Readings 8: Reading Partner

Readings 8: Games and Gamers

CEC Response: “The Social Network”

CEC Response: “The Social Network”

The Social Network tells the story of Facebook – a website created in 2004 that has completely revolutionized the way in which people connect and interact with each other. However, the movie is much more than just a story about a website. It explores Facebook’s failure and success, the weight of human relationships, the cost of success, the incarnation of ego, dignity and greed.

The movie follows the story of Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard undergraduate student who gave birth to one of the most popular and fastest growing networks in the history of mankind.  However, it is being said that “This is the movie Facebook (i.e. Zuckerberg) doesn’t want you to see.” As far as I know Zuckerberg rejected his portrayal in the movie and according to an article in The Guardian he claimed that “The Social Network has got him all wrong … apart from his on-screen wardrobe.” He was depicted as a heartless college student who created Facebook in order to increase his chances with girls and ensure his entry into Ivy League institutions. However, I am pretty sure that this was not the main reason behind Facebook’s concept. In this same article Zuckerberg made the following comment: “They [the film’s creators] just can’t wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things.” Only people who are dealing with something creative can really know what he is talking about. The sheer pleasure an individual receives from simply creating art in some form is the thing that motivates people of all ages to continue what they are doing. Whether it is a drawing, a folded origami paper, a design in Photoshop, or the development of a particular website such as Facebook, the pleasure derived from the very act of creating is the same.

Despite all the controversies questioning the accuracy of the movie, I believe that The Social Network  is pretty much based on a real story. It is true that Zuckerberg actually dropped out of Harvard University, which surprised me a lot given the fact that Harvard is one of the best universities in the whole world. After completing his sophomore year in 2004, he moved to California and never returned to Harvard as a student. He was seduced by the real-world and the luring opportunities given to him by Napster’s founder, Sean Parker, who offered him a whole new world of investors by day and endless parties by night. However, in order to move to California, Zuckerberg had to leave his best friend and companion in life – Eduardo Saverin. He was there for Mark when he needed him the most – he gave him the monetary funds to get Facebook started and to maintain it in the future. However, Zuckerberg’s friendship with Parker completely destroyed the relationship they had. It is extremely sad when Eduardo visits California to see how Facebook is doing when he realizes that there is no 1 million users Celebration party, but a plethora of contracts to sign. These contracts state that his shares have dropped from 30% to no more than 0.3%.. What is more, his name has been removed from the names of the creators on the actual Facebook site. Feeling betrayed, Eduardo decides to sue “his friend” for unfairly reducing his shares of the company and taking full credit for the creation of the social network. And even though, I felt like Eduardo still seemed to care about his former friend.

There is always a cost for great success and a cost for changing the world. Often, those are paid in relationships. And this actually calls attention to the movie’s tagline – ” You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” I believe that this is an extremely appropriate saying which only complements the general idea and uniqueness of the move.

The Social Network is a story about a tale of power, betrayal, revenge, and responsibility. It is also a story explaining what happens when success literally happens overnight to individuals who are not prepared for the real life at all. It is a story that constantly brings more and more questions that every successful person should ask. How does that change NOT affect who you are? How does that fame NOT affect relationships and loyalties?

Readings 8: Games and Gamers

Online Gamers Help Solve Mystery of Critical AIDS Virus Enzyme

This article introduces us to the game Foldit  which allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules. When I first started reading this article I was feeling kind of mindless about it, but as soon as I realized that gamers actually managed to solve and find the structure of the enzyme whose configuration had befuddled scientist from all around the world, I was impressed. Not only did they solved the conundrum, but they solved it with flying colors which is pretty amazing! Moreover, according to the author of the article, those who played Foldit are people “who have little or no background in biochemistry. They are sometimes just players interested in the theory and laws of protein folding.” These players were just following their inner voice, their intuition. Obviously, this approach appears to be extremely successful as it shows the power of online games to channel human intuition and 3D pattern-matching skills to tackle with challenging scientific and mathematics problems. Intuition plays an essential role when it comes to gaming. I often find myself playing a new game without even going through the tutorial just because I somehow “know” what to do. Every move just comes naturally and I don’t have to think about it. Probably this is due to the fact that I have played lots of games during my life and this somehow had sharpened my instincts and intuition. I am pretty sure that if I try to play Foldit , though, my intuition won’t help me at all. There are so many possibilities out there.. You should really have some kind of knowledge about enzymes and how they look like before you start creating your virtual models. That’s why gamers who managed to recreate the structure of these molecules have to be applauded for their creativity and intuition!

Questions:
Can you think of some other ways in which games can benefit a cause?
Do you really think that the gamers who solved the structure of this enzyme relied mainly on their intuition? Is it possible to do something like this if you don’t have a basic knowledge on the subject?

Readings 8: Games and Gamers

Play the Game: Grand Theft Desire

First of all I would like to say that I absolutely loved GTA San Andreas when I was 12 years old. It is true that the game is pretty violent, but I liked its concept. There are many quests that you have to complete throughout the game which create an extremely engaging atmosphere. This game was one of my favorites and  I really don’t agree with the way in which Stephen Duncombe presented it in his article Play the Game: Grand Theft Desire. He basically described the game as “apocalyptically violent”, revolving around shooting, beating, and running over some random people. Only people who have played GTA can really know that the game actually gives players a freedom of choice. It is still very much an action game, but there is also a whole world out there to explore if you just want to. This applies to every single game as well. For instance, I really enjoy playing World Of Warcraft. Again, players are given the opportunity to choose – whether to explore the fascinating world surrounding them by traveling and learning different professions (such as herbalism, alchemy, enchanting, inscription, jewelcrafting, and so on) or to wander around killing mobs or another players of lower levels. It is really up to every single individual to choose the way in which he would like to play a particular game.

Questions:
Do you think that games such as Grand Theft Auto can make people more violent?
Have you ever played a game of similar genre?

Readings 8: Games and Gamers

Gamers are gaga for virtual goods

Ever since the dawn of online gaming virtual goods have been used to enhance players’ game performance and provide a revenue for game developers. Nowadays virtual goods are something intangible when it comes to online games. Every single virtual object has its own value, and it is purchased or sold by game players for real money in the real world. Game developers enable users to acquire virtual goods or virtual currency and then use these items in order to reach an advanced level or simply get a better experience playing. There are numerous examples out there including everything from weapons and fancy clothing / equipment in RPGs to plants and animals in online social farming games. According to Dean Takahashi’s study Gamers are gaga for virtual goods the total U.S. market value for virtual goods grew 28 percent to $2.3 billion in 2011. The virtual goods market continued on an upward growth curve and by the end of 2012 the market value for virtual goods hit $3 billion. This is pretty impressive! And while it is true that the business of selling virtual goods has been around for more than a decade, it only came into its own when developers started building social games for Facebook (such as FarmVille, CityVille, etc..) To tell you the truth, I’ve never played any of these games but I’ve seen people who are totally obsessed with them. They are ready to pay hundreds of dollars just to have some kind of an exotic fruit or vegetable.. In my opinion this is pretty useless..

Questions:
Were you shocked by any of these statistics in the article?
Have you ever bought a virtual good?
Do you consider the whole process of buying virtual goods as cheating? (You can achieve the same goals if you are patient..Most of the people buy virtual objects just because they don’t want to wait)

Readings 8: Games and Gamers

What an Online Poverty Game Can Teach You

Spent’s goal is to challenge the way people think about poverty and homelessness.   Players are put in the position of a jobless person who is challenged to keep his family from falling into the poverty. Each player is given $1,000 a month and he/she has to try and make it through this one month paying the bills, everyday expenses and medical taxes. Moreover, the game shows how difficult keeping a house is especially when emergencies arise – like your car breaking down, your pet getting sick, you getting sick, and so on. The concept of the game is pretty interesting and it gives users an idea of how hard is to live in such bad conditions. The article provides us with an example of a Congressman who failed miserably when trying to play the game. He ran out of money in less than 10 days and his main budget buster was paying for health care. On the top of that, he had a car accident which made the situation even worse. I think that Spent should be played by every congressman and politician, as it gives a whole different perspective on life in general. I haven’t played it but I think that it’s a pretty interesting game requiring a lot of planning and logic behind every single action.

Questions:
Do you think that there should be more games like this one?
Do you think that the game gives us a totally different perspective on life?
If more congressmen and politicians played this game, would they change their attitude towards topics such as poverty and homelessness?

Readings 8: Games and Gamers

Ridiculous Life Lessons From New Girl Games

Nowadays, game developers are starting to learn that there are game markets that they never really knew existed. There is a huge number of “girl games” that have been recently introduced onto the market, pointing out that while parents aim their attention at violence in videogames as a cause for concern, there are many other factors to think about. As John Tracey explains in his article Ridiculous Life Lessons From New Girl Gamers all these girl games share the same themes and ideas – “[they are] designed to let players become little princesses”, “[they] might give 8- to 12-year-olds their first experiences with fashion, make-up, popularity … even boys.” And while they actually sell well, what are they really teaching young girls? In my opinion these games advocate some of the worst life lessons for girls. Looking good and how to get the prince of your life are not the most important things in one’s life. There are many other factors that every girl should consider in her life such as family and education.

When I was 9 years old, for instance, I played games such as Super Mario, Lego, Pokemon, and Yu-gi-oh. Don’t get me wrong, there were many girl games out there, but I wasn’t interested at playing them at all. While I was skimming through the suggested games in the article I was shocked. Every single game looks the same.. One of the listed games is Imagine: Babyz Fashion. When I first read its description I couldn’t stop laughing: “What it teaches girls: First, it’s OK to pluralize words by adding the letter Z to the end of them. Second, babyz don’t feel good unless they look good..” This is just hilarious. First of all, it is not ok to pluralize words by adding Z to the end. When you do it, you just look stupid.. Second, “babyz” really don’t care how they look like.

Questions:
Do you think that developers should come up with something else to empower young women?
Would you ever play any of these games?

Readings 7: Reading Partner

Readings 7: The Truth or Fiction – Digital Photography

Week 7: Truth or Fiction – Digital Photography

I Was There. Just Ask Photoshop.

This article talks about the common applications of photographic manipulations. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with digitally manipulating a particular photo as long it is your photo. For instance, I love to edit the color, tones and anything else to extreme measures. I have a keen imagination and I would like to “recreate” everything I imagine. Photoshop really comes in handy when it comes to a situation like this one.
In his article I Was There. Just Ask Photoshop. Alex Williams talks about a woman who removed her ex-husband from all her photos in order to create a new reality, which is “much more pleasant.” In her own reality she knows that these things happened, but she wants to remember them in a good way. She wants to keep only the good and pleasant memories. I don’t really think that this can help in this situation, because when she takes a look at these photos in 10 years, she will remember his presence there and he will be still a part of the whole experience. It is not that easy to forget someone (especially if this person was your husband). Anyway, I don’t really see anything wrong in this situation. I mean.. the photos belong to her and she has the right to do whatever she wants with them. I, personally, wouldn’t do this. I’d rather delete the photos, but it was her choice.

Questions:
What are the limits that you feel are appropriate for editing a photograph?
Do you think that cropping her husband was the best solution to Laura’s problem? 

Week 7: Truth or Fiction – Digital Photography

No Boo-boos or Cowlicks? Only in School Pictures

This article reminded me of another one that I recently read. In short, the author of the other article was talking about a photographer who placed a brown smiley face on the top of a student’s face, because the boy failed to bring a signed permission slip for the photo. When I saw this image I was shocked.. How can you do something like this? Just because of the fact that his parents forgot to sign some document, giving their consent for their son’s picture to appear in a class photo, doesn’t give the photographer a permission to do something like this.. Is this the best thing he could come up with? I’m just speechless..

Anyway.. in her article No Boo-boos or Cowlicks? Only in School Pictures Sarah Nir talks about a company that offers to retouch the Bay Ridge Preparatory School school photos. To tell you the truth, I have mixed feelings on this topic. On one hand, when it comes to minor changes, there is nothing wrong with it. Oliver Tracy, for instance, had a scab under his eye (from a tumble while he was playing tag). Digitally removing this scab will help Oliver’s self esteem when he takes a look at the photo in the future. If I had a huge scab on my forehead, for example, I wouldn’t be very enthusiastic about it. I would definitely choose the option to remove it.
However, we have to consider the psychological impact of these potential digital manipulations on children. There is a high probability that a 10-year old kid wouldn’t be able to comprehend the reason behind the retouching. Photoshopping a particular photo will automatically tickle the kid’s fancy and, as a result, he/she is going to start asking questions such as: What’s wrong with me? Do I look bad? and so on. Kids will be left with the impression that they are not beautiful enough to be in a certain photo as they are.
Overall, I think that retouching is fine when it comes to some minor changes such as removing scabs, moles, acne and so on. The inappropriate use is when people want to change how their kids really look like.

Questions:
If you were Michael Terzuoli’s parent, would you allow some team of photographers to digitally remove your son’s birthmark?
Should retouching a memory (such as a school photograph) even be an option?  In this way, do we alter the actual memory?