احسان شاه قاسمی

The integration of the internet with digital games has catalyzed significant transformations in the production, distribution, and consumption within the gaming industry. A notable catalyst in this evolution is the advent of live-streaming platforms, particularly Twitch. This study employs qualitative meta-analysis to scrutinize 19 scientific studies, aiming to synthesize a comprehensive interpretation of Twitch's role and influence in the digital gaming arena. Our analysis reveals Twitch's multifaceted impact: it is a driving force in the digital economy, facilitating new job creation, diverse revenue streams for industry participants, and a fertile ground for innovation and ideation. Twitch has revolutionized the landscape for game designers, producers, and developers, fostering independence and enhancing the quality and quantity of independent game productions. Moreover, it extends the lifespan of games in the market, resurrects interest in older titles, and assists consumers in making informed purchasing decisions. Importantly, Twitch serves as an educational platform, offering insights into specialized gaming industry skills, including design and programming. These roles and functions position Twitch as a pivotal player in the dynamic and burgeoning digital gaming industry.

Synopsis Although research has shown that nowadays we are less likely to have a lifelong love partner, the media industry has increasingly incorporated 'love' as a guarantor of success for media products of all kinds. My argument is that, in order to sell more, the media industry has constructed a false notion of love. Worse than that, we the audiences have adopted this notion; since this is a false construct, many people have come up with unrealistic expectations of their love life. The results can be seen in the ever-increasing rate of divorce. I argue that we need something that I would call "love literacy" to appropriately respond to one evolutionary intention that exists in all of us.

When the war broke out in Ukraine, this eastern European country started a successful resistance that pinned down the Russian army in many regions and created a stalemate that has sparked a war of attrition not only in Ukraine, but also on social media territories in other political spheres. This study investigates the way in which Ukraine war is represented -or to be more precise, fought- in the Iranian X. Data mining methods were employed to search, find and extract posts including “Ukraine war” -or “جنگ اوکراین” in Persian. Our main question was, how did Iranian X users position themselves with regard to war in Ukraine? Using Python, a popular social media research tools, 2027 relevant posts were extracted to show the way in which Iranian users position themselves with regard to Ukraine war. Results revealed that the two Iranian main political factions  -namely Reformists and Fundamentalists- see this war not as a war of other countries, but that of their own. The pro-Western Reformists favor the Ukrainian side of the war and the pro-Eastern Fundamentalists favor the Russian side of the war. They fight on social media as though the Ukrainian war is their own war.