No matter how much we all complain about the quality of today's programmes, after a long day of sitting at the computer most of us would prefer to shut it off and then collapse on the couch. We use the TV remote control to escape bad programmes. The object is to find something good and toss the remote aside. It's just an electronic TV listing. The best examples of networked entertainment I've seen are interactive gaming sites.
Players can log on to networks and play with or against one another.
Most of these sites allow players to chat with one another. If Hollywood hopes to venture into networked entertainment, its developers must think of themselves more as the hosts of parties than the providers of content. Douglas Rushkoff has written extensively on the Internet, pop-culture, cyber culture, media and technology. He serves as a technology and culture consultant to the United Nations Commission on World Culture, and has lectured at Harvard and Princeton. Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture .