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This is pretty much me going through Bioshock Infinite and saying how amazing it is. The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist. Warning: This post contains Bioshock Infinite spoilers; click the "Read More" in the bottom right-hand corner if you want to be spoiled (unless you've played it already; then you can freak out with me).
Let me start off by saying that being a girl in the gaming community is (a) not rare at all and (b) so tedious. Do you know how annoying it is for a guy to say "Girls only play video games to get a guy's attention"? Because it's so annoying. I don't understand what you want me to say. "Yeah. You know, I just walk into a Gamestop and burn $60"? Why would I waste that much money on something that may or may not "impress" somebody? It literally makes no sense as to why videogames are characterized as such a male hobby. Girls have opposable thumbs, and we can move them. What's the challenge? Absolutely nothing. Anyway, let's get on with this. What is sexism?Sexism is when one or more people target a certain sex, and they stereotype, discriminate, or prejudice, typically against women, on the basis of sex. "#GamerGate" ControversyThis past August, the "#GamerGate" controversy started up when indie game developer Zoe Quinn's ex-boyfriend accused Quinn of having a romantic relationship with Nathan Grayson, a journalist for the video game news site Kotaku. Quinn, along with the many members of the gaming industry who supported her, received misogynistic harassment; people threatened and released personal information about Quinn's supporters, causing some of them to leave their homes. These harassers mainly targeted women, including Quinn, Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian, and indie game developer Brianna Wu. This harassment was undoubtedly sexist and misogynistic against multiple women in the gaming community. GamerGate's SexismBack in October, Anita Sarkeesian, creator of the YouTube channel FeministFrequency that describes the representation of women in pop culture, was supposed to speak at Utah State University, but she was forced to cancel the talk after death threats were made towards her by a student at USU. Some staff members received an email signed anonymously threatening that if Sarkeesian came to the university, it would be "the deadliest school shooting in American history," yet police refused to take action towards preventing firearms at the talk because of Utah's open carry laws. Sarkeesian received many death threats against her and other feminists at USU, and one threat claimed to be affiliated with the #GamerGate movement. Sarkeesian has said much about #GamerGate saying, "At this point supporting #gamergate is implicitly supporting the harassment of women in the gaming industry." Sarkeesian also reported that she has received death threats including her personal information which temporarily drove her out of her home. Sarkeesian told an audience: "One of the most radical things you can do is to actually believe women when they talk about their experiences... The perpetrators do not see themselves as perpetrators at all. They see themselves as noble warriors. We are blamed for the abuse we receive and regularly told that we are either asking for it or inventing it entirely." In October, indie game developer Brianna Wu mocked #GamerGate supporters saying "fighting an apocalyptic future where women are 8 percent of programmers and not 3 percent," so #GamerGate supporters retaliated by mocking her. They soon posted her home address and other personal information and eventually started sending her death threats. Wu was then targeted and threatened on Twitter; she had to involve the police, and she and her husband left their home. Two months later, after tweeting about the death of her dog, Wu received pictures of mutilated dogs that #GamerGate supporters emailed her corporate email. Wu has offered a reward for information about those involved in her harassment and has promised she would not be intimidated by the threats. Actress Felicia Day had made a post on her blog concerning #GamerGate and how she has avoided talking about it for fear of harassment herself. Her address was revealed in the comments. I wonder why she was so afraid of talking about it. Meanwhile, actor Wil Wheaton and former NFL player Chris Kluwe also posted about #GamerGate; Kluwe even used "creative insults," yet neither of them received any harassment. How surprising. Let's Change PleaseHow come all of these women are getting harassed, and sometimes even driven from their homes, when those two men - and most likely more male gamers from the community - don't get a single negative comment? We all know why. Now, I'm not saying that these male celebrities deserve to get harassed; I'm saying all of the women who spoke up about something they believed in did not deserve in the slightest any of the backlash that they got. If you've read this far and you still don't believe that sexism - in any community - exists, then you seriously have to reevaluate your priorities. These #GamerGate supporters - and many other groups of (mainly) men - have sent death and rape threats to women in the gaming industry and have leaked their personal information just to "prove" that misogyny and sexism don't exist; how ironic. Not only is the gaming community getting a bad reputation from their violence and "influence on mass murderers," but now that #GamerGate has started, this community will very soon start to be generalized as a bunch of big babies who can't deal with the fact that they are misogynistic - in more ways than just this #GamerGate movement - to nearly half of this community. This is pretty much me going through Bioshock 2 and saying how good it is.
Warning: This post contains Bioshock and Bioshock 2 spoilers; click the "Read More" in the bottom right-hand corner if you want to be spoiled (unless you've played it already; then you can freak out with me). This is pretty much me going through the first Bioshock game and saying how good it is.
Warning: This post contains Bioshock spoilers; click the "Read More" in the bottom right-hand corner if you want to be spoiled (unless you've played it already; then you can freak out with me). Originally known as Assassin's Creed V, Assassin's Creed Unity is the 7th installment in the Assassin's Creed franchise. It was announced back in March with their teaser trailer. It was expected to be released October 28, following Ubisoft's usual release date for their Assassin's Creed games for the PC, Xbox One, and Playstation 4; it will officially released on November 11. Along with Unity, the eighth Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Rogue, will be released the same date for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. In Unity, set in Paris during the French Revolution, you play as Arno Dorian exposing the true "powers" behind the Revolution. Rogue, taking place after Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, is set in the mid-18th century during the Seven Years' War. You play as Shay Patrick Cormac, an Assassin who grows disappointed with the Brotherhood's cause.
This is an add-on to my A Little Rant post. So, Reason magazine's June issue was all about video games; cool, right? I got to their article, "Are Video Games Art?" and I immediately thought, Why yes, of course they are. Well, apparently Roger Ebert, a supposedly "famous movie critic" says otherwise. After seeing a TED Talk that agreed with the "video games are art" side, Ebert responded to the examples in the TED Talk saying: "Video games can never be art. [The examples] do not raise my hopes for a video game that will deserve my attention long enough to play it. They are, I regret to say, pathetic... Art should be defined as the imitation of nature, usually the creation of one artist." Ebert went on to saying how games have winners and rules, so they cannot have any relation to art. "Why are gamers so intensely concerned, anyway, that games be defined as art?" This is where I got really annoyed. I was a little annoyed before, but I just hate this guy so much now. It's not the fact that we want his "blessing" (literally an exact quote) for video games to be art. It's super annoying to have to be compared to paintings and literature, and then to be looked down upon as if the gaming industry has done something wrong. We want to be taken seriously. These "rules and winners" that Ebert's talking about aren't what games are all about. There are actual plots and characters and action sequences. There are real life people with real life jobs working on these games, just like painters and authors are real life people and have real life jobs working on their paintings or books. The gaming industry only has a bad reputation because of people blaming them for the crimes that someone commits. Because of this bad rep, people think that they're cool if they make fun of the industry or that it's somehow okay to bash on millions of people who depend on video games, whether to make a living, to use it as their "personal therapist," or to just leisurely play. News flash: it's not. This Roger Ebert dude made me really annoyed and probably made a bunch of other gamers annoyed, too. I don't think anyone even asked him his opinion on whether or not video games are art (which they are). He just said it. And then he's saying things like, "Why aren't gamers content to play their games and simply enjoy themselves? They have my blessing, not that they care. Do they require validation?" Answer: no. We don't require validation. But when some random guy comes out of nowhere and starts attacking our industry - our lives - we tend to get angry. Video games are art. They take time and effort. You can't look me in the eye and tell me that video games aren't beautiful masterpieces. Video games aren't all about winning and losing. They're about making people happy. It never fails to amaze me the amount of skill and talent and hard work that's put in to make these virtual worlds. These worlds that, sometimes, help people's lives to keep on going. These are people's second homes; video games help people escape this horrible world and let them be who they wanna be. They can have powers; they can do what the wanna do; they can help people; they can be heros. The fact that Ebert called all of that pathetic makes me sick to my stomach. These are people's lives he's bashing; people's source of comfort. It's just really sad to see such ignorant people who know nothing about this industry saying things like that. People depend on these games, and, honestly, Roger Ebert should just stay out of video games and go back to movies because he obviously knows nothing about the gaming industry. Remember Far Cry 3? Me too. Remember how amazing it was? Me too. Well there's news going around that Ubisoft is working on a Far Cry 4. It's supposed to be set in the Himalayas, and you'll be able to ride elephants. Yeah, you heard me. Riding. Elephants. It'll hopefully be released early 2015, and there will be some form of trailer or some confirmation that they're working on this at E3 in June. We know for sure that the game will be for PC, Xbox One, and Playstation 4, but we still don't know if they'll make it for this generation's consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3). It's supposed to be somewhat like Far Cry 3 where upgrades for weapons and equipment will heavily rely on hunting animals, and you'll be able to liberate outposts. The setting for this game is definitely a change for the series, though. The rest of the games have been set in tropical, island-y places, but now it'll be in the Himalayan Mountains. I can't wait. Go play Far Cry 3 because it's amazing. On 11/11/11, this beautiful, glitch-filled, masterpiece was released. Skyrim is the fifth of The Elder Scrolls series following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It's set in the province of Skyrim, Tamriel in the year 4E 201. You play as the Dragonborn who goes on a bunch of quests to essentially destroy this "evil" dragon, Alduin. I put quotes around "evil" because in the very beginning of the game he pretty much saves your life by interrupting your beheading. But other than that, he's a pretty bad dragon. Dragons haven't been around for quite sometime; in fact, they died out a long time ago. Alduin's suddenly bringing the dragons back to life in the middle of a civil war between the Stormcloaks and Imperials. Like wow, dude. Cool timing. You're really cool (But seriously the dragons are really cool). CustomizationAfter the introduction, you get to customize your player. There are ten races, and they are all put into three separate categories: Human, Mer (Elven), and Beast. The human races are Breton, Imperial, Nord, and Redguard; the mer races, Altmer (High Elf), Bosmer (Wood Elf), Dunmer (Dark Elf), and Orsimer (Orc); the beast races, Argonian (Reptiles) and Khajiit (Felines). You can customize the gender, weight, skin color, face, and hair. Unlike previous Elder Scrolls games, gender doesn't affect gameplay, but race does (barely). Race basically determines how people talk to you, but it doesn't affect whether or not they will talk to you. Race also determines your skills, but in the end you could either be a sneaky Orc or a sneaky Nord; skill bonuses shouldn't determine which race you choose, but special powers should. Each race has their own special power or "shout." A shout is a group of three words from the Dragon Language that the Dragonborn uses to do a certain thing (eg: Unrelenting Force (FusRoDah) pushes/throws people, Dragonrend (JoorZahFrul) forces dragons to land). FactionsThere are so many factions you can join:
Attributes and CombatThere are three attributes: Health, Magicka, Stamina. Health is the amount of damage you can take before you die; Magicka is the energy you can use for spells; Stamina is the energy you have for sprinting and power attacks. Every time you level up, you can choose to also level up one of the three attributes; each time you do, the charge of whatever you chose goes up by 10 points. If you level up stamina, then your carrying weight (how much you can carry) goes up by 5. Unlike previous games, you can equip something in both hands; you can have a weapon in one and a spell in the other, or you can dual wield with either two spells or two weapons; you cannot, however, dual wield anything with a bow equipped. That'd be cool, though. Other Things You Should KnowThis game is really glitchy, but some of the glitches don't affect the gameplay; some are just things like people flying. Also, warning: this game is really good and you might become obsessed with it and play it nonstop for multiple days. So go play it. You can also learn more about Skyrim at the official website or the "unofficial" (it's totally official) wiki site.
A lot of people (like, too many people) think that video games contribute to violence in the real world, but that assumption is far from right. These people think this because since video games have violence in them, it has almost everything to do with violence. These people are wrong. a little background info on video gamesVideo games have been a part of entertainment ever since 1972, when Magnavox came out with the Magnavox Odyssey. As the years went on, the graphics and consoles got better, and the industry got bigger. There are movies, shows, books based off of video games, and vice versa. People can even make a living off of video games whether they play them or make them. Many famous YouTubers (ex: PewDiePie, Roosterteeth, Machinima, etc) are famous because of video games, and playing video games is what they do for a living. A little fun factThe American Medical Association wanted to add "video game addiction" to it's list of mental illnesses. Video game "addiction" isn't a mental illness. Video games, if anything, help with mental illnesses and stress - stress that could potentially build up and hurt either yourself or other people. For a lot people, the reason they play is to let off steam. That literally helps society. In fact, researchers in New Zealand developed a video game called SPARX that helps teenagers battle depression. Also, the soundtrack is custom-made; how cool is that? As of now, SPARX is just a computer program that's single player, but the developers are testing out SPARX online. Personally, I think that before people go around yelling about how video games cause problems, they should do research and realize that video games, prevent problems. a little look-see on past eventsBack when the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting happened, people connected the actual crime with the fact that Adam Lanza would play Call of Duty in his basement instead of connecting it with the personality disorder that he was believed to have had. People would rather believe that a video game caused this rather than an untreated mental illness. Calling Call of Duty a "bloodthirsty computer game", The Sun implied that Call of Duty brought this "obsession" with studying weapons into Lanza's life. If anything, the "bloodthirsty computer game" was the thing that was brought into his life because of his obsession. It was reported that Lanza and his brother loved the military, so I wouldn't be surprised if Lanza studied weapons or bought Call of Duty, which is literally a game about the military. Another tragic event in which people blamed video games for is the Columbine High School massacre. As I recently said, The American Medical Association wanted to add video game addiction to it's list of mental illnesses. A reason for this was because of "how people react when they lose their fix." Let's stop here and look at that for a second. They're comparing video games to drugs. They're comparing something virtual - which, keep in mind, doesn't physically or mentally hurt you - to a real life thing that can actually harm you. Let's just pause and think about how out of proportion this whole "video game addiction" thing is being blown. It was concluded that after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (the students who "shot up" Columbine)'s parents took away their video games, they decided to go on this "shooting rampage." "They relied on the virtual world of computer games to express their rage..." What else would they do? I'd rather them "express their rage" out on video games than out on a high school. The fact that it was known that they were playing video games to release anger and their parents thought that the anger would just go away if the video game would go away is ridiculous. If they had serious anger problems (which apparently they did, considering what happened when a video game was taken away), then they should be getting professional help instead of receiving a punishment. Jason Della Rocca, a blogger, wrote on his blog saying something similar: There's no denying the concern for someone that does something on an extremely excessive basis (be it gaming, watching TV, doing exercise, working, etc.). In most cases, this has more to do with the person than the thing: mental stability, depression, social anxieties, low self-esteem, whatever. Let's find better ways to help the people and worry less about the "things." a little wrap-upPlaying Surgeon Simulator doesn't make you a surgeon and playing Cooking Mama doesn't make you a chef, so why should playing Call of Duty make you a murderer? Don't blame entertainment for something that someone did. He wasn't told by the show to go out and rob a store. The movie didn't give her a gun to go out and kill other people. When someone commits a felony, you don't put the video game in jail, you put the person in jail because, this might sound alarming, the person was the one who did the crime.
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BellaI like cheese and video games. Categories
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