Sunday, April 21, 2013

Video Gaming Culture and News Online?



Before the internet really started taking hold of news and newscasts that had to do with entertainment more specifically video games there were television shows that supported this culture. Those television shows are such as G4 which was recently shut down because of lack of viewers. Why was there a lack of viewers? It is simple really, it is just that the majority of viewers shifted to a more adaptable medium, the internet. Through the progression of technology and the availability of such outlets like YouTube.com. On YouTube other gaming news outlets really started to take hold and pull in viewers with examples shown above, Machinima and IGN. These are just 2 of a wide range of news outlets located on YouTube. This particular medium allows viewers to watch a more concise news clip or podcast without advertisements, commercials or interruptions. This was one of the huge turn-offs of watching these types of shows on local cable television. The question really was why wait a full thirty minutes to find out what you want to know when you can just watch a similar clip done by one of the above organizations in a matter of minutes and the answer is you don't hence why G4 went out of business.

So what do these two organizations have to offer us viewers when we make the switch over to internet TV from actual cable television? Actually they have a lot more than what G4 had to offer with the reason being that there are more possibilities with the internet. On the channel that I have linked above the give their fan base news shows, updates, video game trailers, tips and tricks, coverage on the whole video game genre broken down into sub channels, game-play footage from the game producers and game-play footage from the players themselves which turns out to be us the viewers. Some of the game-play footage is that of games like W.O.W (World of Warcraft) which is an MMOG (Massively Muliplayer Online Game) which is mentioned by T.L. Taylor in the book The New Media and Technocultures Reader. Taylor talks about how MMOG's bring together a social culture by the thousands in attempts to create and finish a common goal. Some of these on takings are easily uploaded to these channels in YouTube and are available to everyone to see where as for the television this is something that would not be possible under basic cable. Eventually our generation will have internet televisions that not just allow you to surf the web but it will be incorporated into the internet and the way we view television will be forever changed. Machinima and IGN have shown very prominently that online news and media channels can be as successful or even more successful than television shows. The cost to do these news casts as compared to the cost of airing a single television show is significantly less and thus seems to be a more viable option to air the news especially with the abundance of "smart" technology aka smart phones, tablets, etc. This type of news emergence needs to be embraced and adapted to because it is the future of "television shows".


http://www.youtube.com/user/IGNentertainment
http://www.youtube.com/user/machinima

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Digital Ethics and Responsibility

What is digital ethics? Digital ethics is about teaching ethical, courteous and productive behavior while using digital media. Some things to consider when dealing with digital ethics are plagiarism, copyright laws, and productively using the digital resources one is citing. When I, or anyone for that matter, research anything whether it is on my research project, for work or even other classes I want to make sure that the person that wrote the article that I am citing in my paper gets their due credit and referenced otherwise myself or anyone else are stealing information and claiming it for ourselves which is illegal. This kind of citing falls under plagiarism. As long as a source is cited properly within your paper you are safe under the principle of plagiarism which can be grounds for termination in colleges depending on the extent to which one plagiarizes.

Copyright laws are almost about the same as plagiarism but applies to more then just written work. The acceptable use policy falls under copyright. As long as something that is being used that is not rightfully yours falls under the guidelines of the acceptable use policy you can use it. If it doesn't you will need to figure out a acceptable way to re-iterate the information without stepping on anyone's toes.

As far as being productive with the resources one comes across this is quite simple actually. With the amount of media that is available to use we need to ensure that our references are valid and  efficient. When you come across sources that you plan on using in a paper or just referencing in general only use what you need to make or support your point/idea assuming that the source is legit. If you use more than what is needed then it is quite possible to lose our on the idea you are striving for. The internet is a tool with more than enough sources to sufficiently back your paper. What is all comes down to is just be ethical about what you are putting in your personal work. You wouldn't want people stealing from you so then don't do it to someone else. :-)

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Violent Video Games Research Guideline



Violence in the Video Game genre

Table of Contents:
1.     Introduction of gaming media
a.     Evolution of playable media 
2.     Violence in video games and when did it start?
a.     Evolution of violence in this media
b.    Evolution of graphic illustrations and animations
3.     Violent outbreaks across the country
a.     Summary of cause and effect
b.    Culprits (Violent Media)
4.     Studies assessing negative effects of video games (I.E. Violent games)
a.     Samples of studies displaying negative effects on children and adolescents from playing violent video games (Violent Video Games:  The Effects on Youth, and Public Policy Implications, an article by Douglas Gentile and Craig A. Anderson)
5.     Studies assessing positive effects of video games (I.E. Violent games)
a.     Surgeon's erring less by playing video games
b.    "Violent Video Games as Exemplary Teachers: A Conceptual Analysis." Article by Douglas and J. Ronald Gentile.
c.     "Impact of an Active Video Game on Healthy Children’s Physical Activity." Article by Psychologists out of Baylor College of Medicine
d.    Article by Jeffrey Snodgrass that discusses positive side effects of video games.
e.     Study done by Paul J. C. Adachi and Teena Willoughby called "Do Video Games Promote Positive Youth Development?"
f.     Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor, discussion on common myths about video games.
g.    Adam Sessler's (Popular video game journalist) Interview on how violent video games are not the cause of these violent outbreaks.
6.       Argument stance
a.       The medium is the message, Marshall Mcluhan.
                                                                        i.      The medium changes the effect on how one views, interprets, and reiterates  the effect of these games. (Televisions, Computer Monitors, etc)
b.      ESRB ratings
                                                                        i.      What are they?
                                                                      ii.      What do they mean for children and parents
c.       Lack of Parental guidance
                                                                        i.      Making  reference to ESRB and how they are not abided by.
                                                                      ii.      Growing technology allows children to stay busy and less parenting needed.
d.      Lack of understanding of new media for the older generation
                                                                        i.      Easy to blame new technology because of the lack of understanding.
e.      Easy to remember the bad and not acknowledge the good
                                                                        i.      Article about Jacob Hartley killing his son due to interruption of video game playing. This makes it easy to blame violent video games for the problem.
f.        Why not blame horror movies? Crime shows?
                                                                        i.      Horror movie genre like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc
                                                                      ii.      Crime shows like Criminal Minds, CSI, Law and Order, etc
                                                                     iii.      Visual  stimulation is the same from movies and shows as violent video games. Medium is key here.
g.       Zero responsibility taken for violence caused by children and adolescents
h.      Possible ways to help with accessibility of children and teens to violent video games.
                                                                        i.      DRM, Digital Rights Management.
7.       Conclusion
a.       The effect of video games more specifically violent video games has little bearing on the violent outbreaks that are happening all over the world. We are a proud country and refuse to be wrong so it is easier to place blame on the uncertainty rather than take responsibility for something that we are doing wrong as a whole.



I will be diving into a very controversial topic which has to do with violent media but more specifically in my case violent video games. In our current society, violent video games come under fire very often due to the outbreak of violence all over the country. A lot of people do not understand the depth of video games and thus see them as a hazard to children and teens. We as a whole do not assume responsibility when something goes wrong and thus blame what we do not understand as a scapegoat. The opposition against the violence in video games do not acknowledge the beneficial gains from video games let alone placing individual responsibility on the games for something that they are not a cause of. I want to enlighten people on both the benefits and side effects of games as well as break down the individual medium (Television and Computer monitors) that is being used to portray the games message. These mediums display visually a different message than say a radio playing the game sounds. This type of difference needs to be known. One of the main reasons I want to tackle this topic is to bring to light the lack of parental guidance that becoming more and more apparent but not assuming responsibility for this lack of guidance. There are video game ratings on the box for a reason and the parents are supposed to oversee this rating. This paper will be geared towards everyone however I believe it would be more beneficial to the people that do not understand what video games can bring to the table so to speak.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Media Tools and Democracy

Democracy is, by definition, is a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them. With this being said there really is only one "tool" that I feel fits this category and that would be anything related to open source. I know that this isn't particularly a tool per say but the idea behind open source promotes the closest thing you can have to a democracy. Open source is a way of development that allows the people to change or edit any particular part of code in that specific software to allow for better use, ease of accessibility, etc within a certain set of guidelines which can be found at the line below. Allowing software to be edited by other programmers outside of the particular company that had originally produced it is a way to bring the population as a whole together as everyone can have a say, all assuming that they understand the coding that goes along with it. It is really hard to have democracy when a specific company has total control over something. If they have total control, the "people" do not have a say in what goes in and what should come out of that software. A good example of open source software is Linux. By having open source you are allowing the the consumer to have a better state of mind knowing that if something should be different in a program, it can be edited as opposed to waiting till the next update or next version of the software all together. Don't get me wrong though, there are things where open source is hard to implement, I.E. video games would be very difficult to make open source and have it succeed however it is possible. Even with it being possible you still would be walking a very fine line. The following are some images of open source software affiliates:







http://opensource.org/osd

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy

Sunday, March 24, 2013

DRM ( Digital Rights Management) and the Public

What is DRM or Digital Rights Management? DRM is a technology designed to control access to, track and limit uses of digital media. What this means is that for example say you have a Blu-Ray that you have purchased but cannot load it your portable media player, that is DRM in effect. This type of technology is imbedded within the media itself. Corporations state that the reason why DRM is in place is to stop piracy and copyright infringement however a Google engineer states that DRM has nothing to do with piracy. Ian Hickson from Google states that DRM is not in place to stop unauthorized copying or piracy but is used as a tool for content providers power over playback device manufacturers, as distributors cannot legally distribute copyrighted material without permission from the content provider. What he means by this is referenced by the following example he gives, "Fox makes a movie and Apple purchases the rights to sell it on iTunes. Users then buy and download the film, but Fox wants you to purchase the movie again if you want to use it in a way that doesn't include an Apple device, such as use on an Android phone. With DRM, you cannot use it elsewhere — without DRM, the use of such content is not restricted." He goes on by stating that the movies that you trying to watch are probably available on file sharing sites and no one has been stopped for violating a copyright.

DRM ties into my research of violent media or more particularly violent video games. Most all video games currently are shipped with some sort of DRM technology and thus have put most people on the fence of should DRM be allowed? A lot of people disagree with DRM and feel that it is only in place to soak up more money for the content provider and they are not even remotely wrong because this is exactly what is going on according to Hickson. Essentially companies that manufacture products with DRM could start infusing a way to control the amount of violent video games that are allowed to be played by making them all online and having some sort of verification system in place such as a guardians SSN to verify that someone is of age to play this game. DRM, to me, is an invasion of our rights as a consumer. Companies should not have the ability to limit the use of a media to only one particular product so that way consumers are forced to buy that product for multiple consoles just to play it elsewhere. In essence, I own the product, as in this case,  and the story does not change per individual platform being played on. So if I own a game for say Playstation 3 and my friends own it for Xbox 360, I have to buy it for Xbox 360. That is unfair to me because I own the media already. However, the only way to be able to implement a way around that is through an always online type product in which case becomes subject to DRM. It is a double edged sword that no one really wants to cross.



Sunday, March 10, 2013

Machinima, the Next Gen Artform

I am not particularly picking one specific artist but a group of artists that conform to form a group called hankandjed. This group of artists create animated videos that are classified as Machinima (Machine and Anime). What this means is these artists will use specific programs to manipulate the artistic pictures they draw, piece them together and form an animated film. An example that I can give of these type of animation is called Doraleous and Associates as well as Red vs Blue which is created by another set of animation artists.






This particular genre used in this would be that which is similar to the film "Your Highness."



For arguments sake the above film could be considered art as what is used in this real-time film is acting, story telling and emotional involvement. With that being said Roger Ebert would tend to disagree as he states, "I did indeed consider video games inherently inferior to film and literature. There is a structural reason for that: Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control. I am prepared to believe that video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful. But I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art." (Champion, Keeping it Reel: Is Machinima A Form Of Art?). I do not agree with Mr. Ebert. As he looks at the term art as a emotional involvement why can't the same be said about Video Games or in the case that I am presenting Machinima? For instance, Red vs Blue is a Machinima series created by utilizing a game engine that is used in the Halo series. The brand name, Halo, a video game that is common household name for almost any gamer. In video games, the graphics ( artwork) are presented upon the medium (TV) to allow the consumer to interact and immerse themselves within the world of the game. Some common emotions that may appear as frustration, happiness, sadness, sympathy, empathy among others that I have not listed. Everything that I have previously mention are all things that can be present when viewing artwork. Now if we go back to Machinima, essentially this is the same thing. The acting is done in the background and recorded to go along with the images that go across the screen. Isn't this essentially an animated movie in which Roger Ebert reviews and considers art? How is this any different? How are video games any different? I do not believe that they are

As technology grows the more animation or digital trend will start to appear within movies or even to go as far as our everyday lives. Machinima, for instance Machinima created by hankandjed, will start to grow more and more as the ideals of gaming start to spread and become a lot more mainstream. The idea of art needs to be broken down to a more liberal base and we need to take a step back and view things that are created whether it be by hand or naturally, with a more open eye. By creating this Machinima, Doraleous and Associates, all they want to achieve is a fan base that enjoy watching the show. This in turn is assumed that this brings some sort of happiness to the fans by telling a story that is engaging and strikes up emotions in that viewer. Isn't that why we are fans of something because we enjoy the emotion that it strikes in us? 




http://www.digra.org/dl/db/09291.09190.pdf


http://www.hankandjedmoviepictures.com/#!press


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk1B8DiIJI8&list=PLBC839BEC48A3E264

Monday, March 4, 2013

New Media Tool that can fuel a non-gamer POV

When writing my case study there was something that I didn't mention however in a way still is along the same lines. A huge new media tool that is utilized in the gaming world is online video. A gamer can record game play from any game they play assuming that they have the right recording device to do so and they post this online for other "gamers" to see. This tool is YouTube. There is a large following to online gaming news outlets like IGN, Machinima, Dtoid, and Rev3 Games just to name a few. This news channels so to speak are loaded with game play footage taken from the video game companies themselves or even going as far as user submitted material. This footage can contain anything that even seems relative to the gaming genre. On the same token this media is view-able to everyone that has access to YouTube. There are no restrictions when it comes to viewing this videos. The videos can be grotesque and also can be very humorous. This types of videos need to be taken as just that. People that are unfamiliar with what YouTube has to offer can be intimidated by this media outlet almost going as far as saying "...this is the prime contributor to the violence that is plaguing this country." This comes from a friend of the family that still owns a rotary phone so none the less he is a bit outdated with technology. This just goes to show you that people that do not understand the technology and media that is in front of them are scared of it and easily blame it for the problems we have today.

The reason I say that this is comparable is because essentially YouTube is online TV but just in shorter and smaller doses. On YouTube a viewer can view exactly what they want to view without all of the extra fluff that comes with watching TV aka commercials. We all hate commercials, except for those really really funny ones, those we can keep.

Case Study on Violent Media


            For the longest time violent video gaming has been a crutch for most arguments when it comes to a violent outbreak somewhere in our country. Not a lot of people really understand the concept that is this media. Most of the time the media that I am discussing, has the most detrimental effect when displayed through televisions or computer monitors which in this case is the medium being used. Video games are electronic games that involve a human interaction with a user interface (sometimes referred as GUI; graphical user interface) to generate some sort of visual feedback on the device. These electronic games have been around for almost 40 years but as our technology evolved over time they are just now starting to cause a controversy.
            Why are they just now causing this common controversy which is that they can cause addiction and potentially lead to or cause violent behavior? A prime example of this would be an article about a crime committed by Jacob Hartley while playing video games. His son was crying and “interrupted” his play session and he shook the baby to make the 3 week old boy stop. This kind of incident is prime material for advocacy groups such as MAVAV (Mothers against Videogame Addiction and Violence.) There are other groups out there that are back by politicians to further support the restriction of violent video games. Also, there have been studies done on the effects of violent video games. One such study in 2004 led to evidence showing that video game violence exposure was related to a wide array of aggression (for ex, verbal aggression, moderate physical aggression and violent behaviors). However, no one research study is conclusive and finds definitive results stated Hal Halpin. I believe the reason why this sudden urge for an answer is happening now is because we as a society are changing into a culture that we are unsure of. Older parents now are growing out of sync with current generation media. What’s a better scapegoat to blame the lack of parental know how then one that we do not understand? The answer is there is none. This is the best they have. There are studies that
            With the expansion of technology and rise of the video gaming community more and more cases of who’s to blame with arise. People need to understand that video games are not the culprit here yet there is something greater at fault here. There are also studies that show the beneficial effects of video games like surgeons playing video games three hours a week decreases mistakes by 37 percent. This goes to show you that it can have great hand eye coordination building skills. Why isn't this ever brought up? Sadly, it is because at the end of the day it is easier to blame something for problems rather than take responsibility.


Bibliography

TELEVISION GAMING APPARATUS AND METHOD. FPO IP Research & Communities. 2004-2013. 23 Feb 2013.

Video Game Addiction and Violence in Underground Video Game Cultures.MAVAV. 2002-2006. 23 Feb    2013.

Violent Video Games: The Effects on Youth, and Public Policy Implications. Handbook of Children, Culture and Violence. 2006. 23 Feb 2013.

Surgeons may err less by playing video games. Games on NBCNews.com. 2004. 23 Feb 2013

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Modifying a Wiki page?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversies#Biological_links_to_aggressive_behavior

More specifically...



Researchers found that people who played a violent video game for three consecutive days showed increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations each day they played. Meanwhile, those who played nonviolent games showed no meaningful changes in aggression or hostile expectations over that period. Although other experimental studies have shown that a single session of playing a violent video game increased short-term aggression, this is the first to show longer-term effects, said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University. "It's important to know the long-term causal effects of violent video games, because so many young people regularly play these games," Bushman said. He continues to say, "Playing video games could be compared to smoking cigarettes. A single cigarette won't cause lung cancer, but smoking over weeks or months or years greatly increases the risk. In the same way, repeated exposure to violent video games may have a cumulative effect on aggression." Bushman conducted the study with Youssef Hasan and Laurent Bègue of the University Pierre Mendès-France, in Grenoble, France, and Michael Scharkow of the University of Hohenheim in Germany. . Their results are published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and will appear in a future print edition.
The study involved 70 French university students who were told they would be participating in a three-day study of the effects of brightness of video games on visual perception. They were then assigned to play a violent or nonviolent video game for 20 minutes on each of three consecutive days. Those assigned the violent games played Condemned 2, Call of Duty 4 and then The Club on consecutive days (in a random order). Those assigned the nonviolent games played S3K Superbike, Dirt2 and Pure (in a random order). After playing the game each day, participants took part in an exercise that measured their hostile expectations. They were given the beginning of a story, and then asked to list 20 things that the main character will do or say as the story unfolds. For example, in one story another driver crashes into the back of the main character's car, causing significant damage. The researchers counted how many times the participants listed violent or aggressive actions and words that might occur. Students in the study then participated in a competitive reaction time task, which is used to measure aggression. Each student was told that he or she would compete against an unseen opponent in a 25-trial computer game in which the object was to be the first to respond to a visual cue on the computer screen. The loser of each trial would receive a blast of unpleasant noise through headphones, and the winner would decide how loud and long the blast would be. The noise blasts were a mixture of several sounds that most people find unpleasant (such as fingernails on a chalk board, dentist drills, and sirens). In actuality, there was no opponent and the participants were told they won about half the trials.) The results showed that, after each day, those who played the violent games had an increase in their hostile expectations. In other words, after reading the beginning of the stories, they were more likely to think that the characters would react with aggression or violence. "People who have a steady diet of playing these violent games may come to see the world as a hostile and violent place," Bushman said. "These results suggest there could be a cumulative effect." Bushman goes on saying "Hostile expectations are probably not the only reason that players of violent games are more aggressive, but our study suggests it is certainly one important factor." He continued, "After playing a violent video game, we found that people expect others to behave aggressively. That expectation may make them more defensive and more likely to respond with aggression themselves, as we saw in this study and in other studies we have conducted." he also notes Students who played the nonviolent games showed no changes in either their hostile expectations or their aggression. He said it is impossible to know for sure how much aggression may increase for those who play video games for months or years, as many people do. "We would know more if we could test players for longer periods of time, but that isn't practical or ethical," he said. [49][50]

I added all of that because I feel that since it is a recent study it should be relevant to this entry of Video Game controversies.

I am still a little unsure of how I feel about modifying a wiki entry or using wikipedia at all however, on the same token I view wikipedia as a unverified official word of mouth or word vomit type of way of researching. That being said, wikipedia tends to lead you to links that are from official sources IE. the one that i posted above is linked to a official study on video game violence. I think that using this kinda site for a starter point is great as long as it can redirect you and you are not taking what this says for granted.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Virtual Worlds and Gaming


              When sitting down and trying to think about a concept that I would find interesting to research that has to do with New Media I was considering all my options. I started to think about things that make a difference in my life and things that I tend to be passionate about. Among those topics I chose to do my research on the violent media and gaming aspect of evolution of new media. Video games and the like have made evolutionary steps to provide a media experience that captures its audience. As the time progressed so did the graphical nature and the capabilities of the games/consoles themselves. They can be associated with learning; they can be stress relievers and/or just fun in general. One thing that people need to accept that in this world of evolutionary technology is the video games (or type of) are starting to play a major part in child/teenagers up to self sufficient adults lives.
             One thing that really stood out to me when wanting to do a research project on this is the primary fact that violent media and video games get accused of corrupting the human mind and deterring them onto a path of violence. I want to show that violent media is not responsible for the mass violence that is done by these teenagers that cause such trauma around the world. Restricting the use or placing bans on this type of media is not a solution but an excuse to avoid the real problem here.

Evolution of Video Game Consoles up to 1977

Home consoles up to Nintendo's first consoles!

This is a timeline on how the home video game consoles changed or didn't change up to when Nintendo first emerged into the market.

On a side note, I tried to embed it but it failed miserably ha! 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

What is Being Human in the Digital Era?


What is being human in the digital era? 
That is an easy question to answer! We have skin and need water to survive and digital media does not. 

Man drinking water to re-hydrate.


Media device not taking in water.

Well if only it was that simple. Marshall McLuhan said "...Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without the knowledge of the way media work as environments. All media are extensions of some human faculty - psychic or physical." This is something that he was quoted in 1967. Is this still relative to the nature of today's media boom? In a way yes it is; it is very relevant. First we need to understand the psychological nature of media and how it affects us on a chemical level. Does this even happen? To an extent it does affect us. However, with that being said it doesn't physically change us. We, as a human being, are influence by things which are around us. The media itself is always around us. Whether the physical media such as a news report give us bad news about a company that we looked up was stealing our money or a tablet we use to find out that information is still the same in theory. Hearing bad news affects us on a chemical level as it changes our chemical balance of neurons to induce sadness. In this case absolutely it does affect us on a psychic level. McLuhan was correct then as much as he is now. The situation that we come across will determine how we are affected by it.

McLuhan says, "The medium is the message" by which he means it is how information is presented as opposed to what the message actually is. Keeping this relevant to today's digital age; we as humans are affected by all that we see and hear in this current world. We experience all of this via a plethora of mediums but at the same time we have gained a certain technological intelligence in which we choose how we display this message. By choosing how we get the message across we can affect the overall population on a much greater scale. What does this mean in regards to being human in a digital age? Since we are a part of this technological boom we ARE affected at physical level by all of this.  We help contribute to this advance in technology so much so that we are walking a fine line between staying a physical form to being a digital self. What I mean by this is that the more we "dial in" or "plug in" we start to lose our concept on what is common to reality because all we know is media. Being human in this age doesn't necessarily have to be like that. If we can maintain that break between those two versions of ourselves we can progress to a level that is unrivaled. We are all subject to the media around us but the trick is to know when to cut the cord to keep that distinction.

I found this very intriguing. You may as well.

Bill Buxton, Being human in a digital world.