Really excited to be nominated for the blog awards. Great honor and I really need the extra credit. Thanks to all that voted for me, and I hate all of you that didn’t. Just kidding. Enjoy.

We have covered a lot over the past two days in class. Massive Online Multiplayer Games, video game representations, and real life war downloadable games are topics that are used in an everyday basis. To start, massive online multiplayer games are huge enterprises that encompass many different people and it is a huge moneymaker. We learned about many different types of gold farmers and the business opportunities that surround a game such as World of Warcraft. I had no idea that gold farmers existed. The real life war games that we looked at are also something that I never thought of. For me, it brings the reality of war a little to close to a video game type atmosphere of a game. By playing something so close to reality it almost makes a game of real people dying which is terrible.

In class today we first voted for the blog awards, then we proceeded to talk about the concept of gaming as work and play. The two are blended together and we tried to discuss how a game can have a balance. We looked at a game like google image labeler and realized how such a game can be a break from real work. Many people during the course of a work day will take a break from time to time to play a small game. It serves as a break from work and also free your mind from a stressful type day.  A game like google image labeler will serve a small game type purpose but also can lead to an obsession. We learned this because there were many people signed in and they were battling for the top spots. They had accumulated thousands and thousands of points. This would clearly take a ton of time. This is how a game can cross into a work type atmosphere.

The last thing that I really enjoyed looking at was the google offices at their campus. They really seemed like a fun place to work. They would be distracting at first, and then become very bland. Every place would get old after a while. This type of work space would draw some of the top people in that field. The competition would be on its heels.

2^nd to last post. Enjoy while it lasts.

-Young Money Entertainment Weezy F … NO ceilings       

No Ceilings

 Hello world. First two games this weekend for b ball. Cant wait. Anyway here’s a quick post to get the break started.

One of the things in class that we talked about was the theory of the commons. We came up with some examples and one of them was our very own commons dining hall. We were talking about any student is give equal opportunity to use the facility and it is a place where everyone can go. This makes good sense and it is easy to understand because most of us go to commons at least once or twice a week. Another common area we thought of was public parks, libraries and recreation centers. The public can use these for almost little to no money. Now with all of these examples there are some faults. The government owns these parks and libraries and recreation centers, and they can shut them down at any time. This doesn’t make them 100 percent common. Furthermore, commons is a dining hall that is owned and operated by Hamilton College. The students could be told that everyone must eat at McEwen because commons is officially closed. So in a sense, commons is not even a common area for public. But nevertheless these were dubbed common areas by our class. When the class was asked about facebook being a common place everyone said no. They said that facebook was owned by a single company therefore making it not a common place. I see facebook as a common place because you are allowed on, and you even own a portion of the site when you upload some of your information.  

Didn’t have too much to say this post, but I hope everyone has a good break. Also look forward to my presentation when you come back.   

-33

Nothing new has happened worth talking about in this mindless paragraph that I usually insert in every one of my blogs letting you know what I’ve been wasting my time doing.

In the article, “The Social Networking and Teens” a lot of the information was not that new to me. I feel like I could have guessed most of the percentages plus or minus 10 percent. So I was kind of excited when I was reading it because not only did it make me feel smart, it allowed me to realize how many kids waste time on Social Networking like I do. The main thing that this particular article made me realize was how immersed all kids my age are in social networking sites. I also feel as if other kids around my age would be able to guess many of the same statistics mentioned in this article. There was a lot of common knowledge to me, but I think adults or even more so elders, might be startled by this information. This brings me to the “Adults and Social Networking” article which enhances the argument, but also enlightened me to some stats that I would not know about when it came to adults using Social Networking. Some of the statistics were quite high and led me to believe that I was not aware of how many older people use social networking. Why is this? How did I not know? The only reason I could think of was that adults use social networking primarily for different things then kids or students use them for. Overall they were interesting articles that were thought provoking and entertaining, just because we are so immersed in social networking on a daily basis.

Alright thanks for reading my blog, but now I gotta go check my Facebook.

-No Ceilings    

 We have a scrimmage tomorrow so I cant go out. Instead I am doing this post and letting you see how I feel on some of our info. Also watchin a little of the NBA game in the background. B good and enjoy the weekend……

Now I know this post isn’t really supposed to be asking questions, rather clarifying the readings and in class discussions, but somehow I still a little confused when it comes to the whole stereotyping aspect of today.  I also want to talk briefly about “A Rape in Cyberspace.”

So a “Rape in Cyberspace” was very confusing to me when I first read it. It has been since cleared up and I have understood why someone cant simply log out to avoid the actions of the clown. I am kind of appalled by most of the “attention seekers” online because they always seem to have inappropriate actions. Whether it be forcing users to do things or making them see objects not suited for most, it is just uncalled for. There should be ways where you can ban these users, although it would be very hard.

Now in class we talked a lot about stereotyping. We began talking about stereotyping in video games and in kind of leaked into all forms of media. Now like I stated before, I don’t see really any stereotyping in video games, especially in the EA Sports games that we were talking about. Yes the black players are bigger and stronger, and yes they play in some urban areas in the streets. But that is truly basketball, the black athletes are bigger and stronger and yes there are more of them. Basketball was meant to play in the streets, and anyone who is anyone in basketball has definitely played in the streets. So I really don’t see how this is racism or stereotyping. Also there is an argument that these types of games allow white kids pretend like they are “ghetto” by playing this game. I feel like you can make that argument with any video game out there. One of the main points of a video game is to take you out of your natural state and somehow transform you. For example, by playing a NASCAR game one might feel a little bit more “hick” or Midwestern. Is this racist? No. Its just how the game makes you feel because the actual NASCAR is a Midwestern sport.

We also looked at a bunch of pictures in class. Any of these pictures could have been of a white person. I do kind of see how each individual picture has a hint of racism in them, but overall I think that a picture of 50 cent looking gangster is just who he is. It is not so much racism. I have a picture to accompany this post that depicts a young African American with a lot of tattoos. Is this picture racist? I would say no because it is just who he is. You can also see a picture of a white person with a lot of tattoos’ by searching Chris Anderson also known as the birdman on Google. He is a white basketball player who plays for the Denver Nuggets. But anyway that’s how I see the talk of racism or stereotyping. I don’t know if that “right” Its just how I see it.

-Weezy.              

Watsup Kids… Enjoy this great weather we’re having because it wont last long….here is the post…enjoy
            After reading “A Rape in Cyberspace” I had a lot of different thoughts that were provoked by the nature of this article. The beginning of the article starts out describing some pretty graphic images that people went through in a certain MOO. It talks about certain acts where people are violated and others are made to read or do things against their will. I somewhat understood the concept of Mr. Bungle kind of using this voodoo type doll by taking over others computers in a way, but I don’t understand why. I also don’t understand why the other users didn’t quit or sign off immediately? Was this because they were unable to? It was kind of a hard article to read and one that was quite confusing.
          “Malwebolence” was an article that described hackers, their motives, and some of the ploys they carried out. This goes hand in hand with Professor Anable’s article entitled “Bad Techno-Subjects: Griefing is Serious Business.” Anable talks about some specific examples of hackers and how they ruined some pretty meaningful things online. She sites an example in Second Life and how they interrupted an awards assembly for the first million dollars. My favorite part of the article is when Anable talks about how the different campaigns used certain medias to get their message across. She sites how McCain barely knew how to use the computer while Obama was constantly on his BlackBerry. I also liked how the article was supported by images and was easy to follow and read. I don’t have any questions on the reading I just thought it was pretty interesting.
-YME
         
 

 The picture does not show up on the blog. Don't know why. Sorry for the inconvenience. However my Avatar was pretty much flawless and awesome haha. JK But heres a pic of a Second Life Avatar so you get the point on how you can transform. 

 Class was very interesting on Thursday. Being able to use Second Life was a very interesting experience. From my perspective, I had never ever used something like Second Life and did not really like the sound of having an alter ego online. To be honest I don’t really have time to play with games like that. But what I learned from second life is how addicting the game can be to some. There are so many different options and worlds to explore. That was probably why there was something like 60k plus signed on when we all signed in. I also see this idea of second life literally exploding in lets say 10 years. Once the graphics get more lifelike, it will be like taking a vacation through your computer. If they try to replicate what Mexico beaches look like, you would feel like you are at the beach. I also think Second Life is an extension of Facebook in some ways, just way more advanced. You can talk with people and friend them and really form a relationship with someone probably. The only difference is that in Second Life people can pretend to be someone they are not. In Second Life an 80-year-old man could pose to be a 19-year-old girl. The users would really have no idea. This is how cybertying and stereotyping can influence the users of Second Life.

Second Life shows some pretty deliberate signs of stereotyping in race, age, sexuality, and class. As soon as one signs up for Second Life they are asked to choose a starting character. Theses characters you can choose from have little to no age range, meaning they are all roughly the same age, and out of the 8ish you can choose from, there might have been 2 African Americans. Also throughout the game, when we were able to go to the different worlds and actually see other people using the game, there were no African Americans and everyone was the same age. I began to wonder how many of the 60k signed on were actually African American. Also in those other worlds where you could by clothes, everything for girls seemed very sexual. The men had suits to choose from, while women seemed to have more short skirts and tank tops. The game was definitely geared to make all the women using it to look young and sexy. This would also be a problem for people using the game for the wrong reasons. People trying to trick people and stuff like that. Another small point that I picked up was the class issue. I am not really sure how one would go about getting money or in the game they are called “lindens.” This would start to put people in different classes. So based on how many lindens you could have, you would be able to have a nicer skin, nicer clothes, or even buy certain objects throughout the game. This would begin to class people and exclude some. This whole concept of the game is very interesting.

           Overall Second Life will be a springboard for what the future has to hold. I believe social networks will be more geared to this type of activity. It has addicting qualities to it and would probably take up a lot of time just like social networks of today do. There are many different signs showing how this game uses stereotyping and cybertying but in today’s day and age, I feel like games always use a little bit of that. It was a great class experience to be able to interact with the information, which you are reading about.

Anyway this is how my avatar turned out. I wish I could have put a bit more time into it, but we had a limited time period to get through a lot of different things. All of the issues of stereotyping were evident in the construction of avatars. Last line of the night: the Phillies lost so go Eagles.

-No Celings    

 This post was ready in time for the due date, but I realized my post did not register at the time. Therefore I am showing it now. Sorry for the delay.

So the reading this week that grabbed most of my attention was obviously the “High Tech Blackface- Race, Sports Video Games and Becoming the Other” by David Leonard. I have blogged in the past about playing all sports video games and how much I enjoy NBA video games. Leonard brings NBA Street into his argument so I was glued. Now Leonard argues how the black man is depicted stronger better fast and such, while there aren’t even many white players in the game. From my perspective that is fine for a couple of reasons. The first being if you look at the NBA currently, you will find many more black guys then white guys. Its not racial, its just the facts. Also black guys tend to be faster and jump higher and have bigger muscles. This is also a common fact amongst athletes. Also NBA Street and NFL Street, for that matter, are not accurate depictions of the actual NBA or NFL. They are not lifelike and they are just a spin off of the leagues. NBA 2010 or Madden 2010 are accurate representations and therefore stay strictly to the facts. Leonard argues that the street games are racial. I say that many of these things are somewhat accurate to real life and therefore they are not that racial. On another point there are some video games where the white guy is much better then the black guys. Take an extreme sport game or a shooting game. Many of the shooting games always show a white guy as the main leader or role. The argument can go both ways. I decided to come up with some questions that are somewhat broad such as, if there are facts saying that black guys are normally better athletes then white guys, is it racial to have video games depict that? Also when they created NFL or NBA Street, it was there intention to make the game seem more ghetto, so why is this wrong? If you don’t like the game, don’t play it. Overall this was the best reading this year in my perspective.

-Treinta y Tres

             Watsup peoples. Just recovering from that Super Swine. Thing knocked me down hardddd. World Series tied 1-1, basketball season is right around the cornor, meaning its kinda like HOLIDAY SEASON… lemme know if you actually know where that comes from. Enjoy…….

In short form and quick summary, sports are my life, but in particular basketball is my main fix. Basketball has been apart of me for my whole life. Before I could read I was attempting to play basketball no lie. Therefore I follow basketball constantly and in every form media has to offer.

One of the ways I follow basketball is on TV. Whenever there is a basketball game on TV it is always on in my room. Even if I am not there I leave my TV on with basketball playing. During March Madness my TV is always on and when I am at my house we have a 3 different games on different TV’s at once. It gets very overwhelming. I also watch some of my own game film on DVD and I am able to learn a lot from the DVD. I can work on my game based off what I saw on film. You can also scout other teams by watching film on them.

On the computer I am constantly on all sorts of basketball web sites. D3hoops.com is always a good place to start. If not the NBA.com website works too. There’s some other websites that are basketball related but somewhat inappropriate that are recommended for some of the straight to the streets type ballas out there. You can also stream live games that are not on TV onto your computer as well. Most college games can be found somewhere online despite not being online. There are also a lot of blogs out there for players. I might even get one going this year so look for it online. You can also play fantasy basketball, which introduces a whole new element of media. You can draft players and see how they will do. It can get pretty intense.  

I always have my cell phone geared to basketball as well. From the background to the homepage its all basketball. Most of the text messages I get are from basketball players at school or from other schools. I am constantly addicted to the game.

Video games are great for playing basketball, especially games in the 90’s. Any game that features glen rice is a good pick. I like playing throwback videogames with my friends more then I enjoy playing the newer versions.

As you can see, almost every medium I use involves basketball somehow. It’s always a good time when I am talking basketball or involved with it somehow. I get really excited when people share the same amount of passion for the sport as I do.

Happy Halloween Kids. Look for the real blog soon haha