Techsploitation

Annalee Newitz’s latest “Techsploitation” addresses reality RPG (role-playing-games) with a funny address to Tribe.net:

Yet another kind of reality RPG is Tribe.net, an uncensored online community that resembles Friendster in almost every way except for the fact that there is no autocratic dictator named Jonathan Abrams running the thing and deleting the accounts of people who freak him out. At Tribe.net you log in and create an identity for yourself, complete with as much or as little real information as you like. You can be an entirely fictional creation, complete with fake photos, or you can document your every little personality quirk, from a love of data mining to a predilection for farting quietly in movie theaters. The game of Tribe, such as it is, is to accumulate as many friends and tribal affiliations as you can. The more often you log in and post messages to tribe discussion boards, the more friends you’ll get and the more satisfied you’ll be. It’s like creating a group of Sims characters. “You” watch “yourself” moving around in a social space, and “you” interact with a bunch of other “people” in “rooms.”

Who are all these people on Tribe anyway? As if I were some wide-eyed social critic from the late 1980s, I find myself discovering once again that people are different online than they are in person. Shy people are eloquent. Sexy people are boring. I have two busy friends, whose presence I often miss in real life, whom I now get to see nearly everyday on Tribe.

“Wow, Jason and Liz are so cool!” I think as I read their Tribe posts. “I wish they existed in real life!” And then I realize they do exist; I saw them last year at a party, and they are indeed as funny and smart as their “selves” on Tribe.

Am I confused or just happy to see them? Am I going to the store or is this just a game? I’ll have to decide.

(Bolding for the sentence that humored me the most)

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Scary Party 2: Escape from the Castro!

I’m on social ban until i catch up on academic work or until Halloween (whichever comes first). Halloween is my favorite holiday – costumes, candy, absurdity. It’s the one time per year when everyone is free to be creative and embody something from their imagination. Given this, i’m ecstatic to be spending it at False Profit’s “Scary Party 2: Escape from the Castro” (watch the trailer). [Translation: crazy breaks party and haunted house with some of my closest friends]

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the power in hyper-connecting

Wired just ran an article on the “hypernetworked nodes who secretly run the world.” I knew this article was coming out because i was talking with one of the people represented about the power that one has in being a hyperconnector and how managing that power is a complete art. Of course, each of the nodes represented discusses their version of the art.

So, i have to wonder…. Can sites actually empower the marginalized when the hyperconnectors know darn well that their power is in maintaining a certain level of secrecy about who they know.

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anthropologists

“What anthropologists state is either completely obvious or utterly wrong” – Professor Grayburn in my History of Anthropological Thought class.

Of course, this statement has much more poignance than its first read. I fundamentally believe that the most powerful research is stating what might appears obvious, but only after it was said… tying together threads that no one thought to tie together before.

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what an adventure…

Do not let anyone tell you that Canada is not a foreign country. Not only does the Mountain Dew not have any caffeine in it, but you need a passport to get there now. Of course, i had to learn this the hard way. They changed the rule 3 weeks ago (with all of the increased insanity in the airports). Needless to say, i did not have my passport.

So i flew to Buffalo.

I was intent on driving up, but when i rolled my luggage to the car rental place, i learned that they didn’t have any cars. At this point, i broke. I mean, completely broke. I started crying; i just couldn’t stop. I was exhausted and stressed and overwhelmed. So i cried. I talked to all of the agents, called the bus terminal, called my brother. No idea of what to do. I kept crying. Finally, the guy from Hertz gave me keys, feeling sorry for him. Bless the guy from Hertz. But he told me i couldn’t leave until i stopped crying. I never really stopped, but he let me go anyhow.

The nice thing about going through Buffalo is that i got to see my brother. Although it was only 12 hours, it was well worth it. The bad thing is that i got sick.

Anyhow, obviously there are more adventures in the 3 conference tour. But details are for later… post sleep.

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Friendster kills those not thrilled with service

Friendster Support wrote:

Your profile was flagged because you’ve listed/posted tribe.net as contact information and said you’re closing your account with Friendster. Technically our Terms Of Service (TOS) does not allow posting URL’s in your profile. If you’d still like to use our service we’ll reactivate your account. If you feel more comfortable using another company we understand. Thanks for your understanding.

[Similar stories shared under ‘excommunicated’ on the “Friendster Sucks” Tribe at Tribe.net]

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