Web 2.0 - The Machine is Us/ing Us
With full credit to Kim Pallister's blog for pointing it out, I wanted to share a great video that summarizes the evolution of the web and explains quite succinctly what all this "Web 2.0" stuff is about. Web 2.0 is a pretty over-burdened phrase these days, to the point where it's almost assumed to be a buzzword. Spend a minute and watch... I think you'll see there's some substance here.
The big change is just as the video says: we're moving to a world where data is no longer tied to form and structure, and can be used in ways never before intended. You've all seen Google Maps mashups, right? That's just the tip of the iceberg. Think about what starts happening when "Web 2.0" concepts become a part of your gaming world. Imagine a world where tips to the section of the game you're playing are a button-press away, thanks to the game exposing metadata about where you are. What if you as users were creating that content? Or imagine being able to find interesting "content" (purposely using a very general word here) based upon ratings and rankings of your peers? And what happens when you add in the ability to rank and rate the feedback of those peers, and hence get a better sense of the value of the contributors opinion?
There will be some rough spots (as Penny Arcade so aptly captures below), but on the whole I'm super-excited about the next five years as we look ahead at bringing gaming and gaming features to the online community. Live Anywhere is just the tip of the iceberg....