Friday, October 29, 2010

Media Meditation #4:The Murderous intent of the video games





(An image of the video game title DOOM)


Does a video game cause another person to kill people? In 1997 their was a case where a young man killed another boy. In this case his lawyer said, "In the Kentucky case, the young killer, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had never undergone any firearms training. He learned how to shoot and kill from the video game." Many adults, lawyers, etc believe that video games cause kids to kill other people. This is not necessarily true their are many studies that prove other wise. One instance that we see people blaming video games for a child's violent behavior is the Kentucky shooter case, where a young boy influenced by a movie called "The Basketball Diaries" walks into his school and opens fire on his classmates and teacher. This may not be a video game but it opened the door for people to believe that simple things can influence a child a large amount. Another thing that pushes people to believe this was the interviews with a former Army colonel where he said “mass murder simulator that provides military-type training.” The colonel continued to say "it is like the flight simulators that teach military personnel how to fly aircraft.the video game “Doom” is used in the military itself to teach soldiers how to kill. In the game, the gunman moves slowly through a building, in the same way that a Special Forces soldier might enter hostile territory." This leaves the question does video games cause violent behavior in young children and adult? What do you believe?



(A child playing video games.)

The opposing side tells us a different story. They show research that tells us, "According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play." It is believed that society are more likely to jump on the bandwagon because they are afraid of the games. The lawyers and advertisers against video games scare people into believing the game is dangerous and that what someone does not understand is wrong. There is more evidence to prove that games don't cause kids to become anti-social. This is because most kids today have internet and with that they play games with other kids and have conversations. It is not what society is use to but its still something. There is more evidence that shows that most violent behavior comes from the household and not a video game.

(A girl playing Video Game)

Scientific test that say video games are dangerous, most of these test were proven to be inconclusive. This is because of where and how the test where done. They did not take into consideration the environment nor did they pay attention the children relationships at school or home. This caused question to appear and say well it could be because he was bullied. Another thing is the belief that woman do not play video games, this is not true orginally men where the people mostly who played video games, but studies show that woman are playing games more and more. There is a lack of violent crimes done by woman involving the video game made me do it defense. Also the gaming industry have started making video games with female protagonist which is not uncommon today. Gerard Jones says "that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives."

Military Psychologist will tell you that video game used to train soldiers can have a negative imapct on children minds, but game industry argue that this is only true if "
  • we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context.
  • we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught.
  • we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces."
The people who want you to believe use fear and scapegoating to convince people that games are monsters. While the people who believe that games do not cause violent behavior they us scientific facts and testimonials from normal kids. A lot of the times when people mention video games in a negative light they show it with fear and violent music and pictures to give people a reptilian and Limbic experiences. The thought that something that you don't understand might hurt you gives you the sense to run while violent images and music reinforces that. The evidence is their people have to find out what to believe.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Media Meditation #3: Starcraft The family destroyer for strategist

(A image of Starcraft 1)
Star Craft is a creation of Blizzard a company known for their amazing craftsmanship in the department of video game. Starcraft is a strategy where you are the commander of a flight of soldiers sometimes you play as aliens. The game has rankings, missions, campaign, tutorials, achievements, and a lot more. It is said that "StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment."Starcraft was first released in 1998 sold over 11million copies worldwide. Starcraft originally release for Microsoft Windows, but later a Mac OS version and a N64 version came to be. Blizzard most famous video game is a game called World of WarCraft (A.K.A WoW). World of WarCraft is a Major Multiplayer online Game also known as an MMO, this means the it is played online with people who also are online.


Why Strategy?

Why a strategy game some may ask? Well to be honest you have to accept that some people are not into the whole gore animation thing. Many gamers may think strategy games are boring and that is fine, but this is made for the people who rather relax and beat another human being with their wits instead of their muscles. The concept of strategy game appeals to many gamers and non-gamers. Blizzard realizes that WoW would attract many gamers because of its ability to put a person in the action in the fight. Blizzard appealed to the other spectrum by giving the people who like to test strategies and who like to control armies. This is what Starcraft brings to the table.



(An image of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)

StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty is the most recent installment of StarCraft. The sequel to the award winning StarCraft video game, the game released worldwide on July 27, 2010 Wings of Liberty is the first of a 3 part installment. The two upcoming expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. The game takes place in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy in the 26th century. The game revolves around 3 different species, The Zerg the main antagonist, The Protoss neither the antagonist or the protagonist they just want to destroy the Zerg but will hurt anyone in their ways, finally the Terrans basically humans the protagonist. The wing of liberty is mostly about the terrans the other expansion pack is about the Zerg and Protoss war. Each game takes you deeper into the story and gives you a good feeling of how it is to command a fleet of soldiers. Starcraft may seem harmless enough but it has become super famous even though only just releasing in the year 2010 it still has over 7millions loyal fans. The game strongly holds its title of being the Family Destroyer for Strategist.



(An amazing cinematic from StarCraft 2)

StarCraft does not only let you become the commander of a fleet and let you test out many different strategies versus millions of other players. It also gives you a beautiful show artwork. They makers of StarCraft did not slack off when making their master piece. They made sure everything was inline and perfect. The game takes strategy to a whole new level. StarCraft 2 is a great game for the mind.



(The Commercial for StarCraft 2)

The StarCraft 2 commercial helps lure its unsuspecting victims in. The Commercial itself only shows the good parts of the game they do not once show anything bad. Blizzard also flashes it in front of your face with loud bangs fast pacing images. This activates the reptilian part of your brain you do not know what to do, or how to react. The commercial also uses production techniques the pace does not give people enough time to process what they are seeing. A lot of action and explosions excite people. The images and music also activate the limbic portion of the brain.

(A image of a Zerg laying down and doing nothing)

There is humor in their advertisements. Some can only be understood by the fans and others many people can understand. The use a lot of scientific facts inside the game itself. StarCraft also allows people to just have fun. People love to challenge other people to prove their superiority especially with the brain. Blizzard uses these things to make a very addictive game that even the geniuses in our society can not resist. Blizzard uses our favorite things being in control of another person, action, superiority/ showing dominance and beauty to sway everyone into loving their game. There are forums and cosplays dedicated to StarCraft alone. People leave their friends and family behind just to play starcraft. I am not saying don't play StarCraft what im saying is be careful as a gamer i know it is very addictive. Blizzard the creator of the Family Destroyer strikes again.