Tweet Nothings
by Lee
Pop culture will eat itself
Twitter’s great, seriously it is. Chances are you’re probably reading this as a result of following a link on twitter, and if you think “that was pretty good” you might post something on twitter to tell others. Although you’re kind of going to have to now or my whole point will have been for nothing. It’s changed a lot of things – how big news stories break, how new movies fare at the cinema during the opening weekend, how businesses both small and large interact with customers. There’s one thing that it’s really changed that nobody ever talks about – gaming. It’s now a main part of gaming culture and, until I sat down to try and think of something to write about for this post, I hadn’t even realised it myself.
I’ll throw up a few examples for you. Since I started this my good friend Dizz has rented a copy of Bayonetta, lordmuttley started playing Fable 2 and me and Dave (the only one of the above I have ever actually met – I say met, we work together) are discussing a problem he has and not for the first time.
It is quite possibly the best extension of your Xbox/psn/WoW/whatever friends list you can have. Early Xbox 360 adopters like myself will remember a time where you’d spend an evening playing Burnout Revenge, meet a vast array of people from different places around the world or all different ages, it was Xbox live as advertised! You’d have a good time with none of the hate that Vic discussed in his last post. After that night the majority of those people new people you accepted friends requests from would become nothing more than another name on the list, you would just keep them on there out of politeness (some of mine are still there now) and you wouldn’t interact with them again. Now you can do that and make some really good friends, you can learn what they think about games they like, what they haven’t played and whether games you never bothered with are worth playing. Truth be told, there are gamers that I talk to a lot on twitter but haven’t actually gamed with. It’s like being a member of a forum but without having to worry about where you post a topic, or the troll who thinks that if he sucks up to enough people he will one day be granted the power of the moderator and people will actually read what he says and engage in conversation. If I’m completely honest it’s one of the reasons why I stopped posting on forums, I just didn’t see the need anymore.
Tweeting whilst driving can seriously damage your health
Being a gamer is becoming more socially acceptable (even though I wish it wasn’t – I’ll perhaps cover this at a later date). Which is one thing the Wii has given us I suppose, but being one of the “core” can still be a little bit much for some people. They’ll look at you like you’re from another planet when trying to have a discussion about where the locusts came from in Gears Of War or trying to guess the plot of Mass Effect 2 before it’s even out. Stuck on a game? Don’t waste your time Googling it, reading the Gamespot where some poor soul has reached out and asked the same question only to be called an rtard by 23 different people. Just post it up on twitter and as a loose rule you’ll have an answer within 5 mins.
So if you’re a gamer and not on twitter its worth joining up, there’s loads of us all ready to talk gaming rubbish all day long.
Last five articles by Lee
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Twitter and gaming make strange bedfellows. In all honesty, Twitter itself is a strange beast. But it is so addictive. What can you shoot out into the ether in 140 characters? I love it and how developer-friendly it is. If you know your way around API’s, you can build an automated Twitter feature into any website. And let people know via automated Tweets what it is, that you are doing.
And just to let you know that you are on the ball, I pimped your article via Twitter. Welcome to the family.
Welcome, Lee
I’ll admit, I had never really linked Twitter and gaming too much, but asking for help with a tricky problem is probably a great idea. It is certainly perfect for updates and shout outs, though the character limit may be vexing for extensive game advice…*imagines someone typing…go left…okay, now go right…* 
Good stuff!
It’s another extension of the community arm, where as once we were confined to forums or within a game world itself, we now have the likes of Twitter to not only discuss games, but to keep up to date with them too. It’s my discussion boards, news room and RSS feed all rolled into one – love it
” Chances are you’re probably reading this as a result of following a link on twitter”
I did.
” if you think “that was pretty good” you might post something on twitter to tell others.”
I shall.
thanks for your kind words guys,
theres a couple of differnt ways we could tie this site into twitter too, I shall jot them into an email and send um to the boss, one thing i think i did miss is that if anybody likes you can follow me on twitter @justbiglee and the gaming lives twitter username is @gaminglives for fans of the site in general.
I’m ashamed that, as a geek of the highest order, I have never tweeted and never subscribed to a twitter. It makes me feel all empty inside, and just a little bit dirty. I may actually contact Geek HQ and see if they want to revoke my status or remove some points.
If you need me… I’ll be immersing myself in twitter to see what’s what
Don’t worry MarkuzR, Twitter’s rubbish anyway
you’ll have to let us know your user name Mark
[...] you can go read the end now over at Gaminglives [...]
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by verflucht: Do you want to know @justbiglee’s thoughts on how Twitter has affected gaming? Check out his blog over here. http://tinyurl.com/y9fpnmn…
I’ve been giving Twitter another go but I never warmed to it. I’m a Facebook gal but I can see the potential of Twitter in that FB I’d like to keep as close friends mainly or people from “real life”, so it’s a safe place to moan, post pics etc. Twitter could be more open and impersonal. I shall send some form of Tweet thing to you Lee