Extra Blog: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is a role playing game that is another chapter in the Elder Scrolls games. As you enter any Elder Scrolls games you begin by starting from the previous ending of the last game. As the introduction of the game reiterates the plot of the previous game you begin on your quest. In the game, Skyrim, it allows you to become whatever creature you may one to be. As an example in my playing of this video game i like to indulge myself in the race called the, "Khajiit."Khajiit are cat-like specimens that are engineered better in stealth and speed. This is always my favorite class because it is so different from everything else. This is very comparable to the MUD's on the internet where users can become whatever they would like to be.

As the story continues in the Elder Scrolls, the most impressive  part about the game is the ability the video gamer has to freelance around the world created and play their own story out. This gives the game a multitude of options on what to do because you are basically the author of your own game. When i was playing i like to do most of the side quests that intervene between the main storyline because this is away i am able to level up my character. As the story finishes up usually you have to save the land of whatever monster or monsters are trying to overpower you. I have yet to finish up Skyrim and i would hate to give up the plot of the game so i will not describe the deep plot in this blog.

Extra Blog: MW3 vs DnD

Modern Warfare 3 was released on November 8^th, 2011 and the Online Massive Multiplayer can be compared to the multi user dungeons based game, Dungeons and Dragons, talked about in class. The online play allows for a number of people depending on what match type a person is playing to join a team and try and defeat another team. The game types differ from team death match to headquarters. As a user enters the battlefield you are put on a team and with that team you all have one unifying goal: to win. In multi user dungeons, like Dungeons and Dragons, one player creates a map for the rest of his team. The team travels through different environments and kill monsters based upon a player authoring the game.  The Modern Warfare 3 maps were created by a game designer who came up with the idea of the outline for the maps. The only difference between Dungeons and Dragons and Modern Warfare 3 is that in MW3 the maps were given life on a videogame platform.

                As gamers move forward in the battle in both Dungeons and Dragons and Modern Warfare 3 the way the team plays is an important role. The online play in MW3 on the Xbox 360 and PS3 platform allow players to talk through a microphone which enables them to remain in contact with their team. The way Dungeons and Dragons  is set up the group of team members are all talking with one another on how to defeat the next enemy. Having the ability in both games to have contact with your team is a huge part of your success because knowing how to beat an opponent or where the next opponent may lie is an integral part of each game.

                As an online game comes to a close a small similarity is seen between Dungeons and Dragons and MW3. The length of dungeon and dragons is basically based upon the players playing the game unlike in MW3 where the game length is based upon a score being reached. As players in Dungeons and Dragons continue their fight they enter new worlds and environments, killing off new creatures and monsters, based upon the author of the game. Once a game stops in online play in MW3 the player takes a short interval break and starts up on his or her next journey on a different map fighting new opponents. The two games might be completely different on a technological basis but, they both come from the same idea.  

Rewrite: Videogames Bask In Piracy

The gaming world is being taken over by piracy and the videogame business you would think would be losing business but, the opposite is happening. According technology based news outlets piracy will boost business with the pirating of videogames. Lawrence Lessig writes in his book, Free Culture, piracy is a positive in some areas of business by stating, “Many kinds of ‘piracy’ are useful and productive, to produce either new content or new ways of doing business” (pg. 66) We can divide piracy into four different categories: pirating the game instead of buying it, sampling the game before purchasing, owning a game that is no longer in production, and getting a game because it was free in the first place. Pirating a game instead of buying the game is the bad option according to Lessig. The other three options of pirating all are good ways of pirating because as an outcome of doing one of these more advertisement comes towards these companies.

                In the article, “Video Game Piracy is good for Business,” from IGN, Scott Steinberg discloses the positive impact piracy will have on the developers market. The article makes a point by saying that videogames are beginning to become too expensive to users and piracy is a way to get by those costs. Free to play model video games on the Iphone and on Facebook are taking over the business of the videogame developers.  These free to play videogames are being created then bought by the computer company and only being given out when the new high powered PC’s or platform which they are on come out. This is good business for both the PC manufactures because consumers who want the videogame will buy the PC in order to play the game, therefore a boost in sales. Another example of this is the title, “Angry Birds” which is on the Iphone, in order to play this game you have to buy an Apple product with the ability to play this game. This boosts Apple and because the game designer already got paid by Apple he or she doesn’t have to worry about game sales going up or down.

Another reason why people are pirating videogames is because users want the ability to pay low costs to play the games they like when they want and expensive games just do not cut it. Scott Steinberg brings up the bold point by exclaiming piracy can potentially be a big opportunity. The opportunity he is writing about is, “When game creators stop focusing on security measures, this lowers production costs. Making titles widely available to the public may be the solution when combined with the freemium business model: Letting people pay what they want, when they want, can definitely expand gaming's reach and result in more revenue.” An example of this coming into play in the videogame industry is games like Farmville. The first part of the game is all free but, to continue and to get the best options for the games you have to pay actual money to get the item. These games allow the person to sample the game, just like Lessig’s type of piracy, and then to buy it.  To put it simply if video game developers lower their costs on video games, more people will have the ability to buy the products.

                In my analysis of the article from Scott Steinberg, the journalist brings up a good point; by lowering the costs of videogames the industry will undoubtedly reach a bigger market. In today’s society people are looking for cost friendly merchandise but, with rising prices on videogames piracy is an easy way of getting these expensive games for free. Developers need to take advantage of the point Scott Steinberg is proposing. In my experience with video games, being an avid video gamer, I find myself passing on buying $60 games because the cost is just too high. Being a college student and not having the extra cash to buy video games is hampering my gaming which leads me to indulge in the free games online and on my IPod instead. Another way sway people to buy games would be to have pay to play games which will allow consumers to sample the game therefore, creating an advertisement in its own right. As Lessig writes, “…piracy is motivated by a new way of spreading content caused by changes in the technology of distribution” (pg. 75).   Cutting costs of video games will give the ability to reach a broader market and people who might not be able to buy them at the present cost.

Rewrite: The Digital Side of Bullying

                New media outlets have opened the floodgates of younger generations to broadcast themselves and their talents across the world with a click of a button. Websites like Youtube and Facebook offer a prototypical platform for these children to post anything bad or good. The bad drama created on theses sites is known as, “cyber-bullying.” In the case of Megan Meier, a 14 year old teen, a mother of an ex-friend belittled and bullied her on Facebook, using a fake profile, till she took her own life. These new media outlets for teens offer a great way to stay connected to friends and show the world there talents; however they can be a perfect platform for cyber bullies to perform their brainless acts of belittlement upon others. In reality, no one sets up to be a cyber bully.

                In another case dealing with Facebook, a young girl enrolled at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, VA created the Facebook page called “Stonewall Hoes.” On this page she posted nine pictures of certain girls, also enrolled in the high school, putting slanderous comments describing the pictures of them. When students saw the page it created an outrage among the school. The pictures of the nine girls destroyed each of their reputations among their peers and discriminated each of them. The creator of the Facebook page is being charged with harassment by computer and could face up to a year in prison.

Video of Stonewall Hoes Case

                The case of Megan Meier and the “Stonewall Hoes,” are only a couple examples of cyber-bullying. The platforms of Facebook and Youtube offer plenty of good reasons to use them, but when people take advantage of these sites for the use of cruel acts against someone it goes to far. Megan Meier was a 14 year old teenager with her life ahead of her and when a mother of an ex-friend tries to get in the middle of the situation between the two teens it crosses the line. Danah Boyd states in regard to the mother who created the fake Facebook profile, “Deceiving children is problematic to begin with, but doing so by tapping into their emotional weaknesses is outright deadly.” The mother bullies Megan with insulting comments on Facebook pushing Megan to her death. This example is not only harassment on a computer but assisting in a murder by a mother who should have never used a fake profile to get into her child’s problems. Danah Boyd offers her own opinion on the matter writing, “by choosing to ‘teach her a lesson,’ Lori acted in a manner that was both ethically and morally inappropriate.”  In the “Stonewall Hoes” case the creator did not cause the death of any of the nine girls but, smashed most of the girl’s reputations within the school. Harassment does not stop at “physical harassment,” it now needs to be looked at on a technological level. Both of these examples provide different outcomes that could possibly happen when cyber-bullying affects a person or a group. Cyber-bullying is a new digital crime that can come about on multiple media platforms that needs to be looked at more in-depth due to the effects it can have on people. 

The Flash Before Your Eyes

The mobile phone has changed the way people have been able to get and receive data. The mobile phone should soon be called the mobile computer with the way smart phones are on the rise. Rheingold asks the question, how will human behavior change when the appliances we hold in our hands, carry in our pockets, or wear in our clothing become supercomputers that talk to each other through wireless mega-Internet? (pg XV) Nearly, everywhere has wi-fi connection now and even in today’s standards this might becoming old because smart phones can seemingly pick up the internet anywhere in the world. With these new advances in phones it has allowed people to connect to each other on a whole different level. Smart mobs as Rheingold describes, “The new social form made possible by the combination of computation, communication, reputation, and location awareness” (pg. 176-77). These groups are made by the new connections made possible by phones that allow people to communicate with one another on hand held devices. Smart mobs are known to be violent sometimes, for example when the LA Riots broke out, but they also can do good acts as well. Smart mobs are a collective group of individuals, many of whom might not know each other, fighting for one political idea good or bad. However, flash mobs are a sub-group of  smart mobs who instead of fighting for political rights enjoy the finer things in life and create a dull day into a bright day by their actions.

                Flash mobs are created just like smart mobs that is by the SMS messaging of the mobile telephone.  These groups usually get the text message ahead of time, of when and where to meet, what to wear, and what to do. For example  in London's Piccadilly Circus a group of women, were told to meet and wear leotards while dancing to “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.  This is quite a humorous video and seems to brighten up many of the observers days when this flash mob breaks out in dance.

                The video posted above shows how flash mobs can create a very dull looking day into a better day with the advances in communication via the mobile telephone. Smart mobs are known for good and bad things but,  looking at what flash mobs can do makes me take a step back and forget about the political side of the world and enjoy technology being used for something more beautiful. As mobile phones advance in the digital world into mobile computers, it is going to be seen if society can keep their heads up and watch what might be right in front of them: the world’s beauty instead of a plastic screen in their hand.

The Digital Side of Bullying

                New media outlets have opened the floodgates of younger generation to broadcast themselves and there talents across the world with a click of a button. Websites like Youtube and Facebook offer a prototypical platform for these children to post anything bad or good. Teens and parents alike are also using these sites as a platform for “cyber-bullying.” In the case of Megan Meier, a 14 year old teen, a mother of an ex-friend belittled and bullied her on Facebook, using a fake profile, till she took her own life. These new media outlets for teens offer a great way to stay connected to friends and show the world there talents; however they can be a perfect platform for cyber bullies to perform their brainless acts of disparagement.

Video of "Stonewall Hoes" case

                In another case dealing with Facebook, a young girl enrolled at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, VA created the Facebook page called “Stonewall Hoes.” On this page she posted nine pictures of certain girls, also enrolled in the high school, putting slanderous comments describing the pictures of them. When students saw the page it created an outrage among the school. The pictures of the nine girls destroyed each of their reputations among their peers and discriminated each of them. The creator of the Facebook page is being charged with harassment by computer and could face up to a year in prison.

                The case of Megan Meier and the “Stonewall Hoes,” are only a couple examples of cyber-bullying. The platforms of Facebook and Youtube offer plenty of good reasons to use them, but when people take advantage of these sites for the use of cruel acts against someone it goes to far. Megan Meier was a 14 year old teenager with her life ahead of her and when a mother of an ex-friend tries to get in the middle of the situation between the two teens it crosses the line. The mother bullies Megan with insulting comments on Facebook pushing Megan to her death. This example is not only harassment on a computer but assisting in a murder by a mother who should have never used a fake profile to get into her child’s problems. In the “Stonewall Hoes” case the creator did not cause the death of any of the nine girls but, smashed most of the girl’s reputations within the school. Harassment does not stop at “physical harassment,” it now needs to be looked at on a technological level. Both of these examples provide different outcomes that could possibly happen when cyber-bullying affects a person or a group. Cyber-bullying is a new digital crime that can come about on multiple media platforms that needs to be looked at more in-depth due to the effects it can have on people.  

Straight Up Creepin'

People’s privacy is being challenged every single day with the dramatic advances in technologies. Simson Garfinkel has brought up this fight for privacy stating, “New technology has brought extraordinary benefits to society, but it also has placed all of us in an electronic fishbowl in which our habits, tastes, and activities are watched and recorded” (pg. 323). Facebook’s privacy settings are changing every single day but, as a user of Facebook this does not mean we are safe from strangers and unwanted people from viewing the content we put out to the public. According to Forbes contributor, Chunka Mui, Facebook’s privacy problems are expanding and larger risks are in the future for Facebook users.

            The article written by Chunka Mui titled, “Facebook’s Privacy Issues Are Even Deeper than We Knew,” is about the issues regarding the actually privacy users have. Facebook has become a worldwide photo identification base according to the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. CMU researchers did a test using Facebook’s public profiles and an off the shelf facial recognition software to see if they could match people to their profiles on Facebook and Match.com. In the results, the information that came back was a resounding: YES. People can identify strangers with generally anonymous profiles on Match.com with only their Facebook profiles. Another problem with Facebook is that it has started using its own facial identifier sparingly on certain test computers, where it automatically tags people in pictures. This new technology has authorities of Germany believing that this crosses its privacy laws.

            The research done by Carnegie Mellon University on Facebook and Facebook’s new technology is starting to breach privacy laws of its users. Simson Garfinkel writes about the importance of individual privacy stating, “Privacy isn’t just about hiding things. It’s about self-possession, autonomy, and integrity” (pg.323). I do not want people to be able to buy any type of facial recognition software off the market and be able to find a picture of me and be able to pull up my Facebook profile. Facebook’s new facial recognizer also crosses the line because how does this technology have the ability to pick out who I am in a picture full of my friends. I have a hard time believing that this software has the ability to operate without someone working behind the scenes tagging me in pictures without ever meeting me. Chunka Mui puts it simply, “Facebook, to my mind, has tarnished its brand through its insensitivity, as evidenced by its repeatedly expanding what information is public by default.” In my opinion Facebook is becoming too much of a public place where my information is floating around so that creepers everywhere can follow me without me ever knowing.

Videogames Bask in Piracy

The video game world is being taken over by software piracy that is dooming the packaged disc industry. According to many technology news outlets piracy will boost business with the pirating of videogames. Lawrence Lessig writes in his book, Free Culture, piracy is a positive in some areas of business by stating, “Many kinds of ‘piracy’ are useful and productive, to produce either new content or new ways of doing business” (pg. 66)

                In the article, “Video Game Piracy is good for Business,” from IGN, Scott Steinberg discloses the positive impact piracy will have on the developers market. The article makes a point by saying that videogames are beginning to become to expensive to users and piracy is a way to get by those costs. Free to play model video games on the Iphone and on Facebook are taking over the business of the videogame developers. Video game users want the ability to pay low costs to play the games they like when they want and expensive games just do not cut it. Scott Steinberg brings up the bold point by exclaiming piracy can potentially be a big opportunity. The opportunity he is writing about is, “When game creators stop focusing on security measures, this lowers production costs. Making titles widely available to the public may be the solution when combined with the freemium business model: Letting people pay what they want, when they want, can definitely expand gaming's reach and result in more revenue.” To put it simply if video game developers lower there costs on video games, more people will have the ability to buy the products.

                In my analysis of the article from Scott Steinberg, the journalist brings up a good point; by lowering the costs of videogames the industry will undoubtedly reach a bigger market. In today’s society people are looking for cost friendly merchandise but, with rising prices on videogames piracy is an easy way of getting these expensive games for free. Developers need to take advantage of the point Scott Steinberg is proposing. In my experience with video games, being an avid video gamer, I find myself passing on buying $60 games because the cost is just too high. Being a college student and not having the extra cash to buy video games is hampering my gaming which leads me to indulge in the free games online and on my IPod instead.  Cutting costs of video games will give the ability to reach a broader market and people who might not be able to buy them at the present cost.

How to Flickr

Flickr is an online photo organizer and media sharing application. The outline of the class project was for a group  to create a story, taking five to ten pictures telling that story, and then uploading those pictures onto Flickr.  The preparation was a simple task except for the ever changing schedules of college students. Once my group members and I got together we brainstormed ideas of what story should outline our pictures. The group that I was in was pretty easy going about what idea should be used so we came up with a suspenseful abduction. Taking the photos of the story was the next step in line. The pictures we ended up taking turned out pretty good, but now came the part of uploading these pictures onto Flickr.

                As I logged onto Flickr using the class account I had a generally bad feeling about the difficulty of uploading the photos  onto this site. To my disbelief I was terribly wrong. Once logged into Flickr they had a huge “upload picture button,” to the right of the screen. From there I clicked on the button which led me to the next page where I uploaded my photos in a blink of an eye. The process of uploading my pictures onto Flickr was easier than I thought. In all my photos I tagged the people within my group. I did this because it shows ownership of the picture and who is all present in the picture itself. Another reason why someone might tag a person in a picture would be so that person could be notified to look at the picture.

                Flickr is an effective tool in creating user-generated content along with the ability to quickly share with others. The use of Flickr has unlimited options starting with having your own content uploaded on the internet in one space. Flickr gives  upcoming artists and photographers the starting point they need to being their careers. As people look at their photos these viewers can comment on them and give feedback, to what could be better or to simply compliment the artist. The second tool that Flickr allows is the ability to share a person’s photos  with  anyone. Take for example a son who just took off for college and wanted to show his parents what he was up to. Well by uploading pictures to Flickr the two parties can view and share photos with each other almost instantly.  The many directions Flickr gives to a user is the reason why this website is an up an coming tool in many households.

How to become a President...

It’s a new day and age for politicians everywhere. John F. Kennedy explored the world of television when he was running for president and the millions of television watchers followed him into the oval office. The same can be said for the present President, Barack Obama, in which he used the internet to propel his candidacy. Author, Henry Jenkins, argues, “The new media operate with different principles than the broadcast media that dominated American politics for so long: access, participation, reciprocity, and peer-to-peer rather than one-to-many communication.” (pg.208)   The two presidents both used ground breaking tactics involving new media at the time and both have become president because of it.

                New York Times published an article regarding, President Barack Obama’s use of the internet in his election and how it changed politics for the future.  Within the article it compares the current president, Barack Obama, to John F. Kennedy who previously changed the way politicians went about their elections by introducing a television campaign. The television campaign of John F. Kennedy and the successful internet use of Barack Obama were both ground breaking innovations in the political world.  Howard Dean’s presidential campaign of 2004 had the first use of internet within it. He used the internet to gather small amounts of money from thousands of people in order to pay for main stream attention, but his downfall was the internet too.  Jeff Trippi, former coordinator for Howard Deans campaign in 2004, talked about Barack Obama’s use of the internet by stating, “The tools changed between 2004 and 2008. Barack Obama won every single caucus state that matters, and he did it because of those tools, because he was able to move thousands of people to organize.” Later in the article it brings up the fact that Barack Obama used, YouTube, as free advertisement. The President used the tools of the Web 2.0 to perfection which to many put him into the white house.

                The use of internet by President Barack Obama was exactly what the electronic-savvy culture wanted. With television beginning to become a burden because of all the advertisements and lack of control of when your show is on. President Obama used the internet which allows the media culture to access his campaign whenever he or she wants. The use of YouTube allowed media participation and encouraged users to become well acquainted with Mr. Barack Obama, himself. It is also important to note, that with the use of YouTube, when the doubters kept bashing Obama, liberals could watch the Presidents speeches over and over again because of the constant access that YouTube allows. In the future as Jeff Trippi says, “Just like Kennedy brought in the television presidency, I think we’re about to see the first wired, connected, networked presidency.”

Big Black Box Truth Someday

The black box fallacy according to Henry Jenkins is a concept that in the future there will not be one single black box that holds all the operations that everyday technology has. Within Jenkins reading he calls the concept, “… a fallacy because it reduces media change to technological change” (pg.15). By thinking of all the “little black boxes” a person might have in there house it is astronomical amount: cell phone, Xbox, play station, computer, desktop, television, and etc. To put all of these together would be a surgery-like task that only the top techies could achieve. To detail the mess of all the black boxes Henry Jenkins said, “The mass tangle of cords that sits behind your “home entertainment” center reflects the incompatibility and dysfunction that exist between the various media technologies” (pg. 15). The pile of black boxes is ultimately not going to converge into one singular “black box,” but is more simply a technological shift. The technological shift can be called, media convergence, which modifies the connection between existing technologies.

As technologies continue to advance it is hard not to believe that one big black box could fix everything.  Henry Jenkins black box fallacy seemingly is correct but, with smart phones becoming more capable of doing computer-like operations it is hard to believe. In an article from mnsbc.com, McAfee security has made an all-access security system which involves smart phones within its plan. Having the ability to put a security system on your phone makes it more like a computer. For another example, wired.com posted, the military has always wanted a computer out on the battlefield for its mapping capabilities. Instead of wearing eight pounds of equipment, the army is now reconsidering using a smart phone, which would weigh a couple ounces, for its mapping. Smart phones aren’t the only black box starting to collaborate with other technologies. Look at the Sony play station 3, it incorporates a blu-ray player along with it videogame ability. The technological world has yet to come up with just one black box but, with some of these examples it does not seem hard to believe that there will be one device one day.

Turkle Vs. AIM

Sherry Turkle gives a strong opinion of the world on the screen otherwise known as the virtual world. The virtual world according her is a real place in which people can create there own personalities. MUDs known as, multi-user dungeons or domains are based off of the fantasy game, “Dungeons and Dragons.”  MUDs have expanded to not only role-playing fantasy games but to huge social networks where users can get immediate help with home skills, movies, and even sexual advice. According to Sherry Turkle these MUDs often blur the line for users between real-life and the virtual world. With the ability to become anyone or anything behind the screen of your computer it allowed people to change there personality at will. Turkle says, “MUDs are dramatic examples of how computer-mediated communication can serve as a place for the construction and reconstruction of identity” (pg.14). This quote is a great point about the opportunity given by MUDs to its users to expand a person’s imagination.  

                After using AIM for a week and communicating with a random person during that time has only supported Sherry Turkle’s arguments about the virtual world for me. In the AIM project we had the ability to become anyone or anything; to say whatever came to our minds to this randomly chosen person in class. Just like in MUDs as Sherry Turkle states people have the ability to go into character or keep their same personalities. I had noticed when creating my character Gerald Bohaggins that I always had this extreme fixation as a kid to grow up in a “hood.” I did not notice until now that my character is close to what I always wanted to become when I was a child besides some personality differences and there is no “rags to riches storyline.” The character I used in the AIM project allowed me to become someone else which gave me the power to say things I would never say to another person because of the fact that there was no face to face interaction. Having the ability to hide behind a computer screen as Turkle states gives the user the ability to change there personality whenever they please.