So, I looked at skyrimfansite.com/ and the main page didn't really contain external hyperlinks so I clicked on one of the internal links that led me to a page that contained articles. In one of the articles about the effects of gaming their was two in-text hyperlinks that led to two different news websites containing articles of a similar subject. These links were only related by the general topic of gaming and not by Skyrim specifically. The point of these links is to provide a connection to Skyrim on a larger scale of relate-ability by comparing the specific game of Skyrim to the broader topic of gaming in general. These links put a spin on the fan site that I think is interesting. Usually, fan sites are devoted to fan worship of a piece of culture. However, the links on the skyrimfansite.com website create a narrative that promotes intelligent and responsible gaming. The website even encourages viewers to consider various news articles by making the hyperlinks embedded directly into the article that is being read. In addition, the links are in red and underlined, a feature that makes them stick out even further.
There is another group of hyperlinks on just about every page of the fansite linking users to the various forms of social media for the skyrimfansite. These links are such things as facebook, twitter, pinterest and youtube. The links all directly relate to skyrim fandom. Namely, Pinterest is liked to the fansites memes and Youtube is linked to the fan site videos. By linking to Youtube, the website allows users to see not only videos that they personally endorse but also any other skyrim video that Youtube's site suggests. The Facebook and Twitter links expand the experience of the relationship because they allow the users to share the site and their fandom with their friends. Not to mention, the links are encouraged to be used by placing them on every page, right at the top, and are visually appealing because of their easily recognizable logos.
Finally there is a group of links in the sidebar that take viewers to product sites. The links are directly related to skyrim because the links are to sites that are selling Skyrim based gear and products. These links add the obligatory connection to consumerism, to put it bleakly. On the other hand, it shows that the fan-site wants to recommend additional ways for viewers to participate in the game other than just playing it. These links are probably the most appealing because they are of a skyrim based picture or product with a small amount of accompanying text. They are also comparatively large in size when looking at the social media icons.
Articles that promote intelligent and responsible gaming -- that's pretty interesting. I wonder how common that is on fan sites, or if it suggests that Skyrim players might be more mature or introspective than Grand Theft Auto gamers...
ReplyDeleteIt looks like linking people to different types of social media and consumerism for the sake of adding diversity to the customer's experience is a very common thing, because that's how it was on my chosen website, too. That's one of the big differences between the consumer market today and twenty years ago. Businesses have the chance to further envelop their customers into their product from different directions.
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