Off the map, and over the edge. A Rationale

The online exhibition appealed to me because it allowed me correlate information and image on something that I was both knowledgeable and passionate about. The topic of focus that I chose to pursue was the Sims community, and more specifically the “economy” that exists within the community.

I chose to pursue the sims as my central topic because of its prominent online following and prominent network, information is both accessible and easily correlated. The community is something that, although never directly involved in, I am also knowledgeable about beyond the basis of downloading and uploading content. Furthermore the monetization of creator content and the outright war that surrounds it is both a topical (within the community) and a fascinating concept that I felt was capable of being presented in the form of an online ‘library’ or ‘gallery.’

In terms of presentation the website appealed to me the most, over a blog or something of a similar format, because of html’s full creative capabilities. I felt that a website and the process of html would also allow me to explore this semester’s teachings without any restriction or constraint. It was also a the format I felt most appropriate for my work, due to the fact that a blog is a representation of personal opinion while I wanted to take a more omniscient and open sided approach to the topic.

Html and CSS acted as the main foundations and technical process in the construction of my project. Coding was completed by hand through the use of the text editor PS Pad , whilst graphics were created with Adobe Photoshop CS2. To me the general aesthetic of my website was important because aesthetic plays an incredibly large role within the sims community. Content is created to acquire a specific style in game, the appeal of creators largely lie in the aesthetic they present and the generally sim-based websites are largely graphic based.

The bare visual of the website, that is the black “L” shaped sidebar to footer, was creating with CSS styling. The html ‘Iframe’ or inline frame, also played a prominent part in the success of my layout. Basically the inline frame allows linked content to appear within a set box. If you observe my website, the main content box is an inline frame, there is also an inline frame placed within the sidebar.

Tutorials such as: this were referenced during the construction of my layout. They were mainly utilized as a reference to code or means of research into maximizing my own use of the code, such as finding an easier way to achieve a specific effect. A specific example of this is the ‘float’ element for creating separate ‘blocks’ and co-existent, as opposed to the use of a html table. Class and ID were also a prominant feature of my layout.

Another part of my technical process was interlinking the wider web, or network with my page through the use of APIS and yahoo pipes. Flickr (a slide show created with this resource) was specifically utilized to provide my website with a broader and unbiased or unedited “gallery” function. Feed Informer was also used with my process to manage feeds independently and put them into html code. It was important to establish a dynamic link into to the sims community to demonstrate both the use of the blog as a host for content and the nature of the internet network. I believed that this could best be established with a several of my favourite creators RSS feeds.

In a cultural context, online communities are a prominent part of the internet culture. The online community exists to support an interest or hobby, whether that be videogames, films, or a figure of popular culture. Within the context of the sims community, the game and its creative tools are just another method of self expression or art. The culture that surrounds the sims community is based on creative freedoms, which is ultimately not endorsed by paysites. The simmers thus have taken on an anti-paysite attitude. Paysites Must be Destroyed(PMBD) is the central hub for paysite protest to occur, it is at the very centre of the community “economy” because it ultimately attempts to abolish it.

My site is ultimately a tamer and more passive observation of the concept, little sites explore the issue of paysites and free sites with a overall view and without assuming a side. I responded to the cultural community ideal that “paysites” are bad through the use of a website to correlate my information. Websites, unlike the forum are not places of direct interaction. I found with the forum, direct interaction disallows one to establish an objective opinion on the matter. This is particularly dominate with PMBD who only promote the destruction of paysites (and thus believe all paysite content to be rubbish), and flame any member with a dissimilar point of view.

As I previously stated, the culture of the sims community is largely art based. Thus the design patterns that exist within it are largely aesthetic. One design pattern that I incorporated into my layout was the large, and colourful banner. Within the community a large banner is used in forums, blogs and sites as a means of promoting the content that the site contains. Banners are largely colourful (though that varies with the theme of the website, or content that the website offers) and assume a decent portion of the page. This can be observed both Here and Here.

I constructed my layout to also follow some of the universal web patterns in website design.

This included:
> The logo of the site linking back to the home page.
> The use of a banner as the header for the page.
> The side bar and side bar menu being situated on the left hand side of the page.
> A footer, and footer links.
> A copyright notice in the footer
> A main scrolling, content frame.

Overall and in conclusion, a community cannot exist without the network that links it. We are capable of gaining so much more through what the interconnectivity of the web, such as APIs. Our webbing experience is enhanced by such things, as they allow us to learn more with a single click. I have learnt that websites require patience, html requires even more and without the network, the sims would be a heck of a lot more boring to play.