Privledged

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Allan Johnson's writings about people, power and the assumed rights of the 'privileged' made me think back to another article that I read quite a few years ago that concerned the rights of people in another time and place. It scared me when I first read it because I never realized the full extent of racism and the assumptions that people made in centuries past. It was a poem named "White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling (yes, the same man that wrote The Jungle Book). The following is a link to the poem in full:
http://public.wsu.edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/kipling.html

It has been interpreted many different ways over the years but the first thing that came to my mind is: "What is wrong with this guy? Why does he think he's so special?"
It didn't occur to me until today that Kipling thought that he and the white British Imperials of the time were privileged. Johnson mentions in his article that privilege "exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the group that they belong to rather than because anything that they've done or failed to do."
This also brings to mind another work that brings up the point of privilege and the ones who suffer through the many twisted definitions of the word. The film "Amistad" is not an easy film to watch but it's always been one of my favorites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP0hwVVUTac
Director Steven Spielberg shows hatred, racism and mostly the misunderstood nature of humanity at that point in time. It is the sad case of human beings not taking the full measure of life and the worth of the lives of others that makes the movie so sad and angers so many people. It's when people choose to ignore that all people are people in some way that we may truly lose our way.

Gender and Society Introduction

Hello everybody, I'm Andrew and I'm a communications major at RIC. I'm a die hard movie buff, avid reader and video gamer. I didn't do very much over break except for chill out, have a merry little christmas and watch a bunch of new movies with my friends. I'm taking this class because it will provide the extra four credits I need in order to graduate in the spring. I didn't know what to expect when I signed up for it but judging by the first day, I really think it will be a blast. I enjoy blogging and I've only had one other class that a blog was required. I hope that everyone who reads my blogs (past and present) will enjoy my commentary on the topics covered.

Final Thoughts on GameStop

Here's my final thoughts on the gaming industry and how one very important store chain has changed over time.
WARNING: This video contains graphic language and is not safe for work or school.
This one says it all:

Thanks for reading.

A Little Originality

            Games on a small device can be just as good as one that is made for a high definition super system. Angry Birds has sold over a half a billion copies and I totally understand why. It’s a blast to play. It’s really funny and it is appealing to the entire family. The game consists of pissed off, suicidal fowl that launch themselves (kamikaze style) into the pigs that have stolen their eggs in order to kill them. It’s kind of disturbing that kids all over the world love this game. The game is so well made that this horrible plot that I just described never really affects the game. It’s all done in good taste. Done the wrong way, this game would have been a disaster. Imagine a version of this game with violent sound effects and blood. Yeah. That’s what I thought.

            Truth be told, I haven’t bought a hand held gaming system in quite a while. The last one I got was the original Sony PSP. I had it for a little over a year and only owned four or five games for it. The reason why I got rid of it was because it was clear that the makers of the games for that system weren’t really trying very hard. Most of them sucked. A few exceptions were the God of War games and GTA: Vice City Stories. Those were good but even they seemed lackluster to me. Mostly because they looked and played like slightly enhanced Playstation 1 games.

            They just couldn’t compare to the older generation of handheld games. One the best games ever made in my book is Kirby’s Dream Land for the original Nintendo Game Boy. This game was a blast. The plot stunk. The main character was a white puff ball that sucked stuff up like a vacuum cleaner. It was easy to play and was a lot of fun. In fact, it still is. The other Game Boy game that was amazing for its time is of course, Pokemon. How can anyone deny the kind of quality that went into that games and the sequels to it?

            Since then, I think that the big name game companies have fallen off of their high horse. They just aren’t making those big name games like they used to. Everything is a sequel or a spin off of some kind. The world loves originality. I think the future of portable games lies in the little development teams like Rovio and others that occupy the App Stores of the world.

We’ve got a long way to go. Technology is only getting better and faster with time. I think there will always be a group or company that will be there at the forefront. Those are the ones who will be successful. A little originality goes a long way.

Irreconcilable Differences

There is a big difference between Call of Duty and Battlefield.  A friend tells me, “It (Battlefield) is way more realistic than C.O.D. The damage is better, the vehicles help vary the gameplay and the action is way more exciting.” The employees of Gamestop are pushing Battlefield 3 like it’s the Second Coming of Christ. Somehow, I just can’t see how every single person that works for that company enjoys playing that game. I literally haven’t talked to one of them that does not enjoy the game. Why is this fascinating to me? Because I have played the game and for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I just don’t like it.

            I was recommended by a friend who works at Gamestop to put the $5 down on the game and try the multiplayer demo during it’s beta testing period. I like my friend and I share many opinions of his so I gave it a shot. No pun intended. I played it for a couple minutes and I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t easily playable. I had extreme problems with the controls. I usually get the hang of a game pretty easily. This one wasn’t like that. I just couldn’t catch on. The action is amazing; I have to say. The graphics are amazing. The destruction is amazing. There isn’t much about it that didn’t amaze me. For some reason, I just didn’t like it.

            It took me a while to understand the fact that the reason why I did not like it was because the controls weren’t easy and the gameplay was a tad too hectic. The vehicles don’t last long enough, the on the ground gunfights were a little spastic and they didn’t really pack quite the punch that I had hoped.

            This brought me back to Gamestop to get my $5 back. I know it’s only five bucks but I’m cheap. I told the manager at the store that he was full of it and I had him put the $5 on my Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 preorder. The manager and I had a few laughs before he said to me, “Oh, so you’re one of those guys.” I wasn’t sure what he meant and he told me that I was more of a Call of Duty guy rather than a Battlefield guy. “A lot of people prefer one or the other. Not both.”

            I asked him if the two games are kind of becoming like a Mac vs. PC type of competition. One of those things that everybody knows but nobody talks about. He told me that the Battlefield franchise rewards the player who plays more and more. I said that Call of Duty does that too. He mentioned how the game becomes easier to control over time. I told him that the controls were a nuisance and that they were hard to remember. To be honest, we almost got into an argument. I had to stop, chuckle, and thank the man and walk away. I guess I’m just a “Call of Duty guy”.

Party Like a Rockstar

Whether you like it or not, "Grand Theft Auto III" changed things. It changed the way we play video games. It changed the way games are looked at in our overall society. It changed everything.
I had never really played an open world game before "GTA III" and I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how open, open world really was. I could walk around aimlessly for hours, never doing anything. I could steal a car, crash it and run from the cops. I could even casually stroll up to a random character on the street and brutally beat them to death with a baseball bat. And then run from the cops.
It was intense and even a little intimidating at first. For anyone who's played "GTA III", the character you play in the game doesn't have much of a history, never speaks, and his name is never revealed. So, the creators of the game want to give the effect that the guy you're playing can be anybody you want him. You could even say that he is YOU.
Rockstar Games gave the player millions of choices and hundreds of missions and left it up to you. You do what you want to do. They only merely hinted at what you could do. All of the sequels and spin-offs only expanding on the same idea. It wasn't until "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" that I read something that changed the way I look at games.
I read in a magazine, not a video game magazine mind you, that "Vice City" was "the closest a video game has ever been to being a work of art." Don't ask me who said that but whoever they were, they were right. That game was a masterpiece. It was the first time I had ever played a game that I wish was a movie. If it was, I'd watch it over and over again. It was also the first time I can remember that recognizable movie stars provided their voices to a game (and it didn't stink).
Ray Liotta as the main character, who now had a name (Tommy Vercetti) and a back-story, was perfect. He was kind of a scumbag, but he was enjoyable to play. You wanted to hear what he had to say even though most of it was profanity.
"GTA: San Andreas" and "GTA IV" saw more and more improvements. Graphics got better, stories got more interesting and the game play improved. Even though the adult content may scare some and the violence can be a little much at times, no one can deny how much that series has changed the gaming community. Every time an open world game is made, it is instantly compared to "Grand Theft Auto".
The trailer for "GTA V" premiers on November 2nd. I can only imagine where we go from here.
UPDATE (11/2/11): Just saw the trailer and it looks like we're heading back to San Andreas. The preview looked amazing. The graphics look stunning; maybe some of the best I've ever seen. I just wish the trailer showed something about the protagonist. The voiceover really got me excited, this one looks like it could be a very different type of story; maybe even involving a family aspect. A catch that the last couple of Rockstar Games used was the feature of playing multiple characters. I wonder if that will make an appearance in this new one.

(Kinda) Taking a Life

The first time I can remember killing someone was around 1997. I was only about seven years old and my taste for blood hadn't really been conceived yet. I snuck up behind two men in uniform who were carrying automatic weapons. I shot them both in the head with a silenced Walther PPK. They didn't even know I was there.
Of course, this was all in a videogame. I hope I didn't scare anybody. For those of you who got the Walther PPK gun reference, I owe you a Kewpie doll. For those of you who got Kewpie doll reference, I owe you two. The game I'm referring to in case is "Goldeneye 007" for the Nintendo 64. The reason why I'm bringing this up is simple because it really is the first time I ever actually killed somebody in a game. This wasn't like before. At first I was somewhat shocked. I said to myself, "Wow. I just shot those guys. Will you look at that?"
I didn't really know if I was even really right in what I did. Was it a righteous shoot? Those guys didn't even know I was there. I practically executed them! Then I thought about it some more.
"Wait. I am James Bond. I have a license to kill. They are Soviets. If this was a movie, they'd be toast in there too. Maybe this isn't so bad. Whatever, let's just get on with it."
So I proceeded to mow down about 30-40 other guys that obviously weren't very happy with me sneaking around and sabotaging their nuclear weapons plant. The funny part about all of that is that I didn't really care too much about who I killed after those first two guys. I picked up all sorts of assault rifles and grenade launchers, blew people away left and right. I even drove a tank over people and cars and never even blinked an eye. Killing became second nature.
I never realized how this happens until recently when I came upon a episode of "Law and Order" on TV and Jerry Orbach mentioned how "Someone never really gets used to killing another human being. You just try not to think about it." This isn't the case with videogames. Since the player knows for a fact it isn't real life; you can get used to it. It's strangely easy to get used to such a heinous act. It's when the player loses track of where reality starts and stops, that's when the real trouble begins.