Gaming Addiction

In the year 2002 a teenage boy named Shawn went into a Sony store and bought the latest “MMO” (massive multiplayer online game) called Everquest. Only a few months into playing this game, his mother saw him “remove himself from society and quit his job to move back home to live a virtual life he found much more fulfilling” (Sony Everquest Connection). However, as Shawn’s addiction to gaming increased he developed epilepsy and even had multiple grand ma seizures. Shawn chose to continue playing this game against the doctor’s recommendation not too. A few weeks later Shawn’s mother found him dead in front of his computer, the music from Everquest was still playing; he had committed suicide. I, an avid gamer myself, have enjoyed electronic gaming since I was a child from your simple Tetris to the complex real-time games today. However, I have never been let my life become consumed to the point of its existence being determined by a video game. I have observed how over time games have become more and more realistic increasing the number of people falling into the trap. I want to explore the questions of: where has this new addiction come from, how will it be treated, and how will it affect society in the long run?
While I was surfing the web browsing through many articles about video game addiction I found one by the Aspen Educational Group dealing with the rapid increase in gaming participation and addiction especially in teenage boys. With further reading I learn that the Aspen Educational Group is a worldwide leader in helping adolescence addition’s as well as character development. However the part that shocks me the most is that the “participation in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG’s) has skyrocketed from less than a million subscribers in the late 1990’s to more than 13 million worldwide in 2006” (VGA). That reminds me of a very popular game many of my friends play called World of Warcraft. It is an extremely popular massive role playing online game where player’s can interact with each other from the four corners of the globe. I want to find out just how far WoW (World of Warcraft) has become the new crack cocaine. According to the credited gaming industry website WoW grossed over 60 million in profits last year and has over 6.5 million users worldwide. Completely astounded I wonder what the average player was like and how much an “addicted person” would usually play. I furthered my research of this topic discovering an article by a Stanford graduate student called Nick Yee who created an internet investigation called the Daedalus Project. His research indicates that the “average player is 26 years old; most hold full time jobs. Seventy percent have played for 10 hours straight at some point, and about half considered themselves addicted.” Both articles made it seem like video game addiction is becoming more common place and is a widespread epidemic. I start to disagree because I truly believe that addiction has much more to do with the individual person and their mentality. It is too rash and bold to pronounce video game addiction as a widespread epidemic. However, I begin to wonder if any credible sources feel the way that I do.

Red Blue America

The growing fad of the use of online blogging as a means of the communication of thoughts, opinions, and news has resulted in thousands upon thousands of blogs- some good, some bad. So what defines a “good blog”? A good blog is written in a highly structured manner which demonstrates clear insight behind the arguments being presented. The blog should contain minimal grammatical errors as well as varying diction and syntax to create a more interesting read. Though many blogs may meet such criteria, I find it hard to take many blogs seriously because their primary subject lacks true substance. Substantive blogs stand apart from the others in that they feed on important issues which cleverly invests and captivates its readers which brings me to my next point of criterion. In my opinion the most important point a blog must meet to be deemed “good” is to clearly establish an intended audience. The blog must successfully appeal to its projected audience by taking points into consideration such as the tone, subject, and organization of the writing. To see if a blog successfully meets such criteria, I not only look at the blog posts, but I also view the reader’s comments to see what type of feedback the site is receiving.

For this particular exercise, I chose to analyze a political blog called Red Blue America. The articles posted on this blog site are well written and highly organized. As a political blog, the article subjects are substantive and intellectually stimulating; the writers are obviously well versed on the subjects which they write. What I like about this blog site is that it incorporates reader involvement and feedback from various political stances. As it contains both conservative and liberal articles, this site makes it very easy for readers to view both sides of an argument in a very organized way. Because of such organization and variety, many readers regularly view the site as well as participate in it. While viewing the readers’ comments, it was apparently that a few of the people who responded had little or no knowledge of the subject they were commenting on. However, it seems that most of the readers and writers of this site have a real interest in and passion for the political subjects they read and write about. I noticed that readers of this site began to not only interact with the writers but also with the other readers of the site. While many used the site as a sort of combat zone in which they could easily find a debate to participate in, after finding another person who commented and voiced similar thoughts and beliefs, many then began to feed off of one another in an attempt to make their arguments stronger. I was very impressed by both the writers' and readers' knowledge and skills of debate. I view this political blog as being a “good” blog because though the readers' values and opinions may vastly differ, the blog demonstrates that its viewers share one common connection: a great passion for politics and in effect the well being of our political nation.

A Good Message

I am going to take this opportunity to present my topic sketch as well as do some free writing for the topic of my essay. After going over several options to write about, I finally found something that really just stuck in my mind. I decided, for this evaluative essay, to write about a website that has become a phenomenal platform for depression and addiction awareness. The site is called To Write Love On Her Arms. When I first came across this website, about a year ago, I did not really know what it was about. I had heard from friends that it was a band's website, but that was not the case.

To Write Love On Her Arms is a website dedicated to raising awareness about depression and addiction, but it also provides means of treatment for these problems. The organization is non-profit and all of the donations made from supporters are given directly to facilities that specialize in treating victims of depressiona nd addictions. Probably what stuck out to me the most was the website's message. It is a message of hope and relief for those affected by these illnesses and the way it is conveyed to viewers.

When arriving first time to the site, one might think it IS a band's website because there is photos of musicians on the front page, as well as there are tour dates posted. The musicians playing are wearing To Write Love On Her Arms t-shirts as a form of advertising for the organization. I have noticed that this is the program's main source of advertising. Everyone from famous musicians, to kids in highschools all over the country are wearing them. The tour dates are depicting when speakers from the organization will traveling. It's almost like the organization itself has achieved its primary goal: to become a movement.

I look foward to writing about the site because it really strikes a cord with me. I have had family members and close friends that have dealt with depression and addiction, and it is an issue that is close to my heart. I plan to elaborate more on the message and how information is conveyed on the actual site itself, as well as discuss what the program is doing as far as expanding its presence beyond the Internet.

Wake up America!

This episode of The Mark Show, an independently produced video log by Mark Reiley, addresses freely the ever pressing issues of media bias. Reiley approaches this topic in a manner that is both stimulating and thought provoking in its visual and auditory composition. In the video, entitled “#7 Media Bias and iPhone Home!”, Mr. Reiley uses the coming release date of Apple’s new Iphone (Friday, June 29th) as a clever lead in to a discussion of the day Friday and its significance to the modern press release. The video is used as well to address the effects of a big media on overall public perception and to poke fun at the stupidity of those topics which have commonly become a focal point of media interest.

Because of Friday’s fixed position on our weekly calendar, it is consistently realized as the last of our weekdays to fall before a seemingly less productive stretch of time known as the weekend. This cluster of days, which has been historically dedicated to the pursuit of total relaxation, is a time of repose in the process of American thought, according to Mark Reiley. He presents a notion, that those press releases of true controversy, the bits of knowledge which are most likely to instill anger against the establishment or induce political fervor in the hearts of our people, are intentionally given on a Friday instead of earlier in the week. He suggests that this choice of days is anything but coincidental and is in fact a tactic, used by those in power to better the chances of such pertinent and damning information going unnoticed by the public.

Reiley also points, by referencing the massive amounts of attention that is given to the trivial happenings of celebrity life in our media, to the way that Americans are currently distracted, disconnected from those matters which are of true importance to reality. A people who have become enchanted, paralyzed by the sorcery of advertising and coercion that is fed to them constantly.

This video log is a prime example of how use of the Internet as a publishing tool can surmount the overwhelming bias of a corrupt media. Because of the freedom of our Internet, Mark Rieley may present his ideas to the entire world without having first to run his convictions through a filter of power interest. This ability, this freedom, is what gives us now the power to change the condition of our people. With a muscle of independent mass publishing made available online, a citizen need not to rely on their accretion of knowledge being tied to a corrupt system of greed. The people may now instead, browse an extensive network of knowledge and analyze a broad range of perspective to form their own opinions.

The time has come and now more than ever our action is imperative. We must compel the people of our nation to turn off their televisions and pursue other forms of education. The tube has become little more than a vehicle of connection to the corrupt media establishment, a business which seeks only to increase its inflow of profit in whatever way possible. It has become an invasive and persuasive tool for implanting adulterated information into the minds of American citizens and misconstruing their perception of reality. This ignorance must be stopped America! Abandon your dependence on big media and leave your homes in pursuit of knowledge. Go out into the world and find truth for yourself, because that information you will gather independently is in fact the only information in which you can truly trust.

Critique: Ross Can

To be sure to not step on any other Super Cyber Writer's toes, I will critique my own blog on vlogs. I'd like to view the fact that I am able to forget things easily sometimes as a gift. I am far removed from this blog having not thought about it since writing it, except for the next few days of visiting the vlog I found. (Guilty; I enjoyed the vlogging world.) Now standing in an outsider's shoes (or trying as hard as I can) I will add a review to my previous post.

Combining the two worlds which would seem to never intersect, vlogs and celebrities, seems interesting, although I think that this is possible an introduction to dangerous territory. As an onlooker, I would like to see my favorite celebs, the ones I enjoy most watching and hearing about to have personal vlogs. But I am overlooking that which celebrities cherish most, that which they discuss most when being ironically interviewed and suffocated by paparazzi, their privacy.

The writer speaks highly of Ross Matthews, her research specimen more or less, perhaps she has seen his work on Jay Leno. I found it interesting that the writer argues both sides of Ross Matthews, the interesting and friendly side, and the side that can become annoying (while still being cute). Perhaps she is not clear on what to think of Ross, especially after seeing him in the vlog which is a more personal atmosphere. While to some his silly antics don’t roll in too much attention outside of the already popular late night talk show. Ross can be viewed as a struggling actor/TV personality (only based on his small appearances in shows; it’s easy to see he has a big personality). His vlogs give him a chance to appear to the public daily without the strict requirements of a day at the studio filming. In this, he becomes a natural figure, a friend. It’s possible that some “A-List” celebrities choose to stay away from the blog and vlog world as a way to maintain their status, unreachable to the everyday public, or anyone with a computer and an internet hook up. But exploring this option, what if my personal favorites, Jennifer Anniston, Kate Hudson, and, duh, Oprah began vlogging for the public. I can only assume that their sites would be slow running because of all the attention and faithful fans logging on daily.

The writer concludes with the confusion she is experiencing with the purpose of blogs and vlogs. I agree with her conclusion that they can only be meant for entertainment for both viewers and vloggers.

Technology's Effects on Writing

After reading the writing prompt for today’s blog (something of interest concerning writing and technology), I began to think about how technology effects our writing. Technology, computers, and the availability of the internet have drastically changed the writing experience. For starters, the physical aspects of writing have been greatly affected. When was the last time you wrote a paper actually by hand on paper? When was the last time you even used a typewriter? Computers and word processing programs have allowed us to write much more quickly and to edit our writing much easier. If I decide I don’t like my word choice in the first sentence, I just change it. I don’t have to get out a new sheet of paper and start all over again. If I am having trouble coming up with the perfect word (or I want to impress my readers with my expansive vocabulary) I simply right-click and I am presented with several synonyms I can use. I can even look up a word to make sure I know exactly what it means, and if I misuse or misspell a word, the computer will flag my mistake. Sometimes it will even automatically correct it for me! Technology has undoubtedly revolutionized the way we put our ideas to “paper.”

How do we get our ideas, and how do we find evidence to back them up? I remember in Elementary school writing a report about wallabies. I went to the library and searched through the books about animals. I found most of my information in the encyclopedia. Today, if I were writing a paper on wallabies, the first thing I would do would be to search Wikipedia for a page on the wallaby. Then I could find an online encyclopedia article (an official encyclopedia I could cite), and eventually I would probably google wallaby, being presented with over three million results. The availability of information has increased exponentially in the past few years, but it has complicated the problem of validating the information we find. It can be difficult to determine if a website presents true, well-researched information or if it is simply a well designed page presenting incorrect information.

Finally, technology has also transformed how writing gets to the reader. Long gone are the times when it took days for news to spread around the world. Now it barely takes seconds. Breaking news is text-messaged, emailed, posted online, and broadcast around the world in 5.1 surround sound. Surfing the web, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the multitude of information presented. Hundreds of thousands of blogs are updated daily. BarnesAndNoble.com provides a database of over one million books. I am able to use keywords to search for books of a certain topic or by a certain writer so that I can find the perfect book. Technology has definitely altered the writing process, but in the end, sometimes it can be refreshing to simply sit down and write your thoughts on paper—real paper. Sometimes the best books are ones you stumble upon in the corner of the library.

Post Secret Reflection

After reading everyone’s posts about blogs, I really think I like the one about the post secret video blog. I have actually been to the original post secret blog website several times before. One of my friends told me about it, and it sounded really interesting to me so I decided to check it out. I found the whole secretive and anonymous posts aspect of the site particularly intriguing. Once you discover this blog it can in a way become an entertainment addiction. Whenever I get really bored and can find nothing better to look at on the internet, often times I’ll just go to the website just to see what’s new. Once I do this it really is pretty hard to stop until I have successfully looked through all the new posts.

I found myself really drawn to experiencing the artistic aspect of this interactive blogging site as well. Though some post secret submissions are merely plain with a simple message, others go much deeper. Some posts are very creative looking. The collaborative cut and paste pieces are typically my favorites because it helps to express the personality of the submitter as well as the emotional inspiration behind the piece. It’s really cool that this blog site allows any and everyone to submit their secrets. I also like the fact that the secrets that the various people post on the website range from silly, light-hearted thoughts to what is perhaps someone’s deepest secret. The idea behind the creation of this website seems to be allowing people the freedom to finally say what they’ve been thinking and longing to say but just haven’t quite found the gumption to announce. Because post secret allows it’s submitters to post such secrets without anyone ever knowing who sent it, they feel more comfortable in sharing their secrets with the thousands upon thousands of active readers.

Although as I said I have known about this blog website for quite some time, I just recently learned of it’s newer video blogging posts. I found this out after reading a previous post on here about the very post secret web blog. The whole video aspect of post secret is a little foreign to me though. I don’t really understand how videos really work with the theme of the website. I searched for a few on YouTube earlier and found that while some of these video post secret submissions did, in fact, carry on the primary theme of secrecy in revealing one’s innermost thoughts and desires, a few showed the actual people in them or in some way gave hints to reveal who made the video. Though I did not like those revealing videos as much as the more secret ones or as much as the standard picture posts on the post secret website itself, I found that all the post secret submissions were alike in that they enabled people to let loose their thoughts and emotions in an artistic and often truly inspiring manor.