Brophy-Warren, Jamin. "Et tu, Mario? Murder, Looting, Pizza Theft and other hazards of cooperative video-gaming." Slate. 13 November 2009. Slate Magazine. 15 November 2009. http://www.slate.com/id/2235587/pagenum/all/#p2
This article, by Jamin Brophy-Warren, discusses the problems with cooperative video-gaming. He starts with an introduction of him testing The New Super Mario Bros. co-op video game with 3 random strangers. One of the random strangers is an extremely annoying team mate in this game, and he "felt no inklings of team spirit and proceeded to stomp on my head, steal my power-ups..." He traces his angry feelings toward this team mate back to his feelings toward his brother, when they would play nintendo with each other. There aren't really any consequences for acts performed within the game. There may be some shunning of the people performing these heinous acts within the game, but "games allow us to act out the worst of human pathologies and encourage behaviors that would get us yelled at, arrested, or killed in the real world." With no no regulations within the game and no consequences in the real world, there isn't anything stopping people from performing acts in the game.
There isn't anything worse in this world than being shot by a team mate in a nintendo game. When it happens, there isn't much you can say except "what the heck?" It isn't really a big deal, but it sure does seem like it when you are playing the game. Nobody will be arrested for friendly fire within a nintendo game, but I think that it does show what kind of person the offender is. These type of people, the "win at any cost" kind of people are really lame to play with, because they don't make a good team mate at all. Video games give users the power to do what they want when they want, and it is what people do under these conditions that truly show the content of someone's character. These type of players drag the team down when they only have their own interests in mind. They may think that they are a valuable asset to the team, but in reality, they are the "Poseidon to my Odysseus—yes, it felt that epic—an enemy bent on ensuring that I would never reach the promised land." I am a pretty competetive person, but I can share the vision of a team and succeed. But this article truly shows that when some people are given the chance to do things without without real consequence, they take advantage of it. Nintendo gives people that oppurtunity.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Death of the Avatars
Nicholson, Chris. "Virtual Estates Lead to Real-World Headaches." New York Times. 1 Nov. 2009. New York Times. 1 Nov. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/technology/internet/02assets.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology
This article by Chris Nicholson describes what happens to virtual assets when the owner of these assets dies. It shows examples of what happens to the assets of the avatar when the user dies. One of the examples of is of Leto Yoshiro and Enchant Jacques, who met in the virtual world Second Life. Their avatars got married and bought an island. Leto later died, and with that the island and all of their belongings were erased because of the contract he signed with the creators of Second Life. Another example is when a "Chinese teenager known as Snowly died of a stroke in late 2005 after spending three consecutive days in a game." The game was World of Warcraft, and after he died, his clan wanted to hold a memorial in his honor. During this memorial, a rival clan attacked and slaughtered the mourning game users. People were angry about this, because they compared this event to attacking mourners at a real life funeral. These examples are extreme, but all of us will experience something like this whether it be an e-mail or facebook account.
I thought this article was really interesting. I have never really thought about what would happen to my accounts after I die, and frankly, I don't really care. I mean I will be dead. I think that it is kind of pathetic that America and the world is coming to the point where virtual assets' importance is increasing to the point where they matter as much as literal assets. I guess I understand why they would be so important to people. These virtual worlds are some people's lives, as shown in the examples of the boy spending 3 days on World of Warcraft and on Second Life marriages. This world is shifting towards technology, and I think soon there will be much more debate about these "virtual wills." I think that the best solution for when some user dies is the "erasure or access--and if the choice was access, to name an executor." This executor receives the passwords for the person that has died.
This article by Chris Nicholson describes what happens to virtual assets when the owner of these assets dies. It shows examples of what happens to the assets of the avatar when the user dies. One of the examples of is of Leto Yoshiro and Enchant Jacques, who met in the virtual world Second Life. Their avatars got married and bought an island. Leto later died, and with that the island and all of their belongings were erased because of the contract he signed with the creators of Second Life. Another example is when a "Chinese teenager known as Snowly died of a stroke in late 2005 after spending three consecutive days in a game." The game was World of Warcraft, and after he died, his clan wanted to hold a memorial in his honor. During this memorial, a rival clan attacked and slaughtered the mourning game users. People were angry about this, because they compared this event to attacking mourners at a real life funeral. These examples are extreme, but all of us will experience something like this whether it be an e-mail or facebook account.
I thought this article was really interesting. I have never really thought about what would happen to my accounts after I die, and frankly, I don't really care. I mean I will be dead. I think that it is kind of pathetic that America and the world is coming to the point where virtual assets' importance is increasing to the point where they matter as much as literal assets. I guess I understand why they would be so important to people. These virtual worlds are some people's lives, as shown in the examples of the boy spending 3 days on World of Warcraft and on Second Life marriages. This world is shifting towards technology, and I think soon there will be much more debate about these "virtual wills." I think that the best solution for when some user dies is the "erasure or access--and if the choice was access, to name an executor." This executor receives the passwords for the person that has died.
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