Blog #3 - HSX.com

Trying out the Hollywood Stock Exchange was an interesting experience for me. HSX is an online game/community which acts as an imaginary stock market for current movies, television shows and stars. The site gave me a lot of in-game money to start with, which was nice because it was free and it also allowed me to immediately go start trading stocks. After using up all of that money, I headed over the community forums to check out the portfolios of other members and talk about the game; unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to post in the forum for a bit because my account was still brand new. At the end of the week I came back and checked on how my stocks had changed in value and was finally able to post in the forums. These were my results:

The "virtual community" aspect is integral to the success of HSX. Otherwise, it might as well be a single-player game with stock values becoming lower and higher as dictated by an A.I. program. The value of different stocks raises and lowers according to what other users just like you are buying and selling, so community interaction is what makes the game work. The forums encourage players to discuss strategies for trading stocks, predictions for future values of certain stocks, etc. It's a bit hard to understand everything people discuss there because of the jargon involved, but that's just because I've never done anything like HSX before. The game is driven in a very big way by the community's interaction -- both with the game itself and with each other -- so it definitely qualifies as a virtual community. 

HSX could be seen as an online "third place" because games like this could be an escape for a lot of people. All members start out on neutral ground and are made to feel like a real part of the community since their actions have a direct impact on the imaginary stock market and vice-versa. Once one's account is old enough to post to the forums, they are encouraged to seek advice from more experience players and the atmosphere is very open and friendly. Those with more experience who tend to post sound advice or possess admin privileges are like the "elders" of this community; if they post enough, they stand out as a "regular" of the site. From my experience browsing the forums, there were a few different people who seemed to fit this description. The community uses HSX's imaginary currency as its primary capital and those who wish to "outscore" others are encouraged to stay updated with the website as much as possible in order to make decisions which they believe will earn them more currency. 

As I stated before, I wasn't able to participate in the forums for a while, so I never really had a chance to communicate within the community. However, once I was granted posting privileges I was able to do so as I pleased, usually just reading through others' discussions and making small comments. Overall, I was pleased with my experience with the Hollywood Stock Exchange. It's a fun way to practice making smart investments without losing any real money as you learn. The HSX virtual community is helpful and serves as the fuel which keeps the whole thing in motion, rather than simply being some discussion board on the side. It's important to the game; without the community, HSX would cease to be.

-B

Blog #2 - AnimeFreak.TV

Without much more than a glance at the AnimeFreak.TV, it is apparent that the site possesses one key element of a community right off the bat: the hobby/interest. AnimeFreak is a site which revolves around Japanese anime and manga; the target audience is people who have an interest in enjoying (by watching or reading) anime/manga  as a hobby. There are also lingual boundaries for the AnimeFreak community: most content on the site is not understandable to anybody who does not know Japanese or English. For example, most anime episodes on the site are - for the most part - preserved in their original Japanese format with only English subtitles added on (or "subbed") or they are edited to have English voice actors rather than Japanese ones ("dubbed"). In both cases, somebody who is familiar with neither of these languages cannot properly enjoy the content, so they are outside of the community's lingual boundaries.

The common goal among the community's members is to indulge in their anime/manga hobby and rate good content for others to hopefully check out. Members are able to rate content on a scale from 1 to 5 "hearts"; in this way, they can see a general outline of how well an episode or issue was received by other viewers before checking it out, which is a simplistic form of participation but still enough to benefit a community. The capital is the amount of content available to members of the community and the size of the community itself. The governance is left in the hands of the site administrators, so no extended privileges appear to be given to frequent users.

Based on these observations, AnimeFreak.TV certainly does fit our definition of a community.

-B

Blog #1 - Couchsurfing.org

Upon seeing the URL address "couchsurfing.org", I immediately pictured an online community centered around television. I guess the name just made me think of a guy sitting on his couch, flipping through channels. After actually visiting the site, I realized that my guess was way, way off compared to what the site actually is. Couchsurfing is a website where people can connect worldwide and open their homes for others to come and visit their local community. The site was designed to help bring people together and create a community of people from all different communities, allowing them to get a taste of each-other's lifestyles.

The site states that Couchsurfing began as a small project between four founding members, but other than that there isn't really much information pertaining to who made the site. I personally wouldn't consider joining this community because I can't really afford to travel out or open my family's home to a stranger from the internet. The safety issue is also a concern to me; I don't know if I could let someone who I had never met before to live in my home, even temporarily. Who knows if I can trust somebody from this community or not? I'm sure my family wouldn't be on board with the idea either due to similar (if not identical) concerns.

-B