I really liked the indie game movie because it showed a side of video games that not many people have been exposed to. Fez, Braid, and Super Meat Boy are all games that cater to people who a apart of that niche culture. Unlike mainstream video games, which try to appear more “real” through the graphics and POV (like Call of Duty, Halo), these indie games reach players through a sense of nostalgia. These games also catered to smaller groups or “tribes” like we talked about today and the “specific” aspects of fragmentation. Super Meat Boy for example was for gamers–> indie gamers–> xbox users. Super Meat Boy was available exclusively on xbox marketplace so only it can be classified as a “specific” niche game.

What is niche? Indie game designers feel really personal about the game they put out as opposed to the major label games. Halo is a huge game that is apart of a major label in gaming, whereas Super Meat Boy was created by two guys. Halo has all the commercials and advertisements unlike Super Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy did well enough where the two creators ended up selling over 1 million copies and getting a great pay day, but chances of this happening to indie game designers doesn’t happen very often. It is possible for niche artists to excel at what they do, but the big brands still do better, because of the financial backing and history they have; for now. Today we talked about Fragmentation and Common vs. Specific, for example sports is common, but LaCrosse a specific category of sports that fit in the niche category, due to its lack of popularity in the United States. This can go hand in hand with the gaming world. Halo, Call of Duty, Madden, etc are all common games, and Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Fez fit into the specific side of things. In The Long Tail you have the Hits, and niches, and only a small percentage of the niches actually evolve to being in the Hits portion of The Long Tail.

As I mentioned in class earlier today, I believe that mass and niche media both fill different needs for people, so they will both continue to co-exist. I believe that it is in our human nature to want to feel connected with other people based on our generic interests, such as weather, sports, and popular music and movies. Mass media allow us to do this on a large scale. For instance, everyone has been able to talk to one another about Hurricane Sandy, even those of us that have no direct connection with the storm. We do this to feel a sense of community, a shared “social glue.” But on the opposite side of this are niche media. Niche media cater to our specific interests that might not be commonly shared by many other people that we know. For instance, I’ve been really into biking for the past two years. While the population of bike enthusiasts in Memphis has grown because of the Shelby Farms Greenline, this interest area still isn’t one that I could use to connect with nearly every single person walking down the street. So I am left with using niche media to connect with people who share my interest. Because of the availability of niches like this (which are fragmented), consumers like myself have become fragmented as well. This has created a problem for advertising-based businesses because advertisers no longer completely know where target audiences are and how to best reach them. In the readings, it is also mentioned that the traditional approaches to measuring audience attention no longer work in this era of new media, which is a key problem derived from fragmentation. But I think this disruption allows for a time of opportunity. There is now a definite need for new development and rethinking.

I think for a huge majority of the hardcore gamers, not many of them acgually pay much attention to the indie games. Two of my friends, who are both big, big gamers had never even heard of Super Meat Boy or Fez because they are both already so into the mainstream games like Halo, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed, and Resident Evil.  I do think niches exist in the video game world too though because there are still people seprated by those who only play Xbox, those who only play PlayStation, and even those who only play on the PC or Mac.  Then thereare thoss niches seperated by genre such as sports games, first person shooters, racing games, strategy games, etc. And finally there are those hardcore fans of specific games such as Halo, COD, and Gears of War and the people who hate the other games so much and completely bash anyone who plays them. Indie games are probably the smallest video game nichd of all and it is still pretty hard to tell whether or not it is growing or getting smaller.

The movie we watch was very interesting and informing. These creators of the games live a stressful and tiring life trying to get their work to the public eye. They work non-stop to get their work is perfect and completed. These indie games differ from mainstream because most of the creators have personal connections with the game and they don’t have as much money to promote/produce their games. They are usually created by one or a few people. These games are most definitely in the niche of the long tail. They only reach out a selective audience. In Napoli’s reading he discusses media fragmentation, which fits the technique of how the creators were show casing their games. Media fragmentation is the growth in new techniques of delivering media. Xbox Live Arcade allowed the creators of these games to be showcased and be played at an expo by people who could be future buyers.

The digital society has allowed  us to gain access to a variety of media outlets as well as connect to groups who share our interests.  We no longer have to follow the mainsteam news or interests groups.  Facebook, Youtube and other outlets allow us to gain knowledge about a variety of things via smartphones, laptops, and tablets  . Thru the media outlets we are able to have multiple choices. The new technology has also given brands many outlets to reach is various viewers .

Viewers have a choice as to how and when they want to interact with a brand. Brands have to decide how to interact with each audiecne. According to an article in Fobes magazine,  the televison audience and the digital media audiences are different and marketers have to find a diferent avenue to reach each.  

There  was once a  fear that the  digital would compete against television’s share of consumer attention, a study from the Harvard Review  found that, instead, consumers are  using both digital and television plat forms at the same time. The report indicated that there were spikes in tablet and mobile usage during prime-time TV viewing hours, as consumers research and interact with content related to what they are viewing.

Social media fragmentation  seems to be a problem with marketers and  businesses Mike Frey of Paradux Media Group has developed the following guide to help small business compete.

  Solving Your Social Media Fragmentation Problem

As business owners we make decisions on where to spend our time, allocate our budget and what battles to take up.  Social Media fragmentation is no different, and there is no one answer to social media fragmentation, as all businesses are different and have different needs.  So look at your social media fragmentation dilemma and try to simplify it this way.

• Facebook:  Still the family reunion, mainstream platform, best for having living room conversations, more about the continued relationships with your current customers and getting them to buy more frequently.
• Twitter:   A link building machine that can drive massive traffic to your website.  A great way to communicate and begin relationships with individuals who ARE NOT your current customers.  If your business is more regional or national than local, if you sell on-line, hard not to invest the time or money here.
• Linkedin:   A Chamber of Commerce conversation that should be relegated more towards the personal resume and achievement than your business.
• Google+:    Early adapters, geeks, IT people, individuals looking for the latest and greatest gadgets and toys.  SEO is going to play a larger role in the success of any business today.  A buzz word for 2012 is certainly going to be ‘findability’ and with Google + possibly becoming a factor in search engine results it’s worth a look from the ‘lost and found’ aspect alone.
• Pinterest:   Have a visual business where a picture can say a thousand words?  Pinterest is that platform.  With a great demographic to boot.  The individuals that I see spending time in Pinterest are some of the most difficult-to-reach individuals as well as the most coveted.

The movie we watch gave strong insight into what goes into make a  indie video game. The developers undergo grueling work schedules to get these games out to the public. The indie games are unlike mainstream media games, they are created on a personal level by one or a couple of people. The indie games can definitely be labeled as niche games. As we saw in the movie most games were created for nostalgic reasons. Although the games are niche, the games are starting to be noticed with a process described by Napoli called fragmentation. In brief Napoli suggest that fragmentation is broken down into two catagories media fragmentation and audience fragmentation. Media fragmentation is the growth in new techniques of delivering media. In the movie all the games that were created had been featured in the arcade section on xbox live. The indie games are finding there way to new audiences via fragmentation of xbox live.

For my paper I will do Epic Meal time. They have videos on youtube that are comedies and cooking food to the extreme. http://www.youtube.com/user/EpicMealTime

They also have a website where they sell merchandise. http://www.epicmealtime.com/

In the podcast Frannie Kelley makes a statemen that Johnathan Coulton was like a snuggie.  He was something we didn’ know we needed.  The main argument is the internet a good or bad thing for the music industry.   The podcast interviews believe that these new novelty artists are just passing. How ever, artist like Coulton have managed to make millions of dollars off of these songs.

There have been a number of artist like Coulton who have created a niche and are producing many hits on the internet.They have develop a business marketing plan that has helped to get there work out and have managed to make a living out of it.  Frannie Kelley and Jacob Ganz seems to believe that this plan will not work for everyone.  However, there are plenty of artists who have used the same method and are doing well in their niche.

Coulton has basically copied the plans of many internet artists  that produce and recieve profit from their work via the internet.  He does not have to answer to a record label.  He recieves all of his profits and he has a low overhead. He had no formal business plan, just an idea to sell his work on the internet like many others.

Coulton and his fans were offened by being called a snuggie, but as he pointed out the makers of the snuggie, some one who probably wanted a blanket that would allow them to use their hands, designed it and realized that there may be a market for it. They were right and  they have made millions of dollars from it.  They may never make another item but they have profitted from the one that they sold.   

Coulton has a large internet fan base and he will continue to create his novelty songs. The internet will continue to serve as a medium for artist to get their work to the public.  The internet does not hurt the music industry it only adds to it.  Not every artist can make it to the main stream media.  The internet allows the artist and fans to view those artist who do not make it.  It also allows these artist to keep full rights of their work.