PLAY THE GAME: GRAND THEFT DESIRE
-Grand Theft Auto is an extremely violent game with lots of sexual content.
-They believe that people like these types of games because of everyones desire for sex and death (Freud)
-parents worry that once you attain the sex and death in the virtual world, that you might actually bring sex and death to the real world
-politicians are against these violent games… Hillary Clinton had the games removed when she found out there is a code so you can have sex in the game.
-politicians are against games like this because it revolves around acts that we are told are bad. Violence is bad. Killing is bad. Sex is bad.
-The politicians don’t understand that it is just a game. You are escaping reality and playing a game. The game doesn’t rub off on you and you start to bring the game to reality. There is no link between violence in video games to violence in real life.
-Do you think Grand Theft Auto should be banned? Why or why not.
IS THIS MAN CHEATING ON HIS WIFE?
-A man is married to two women. One in real life and one in his virtual life in the game Second Life. He has been spending more and more time playing that game and doing things with his virtual wife rather than his real wife.
-Mr. Hoogestraat is addicted to Second Life. It has officially become an obsession. There is no way his marriage will last (well his real one anyways).
-Virtual life offers some things that you can’t get in real life. For instance you cannot get fat or bald or go grey. You make and maintain friends.
-games like these can be very addicting because there is no end point. There are no goals that when achieved the game is over. It keeps on going. You keep striving to get better and better. Make as much virtual money as possible.
-Do you think it is possible for Mr. Hoogestraat to maintain both marriages (real and virtual)? How do you think this can be done?
CYBORG ANCESTRY
-this article is about the development of cyborgs and machines in health dating back to the 1920s.
-This article wants to tell us that we have been trying to create a cyborg (cybernetic organism) and how we are more like machines than we originally thought. I think another message it is getting across is that we have been using/dependent of machines for decades now. The further advanced we get in technology, the longer peoples life spans will be because of machines’ roles in medicine.
-the article compares us to cyborgs because some of us need machines to live.
-scientists have made great advances in their development of the cyborg over the last 50 years or so. Where do you think they will be in another 50 years?
IN KOREA, A BOOT CAMP CURE FOR WEB OBSESSION
-This is similar to the article about the man cheating on his wife with a virtual wife. I think it is kind of ridiculous that someone can get so obsessed with a game that they have to play 17 hours a day. It is a problem for sure, but how do you really fix it? Is boot camp the answer? What happens when the 12 day session is over? How can you prevent someone from using the internet when the internet is everywhere? Boot camp is only a temporary answer. When drug addicts get out of rehab, they are not near drugs when they leave. For internet users, it is impossible to escape the internet, especially in a country like Korea where it is around every corner.
Tags: addiction, cyborg, internet, video games
