Review of Digg and Reddit

These two sites function the same; they provide a feed of user submitted content, which are then voted by the people if it is popular or not. However, it would seem as though that they cater to different audiences.

Infographic from 2010: http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/27/digg-reddit-infographic/

Reddit has registered users submit links or a text post, then other users can vote it up or vote it down, which is the ranking system for the post. This rank will determine the position of the post on the page. Registered users can customize what is on their personal front page by subscribing to individual reddits through a page that shows all reddits available. The look is relatively simple, with a tiny thumbnail at most for images. There are also "promoted" posts which are sponsored by companies that show up on top. Based on the infographic, their main type of postings are images, and then reposts from Reddit.

Pros:

• Simple site layout
• Sponsored link easily noticeable and always on top of page

Cons:

• Maybe looks too simple
• Too many subtopics on the top of page that new users may not know what the term is
• Hot pages show up first, not most recent
• Controversial tab is a hit or miss

Digg also has registered users submit links/text posts, and other users can vote up or vote down. Digg shows the most recent post first, but only after it hits a certain number of up votes (to weed out the spam posts). This doesn't determine the position on the page, but if a story has enough up votes, it can be moved to the "Hot Stories" (which only lists 5 on the front page) or "Top News" (which lists 10) section on the page. The look is more sophisticated than Reddit, and most of the posts include a thumbnail image as well. There are also promoted posts, however it is sorted within the recent news, but it is noticeable with a yellow bar showing "Sponsored by ___."

Pros:

• Sophisticated site layout
• Sponsored link easily noticeable
• Shows most recent posts with enough up votes first
• Shows hot stories and top news stories on the front page as well as recent.

Cons:

• Sponsored link is sorted within the links, so it is less noticeable than Reddit's sponsored link.
• When clicking on a story, it goes to the site with Digg's toolbar up top, no option to automatically skip it.
• Much more new front link pages compared to Reddit.

Sakuracon 2012

Sakuracon was a convention that took place on April 6-8. It featured many professionals from the anime industry, as well as musical performances from Stereopony, Moi dix mois, and Kanon wakeshima. In my opinion, the event was amazing, and entertaining. There was a lot of stuff to buy at the exhibitor's hall, tons of talented artists at artist's alley, and the performances were the best in my Sakuracon-going years. I also got a chance to take a picture with the band Stereopony, got a few autographs, and even had a picture drawn for me from the artist who drew the Toradora manga. I also had a playmat done by a couple of artists in Artist's Alley.

I have talked/interviewed with a few people on their thoughts about this year's Sakuracon. They all generally thought that this year was the largest Sakuracon, mainly because the exhibitor's hall / Artist's Alley size doubled from last year. Some people complained about the exhibitor's hall, saying that the items seemed to be more expensive than last year. The new rule pertaining autograph signings had mixed reactions as well. Some liked it, because it gave them incentive to go to the person's Q&A section. Others hated it because of the same reason - they had things that went on during the same time the Q&A was, so they could not get a priority ticket.

Those that went to the concerts had both good and bad things to say:

Stereopony:

The good: They started on time (which was a first for me at Sakuracon), played extra songs that went overtime, had anime videos for the songs that were in the anime played, had a good encore.

The bad: Some early technical issues (feedback from the mic)

Kanon Wakeshima:
The good: The concert showed her talents with the cello as well as her vocal range.

The bad: Started almost an hour later than scheduled. Even though Kanon Wakeshima is being produced by Mana (a member of Moi dix Mois), it doesn't seem like the right time of opening act for Moi dix Mois.

Moi dix Mois:

The good: They knew how to get the crowd pumped up. They performed songs better live than on album.

The bad: It started during the Kanon Wakeshima autographs, so people that wanted to go to both had to miss the beginning of the Moi dix Mois concert as well as not being able to go up front to the 'mosh' pit.

Another thing that bothered people was the fact that you could not even have your phone out and on during the Kanon/Moi concerts. If the staff saw a person with a phone on, they got a warning or escorted out.

People also mentioned that Steve Blum was an awesome person for staying 3+ hours after schedule to do autographs for the people who waited in line.

Stereopony:

Kanon Wakeshima:




Moi dix Mois:

People and Visual Novels

I find it a bit odd that visual novels are such a niche thing in the States. They are essentially those "Choose your own adventure" books from when we were kids, except that each "choice" is fleshed out into a cohesive and immersive plot. There is something that visual novels do well to capture each emotion and moment, and that is adding the audio and visual parts. The music in each visual novel I have played is amazingly well-done and it fits the mood with each scene. A few examples will be shown at the end of this post.

There are animations, but by no means does this make this an anime or a long movie. The story is within the text of the novel; the animations just enhance the words. For example, when a character feels mad or sad, you can see it on the screen, instead of just saying "she sighed" or "he smiled."

It might have to do with how the majority of the population equate visual novels with porn or the like. However this is far from the truth. While some novels have explicit scenes, the ones that do are always marked as 18+. There are visual novels that are meant for all ages, and even some are directed towards the female population.

It is weird, because I would have to say a lot of American gamers have played some sort of visual novel before. Games like Mass Effect - if you take out the FPS elements, then you have a 3D visual novel. Same with Catherine, if the puzzle pieces were taken out. It might also have to do with the culture in that we are so tend to pull the trigger finger so fast, and not take in the satisfaction of patience and "the path to the end."

However, for those interested, I recommend Clannad (for romance), the Higurashi no naku series (for a psychological, mystery, horror), or Steins;Gate (sci-fi, thriller). The art is usually well-drawn, the music is incredible, and the storylines are really immersive.

Song of Saya from the visual novel Saya no Uta (horror, mystery):





The opening song from the visual novel CHAOS;HEAD (Psychological, sci-fi, cyberpunk):





The opening song from the visual novel ReWrite (Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance):





The opening song from the visual novel Steins;Gate (sci-fi, thriller):

About Me

Started up this blog recently, for the INFO 498 class at UW (Social Media), and this is my post describing me and what I do.

I'm Andy and I go to the University of Washington, studying Informatics. On my spare time, I am in the Pen and Paper Gaming club, subbing foreign videos, and trying to create a visual novel. I am currently in a D&D 3.5, Star Wars, and a Shadowrun campaign, while running my own Pokemon Tabletop Adventures campaign (or a test run). As for the videos I sub, they are generally Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. Here is one of my videos:

As for the visual novel I am working on, it is very early in the development process, since school is my number one priority. I was inspired by novels like Saya no Uta, Clannad, and the Higurashi series. It always interested me how visual novels capture both the movie and novel experiences and present them in a way that is immersive.

Clannad: