is certain however is that media convergence will continue to expand and encompass more aspects of our lives. We are only in the first few years of the internet age so there is no way of knowing where it will end, but we do have an idea of where it is going. But to get an idea of where it is going, we can look to the recent past to get an idea.

The popularity of comic book characters recently can also be seen as an aspect of convergence. Just in the last week, the trailers for Batman Vs. Superman and Captain America:Civil War, both mash-ups of multiple comic book characters fighting each other, premiered on Jimmy Kimmel Live and were posted on the internet almost immediately[1][2]. The Batman Vs Superman trailer has garnered nearly 750 thousand views in less then 12 hours, while the Civil War trailer has had nearly 35 million in the week it's been uploaded on youtube. Meanwhile, on television, both major comic book companies, DC and Marvel, have fertile television productions both on cable and Netflix. This popularity is sure to grow with DC launching their own super hero universe next year with the release of Batman vs Superman.

In politics, convergence is playing a growing roll as well. President Obama was the first president to really make use of the internet in his campaign for presidency. His use of it allowed him to organize and get his views out, for very little cost as well, because using youtube to release videos is much cheaper then buying air time on television[3]. Similarly, Donald Trump has seen an incredible amount of support from the republican side, mainly because he tailors his campaign around slogans that create create controversy and garners headlines[4]. His campaign is based around spectacle, a phenomenon that grows because with so much information being created, spectacle makes his campaign stand out.

Video games, perhaps the newest story telling medium in the world, is constantly changing and is probably the medium most changed by convergence. Steam is a service created to sell games exclusively online, forgoing physical copies all together. To encourage independent game development, Valve, Steam's developer and owner, has introduced methods of getting people's game out there. Steam Greenlight and Early Access are examples of this. Early Access is a tool where people can release their games for a price before the game is finished, which in theory, would help the games development because the profits from sales would be used to further update and develop the game[5]. Mass amateurization is important and relatively easy with video games because they can be made relatively cheaply and with few people. Similarly, Greenlight allows users to vote on what games will be released on the main steam sale platform, a way of filtering the wave of amateurization[6].

The media convergence is an unprecedented event in our culture and there is really no way to know where we are going. It is, however, ever expanding and it will only become more important in out culture. Politics will become more and more dependent on involving citizens as well as having to gain their attention in a time where everything is grabbing everyone’s attention. As time passes, it will also become harder and harder to make your own voice or vision heard because of the constant influx of new and rehashed content that floods the “airwaves”. While the future is uncertain, it is certainly exciting.

Bibliography

[1]- http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/03/media/batman-v-superman-trailer-jimmy-kimmel-live/

[2]- http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/25/media/captain-america-civil-war-trailer-jimmy-kimmel-live/index.html?iid=EL

[3]- http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/
[4]-http://www.digitaltrends.com/opinion/donald-trump-works-the-internet-better-than-you-do/

[5]-http://store.steampowered.com/earlyaccessfaq/

[6]-http://www.ghacks.net/2012/09/02/what-is-steam-greenlight/