Ok, folks, don’t forget, Essay # 2 is DUE on Monday, October 27th. Please have read the following assignment for discussion in class:
- “Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked”
- “Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression”
You should always be sure to print out the readings and bring them to class to refer to during conversations and any in-class writing responses you might be asked to do.
For Wednesday, October 29th, please read: Cowlishaw, Brian. “Playing War: The Emerging Trend of Real Virtual Combat in Currrent Video Games” (385-398). Common Culture Reader.
For this assignment, you have one of two choices for a response, as listed below. CHOOSE ONE and respond to any set of questions listed under each choice:
CHOICE ONE: Play a video game (either one you rent, one you or a friend already have, or go to a video game outlet), play it for a while, and then discuss, in your blog response how it reflects issues of gender, class, ethnicity, or culture.
Below are sets of questions — choose ONE set to respond to:
- If you chose a game with people in it, think about the following: consider the
roles: were the people in the game baseball players, boxers, soldiers, etc.? What about ethnicities? What ethnicities did you identify? Who seems to have what role? – what color or gender, for example, are the “bad guys”?
Who is the hero of the game? What did these people look like? – fat, skinny, muscular, tall, short . . . and what roles did each play? And how does any of this reflect popular or contemporary ideas around race, class, and/or gender? - What was the goal of the game? To kill all your enemies? To get the gold? To win the race? What obstacles did you have to overcome in order to move from level to level or to win the game? How might any of this reflect contemporary culture (our ideas about success, what it takes to win, the “American” story or ideal, etc.)? In what ways was the game NOT like life?
- In what ways was the game totally fantasy-like or had elements that were not at all realistic of modern society? Perhaps these elements were of a past that no longer exist. And if so, how might that reflect a particular set of ideas in today’s culture; and if so, what?
CHOICE TWO: Answer any one set of the following questions:
- According to Cowlishaw, what is the relationship between realistic war
games and first-person shooter (FPS) games? In what ways are they similar and/or different? Why do you think the author takes the time to discuss the differences between real and virtual experiences? What relevance does his discussion about virtual vs. real life experiences have on popular culture? - Cowlishaw argues that video war games seek to mimic the “cinematic” experience of war. Why do you think video game producers do this? What does this suggest about popular culture?
- There has been a lot of debate around whether violent video games negatively influence children and young adults. How do you feel about this? Make an argument either way — and be sure to support your argument with logic and examples.
For Friday, October 31st, please read: “Borg Journalism” (pp 407-418) in Common Culture and be prepared to discuss in class.
Monday, November 3rd: NO CLASS / check blog for assignment for Wednesday, Nov. 5th.
18 responses so far ↓
kcrumb // October 27, 2008 at 10:25 am |
I’ve selcted choice one and chose to select the 1st set of questions.
When people think of the shooter genre of video games one of the first games that may come to mind is Halo. Halo is a Sci-Fi action packed shooter that shows much of Modern American culture. A little background on Halo, the first game of the trilogy came out in 2001 and the sequal three years later in 2004 and the third one three years after that in 2007. The “hero” of the game is the indestructable and mysterious Master Chief. A “Spartan” for the Earth’s Space fleet, Master Chief never reviels his face in the game and has generic hero lines. In the game, earth is at war with an allien confederation known as the Covenant. The game really doesn’t explain why they are fighting but in the game most of the fighting revolves around “Halo’s”. These Halo’s are planets that have these ancient rings that can completely destroy life in the universe in order to prevent the “Flood”, a parasitic race from infecting the universe. The Convenant believes these rings will send them on a journey to this perfect realm while the humans just doesnt’ want to be wiped off the face of the universe.
The game shows the ehtinicities of white, black, and hispanic soldiers. These marines in the game are basic artypes of what the culture see’s of modern soldiers. Which is that the lower class tends to be the infantry and they are loud but couragous. The culture that is less obvious is the Covenant. Although, they are alliens in the game, the Covenant have many parallels to the culture of the Catholic and Islamic churches. The hierachy of the race is that the leaders are religous prophets and you have the leading warriors the Elietes. The bulk of the Covenant’s force are the lower class grunts and jackals that are less equip as the Elietes. The Cathlotic Church have a similar hierachy with the Pope and bishops in charge. THe knights of the midevil period were very similar to the Elietes and the grunts and jackals are no different from the surfs forced to fight. The covenant also has high values of honor like the Islamic church and niether take failure very softly. Like both church’s, the Covenant emphasis’s on the view of “convert or kill all infadels”. Since the Covenant is the enemy in the game, it is easy to conclude the message that these ideals of the Covenant are outdated and corrupted. Fighting the Covenant is almost a cultural message of the newer generation saying to these old religions that it’s time for some change.
This game can almost show every aspect of American culture. First off, the Earht’s military is structured based off the U.S. Navy and Marines. The game also shows the Americans constant hate of corruption. For example, in the 2nd game it is revealed that the prophets of the Covenant have been using the Elietes to destroy life in the universe by activating Halo and “Acending the believers to the promise land”. This shows the stereotypical view of Americans of the corruption of church’s and business that promise you one thing but is just one big fat lie. The hero of the game, Master Chief, is almost like any American Hero. He is mysterious, you never see his face and you don’t really know much about his past. He is generally quiet but has one liners. He is almost the ultimate bad ass that can wipe endless amounts of enimies without recieve a scratch. All these things are constant in the many heroes and protagonist in our culture. These characteristics show what Americans value, athletically fit, have a huge impact on thier society while at the same time no one really knows who they are, and most of all, can have catchy and whitty one liners.
ziazamir // October 28, 2008 at 8:21 pm |
I chose question one and chose to answer 2nd set of questions:
The game that I played, first of all, was Fifa 2008. It is a sport game, in which you choose teams and go against the other team. Therefore, the goal of the game is to outnumber the goals over the other team. However, if the game is tied till over the overtime, then their are penalty shootouts where one has to score the most penalty goals. In order to be succesful in this game, you have to be skillful. It all has to do with tactics. To get pass the defenders and then, shoot the ball in a spot where the goalie cant block the ball. First of all, this game is a lot like life, because life is not free-ride to being able to win. One needs to learn tactics and manuevers that will outsmart the opponent. It also represents the downside of life, when one person gets injured and can’t continue. It all has to do with fate. However, one could argue the other way. The reason is becasue, after all, it is just a soccer game. One might consider that since they have like turbo speed that is like unlimited, life is not like that. People dont have buttons that you just press for turbo how long you feel like to leave it. Another thing is that the game doesnt show the struggle before being able to play in the arena. This is what happens in most part of the life, school one could call it. To answer the question in the beginning about class, gender, ethnicity or culture, the game brings all the culutres and ethnicity together into one great game. For example, in one club team, manchester united, you have cristiano ronaldo from portugal, you have rooney from england, and you have carlos tevez from argentina. So, it brings together many cultures. It also brings advertisement. For example, on the side, you have adidas, nike, and other brands. In a cultural dispute in Spain, on the side you also have the letters of “say no to racism” which has been big issue in spain. Therefore, one could take this game as like opportunity or the American Dream where anyone from any country can rise up to do something great.
chkimi2 // October 28, 2008 at 8:28 pm |
Choice 1: First set of questions.
I chose to play the FPS game Counter-Strike Source. This game is really basic and simple. The goal of the game is to kill the other team (Terrorists –> Counter-Terrorists OR Counter-Terrorists –> Terrorists). I really don’t know if the character’s ethnicity are noticeable or not, because basically there are the counter-terrorists and the terrorists (Cops and bad guys). You can’t really tell what ethnicity the characters are in this game. The counter-terrorists look white and the terrorists look tan. The bad guys in this game are going to be different depending on what team you choose to be on. If you choose to be a counter-terrorist, the terrorists are the enemy, but if you join the terrorists, the enemy is the counter-terrorists.
The roles you play are different depending on the map you play on. The map I play on a lot is dust2. If you end up on the terrorist team, your role is to plant the bomb and successfully bomb the bomb site. If you end up on the counter-terrorists team, your role is to stop them from planting the bomb or diffusing the already planted bomb. All the characters are guys and are colored white or tan. They’re all skinny and walk funny. It was kind of lame how there are only guy characters and that all the counter-terrorists happened to be white while the terrorists were sort of tan and not white. This game kind of reminds me of the war that’s going on now, with the whole war on terrorism junk.
mxwilchek // October 28, 2008 at 8:45 pm |
alright so I picked choice 1:
The Game I played and I am reporting on: Assasin’s Creed for the Playstation 3!!!
The game is a role playing game (RPG) in which you play as a deadly assasin. The assasin you are is a white male. Through out the game there are african american assasins as well as arabic assasins. There are also old people in the game as elders usually. The white people are usually your assasin allies or assasin targets that you have to kill, and same thing for the african americans and arabic people. The old people are usually people you talk to for information. The taregets that you have to assasin range from different ethnicities, the game does not focus on one ethnicity.
The main hero of the game is a average young white male, I think this type of hero is suppose to be idealisitc to what some young white male people would like to be, which is a cunningly, deadly assasin.
The goal of the game is to find information through easdropping, pickpocketing and intimitating citzens to find information about who your target is, where he is and what he is. After knowing your target you are suppose to cunningly find him and kill him. Each kill brings you to a new level that introduces new killing moves as well as information about your past, which ultimatley is the key to winning the game.
Some obstacles that you must overcome is getting to the top of very tall buildings withoutalerting the guards. So you must sneakly scale buildings performing crazy jumps and swings to get to the destination.
I think this game game reflects contemporary culture by our idealist and imaginationary thinking, taking it to a whole new level; trying to accomplish goals using th abiltiy of an insaneloy trained gymnist. If anything the main way this game is not life like is some of the jump and swings the character usues to scale the tops of buildings. And also the fact where when he jumps from a 300ft building and lands in a wagon of hay, the character instad of dieing from the impact, but is saved like a feather.
Well the game took place (you could tell) in a midevil period, and I’m sure does have some historical backgrounds from social structure as well as archritectual and fighting techniques, but the idea of some of the assasins moves are just definelty fantasy-like. In a way I beleive idea such as the game holds are suppose be similiar as the ideas of what the ultimate ninja/assasin could do and basically they rolled all their ideas and formed this game.
Assasin’s Creed rated M for mature, definelty a fun game to try out and is recommended not by me but also be the great reviews.
bheflin // October 28, 2008 at 9:04 pm |
So I chose to be a nerd and respond to the article…homework esta no bueno.
There has been a lot of debate around whether violent video games negatively influence children and young adults. How do you feel about this? Make an argument either way — and be sure to support your argument with logic and examples.
The video game industry has thrived and grown significantly in the last decade. When video games were first sold to the public, the games were simple and, one could say, boring. From pong, to Pacman, the game presented a very simple goal to achieve with beginning graphics and special effects. But in the early 90’s, with the emergence of violent video games like Mortalk Kombat, the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) was created to place ratings on software titles. These ratings, very similar the MSRP movie ratings, range from E for everyone, to T for teen, to M for mature, and even the rare A for adult only.
The goal was to place warnings and standards on games so that both children and parents could understand what all was involved in the software title they were potentially purchasing. Eventually, games rated M for mature required ID saying that the consumer was 17 and up to be presented at the time of purchase. This was put in place to encourage older consumers to use the more mature and advanced titles.
After the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, many people raised alarm and investigaed the connection between playing violent video games and actual real-life violence and crimes. But to me, there a few reasons why I believe this claim that there is a direct connection is false.
First of all, it is a simple logical falacy. “post hoc ergo propter hoc.” Literally this means, “after this therefore because of this.” Essentially this means that because one thing happens after another, then that thing was necessarily caused by the thing that preceded it. So to apply this thinking to video games and real-life violence, the argument that violent video games creates feelings that result in real-life violence violates this falacy. It is saying that first came the video games, and then came the shootings. So because the shootings came after violent video games, then the violent video games necessarily caused the shootings. Clearly this is a logical falacy.
Second of all, I would argue from personal experience that even though those that have comitted violent acts in real life did play video games, the argument saying that there is a direct connection fails to take into account the fact that almost everyone, at least every teen and older, plays violent video games – and do not comitt real-life violent acts. The argument is focussing on a very very small minority, and applying to the population. The argument is making a blanket statement.
Thirdly, and finally, this argument does not hold water because I would argue that what is more of the factor in this issue of violent crimes is the background of the person and the setting in which he or she was raised. It is real life events and experiences that create feelings within a person more so than a video game. If one has a harsher upbringing, they could potentially feel more bitter towards life and people in general, and so it could potentially be the beginning of the path towards violence. It really doesn’t start with video games. They are just something that comes along the side of a person living his life.
apiccioni // October 28, 2008 at 10:03 pm |
Choice 2- first set of questions
Cowlishaw thinks that realistic war games are “specialized offshoots of a broader FPS genre.” FPS and realistic war games both try to recreate real-world battles. Although realistic war games tend to be more realistic than FPS games, both still have a lot of unrealistic qualities which Cowlishaw describes in the article. I think Cowlishaw takes the time to discuss the differences between real and virtual experiences because he believes that the two are beginning to blur together. Video games have become so realistic by adding things such as graphics and sound effects, that the players actually feel like they were really just involved in a war. I think Cowlishaw’s discussion about virtual vs. real life experiences has a lot of relevance on popular culture. Our generation, especially, has become obsessed with new technology, including advances in video games. More and more teenagers and young adults are playing video games which are having an effect on our culture, whether that be positive or negative is still to be proven.
ncicalese // October 28, 2008 at 10:43 pm |
I did the first choice and borrowed a game from a friend. I’m not really into video games like this so I thought it would be different to try it out. I played 007 Everything or Nothing. The characters were these agents and there were several different players you could choose from, male and female. I played with a friend so we played in the two-player co-op mode. Our characters were white females and they seemed to be wearing extremely tight clothing, something you wouldn’t expect someone fighting to wear. The bad guys were hard to identify because they were wearing baggy clothes that covered them up and hats to cover their heads. The female characters were slender while the male characters were muscular. An objective was given to you at the beginning of a level. The goal of the game was to complete each mission, but you had to kill any enemy that got in your way. Two player was exciting because you have to watch each others’ back, but it’s funny when you don’t know what you’re doing.. like me. We didn’t play very long, but we couldn’t even get past the second level. I wasn’t that surprised to see that you could be a woman, because, although men are more popular in this field, it is becoming more common to see women. It also wasn’t surprising to see that the men were muscular with no shirts on while the women were smaller with tight clothes on. These things are thought to be common contemporary ideas.
mikeb89 // October 28, 2008 at 10:43 pm |
Choice 1:
I chose to play a game called Fable 2 (which I already own). The game takes place in a fantasy world, most like an old English period of time. Many different kinds of people live in this world, such as peasants, nobles, bandits, shop owners, assassins, and much more. There are mostly white people in this game, but a closer look shows that there aren’t only white people in the game. There were all kinds, depending on where you were. There were black people and white people, but for the sake of the game there weren’t that many varieties other than that, seeing how the game is suppose to take place in an Old-English setting. The characters mostly stayed in whatever they were created to be, nobles lived in mansions and peasants stayed in the poor areas and wore clothing that was ragged. There are many different kind of bad guys in this game, wearing masks, bandanas, a very typical bandit type in the old times. Some wore cloaks, others wore different clothing, but they did not look much different than everyone else other then the clothing and weapons (and the fact they are trying to kill you).
There are many goals of this game, depending on what you want to do. You can buy every house and rent them out, you could get money, become the best at all the jobs, find the rarest kind of weapon, or go along with the story line quests. There are also mini games, an arena, socializing with the townspeople, and also a choice to be good or evil. The many actions you can choose determine whether you will be loved or feared. The obstacles included enemies, sometimes guards, or maybe a rival. This game might reflect contemporary culture by the many choices in the game that determine what happens later. There are many choices you can make in this game that determine what you will do later, and every action has consequences, and usually something that you give up. Also, success in this game is to get gold, become known by everyone, and become a hero (or a villain). In real life, success is viewed as having a lot of money, and being known as someone who is on the top of the food chain.
The game is mostly fantasy; there are many things that don’t exist in real life that happen in the game. For example, enemies include goblins, skeletons, giants, and gargoyles. Also there is magic used in the game, time stopping and fire throwing to help beat your enemies. There are also guns and swords, where they are both equal in damage, and shooting someone doesn’t kill them in one hit usually. But also, the game is realistic where there are people during this time. There are sales, failures, corruption, people who took advantage of you and took money, ect. This shows how much has changed since the olden times, how government and modern society has stopped most of the problems that the people living during this time had.
sadafh12 // October 28, 2008 at 11:17 pm |
I did the first choice second set of questions.
I played Gran Turismo 3 becuase I freaking LOVE cars. I played arcade 2 player battle with my sister and I KICKED HER BEHIND!! WOO. hahahahaha Anyway, the goal of the game was to win the race. And I did so 9 out of 10 times. My sister won the first race, beginners luck.
So anyway, I chose a yellow corvette as my car and tried all the different ways to use it. I usually played it on automatic and drift, or automatic and racing and once I did it one manual and racing and had no clue how to shift gears.
I think this relates to my own driving becuase I am a speed demon, especially on the road. That’s why I hate it when cops are around. I picked the fastest cars to find to ensure my victory in all the races. Also because my sister and I also tried to race with slow cars, that came to an end quickly when we realized we couldn’t stand racing with them. They barely accelerated.
This, however, is no where NEAR reality becuase we can’t just go out on tracks with really nice cars to race. and then I would occasionally crash into the walls/boundaries in the game (less than my sister though) and my car would stay unharmed. Also I would crash into my sisters car and we also played chicken with one of us going the wrong way.
When the races usually started I would manuever myself in front of my sisters car so she would not be able to pass me. I would do anything to win, even if it meant restarting the race if I felt that I wasn’t going to win. (although that was never the case) You can’t restart anything in real life. Haha I totally kicked some serious ass in this game. I love racing games!
snguyeng // October 28, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
In response to teh first question:
GunZ: The Dual
This game, GunZ: The Dual, is like a MMO with the Matrix (mass guns, grenades, running on walls) + swords and daggers + a 3rd person shooter view + and sort of like a RPG because it has quests. The people in the game are technically all white, probably because the makers were too lazy to make a vast character customization thing for this game, since it is free, either a white male or female. As you gain “Bounties” or money you earn after killing people, and leveling up, you are able to customize your character with various weapons for more killing or various clothing to have that “look” you want. Um, well, the enemy would practically anything and everything that moves on the screen usually. The game is set up into different games, either team or solo type games. For example, TDM (Team Death Match) you have to kill the entire other team to win before they kill all of your teammates. Or just normal Death Math where it is you by yourself against 3-15 other players in an all out mass chaos of guns, rockets, swords, and daggers. The people look like normal sized people? Not fat and not too skinny, just a normal average weight/size/height. Race and gender really don’t matter in this game, except that in sword fighting styles male and female are different. The different classes you can choose just give you different starting weapons.
The game is just like the matrix. This game is NOT like life, because we usually don’t use swords or daggers anymore in a real fight. Nor can we run on walls for an extended period of time, but we can do back flips off the walls. Only some people can actually run up the wall and do a front flip to land on top of it. The crazy matrix moves you can pull off in this game are technically close to or nearly impossible. Except some moves like the back flips off the wall, and tumbling while shooting guns. The game is just like the matrix.
This game probably reflects today’s culture just because most people like guns, and it seems like we’re always in a war. Yay? Shoot’em up first, ask questions later – Pew Pew Laser Beam Your Dead, kinda thing. Uh, and the idea of the things you could do in this game becoming real, would be freakin awesome!
namatirai // October 28, 2008 at 11:56 pm |
ok l was about to do the first choice then just decided to do the second because l didnt really understand what l was doing.
Q:There has been a lot of debate around whether violent video games negatively influence children and young adults. How do you feel about this? Make an argument either way — and be sure to support your argument with logic and examples.
In my own opinion l think video games are not bad at all.They provide entertainment for both young and old people.after a hard day a person can just sit down and relax whilst playing a video game.video games do not make a person violent just as one of the people said in the articles video games do not make you violent ,human nature and suceptibiliy do. l agree with them if a person does not have a human nature that is not violent then video games will not make him violent and the opposie is true. to some extent l have to admit video games can lead to violence.if a person is evil in nure and plays violent video games then this will develop the evil nature and as a result a person can become violent.not all video games are about violence .l guess he major disadvantge of he video games is that they canbecom addictive and led to poor management of time and lack of concentration.
namatirai // October 28, 2008 at 11:56 pm |
ok l was about to do the first choice then just decided to do the second because l didnt really understand what l was doing.
Q:There has been a lot of debate around whether violent video games negatively influence children and young adults. How do you feel about this? Make an argument either way — and be sure to support your argument with logic and examples.
In my own opinion l think video games are not bad at all.They provide entertainment for both young and old people.after a hard day a person can just sit down and relax whilst playing a video game.video games do not make a person violent just as one of the people said in the articles video games do not make you violent ,human nature and suceptibiliy do. l agree with them if a person does not have a human nature that is not violent then video games will not make him violent and the opposie is true. to some extent l have to admit video games can lead to violence.if a person is evil in nure and plays violent video games then this will develop the evil nature and as a result a person can become violent.not all video games are about violence .l guess he major disadvantge of he video games is that they canbecom addictive and led to poor management of time and lack of concentration.
ssinghq // October 28, 2008 at 11:58 pm |
I don’t know where my play station is..lol. So, I had to respond to the article.
Choice two:
According to Cowlishaw, what is the relationship between realistic war games and first-person shooter (FPS) games? In what ways are they similar and/or different? Why do you think the author takes the time to discuss the differences between real and virtual experiences? What relevance does his discussion about virtual vs. real life experiences have on popular culture?
Both realistic war games and first-person shooter (FPS) games have similarities as well as differences. Both try to recreate the full scale real-world battles. However, realistic war games are recent specialized offshoots of the broader FPS genre. There is a genealogical relationship between realistic war games and FPSs which means that realistic war games direct descent from FPSs. In FPS, one can’t see the actual person but his hands and weapons. However, in realistic games the actual person is visible. They both have highly original sound quality which makes them realistic to a point. I think that the author takes time to discuss about the differences between realistic war games and FPS because he thinks that they have blending into each other. His discussion on this topic definitely has relevance on popular culture. With the advancement in technology, more and more teenagers spend their time playing video games. They won’t do their homework but they will definitely play their favorite game for hours and hours. They are definitely moving away from studies due to video games. However, these games are useful to those in society who are going to serve in military to learn the required skills. Therefore, it has both good and bad sides. However, time would decide whether or not video games have improved our society.
awingfi1 // October 29, 2008 at 12:00 am |
I chose to answer the first set of questions, and im writing about game called fable for the xbox and computer.
The game is a RPG (role playing game) set in a medieval fantasy world where you determine what happens and its not nesascerily a set story. At the start of the game you are a young boy whose parents have just been killed, you then go to school and develop skills that determine what type of charcter you play as, after you leave the school you live out your life (getting older as the game progresses) going on adventures and missions trying to eventually uncover what happened to you parents.
In the game there are different ethnical races (caucasion, african american, asian) ethnicity doesnt really determine anything character wise in the game, pretty much everyone you encounter is someone who lives in a town, owners of shops and so on. The “bad guys” are all usually mythical races or thieves and bandits, most all are male though, which may be implying that women shouldnt fight, or arent seen as violent. Most all women in the game are also barmaids or just housewives, which is very common society stereotype about women, that they only serve and are at home wives and mothers. When it comes to physical appearences in the game they are fairly stereotypical poorly dressed people are usually commoners and low class, and the nicer the character looks the higher up they may be in the games society. Usually burlier or more muscular characters and the fighters or gaurds and blacksmiths. The skinnier or smaller the charcater the more likely they are to be a thief or just an every day person. Appearences in the game are very quick and easy way to determine what the person is in the game, wether it be high class low class, town police, workers, and so on.
The hero of the game is actually you and you determine what he looks like based on your gameplay, if u choose to eat alot it will result in your charcter bein fat, if you choose to build alot of strength you will appear muscular, if you do good deeds and actions you appear angel like, florescent, and develop a halo, where as if you choose to do evil deeds and comit illegal actions you become sickly with horns and demon like features. The path and choices you make in the game cause charcaters and other people in the game to react to you differently too, if your good theyll praise you want to help and talk, but if your evil theyll cower or run away and be afraid when you do talk to them. It also cause the police to think differently of you when they see you entering a city.
In the game in order to progress and complete it you have to do alot of things, find items, gain experience, you have to complete challenges such as races, solve puzzles, play mini games. You have to find money, or earn it by doing things for people, you can also sell items, once you have money you have to use it to make yourself look nice buy new and better equipment, you can even buy a house, which you can put up for rent to make more money in order to buy another one. On top of all that you also have to do the more stereotypical game things in order to progress like killing bad guys along the way to get items or complete missions. In a sense the game is very realistic to life in the way that you need money to advance and get things you need to advance, you also have to gain experience by practicing in the field in order to gain more knowledge to advance skill wise, these are all fairly true to real life, at the same time it has realistice attributes it also can be unrealistic in the whole fighting and killing your way through the world in order to achieve a goal.
There are several ways in which the game reflects modern society in the way that, there are cities with police and laws that when broken are punishable, there are also different classes of wealth among people in the cities. The way you dress, and keep your hair and body maintained and the way you act all also determine how people think of you, just like in real life. This game is a very good societal reflection just in a different environment, which is really one of the only reasons its to much different from actual society.
sohaiba // October 29, 2008 at 12:24 am |
I chose to write in response to the first set of questions, on a well-known video game “Half-life”
The characters are Ph.D and Doctorate scientists working in a research facility named “Black-Mesa” The administrator “Dr. Breen” is the only human enemy in the game, he is the first to run away when disaster strikes leaving the rest of the employees to rot. The ethnicity portrayed covers both white and black males with well-educated American accents. The “bad guys” are radioactive aliens created during the testing of a meteorite, also later on, the facility is put under strict quarantine and the military is called to exterminate all living beings in the facility including you. The personnel in the game were all of average stature wearing security jackets or lab coats, you can guess what their respective jobs were. The common stereotype displayed is that although scientists may be good at theory, they are no help in the field, and that the lab is no place for a girl.
The goal of the game is to make it out of Black Mesa alive. As far as killings go, use ammo only for survival, let bygones be bygones. The game tells a story, so it naturally progresses across a linear time line, the obsitcles may range to saving a group of scientists or security gaurds to getting past a massive alien using wits and raw courage. Valve, the game publishers, try to incorporate the vibe of the situation. They keep you so engaged in the story that you actually feel like you are the main character. When a “head crab” jumps onto the screen, it’ll freak you out. I recommend playing this with the lights down and the speakers cranked up.
The game is a sci-fi first person shooter, so the most unrealistic feature of the game is the sequence of events. Other than that, a common theme in that situation was every man for himself, no one thinks about anyone else, except for maybe you. Maybe this game has a message, maybe it asks you how caring, sensitive, courageous, or clever are you? Then again, maybe it was just a game made to satisfy the hardcore gamers preferences?
abigailchavez // October 29, 2008 at 2:19 am |
The game I enjoy playing is Wii Sports. The players in this game are tennis players, bowlers, boxers, and golfers, and baseball players. In this game, there is no predominant race. Wii Sports players appear to be every ethnicity. There are no bad guys in this game, there are only opponents which are virtually from every race.
The hero, is the player who defeats all the rest of the players. Wii Sports players come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. You can even create your “Mii” to look just like yourself.
The purpose of this game is to win the race and to become the best. As I beat each opponent, the following one has a higher level, therefore making him/her harder to defeat.
Though fun to play, Wii Sports is not that accurate on the body’s movement. The players’ bodies somewhat reflect elements of the past. in today’s modern society, video games are made to look realistic and very detailed from hear to toe. Players from Wii Sports are not very detailed at all, in fact the have no lower limbs, just a torso, and the hands don’t have fingers. Games that are not graphically detailed, have an effect on the game creators of today’s modern society. Game creators now have the harder task to make games more realistic in terms of motion; an example of this would be that the characters in the game have realistic body motion from movement of their fingers, to the precise movement of the lips.
vixers // October 29, 2008 at 3:12 am |
CHOICE 1, SET 2
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft focuses on a war between two parties: the Horde and the Alliance. The goal of the game is to join other members of your party to defeat the other side in battle. Smaller goals that lead up to the goal of being the most helpful in aiding your side of the battle such as leveling up, gaining skills, increasing armor and weapons, and gaining gold are included as well. In order to level up, you must gain experience points usually from completing quests, or battling another person/group of people. This reflects our contemporary culture in that in order to be successful, we need a lot of skills, money, and material items, and power in the form of who you are allied with as well as your level of strength. Like life, the game reflects on the use of strategies and teamwork to overcome obstacles, encourages comraderie by allowing multiple opportunities to meet others and join guilds, defines the neccessities for success by producing clear goals for players to meet, and most importantly, teaches multi-tasking skills. Unlike life, however, World of Warcraft does not give you opportunities to improve communication with a tangible person, although it does help people improve their communication skills. Also, unlike life, the game promotes the idea that you will not have any responsibilities for your actions. If you mess up, you die and get a second chance back at life always. Life does not always give you second chances.
CHOICE 2, SET 3
I feel that violent video games do not negatively effect children and young adults. Video games, like the Internet and Barbie dolls (which, by the way, are getting too much flame from older generations and conservatives), are tools for spurring the imagination of young minds. Rather than controlling the children, video games are instead manipulated by young hands that mold virtual situations to suit their own creative pleasures.
It is common for most children to young adults to play video games. If violent video games negatively effect them, then we would see more statistical results and media coverage on the widespread epidemic of violence in the nation. As a society, we tend to look for something or someone to blame for our own bad decisions and the unwelcome results that follow those unwise choices. Therefore, increasing young violence in the country is not caused by an unequal distribution of income, location, increasingly low morals, economic standing, mental and emotional instability, an abusive past, or a lack of ethics; we instead blame youth violence on video games.
Not only is scientific data showing a correlation between violent video games and aggressive behavior weak, but there are other situations scientists have yet to take into account. Every day, teens are cursing, speaking in the most vulgar manner, and making crude gestures. Young adults are continuously living in an environment where they are already and are constantly exposed to violence. Many don’t show signs of violent behavior, but revel in the informal unrefined culture engrossed with violence. A pillar of our culture is made up of our obsession with gore and violence, and it will stay there for forever.
peterdeutsch // October 29, 2008 at 10:22 am |
Choice 2, Set 1
The game that I chose to play was NCAA 09′ for Playstation 3, and more specifically Campus Legend Mode. It is a college football game, and with each new season there is a new game that comes out with the updated graphics, players, coaches, and whatever is new with NCAA football in that season. In 09′ the graphics have been enhanced, as well as the “hit stick” availability during offensive game play.
The point of Campus Legend Mode is to do just that, become a Campus Legend. You begin by creating your own player. You have the option of making him into any position on the team that you wish, but once you choose that position than you cannot change it. Then you begin in the High School State Championships (You choose what state, high school, hometown, etc.) recruiting scouts from certain universities come to the games you play and watch you play. As your team progresses through the playoffs, and the better your athlete does than more recruits will come and watch. For you only play your position during game play, example: if you are an offensive halfback than you only play when the offense is on the field, and your player is in the game, and vice versa with a defensive player.
Once you win the High School State Championships than you get a list of all of the Division I football programs in the nation, listed from highest rank down. Then next to the University’s name is will say where you stand as a beginning freshman, example: Notre Dame 3rd String. You then pick your school, and depending how far down you are in the depth chart is how many points you will have to gain during daily practice until you are your teams starter.
It is played the same during college as it is in High School, example: defensive back, you are only playing if your player is in and you are on the defensive side of the ball. During your college career at your decided college you will work to become a Campus Legend through your teams success. This certain mode in NCAA 09′ is my favorite because it makes you feel more a part of the game, and can essentially make you feel as if you may achieve a Campus Legend.
Choice 2, Set 3
There has been the argument that violent video games have made teenagers violent ever since they were created. This is a touchy subject to many, especially ones that dealt with the Columbine High School shooting, and Virginia Tech shooting.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold when on a mass killing spree April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, Jefferson County, Colorado. They killed 13 students, and injured many others, as well as turning the guns on themselves after they were done. After the incident, and many people around our Nation were shocked, people wanted an answer. The pharmaceutical anti-depressants that were being used were not enough to satisfy some. So they turned towards the violent video games, and Marilyn Manson. They argued that since they were avid players of the game Doom, where they killed creatures, that they too thought that it was acceptable to kill their peers that they had hated for so long. In reality, that is a ludicrous statement. Many kids at that time were very in to Doom, but did not have the same horrifying ides that Klebold and Harris had. In fact, in the documentary, Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore interviews Marilyn Manson. He asked him questions about the accusations of his music being a cause to Columbine, and he responded with the statement that his music was a matter of his expression, and that it was not meant to cause violent acts of aggression.
The argument that Seung-Hui Cho, Virginia Tech perpetrator, did what he did because he was an avid player to such violent video games as Grand Theft Auto, is what caused him to do what he did cannot be proved correct. In fact, there was something imbalanced in his brain that caused to not be fully correct. They had seen it his whole life, and is not even legitimately able to be blamed on violent video games.
Finally, though there has been two incidents of violent acts of aggression in the past decade as well as the progress of violent video games the two do not have any direct correlation. The millions of people that play such games as Doom and GTA are not all violent, and do not all commit violent acts of aggression, and the fact that two incidents try to blame the whole fact that these three guys all played these games is not plausible, and quite frankly ridiculous.
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