Thursday, January 30, 2020

Video Game Design Essay Example for Free

Video Game Design Essay Video games is no doubt the widely celebrated market leading the entertainment industry for youngsters. From the basic Atari consoles with mere up and down buttons and a special plastic rifle spewing infra red bullets to Level Up internet games where you can fight opponents in the other side of the world, this violent entertainment industry is definitely not stopping from evolving into a bigger money making monster. News reports further observe that â€Å"fueled by a growing portable gaming market, sales of video game software and hardware topped . 5 billion, a six percent increased over 2004s $9. 9 billion and topping 2002, which held the previous record of $10. 2 billion, according to The NPD Group. † (CNNMoney. com. , 2006) The industry is not devoid of morale and ethical issues despite its support from the business sector and overwhelming support from its consumers. In fact, conferences of video game event are worldwide in scope. The Entertainment Software Association are preparing for the E3EXPO slated for next year. â€Å"E3Expo remains an important event for the industry and we want to keep that sense of excitement and interest, ensuring that the human and financial resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry. The new event ensures that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get information to media, consumers, and others,† (ESA, 2006) as its leader Lowenstein promoted. With video gamers on one side, video game creators on another, the public continues to debate on the issue of social responsibility in this video game industry. Who is responsible for all the violence found in video games? Debates arise from the breadth of the studies against video games to those that could see measures that regulate the games aimed at protecting young minds who could not distinguish from real to non real. These debates arise because people acknowledge the social responsibility that needs to be addressed. Social responsibility is the vanguard of the morales of a community. When something is not ethical, these two words are brought up like a bell that calls people into order. In the video gaming industry, where sex and violence reach both adult and juvenile minds, where gamers can spend days on end in front of a monitor totally locked in a world of play and totally forgetting his other social duties and responsibilities, something is not right. Video game designers must be socially responsible not to design games that are violent. They should not step outside market decision. There is no such thing as letting the market decide in this age of complex marketing and advertising tactics and strategies. Social and psyschological studies would prove that issues arising from violent video games must find immediate solutions from all stakeholders including designers. â€Å"Not only can excessive video game playing cause behavioral and social changes in a person, but it can also result in neurological changes as well. A recent study utilized positron emission tomography in order to show that levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine increased while playing video games. (Ingram, 1998) â€Å"The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver and Littleton. Two teenage students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, carried out a shooting rampage, killing 12 fellow students and a teacher, as well as wounding 24 others, before committing suicide. It is considered to be the deadliest school shooting, and the second deadliest attack on a school in United States history after the Bath School disaster. † (Wikipedia. com. 2006) The advent of video games was expected with the development of software and computer hardware industries. Tracing back, the need for entertainment increased the need to develop technologies that would cater to this need. The need for entertainment was spawned by the decline of social values that are based on physical social interaction. This is not over simplification. Statistics show that one of three six year old have their own televisions in their room. The alarming statistics should make the community act on these issues. Unfortunately, the community itself is hooked on these video games where society’s need to release their frustrations can be exhausted. Doctors believe that whatever the content, children and adults must not be hooked on technologies like the computer and television for more than two hours a day. American statistics note an average of five hours of television and computer use a day. Health risks due to technologies are on a rise. One of three people in America is obese due to improper diet and lack of exercise. One of ten teenagers have been jailed for at least five times before turning eighteen. It is a fact that parents hold two jobs to sustain a family. One million children a year become member of divorced households. The need to be entertained exists because a void in the values exists. And this void is being nurtured by sex and violence found in games created by the very same people who are void of this nurturing. There is no amount of creative video game that can replace family and social dynamics. Violence is violence. As it is, the juveniles are desensitized from blood and gore so much so that the need for more blood and gore leads to more blood and gore. Unlike television, video game is an interactive system. The creator is the one who thinks of the big plot where all subplots follow. He is the one who creates the characters that the gamers choose from the start. How can the creator not be responsible for something he created when he is a member of society who will feel and face the consequences of his creations. Maybe these video game creators rake in millions of dollars now but a few years from now, the wars they create and on the video console will become flesh and blood as proven by recent bomb attacks. But no matter how violent this creative output becomes, American dare not cross the right to free speech. Courts are also in disparities. â€Å"Our contemporary court decisions show that the right to free speech is more important to us than eliminating offensive content about women, says Ren Reynolds. Whether games even qualify as speech, though, is still up for debate. St. Louis County recently asserted that games are not speech, and therefore are not protected under the First Amendment. However, in a separate case, the 7th Circuit U. S. District Court of Appeals found that games are speech. Most of us, including feminists concerned by representations of women, are not in favor of diminishing our rights under the First Amendment. † (Hall, 2002). Video game creators cannot forever run away from their social responsibility. Sooner or later these young creative dynamic people at the prime of their lives will become old. They will one day see themselves at the hands of their caregivers in hospices. Their game buddies would be in other hospices as well remember good old killing days of blood and gore. They must not expect society to be as compassionate when they can’t keep up the level of their games when they grow old. Investing on one’s future is answering to the call for social responsibility. This responsibility is not in the hands of just a few but in all of the stakeholders. Being responsible is just like thinking about creating the bomb that can be dropped in Hiroshima. The Chernobyl accident effects have been passed on to generations in the enviornment as well as with their people. It is only when creators give true service to the community when they are truly creative and worthy of awards. Reference CNN Money. Video game set sales record in 2005 January 14, 2006: 3:56 PM EST Game Boy, PSP lift the industry, despite languid holiday season http://money. cnn. com/2006/01/13/technology/personaltech/gamesales/index. htm ESA. Entertainment Software Association Announces Evolution of E3Expo for 2007 http://www. theesa. com/archives/2006/07/for_immediate_r. php Hall, Wesley. Kitchen Sink. Oakland: Oct 31, 2002. Virtual Morality; Violence and Ethics in Video Games Vol. 1, Iss. 1; pg. 75 Ingram, Jay. June 12, 1998 Positron Emission Tomography Wikipedia. com. 2006

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, 1801-1922 :: Government Politics Political Essays

Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, 1801-1922 The British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland (BPPI) are an indispensable primary source for virtually every historian (and many non-historians) working in most fields of Irish history, and the history of Anglo-Irish relations, during the period of the Union (1801-1922). We have identified some 13,700 official publications relating to Ireland from the House of Commons[1] Sessional Indexes for this period, ranging in scale from short bills of a few pages and reports, to the massive social inquiries with volumes of minutes of evidence exemplified by the decennial censuses, the Poor Inquiry Commission (1836) and Devon Commission (1845) reports, each of which were multi-volume documents covering thousands of pages. Subjects covered by BPPI range from government, politics and administration, to finance, agriculture and industry, communications, emigration, social conditions, poor relief and health, population, law and order, education, cultural institutions, religion and language. The types of evidence contained are extremely varied, from statistical series and accounts to lightly- or unedited transcripts of emigrants’ letters and witness interviews from across the social spectrum. Obviously the BPPI are elite documents, created by the Government, Parliament and state agencies for the purposes of governance, administration, and the creation of official knowledge. This naturally implies an official bias in what was thought relevant of observation, what data was collected, and what was selected for publication. The principal value of the BPPI might thus be taken to lie in what they tell us about governing knowledge, preoccupations, strategies and ideologies – all crucial in themselves for an understanding of the British-Irish relationship in the period between the Act of Union and the Irish Revolution and the partition of the island in 1919-22. But the BPPI can also provide us with much more than the ‘official view’. British governance of Ireland took place in the context of executive responsibility to Parliament, a body which contained growing numbers of oppositional and nationalist Irish members who could demand returns of official data and serve on committees and commissions of inquiry, and beyond Parliament (however imperfectly) to an Irish as well as a British public opinion, increasingly conscious through the burgeoning popular press of the proceedings of Parliament. Irish newspapers, for example, carried not only verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates, but long extracts from the BPPI, and debated their findings and implications in editorials. The BPPI were very much part of the public life of 19th and early 20th-century Ireland.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Southern Comfort

SO-199-01 Southern Comfort How did the movie made me feel? It was a warm feeling. The first ten minutes of the video showed this close knit family eating outside and that alone I admired. And I when I found out that his connection to his â€Å"chosen family† was so strong to come to his aid when he woke up in a pool of his own blood I began to admire the family even more. I assumed that that the life of a transgender person was hard. That was a given because it is human nature to fear or to hate what people do not understand. But I general broad scope of how hard it was. I never thought a trans-person could be denied service from a doctor.The film challenged me to really think about the social constructs that society built around the term man and woman. I still find it hard to see differently because I feel it is engrained into me to think otherwise. And honestly, the more think about it the more frustrating it is because each day I discover subtle things like blue blankets an d pink blankets for newborn boys and girls respectively that I never thought about. Which cause me to think ask a friend what exactly is a woman and man? A friend, replies with woman are capable of having children and then I responded by saying females can produce offspring.Manny and I couldn’t come to a clear a definition for the term â€Å"woman† or â€Å"man†. I liked how Robert stated it not between your legs that define you, but how you feel in your head and heart. I noticed that Robert’s son mixed his pronouns when he was talking about him. I also had trouble with keeping the pronouns correct, not during the movie but writing my reflection. I liked the movie overall because I believe the message was to let people know that it is up to us, as individuals, to be more open to the idea that our bodies do not label us as men or women. Our thoughts and our feelings do that.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Social Media And Its Effects On Society - 934 Words

The more technology advances the more we seem to find different ways to communicate world wide. Daily there are many different types of apps and websites being created to share ideas, photos or feelings. It has changed the lives of many people positively and negatively. Ever since social media grew so did bullying. However there are many places bullying can happen, like in school, outside of school, work, or home. There are two different types of bullying, verbal and physical. It can have a small or big impact, depending on the person. Many people will say that the main causes of bullying today is social media because it allows people to communicate with others not having to be face to face and anonymously making it easier to bully others. Although some may argue that social media causes bullying, the truth is that bullying is actually caused by overexposure of private life, the victim becoming the bully, and lack of supervision . Social media such Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have become a worldwide trend. It gives people the opportunity to share their everyday life like, pictures of their summer vacations, selfies, or their dinner. It allows people to communicate with people from all around the world. These websites allows people to post mostly anything they want with no restrictions. They can post their phone number, address, even their social security number. When this type of information is shared with friends, they can be exposed to many dangersShow MoreRelatedSocial Media And Its Effects On Society1597 Words   |  7 PagesSociety Crumbles into Smithereens One Post at a Time You are walking out of the new Star Wars movie, posting about how superb it was, when suddenly you are swooped up and thrown in the back of a vehicle. No one would have thought posting about how you were there earlier would provoke such a situation. After all, social networking is â€Å"safe† and â€Å"friendly.† Now, social media is defined as â€Å"A form of electric communication through which users create online communities to share information,† accordingRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effect On Society1711 Words   |  7 Pagesinfluence usually are not the first words you would expect to come to mind when thinking about the term â€Å"social media,† yet with a little digging you will soon realize it could be the perfect description. Social media can be defined as forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content. Most often social media is understood as a p ositive concept because of the ways it has allowed us to attain cheap and easilyRead MoreThe Effects Of Social Media On Society1359 Words   |  6 PagesIn a broad sense, Social media refers to elements such as websites, television, blogs, IM, and other applications that enable users to create and share various forms of content such as messages, pictures, and information, or to be able to participate in social networking. Social media depends on web-based applications, which allow a high level of virtual interaction on various levels such as social, professional, and educational levels. Social media has had various contributions to the developmentRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On Society1592 Words   |  7 Pagesdevelopment of vast social media networks has improved our communications and interactions. These networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are essential to how information is shared and criticized. The Social Media Handbook defines social media as â€Å"networked information services designed to support in-depth interaction, community formation, collaborative opportunities and collaborative work† (Hunsinger, 2014 p.1). Having an account or profile on these sites is more than a social norm; it is a requirementRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On Society1359 Words   |  6 PagesPeople may say social media is good for you but is it really? Everyday, everywhere I always see people on social media calling people bad names, not being able to communicate face to face with each other. Social media, social media, social media†¦ oh what is has done to the world, so many students grades have dropped, criminals PROMOTE crimes. Ultimately, what is at stake here is social media will one day take over the world. People’s safety will be in danger, crimes will increase, people will getRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effect On Society1601 Words   |  7 Pagesrecent editorial titled â€Å"Hazards of Social Media† on your LinkedIn page on February 10th, 2016. It was very interesting to read your perspective on social media and its effect on society. Having an undergraduate major in Psychology at the University of Southern California and currently conducting research on social media usage at the Brain and Creativity Institute of USC, I have spent significant time researching the issue of social media.Though I agree that social media can be hazardous if not used effectivelyRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effect On Society998 Words   |  4 Pagesis bound to be a shift in social norms. As the times change, so does societ al views on acceptable values. One such possibility is the standard value accepted by mainstream society in which the way a female body is sexually portrayed in the media. It appears that society has not only accepted this standard, but has increasingly encouraged a more sexualized representation of the female body. Social media is an informational highway about what is accepted by the larger society and inferred by the individualsRead MoreThe Effects Of Social Media On Society Essay1644 Words   |  7 PagesSocial media has become prominent parts of life for many young people today. Most people engage with social media without stopping to think what the effects are on our lives, whether positive or negative. Are we as a society becoming more concerned with Facebook friends than we are with the people we interact with face-to-face in our daily lives? What will the longterm effects of today s social media use be? There are many positive aspects, but there are equally as many dangers that come withRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effect On Society1151 Words   |  5 PagesSocial Media The Workplaces’ Largest Enemy Being employed means that an individual will in most cases have coworkers and bosses; the environment shared between the employees is known as the workplace. In the time before technology, people being fired from their jobs was not an unheard of situation. The difference now is people are being terminated from their jobs because of something they posted on social media. If this was not the case, it would set a precedent that posting inappropriate or hurtfulRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On Society Essay1396 Words   |  6 PagesIn our modern world, the use of social media is overwhelming and second nature due to the availability. Several people all around the world possess some form of an electronic device that is capable of accessing social media, rather it be Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and many more. â€Å"Technology’s rampant popularization over the past decade in terms of social media has meant that texting, Facebook, and Twitter have inevitable take n over as the most efficient ways of communicating with each