Communication, Culture and context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Communication, Culture and context - Essay Example support the essay. Definition of Terms Globalization has been defined by Mazrui (2001) as consisting of systems and operating processes aiming to ultimately be interrelated with global protocols on a continuously growing exchange of transactions among diverse countries and regions (p. 1). On the other hand, Landay (2008) averred that â€Å"virtual commodification is a process of transforming experience, ideas, and ideas about the self into the quantifiable products of inworld consumer culture, and placing those products in a social context in which people define things in terms of themselves, and themselves in terms of things, i.e., that â€Å"self† is created and understood through the goods and appearance of the goods people consume† (p. 4). From the qualification of terms, commodification becomes global in perspectives in so far as a product, service, artifact, image, or idea is turned into a commodity. To expound on the concept in a global context, one opted to sele ct a social networking game that became famous through Facebook, FarmVille. FarmVille A social networking game that was developed by Zynga, a social game developer located originally in San Francisco, California, became a global phenomenon – FarmVille. According to its official site, â€Å"Zynga is committed to transforming the world through virtual social goods. Zynga players have made real change by raising millions for several international nonprofits since Zynga.org launched in October 2009† (Zynga: What, 2010, par. 1). Zynga was founded by Mark Pincus in January of 2007 with the mission of connecting people though social games (Zynga: About, 2011). FarmVille is just one among 18 games accessible through Facebook. A prospective player needs to have a Facebook account to be able to play any of the games developed by Zynga. Other social networking games by Zynga are accessible through other social networking sites such as MySpace, Mobile and Yahoo (Zynga: Games, 2011 ). As proffered by Helft (2010), the mechanics for the social game is explained as follows: in FarmVille, its most popular game, players tend to virtual farms, planting and harvesting crops, and turning little plots of land into ever more sophisticated or idyllic cyberfarms. Good farmers — those who don’t let crops wither — earn virtual currency they can use for things like more seed or farm animals and equipment. But players can also buy those goods with credit cards, PayPal accounts or Facebook’s new payment system, called Credits. A pink tractor, a FarmVille favorite, costs about $3.50, and fuel to power it is 60 cents. A Breton horse can be had for $4.40, and four chickens for $5.60. The sums are small, but add up quickly