Tuesday 16 October 2012

Comment - Gamer Revolution

a) According to the film, what are some positive aspects of playing videogames for individuals and societies?

According to the film there are some positive impacts of playing video games for individual and the society. 

First of all, for the society, video games help boost the economy as the market of video games is quite big. Video games are so famous all over the world.Therefore, video games always generate a huge sum of money. 

For individual, video game is one of the learning methods. According to the film, players' mind can be trained when solving complicated problems in the video games.

video games may help the players build a strong sense of patriotism. It is because some games require the players to attack the opponent from other countries. According to the film, one of the games encourage the players to join the army.

b) According to the film, is there any evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions in the real world? Do you agree? Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?

According to the film, there are some evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions. One of the games called "America army", players are required to kill the Arabs as many as they can in order to win in the game. Another game which called "Under Seige" also encourages anti-social actions. 

I agree that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions in the real world. Most of the video games allow people to do something which is illegal in the real world , like murder, killing etc. Worst still, video games are addictive thereby immersing in those games may be easily affected by the games gradually. 

We agree that the government should have the right to ban certain indecent games. It is because most of the players are youngsters. Youngsters are not mature enough to distinguish between the wrong and right. They can be affected easily by others, and therefore go astray. If the government does not ban or restrict those games, youngsters will therefore be influenced by those games easily.

c) What is a favorite videogames played by a member of your group? What is good about that game? Does it have any aspect that could lead to bad real-life behavior?

One of the favorite video games is Sims which is a life-simulation video game. The game requires the player to simulate the real life. Players are allowed to get married, decorate their house, work, cook, give birth to baby and so on. It seems that the player is  having the real life in the game. Once the players immerse in the game, they will experience a life which is very realistic. 

In my opinion, It could lead to bad real-life behavior in a certain extent. It is because the game is very free. Players are allowed to do whatever they want in the game, for example players can be lazy and remarry without  any restrictions. Players can even be a thief in the game. Such indecent behaviors may influence the players. Thereby immersing in Sims may affect people's real-life behavior. However, I do believe that as long as we play the game just for fun, people may not be easily affected by the game.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Summary : Super Mario Cloud


After discussing with classmates, we come up with some ideas.

We agree that Super Mario Cloud can be considered as an art work. Although Super Mario Cloud looks simple and meaningless, according to Cory Arcangel the movement of clouds represents the development of humans, communication and technologies. Therefore, Super Mario Cloud does have content. Art is one of the methods for the artist to express the
ir feeling. Even though Super Mario Cloud looks simple, it also expresses the artist’s feeling. Since Super Mario Cloud has content and it was created with purpose, therefore it is an artwork.

Besides, after the discussion, we all agree that Super Mario Cloud allows the players to experience the game in a new perspective. Some people said that Players could imagine that there were Mario, obstacles, princess...in Super Mario Cloud when they are playing the game. It is obvious that Super Mario Cloud allows player to experience a new game with new ideas. As a result, Super Mario Cloud can be regarded as an art work.

Some may think that Super Mario Cloud should not be regarded as an art work. It is because they always accustomed to an idea that art work should have content. However, it seems that Super Mario Cloud is meaningless. Therefore some people may not regard Super Mario Cloud as an art work. In fact, Super Mario Cloud is not as meaningless as they think. As I mentioned before, Super Mario Cloud represents the progression of humans, communication and technology. Therefore, Super Mario Cloud it is not fair to say that Super Mario Cloud is meaningless.