Topic 5

Question 1:
The many faces of me.
Ok, to attempt an exhaustive list is a bit daunting but here with the major ones:
CSU (unified login)
Facebook
Skype
Email accounts
News webiste subscriptions
This blog (it's a Google login, so it extends to several other domains)
Steam (unified online games provider)

Do I practice multiple identities?
No. I have no interest in pretending to be something I'm not. As someone with a keen interest in existential philosophy, I can't say I'm that attached to the one identity I do practice :-P
What differs from community to community online is quantity of information I share. I've stated this before in earlier posts that Facebook holds the most information I'm prepared to divulge online and even that could be considered somewhat candid by some standards. For all other accounts it's usually the bare minimum that they ask for. This blog has been a bit of an exception, I put up a photo of myself.

What does it or should it not say about me?
Everything apart from my Facebook account is worksafe. I don't feel like I have a point to make through social commentary or a burning need to publicize an interest in genital piercings (that was hypothetical, for the record). So my online presence for the most part has been quite transparent. Even the content of my Facebook account is far from truly offensive (with consideration to which culture you're from and what actually offends you. A picture of me eating a ham sandwich is offensive in some cultures).

I do like to write a lot don't I?....
Anyway, I continues!

Question 2:
A social architect is the person responsible for engineering the foundations of a social network. They are the ones who establish what will happen and how it will happen. What actually happens usually exceeds the expectations of a social architect but they are the ones who get the ball rolling.

Who could go past world of warcraft for this one.
Objective: Level your avatar through the skills provided to you and by interacting with the social network of other people leveling their avatars. There are many secondary things you can do, including professions where you make and sell items or offer services to other players. But these all serve to assist in the advancement of your character level. Once level capped the quest for better equipment begins. In questing for better equipment you are forced into participating with 9+ other players to venture into team oriented dungeons. Which brings us to:
Rules of engagement:
The basic communication rules that permeate all other social networks apply here. Be polite and civil, no abuse or harassment. It's possible to report issues to in game moderators if there is a breach but the ques for attention can be so long that it's only worth bringing really serious issues to their attention.
Where the evolution of rules of engagement has really shone is in individuals capacity to organise themselves into groups to achieve tasks. All manner of class based techniques have come into existence that were never documented as a part of the original game. These instances of new rules have been picked up by the architects which I will now elaborate on.
The social architects here:
The game developers are constantly running the game through an evolutionary life cycle. From the start the grouping features provided were a meeting stone that you clicked on and it would randomly group you with other players. Now the feature has evolved to the point where you can interact with a database of players and their stats to assemble the most appropriate party you need.

Left 4 Dead
Because I like games...
Seriously though, Left 4 Dead is an online zombie killing shooter game.
The objective is simple, get to the end of the campaign alive using the resources provided. Simple?
Rules of engagement:
Don't shoot your teammates for one.
There are a lot of communication features built into this game that have made fast communication easy and efficient. There is even a voice over IP component that allows players to communicate vocally.
While playing the game there are a lot of unwritten co-operative rules that you learn as you play. Like rescuing your teammates when they're tangled with zombies, or healing them with a medkit to sharing supplies.
Unique features:
Left 4 Dead is run exclusively out of a meta-gaming program called Steam. Steam is a social network unto itself for gamers to form relationships with each other across games. The game itself really fosters a strong bond between you and your teammates by characterizing the avatars really well and by really making you care for them. You want to see them succeed. The urgency and companionship that accompanies it builds real relationships with real people. A lot of my friends play this game on a regular basis with the same group. None of them have ever met in person.
The social architect:
I have a great deal of respect for the architects behind Steam and games like Left 4 Dead. They really know what they're doing when it comes to online communities as they have been responsible for developing on of the biggest distributors of online games in recent years. They have made it cheap and easy and are ALWAYS listening to feedback and they make real changes in good time at no cost to the end user. It's a work ethic we don't see enough of to be honest.