Im not sure if i get the assignment, but what i understand is that you want to know if video games can be consume on a passive manner. Well i totally thing you can. For instance, the fact that there are tournaments and people attend not only to participate but also to watch other people's technique and game play. So in other words, Im thinking that video games' tournament can be easily compare to other sporting events. Furthermore, the fact that there are video games videos on youtube of people's matches. Sometimes i go youtube and im amazed to find videos of guitar hero and how they beat the perfect record or the world of warcraft... certainly, this way can be considered as a passive way to consume a video game. Finally, another example that comes to my mind is the one where my brother, Oscar, will be playing video games with his friends; and i will be watching them how the play. What attracted me was how they play the game, how they relate to each other and to the game... I enjoy when someone beats other and they mock each other and to see how good they are playing the video games, it is really entertaining. Certainly, i considered that video games play the same role as tv shows, some people produce an artifact and we become audience and we just need to watch closely what the director or producer of the artifacts want to communicate.

Define terms such serious games, capitalism, globalization, cultivation theory,

Small intro of the game and explanation of the gameplay and layout of the game.

Explain how this games is a serious game and how is been used.

Analysed one game match... and indicate what ideology is being portrayed on it. And how i considered it will benefit players of it.

Indicate what can be draw of the videogame as well the effects that it could have in kids real life.

Conclusion 

Online communities and Fungux....

Nowadays i think is hard to say that someone to say that he/she do not belong to an online community. Due to the fact that internet is really popular in society, and people will communicate and use it for their everyday life. To talk about Internet and the power of it, will take forever just to understand half of the importance of it, however, what is important is to indicate that internet have help users to define themselves and find people that share the same values. For instance, i consider facebook groups are online communities, certainly some are really weird and i remember when i got my facebook account, i was trying to find a way to reflect my identity. It is hard to do it in webapages such as my space and facebook where the users are constraint to what the site offers. However, i found that facebook groups help to define who you are, by selecting groups such as : “facebook group for people who likes to join to facebook groups” or “I was doing homework and i end up in Facebook” or “Yes I am a mexican and i don't travel in a “burro” or have giant sombrero” and many others like this help me to define me and found other people like me and talk to other people that are “just like me”. Other online community, i love and adore is the PEARL JAM ten club.... huge participant there. Love it because i feel i have a connection with the band as well i feel i belong that i fit in this group. In the discussion board i totally understand all the topics, because i been there so long i have seniority, i feel important and i have some respect because of my obsession and my dedication to the band.

PART II (Every time i write “Part II”, i always want to say that part 2s are not as the part 1 lol... u know like sequels, except for the Godfather one. The part two of The Godfater kick ass!!!! but well ... just a stupid joke, anyhow.... sigh!)

Wow now we are talking about a research thesis... well usually that's the last one that i write when i do an essay but pretty much this is some ideas i will be mentioning in my thesis. The serious game, Seat at the table, can be used as an education tool to orientate youth about the social, economical and political struggles of the third world countries. The designed of the game and the information provided to the players allow them to situate themselves as a third world person and allow them to have control, at some extent, of the character faith. The game teaches to the player about the globalization's detrimental effect in poor communities all around the world. Usually one of my main arguments is the fact that the video game game play differs from high popular game, consequently, players do not feel that they are playing a game but that they are actually learning a serious game. Another argument is that what idea is being portray is that the game is representation an idea and i will try to indicate that is an anti-capitalist and anti-globalization discourse and i will provide example of how through the text in teh game it can be perceive such discourses.

And that's all i have done... I think we should get some feedback if we are doing the right thing

Yipikayeeeeah!

Yeah right how i will find advertisement on a video game that i've played when i have no experience and the ones that i played there's no ads or video in youtube. Anyhow! I decide to google it and find a clip that i could analyse of something like this... well anyhow... I got this one, its a commercial for die hard video game and i found it so funny and hilarious (http://akihabarablues.com/2009/01/12/el-mejor-anuncio-de-videojuegos-de-la-historia-con-diferencia/) I love the movie and i thought the clip will be as good as the movie, and i was totally right. The clip present a group of man as if they were participating in a casting call as if they were going to play a character of the movie. During the commercial makes reference to the line Yipikayeeah! And the off-screen voice ask to the participants if they can receive bullets and stuff like that as if the human beings were going to play the part of the main character in the video games. This commercial in the surface will find it funny, however, thinking of what have been said regarding the theory of cultivation effect in audiences. This theory indicates that audiences will transfer ideas or concepts of the video game and apply it in their real life. Somehow as if the gamers will see reality as part of a video game. I think this idea is been portrayed during the commercial, the actors are personifying a game character and they need to be able to say the lines and to take bullets in as a game character will do, although, at the end they are still humans and they can die or obviously they do not resemble the character or embrace the lifestyle. However, it is certain that certain group of gamers will identify themselves with the game characters and at some extent play the role in their everyday life.

Kirriemuir, J., & McFarlane, A. (2003) Use of Computer and Video Games in the Classroom. Bristol, UK: University of Bristol.

Kirriemuir & McFarlane examine the use of computer s and video games with the purpose of educate students. They applied an informal survey in order to find out how and what type of video games are being selected for the class. During the research the researchers' findings indicate what trends that are use in the environment. The use specific example of educational games. Although their perspective of the research is to focus more into the issues that teaching staff faced while using video games as an educational tool, for the use of this research, i considered is crucial to approach my video game as educational tool and similar concepts can be draw between the research and set in the discourse of the game to be analysed.

Malaby, T.M.(2007) Beyond Play A New Approach to Games. Games Culture. Sage Publications

In this essay Malaby indicates that games are popular, academic, and policy-maker awareness of the impact in society that games have. Malaby indicate that games are capable of generate practices and interpretations, are inbedded with everyday life practices and motifs. Malaby approach the game as text as part of a social theory discourse. He indicaste that the games are social artifacts and participants absorb ideas and cross-cultured it with their own values and he indicates that games and society have a close relation in the shaping of both.

Michael, D. (2006) Serious: game: games that educate, train, and inform. Boston, Massachussetts: Thomson Course Technology.

In the book is discussed the topic of serious game and explore it as a tool of Ideological State Aparatuses to teach and educate member of certain topics. It uses different institutions and explains how each of them will use serious games to train the gamers. The general idea of video games, as in the book is stated, is that serious games has the ability to present a particular view of certain issue and through the story line will be presented the arguments to support it and gamers will assimilate this ideology.

I know im suppose to have 5 but 2 of mine are 2 books im going to get from the library and im going to pick them up before tonite's class and i wont have enough time to read them and summarize them.but well at least 3 are done !!! 

GAMES, GAMERS .....

Happy Bday Queen Victoria! Today no class but we have work to do and one is to blog... yeah! Another session it is starting ........riiiiiiiiiiiight now!

Ok! so i was suppose to read 3 amazing essays about gamers and their relation with the games. All, three readings, present the idea of participatory culture. Which i understood as the gamers become producers of texts instead of only be consumers. Somehow like what Henry Jenkins and fans and poaching of texts. For instance, Halverson, E. & R. Halverson. (2008). Fantasy Baseball, the Case for Competitive Fandom”; In the article the authors discuss the fans and when they create a fantasy baseball team based on real statistics. I think this game is a cool way for fans to demonstrate how much do they know about the game. In addition, that the gamers at some extent have control of what is happening because is not as a “control” environment like other games. Having in consideration that in videogames, gamers rely to whatever the programmer decided to be the way to be played and not having other option of what to do, fantasy games allow to aficionados to show their knowledge and the fact that is based on statistics it provides some “control” for the player. Second reading, Sotamaa, O. (2003). “Computer Game Modding, Intermediality and Participatory Culture”; and the third reading, Postigo, H. (2007). “Of Mods and Modders: Chasing Down the Value of Fan-Based Digital Game Modifications”; discuss another perspective of gamers and their relation with games. Both readings point out to the term mod or modding, which i understood that is when a gamer will hack a game and alter it, it can be done by improving the aesthetic, the game rules, narration or other elements of the game in order to fulfill the gamers goals. Both readings, indicate that this is like hacking and at some players will use this in order to cheat because at some extent they do have the control of the game. The modifications done in the game will make it better and somehow can evolve in another game or it can use other popular text, for instance in one of the readings indicate that modders use barney in one game... I consider that this allow the games to experience the game as they wish to experience it. Also it will show how this gamers will see the world based on the games. Really interesting.

Part 2... find another game ... are you serious? Took me forever to pick one and now that i find one that i like that Im suppose to learn another game... Well so i went back to the site and i found this amazing game. Real Lives 2010 (http://www.gamesforchange.org/main/gameprof/730) which is really similar to the SEAT AT THE TABLE. A role play game where people experience the life of poor societies. However, Im suppose to give my credit card in order to play... and hell no! I will not spend money in this game. So i move one, and i did not find another game that appeal me because of the fact that the other one has cartoon characters which, for me, less the importance of the game and the message get lost in the ridiculous drawings. So i decide to indicate the other one that i like, the name is Free Rice (http://freerice.com/index.php) and is dictionary game. Players need to select definition of words, this words are related to themes such as poverty, hunger, and third world issues. I think this game as my other selection, targets the age of children between 7 years old, which i think is so important because i can play with my niece and she can understand issues and learn new things that i know she wont learn in this country. 

Fungux living in the virtual world

After reading this assignment, the only thing that came to my mind, was an episode of the Simpsons, were Bart and Marge become addicted to a MMORPG that looks like Everquest... anyhow! When i watch the show i will be what Bart chose to be, it was a black knight character super powerful and he was controlling and overpowering the fantastic world. However i do not play those type of games but if i ever decide to do it. I think it will be Everquest II, the reason is because seems to be more friendly and easy to play, however, the title sound that there is no end to the game and it will be an eternal quest to whatever i questing for, uggh! About what character i will be... an Erudite. Yeah! Personally, I believe that knowledge can defeat anything and as the site describes this character “Their culture is centered upon the accumulation of arcane knowledge and mystical power” and that looks more like a human and i love the fact that you can be a good or bad depending on the port that is being played. I though the character will have the power of knowledge and if in class i set her as a Shadowknight other players will fear me lol. I totally know that my character will be so aggressive and killer and most of all intelligent that i will beat anyone there and my character's personality will be like a fusion Hitler, Mussolini, Napoleon, Quetzalcoatl and Franco intelligence, power and strength. Although is sad that i can create a character that looks like me just so i feel like is my daughter hahahaha or even myself being the powerful one! The name will be Fungux because that's my nickname and i think is really cool name.

Avatars and me! I will not make any statement about second life video games, but if i ever decide to have one avatar will look just like me. However, the lifestyle will be so different from the one in the real world, i think it will allow me to fulfill all my fantasies lol. Creating a character that represent me just the way i am allow me to be more sincere and honest about my character.

Certainly i have not given a lot of thought to my research paper and many ideas can be draw from my game. However i will be interested in approach the game in social perspective. I will try to analyse what themes are presented in the games such as globalization and the sense of community. On the other hand i will try to understand the role of players as active or passive consumers of the game. I know this is to general and might not be answering the question but this weekend i will be looking into my game and the theories, I'm having lots of issues with this, and maybe because i don't feel that my game is a game because it involves more reading and less action or cartoons. :)

3 task

Women playing video games is something that appeals me, maybe because when i was growing up, playing video games was an activity exclusive for boys. Girls were suppose to play dolls... and the fact that there was no video games created for women, well, at least decent ones. If i ever do a research on video games or something related to the game industry, I will focus in analysing them from the feminist perspective. As you already know i don't know anything about video games, and I'm shooting this idea without any basis, but i realized that there are no video games that empower femininity and redefine womanhood. I think i will approach the representation of women in video games, in specific in Grand Theft Auto series, I remember in the reading was discussed that there is prostitute and in order to gain power the player need it to do stuff to her... ugggh! What! Why? This game think that women dedicated to pleasure men are a bad thing and a thing to be used to empower themselves. I think one issue that this kind of approach will be the fact that it can have biases and be tendentious researcher because is based on only one gender. ... anyhow! Thank god I'm not doing it lol!

My serious games i love it! It so interesting and explains the social- political and economical issues that a third world country faces because of globalization. Definitely I've decide that i will approach this game as a Marxist critique to globalization effects in third world countries. I know, i know ... is an easy way to approach the text, however many topics can be draw within this discourse such as: the fact that the players are limited to play a character that the game impose to you, that the narration seems that have the same ending (maybe with the purpose to show how globalization affects them), and last the whole text and characters chosen for the game.

Wow! Video games is not a easy topic, for my surprise, i just learned that 1970s is the era when video games history began. The Magnavox Odyssey is considered the first video game console and is amazing that this rustic technology (compare to recent models) was the base for the monstrosity of the video game industry. Certainly different console models have appeared from the 1970s, however, what makes me thing is why people actually need new consoles and why they are willing to buy this consoles. After learning part of the video games' history, i realized one of the main goal developers of early game systems was to create a console that audience can play at home. However, after they created the home consoles, the next issue the game company faced was the necessity to create entertaining video games wanted to buy and play. Games such as Pacman, Space Invaders, Tetris, Pong, etc. provided entertainment to gamers, however, gamers were interested in having more excitement and companies wanting to make profit in the growing game industry created new consoles and games to gain and retain costumers. Recently, video games and consoles have evolve in a rapid manner new consoles like WII, Play station and computers have changed the way that gamers experience the video games. Certainly, as the video games evolved the audiences evolve, as well, the critiques, and video game companies adapt the games to fit ideologies, and it can be recognize the changes in the game industry. Nowadays, video games companies are creating games that educate and entertain to youth, maybe because of they are their target audience and the previous critiques done to the lack of social skills of video gamers. Certainly the graphics have change as well and now look more real. This is one of the reasons i do not like video games because of the graphics, i get so lost with everything and to many weird images that annoys me when i am staring at the screen and the pointless feeling that video games give me. Somehow, because video games main purpose is to entertain in the leisure time, makes me feel i am wasting my time without doing something productive. However, for my surprise there are some real video games know as serious games. I realized these games provided something more that weird images and waste of time. One game i really like is http://www.gamesforchange.org/main/gameprof/647 A Seat At The Table. I was amazed of the amount of information that this video game has. It is a role play game, where the gamer plays the role of a person from a third world country and addresses issues such as poverty, globalization, hunger, and others, and during the game the gamer face up some situations and give 2 option and depending of what option he/she pick the gamer is what is going to happen with the characters. I think that this game was really informative and did not had that essence of video game because it had a lot of reading instead of really big graphics (which i dislike). Being a person that lived in a third world country, i found that this game is the perfect way for other people to realized how hard life is in these countries. Honestly, i do not know if the target audience s the adequate and i think it needs to be more older because of the amount of reading that the game has, I do not think that a 7 year old will be able to stay focus. Anyhow! Time is over and this blog is to long ...

Enjoy the life

Cynthia Aguilera

Wow! Yeah I'm in the blog universe not for free will but more for a mark. Blogging is new to me and i am not so excited about it. Nothing productive comes from blogging and even more dehumanizes society. Anyhow, is time to move forward and suck it up and do this assignment.

Where to begin... Introduce myself.

My name is Cynthia Del Carmen Aguilera Garcia. I'm 25 years old Mexican girl. Born and raised in the most surrealist city in the world, Mexico City and end up moving to Canada in 2005. English is my second language making Spanish my first one. I love watching television and adore music. I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan (7 concerts and counting). Back home I studied Mass Media and I want to become a Music Video Director and someday...I will be one. Currently I am in my third year of Popular Culture at Brock University. People that knows me are aware of how passionate I am about some ideas; for instance the fact that I am vegetarian because i do not believe that eating meat gives you something good to your body. Other idea that I am strong about is how much i dislike video games and anything related to it.

Yeah! I have never being a fan of video games. Since I was a child I never wanted a Nintendo game or a Tamagochi (really popular game in Mexico). In addition to the fact that I never understood the games and always feeling sick watching them, my family could not afford them and my mother never considered video games as a crucial instrument for my education or socialization. I'm not familiar with different styles of games, however, it is certain that video games have impacted society in different areas. Certainly several things have been said on video games and their impact in youth's behaviour, consequently, scholars have approach the subject and present different studies and views about them.

Lately, I've notice that game creators had created games to educate youth. For instance Leapfrog company have been extremely active using video games as learning tool. Somehow I believe that game companies are taking social responsibility and are trying to contribute in the shaping of youth culture. Although it is need it to understand what type of games the kids are going to play and what are the subjects that they are presenting. For instance, i went on the Serious games section and i realized that some of the games are sectioned in age groups. Certainly the game designers are aware of the impact and importance of the information provided in the games need to be adequate to the audience. Certainly, I'm not a kid and I can play any game i want, however not all the issues where interested for me. Specially because i am more interested in issues related to my country, music or being a vegetarian. Finally i found some interesting games in the website Gamesforchange.com some like Against All Odds (http://www.playagainstallodds.com/), A Seat at the Table (http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatyoucando/act_now/fast/a-seat-at-the-table), and Global Conflicts: Latin America(http://www.globalconflicts.eu/). I went through this games and i found it really interested because approaches the issues that are really close to me.

Being a Mexican and have a close relation with refugees claimants coming to Canada, I though this games had an interesting idea and have really good information to help to understand all the issues that people in third world countries are dealing with.

Cheer,

Cynthia Aguilera