peer pressure
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This is the Modem World: You Use THAT?
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. That's what she said to me. "You use THAT?!" she repeated, pointing at my humble iPhone 4. "Is that even a 4S?" she stepped back as she glanced for backup. "Aren't you some techie?" her friend joined in. I felt like I had been caught with my pants down. I had to prove my tech worthiness to these girls. I had a reputation to protect.
The Daily Grind: What game do you feel bad about liking?
When we were young, all of us had one or two bands that we liked that we never talked about with our friends. After all, if you were listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden with your friends, they probably wouldn't look all that kindly upon your affection for Boyz II Men. But even then, you can't always help what you like. The same goes for MMOs, which are halfway to being social cliques in and of themselves. Maybe you would really like to feel indignant at Star Trek Online's handling of the franchise but enjoy the gameplay. Perhaps you want to be too cool and jaded to like World of Warcraft but you have too much fun with the game to manage that. Hey, you might even really like EVE Online for its PvE content but be embarassed to say it. We all have games we play or have played for reasons other than the game itself, and this is the inverse -- you like the game, you just don't usually want to mention it. What game do you really like that you kind of wish you didn't?
The Daily Grind: If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?
How many times did we hear that growing up? Peer pressure is a powerful thing, but when it comes to the allure of a new MMO, it may take on a whole new meaning. Let's say you've had a favorite game that you've been playing for years now with a steady group of friends. A shiny new game comes along and those friends all want to check it out, and they're begging you to join them. The problem is, you love your current game and have already invested so much time and energy into getting your characters exactly the way you want them!So what do you do? Do you grudgingly follow your friends to this new game, even if you know you won't enjoy it? Is it really so much about staying in the group that you're willing to endure crappy game mechanics for the comaradarie of friends? Maybe the new game actually turns out to be much more fun anyway! Let us know if you've ever faced this situation and how you dealt with it.
Double-sided headphones, Popular Mobile software keeps you cool
Sure, there's a bevy of ways to effectively conceal the real you while out and about in public places, but Alice Wang's new lineup of Peer Pressure conquerors let you utilize surrounding technologies to boost your self-esteem (and your image). If you're not already rockin' the iPod suit to work, and don't want your cubicle buddies to overhear faint whispers of "Everybody Hurts" in the background, the two-sided headphones are for you. They play that sad, sad song into your ears, but emit a (presumably positive) song of your choice outwardly, giving everyone around you good vibes while you're down on your luck. Next up, the Popular Mobile software sporadically and continuously sends you fake text messages in order to show off just how popular you are whilst in a group of higher-ups, and while we're not sure if each message come pre-programmed with fortune cookie taglines, it's a surefire way to flaunt your appeal. Additionally, Alice has designed the Fast Typing Keyboard in order to make your office mates think you can crank out 120 words per minute, and the Positive Printer helps printer snoopers discover awfully amazing things about you that the upbeat software spits out. Of course, we're not expecting these admittedly handy creations to make their way into Office Depot anytime soon, but we'd love to be proven wrong.[Via NOTCOT]
