Unreality Bites

I remember when CD-Roms were all the rage. We'd proudly place those discs in our drives and these CDs quickly became the quintessential computer games of the 1990's. This archaic technology eventually went the way of the dinosaurs and was replaced by the Xbox, the Wii, the Playstation, and voluminous online websites for people who like to refer to themselves as "gamers."

But during the glory days of CD-Roms, one of the more popular creations was a reality game called The Sims. Essentially, you created your own family. You made decisions on their clothing, determined where they would travel, scripted conversations they would have, and even made choices on their schooling and occupations. In this world, you truly played God.

I was given The Sims as a gift once, but never really made it that far. I thought it was nothing more than a big time waster and after all, there was this really cool new dial up service called America Online that I loved exploring, but only after I waited for my dial up signal to make that explosive noise that informed me that I was connected.

So now that we've moved into the new media age, with blazing wireless download speeds, and several options for social media, a new version of The Sims-like technology has taken the world by storm. This is all courtesy of a company called Zynga. Through a relationship with Facebook they are responsible for online games such as Farmville and Cityville which have attracted a countless number of "followers." The popularity of these games moved into the forefront last week as Zynga announced that they were planning on a public stock offering. And the potential evaluation? Several billion dollars!

I asked myself how a company that creates fictitious farms and cities could be valued so high, but then I read more. Zynga made over 400 million dollars in net revenue from people buying items like seeds for their virtual farms. Let me say that again, 400 million!

So we have a shaky economy where people must spend more prudently. And between work, children's soccer and basketball games, ballet lessons, and other social commitments people still found the time and the money to pay for seeds on a farm that doesn't really exist.

For most of us, we struggle daily with just having enough time and energy to deal with the things that matter most. Time with our children, staying in touch with friends, working one or two jobs to make ends meet. While hopefully all along, feeding our hobbies, whether they be softball, fishing, tennis, pottery, dancing, creative writing or whatever drives you. At the end of every week, usually on a Sunday, we say that next week will be different and we'll actually get to these areas of our lives that will make a positive difference. But most of us simply fail again.

Is it possible that we're letting online videogames get in the way? I don't spend nearly as much time on Facebook as many of my friends; especially those who are insistent on telling me where they are all times, which kid just threw up their dinner, or which traffic jam they're immobilized in. But to think that millions of other people still find the time to build computer farms and cities and actually pay for it just blows my mind.

Maybe if we spent more time tending to our kids, our careers, our finances, friends and families, Zynga wouldn't be going public after all. They would just be a fad that would soon be replaced as easily as The Sims was all those years ago.

Sometimes I wonder which truly came first. Did we create Zynga or did they create us?

The Anti-Social Network

So, if thirty years ago, I told you that people would begin to communicate primarily through their computers, you'd say that I either took Matthew Broderick's "War Games" or George Orwell's "1984" a little too seriously.

If twenty years ago, I said that the second most popular form of communication would occur by telephone, you'd probably sigh with boredom until I told you that it would happen on a phone that wasn't plugged into your wall.

Then, I'd hit you with a real zinger by saying that this wireless phone would actually be used less for the spoken word and more for the written one. This is precisely when you'd promptly suggest that I attend a Trekie convention or Comic-Con.

After decades of these fearless predictions, and sometime in 2011, we'd look back and realize that incredibly, smartphones and other mobile devices have ostensibly become the basic foundation for how we now communicate. And it's not just the devices that matter, it's the distribution systems that are the lifeblood of our modern day communication.

Let's see. We have Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn, too name a few. Now, I can show you my vacation through hundreds of pictures and video and never have to tell you about it. I can pass along current information about my life and never have to open my mouth. I can even give you my current location in real time, and let you know how I feel about it, all without ever having to show my face.

The label for this method of communication? Social Media. Social?

When I was a kid, at some point in my parent/teacher conferences, a discussion was had about how I "socialized" with other children. Of course, that always meant face-to-face contact. Currently, being labeled social means that you returned an email within the hour. But never having to see anyone.

Man do we have this backwards. Not everyone's excited about broadcasting every aspect of their experiences. What about about the shy, private, reclusive types that don't feel like sharing their entire lives digitally. They shouldn't be excluded and need a place of their own where they can congregate.

An Anti-Social Network.

These people will have their own website where they can let everyone know where they haven't been. "This month I didn't go to Orlando, Europe, or even into town. In fact, I never left my house." They'd tell you about the dates they never went on, the movies they haven't seen, and all the restaurants they've never been to. Most of these people will probably have cats.

Another great function would be a button where you could periodically de-friend people. As a matter of fact, that would be a major component of this website. Everyone starts with 100 friends and then you'd see how long it takes to get rid of them all. Eventually, they'd turn it into a reality show. Donald Trump would host.

Once per year, all the members of the anti-social network would have a mandatory get-together, face-to-face, and do.......nothing. The website would be the antithesis of Facebook and just be called, "Empty Pages." The web traffic will explode, ad thousands of people would log on, so they never have to log in anywhere else. There wouldn't be a button for "like", just "dislike". The "What's on Your Mind" box would still be present, but it would link directly to a psychiatrist.

I don't know how Marc Zuckerberg missed the boat on this one. I look forward to the IPO.