Who am I? I'm still trying to figure that out. It's kind of a loaded question. As far as the minor details are concerned, I am a 28 year old returning student who's been out of school for a few years. Dr. Connor called me a "non-traditional" student which I actually like better. I received an AA Degree from St. Petersburg College back in 2001 and started on my bachelors over at USF Tampa shortly thereafter. My original major was Management Information Systems, but I quickly realized that me and computers don't really get along.
Because of some circumstances that occurred in my life during that time, I decided to leave school. During my time away, I've helped create/raise a little boy, gotten married, and watched my wife get her Masters Degree at USF. I also discovered the most wonderful place on this Earth, Hawai'i. I've been going at least once a year to Oahu for the past five years. My wife was raised on the North Shore and she wanted me to go there to find some inner peace. I definitely found some. If everything goes well, hopefully I can finish school, move to Hawai'i and live the rest of my life as a kama aina.
As far a gaming culture is concerned, I've been a gamer all of my life. I've been playing video games since I was 6 years old. I've played on gaming systems ranging from the old school Atari 2600 to the PlayStation 3. I'm more of a console gamer than a computer gamer. I think the reason I don't play computer games is that I don't know how to use a keyboard. It took me 2 hours to type all this down because I type like a primate. My favorite games are Madden, GTA series, Rock Band, and almost all first person shooters. I've been trying hard to ween myself away from my consoles because they are taking up way too much of my time. Time right now is a necessity.
Well, that's pretty much all I've got right now. I'm still trying to figure out how this Wiki thingy works, so my page is probably going to look pretty boring. Hopefully it progresses throughout the semester. I'm looking forward to interacting with all of you and hopefully we'll all be successful this semester. Take care.
1. Read Bogost Chapter 1/Wild Card Blog: write what you like, but connect it to an insight, idea, or example from chapter one of Persuasive Gaming.
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01.21.2009
Games and fill in the blank. There are so many topics that one can fill in that would make for entertaining reading. Games and sex, games and violence, games and addiction, so on and so forth. What I want to write about is games and my five year old son. I wanted to write about this topic because I don’t have to do too much research on the issue because I’ve been studying the subject all his life.
It was interesting to read the conclusions laid out in the “Digital Youth Project”. The main demographic in their research seemed to be teens. What I’m wondering is what is the impact of new media on really young kids. Looking back on my own personal experiences with games and new media, I started tinkering with video games the age of six. Looking back at the technology that was available, it was very limited in terms of graphics, sound, participation and interaction. When I played games like Super Mario Bros, the graphics (in today’s world) were primitive. Sound composed of beeps, and all I did was hit a couple buttons to make the character jump or move around.
Nowadays, these experiences are much different in regards to my son. He started interacting and playing video games at age one. My mother bought him an educational and learning based gaming system made by a company called Leap Frog. Participation was limited on his end. He would simply touch a pad or hit something and these actions caused a response. These responses ranged from visual outputs like a character popping up on the television and dancing around to audio outputs like life-like instrument sounds or a human voice telling a short story. I didn’t really concern myself with the amount of time he spent with these systems at this point because I looked at them as purely educational and innocent entertainment.
A few years have past and his participation has changed dramatically. He has shifted from what some would call “educational products” to serious gaming consoles like the PS3, Wii, and XBOX360. My son started getting interested in these consoles primarily because of me. He would watch me play and therefore he would want to play. Playing with these consoles isn’t what I’m concerned with. It’s the output that they create that does.
As a parent, I feel the need to monitor the games that he plays. Right now he’s really into interactive games like Wii Sports, Rock Band to traditional platform type games like Lego Star Wars. These games are acceptable in my opinion because they involve learning functions, problem solving, movement, and coordination. These games are suitable for all ages as the rating on the box implies.
What concerns me is my sons’ interaction with the videogames that I play. I play games like GTA, Gears of War, and Call of Duty. These games have adult themes like violence, sex, and war. He’ll watch me play these games and ask if he can play too. At this point I have to question his motivation. Does he want to play because he wants to play along side his dad or does he want to play because he finds what he sees appealing? I obviously hope it’s not the latter. I tell him that these games are for people who are “grown-up” and he understands and backs off his request. The “grown-up” portion of that statement is debatable. I almost always end up turning off my “mature rated” game and putting in something we both enjoy and is more appropriate for his age.
In the news media, you always here these stories about kids acting violently from playing mature rated video games. I don’t necessarily agree that playing violent video games creates violent people. But I do feel the need to limit my son from these games until he’s a lot older. I say limit because I can’t monitor him 24/7. There have been instances where I’ve caught him playing Halo and Call of Duty at my brother’s house and I have to remind him that these games are not to be played unless I say so. My son is always going to have access to these violent games, it’s up to me to reinforce that there are much more enjoyable and participatory games that he would enjoy. It’s also my responsibility to play along with my son and enjoy the games that he plays. I love playing Wii Sports because we both enjoy the competitive nature of it. If he sees that all I’m playing is GTA all the time and ignoring his games, he’s going to assume he’s missing out on something. By me playing with him, his assumption is Wii Sports and Rock Band is just as enjoyable as Halo and GTA. Plus with his games, the whole family gets involved and it seems even more fun.
My son and his involvement in the gaming culture are very important to me. I want him to take advantage of today’s technology because of not only the entertainment factor, but there are technologies and games that he uses that serve as an educational tool and serve as a more practical purpose. Because of his age I feel the need to protect him from the negatives that the same technology creates. I hate the idea of giving my son limits and restriction because I hated these controls as a kid myself. In the end, that’s what parents do. They place limitations because full control and complete censorship is unattainable. As he grows, his participation along with the technology will grow along with him. Unfortunately, his age and my limits that I place on him will be inversely related. Hopefully, he’ll be responsible tomorrow because of what I taught him today.
Reading about the Digital Youth Project was interesting because their findings coincide with my own personal observations. I have four younger brothers and they seem to fit the demographic of their study. I've watched my youngest brother who is 12 go through different participatory stages from hanging out to geeking out. I don't participate in what they call "friendship-driven" genres of new media like My Space and Face book, but my brothers sure do. My youngest brother uses these websites not just for keeping up with his current friends but he has also made friendships out of them by finding individuals who have similar interests. He used to be a little introverted before utilizing these new tools but since then he has gained confidence and is more on the extroverted side. That alone shows the influence that these new media forms have on today’s youth.
refer to Bogost Blog
This chapter gave me a nice history lesson on the origin of comics. When I was a teen, I really enjoyed comics and collected very seriously. I honestly can't remember why I stopped collecting and reading them but I kind of regret it. Previous to reading this, my definition of a comic involved some sort of superhero or something out of the Sunday paper. McCloud shows me how comics are much more complex and broad from what my definition is. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book to give me more insight on this literary genre that I thought I understood.
I haven’t had the time to play this game yet but it looks pretty fun. I understand that it’s a satirical game that criticizes the business practices of McDonalds, but it’s not going to stop me from getting a McRib from time to time. We've all seen and read the business practices of these big businesses. We even have these types of establishments on our campuses. In the end of the day, we even support them by buying their food or wearing their clothes. The good thing that comes out of games like the McDonalds games is that they are aware that we are aware. Hopefully with that knowledge, comes improvements on how business is conducted so that they are more socially and environmentally responsible and accountable.
- Earl, you are dead on with this. My great aunt and uncle, both in their mid 80's, own a Wii. They round up their various wizened gumbas to have Wii
parties on wiikends. They very much enjoy Wii sports, with particular affection towards golf and bowling. - Danny
Initially, I wasn’t clear on why McCloud titled chapter 2 “The Vocabulary of Comics.” My broad definition of a vocabulary is a set of words known by a person. He explains that iconology is the vocabulary of comics. I guess what McCloud is trying to say is that the images within a comic represent a person, place, or a thing. Depending on how “real” the image is, we as readers use abstract thinking to interpret the image. The more realistic the icon is the less cognitive thinking we use. The more abstract the icon is, the more cognitive thinking we use to interpret the person, place, thing, or idea the artist or writer is trying to convey. Applying my definition of vocabulary to McCloud’s idea of iconology, the set of words a person knows would be the set of interpretations a person has after trying to interpret a particular icon.
In Chapter 3, McCloud states that,”If visual iconography is the vocabulary of comics, closure is its grammar.” I would define grammar as the way words or language is structured in order for them to make sense. Instead of words or language being defined, it is the panel to panel transitions that give structure to the comics we read. I regularly read comics as a teen and I didn’t really think of the different transitions that occurred from panel to panel. I read mostly Marvel comics as a teen and looking back it did seem they used primarily the action to action transition. I stopped by Barnes and Noble this weekend and browsed through the comics’ area and that seems to be the case for today’s American comics as well. I browsed through the Japanese Manga section and looked through those comics. I started reading a little bit of the book and I was a little confused by the way the book was beginning. The beginning of the book was actually the end. I flipped through the book and at the very end it actually gave instructions on how to read Japanese comics. Apparently you start at the very back of the book and you have to follow the panels in a specific order for the comic to make sense. McCloud says that Japanese comics’ usages of the panel to panel transitions are much different than US comics. He seems to be right. Just flipping through I did notice more usage of aspect to aspect transition that aren’t regularly used in US comics. Not to say that one style of comic is better than the other. It’s just important to understand the techniques the artists are using in order for the reader to have a pleasurable reading experience.
The concept of game-story really caught my attention in Murray’s “From Game Story to Cyberdrama” because I really enjoy playing story rich games. Games like Halo, Metal Gear Solid, and Gears of War are great video games because they are basically movies. The biggest difference is that theses cyberdramtic movies are participatory and procedural. When you go watch a movie there is no participation other than watching a film that the director has created for his audience. If you don’t like the pace the movie is going or if you don’t like where the plot is headed there isn’t anything you can do because you can’t control that medium and have no sense of agency. In a cyberdramatic game like Halo, we as gamers are basically the directors and the protagonists in the video games are the actors. We create a sense of agency when we are placed in a first person perspective of the main character, Master Chief. In a movie, the emotions we feel are outcomes of the visuals and the scenes that the director has created w/o participation from the audience. In Halo or any other video game, the emotions and sense of pleasure we feel are based on the outcomes and actions that the audience creates. Obviously we direct with the constraints and the restrictions that the programmers give us based on their vision on how the story should be played and how the story should end. It’s how we get to that ending that’s fun.
The topic of this paper and the thesis isn’t apparent and clear after reading the first paragraph. A little adjusting would correct that. The information in the supporting paragraphs is very visual and detailed. The paragraphs are supported with clear topic sentences and the examples within the paragraphs make sense. With a little clean up. You got an A paper.
The purpose of this causal paper is clear and the examples that you provide, whether they be statistical or visual, back up the thesis statement. The paragraphs are clear and segmented to introduce a new statement. With some grammatical touch ups, you definitely got an A capable paper.
Some suggestions:
Rephrase last sentence from first paragraph.
“They are causing behavior problems by the way desensitizing and by leading to aggression or harmful behavior.”
This paper is a very good informative paper but I don’t think it’s a causal paper. The introduction needs some refining to provide a clear thesis statement. There are a few grammatical errors that need some attention as well. Other than that, the statistical information that you provide is clear and definitely provides a sense of fear for a parent.
Your paragraphs are structured logically with appropriate topic sentences. Make some corrections and you should have a A paper.
Some suggestions:
Children who are going through emotional emotionally rough times are more prone to fall for prey.
One kinds type of these individuals takes a more slower approach to their quest and will give plenty of attention…
For These predators their tactics lead them to slowly present sexually explicit material into their conversations (FBI).
TO: Dr. Trey Conner
FROM: Earl Babista, ENC 3310 Section 602
Date: April 22, 2009
Subject: Final Project Proposal
For my final project, I would like to expand on my causal paper, “Kids, get in the house and play your videogames!” My thirty minute timeslot for April 23rd’s class will be used to ask my fellow peers on how the paper can be expanded.
Visual representations such as video clips and pictures will supplement the claims throughout the paper. My definitional argument, “Wii Therapy”, will be linked as a transition explaining other benefits of playing videogames.
Overall structure of the paper will be an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and conclusion. Formatting will accomplished through MLA formatting.