Week 7 Homework

As usual, please answer the following question with at minimum a one page, double spaced response.

• Choose a movie or TV clip that depicts a situation you have experienced in your life. (ex. college life, dating, work, etc)
• Did the clip accurately represent your experience or did it miss the mark?
• Can your experience only be explained through the relation of the clip itself (ie "...it was like that movie...")
• Do movies/TV accurately represent everyday life or do we model our lives after movies/TV ?

Please read the following articles:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/arts/television/02stan.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-alderman/shame-tv-why-humiliation_b_86500.html

More than a Face Presentation

Come and check out "More than a Face" ! It's sure to be a very thought-provoking talk and you'll get a free homework pass for going!

Week 6 Homework

1. Bring in a print advertisement and do a one page, double-spaced write up describing how the advertisement you found portrays women or men. Is this portrayal positive or negative? Is it clear what product is being sold?

2. Read the article below.

Expert from “Meaning and Ideology” be Judith Williamson

But it is too simple to say that advertising reduces people to the status of things, though clearly this is what happens when both are used symbolically. Certainly advertising sets up connections between certain types of consumers and certain products; and having made these links and created symbols of exchange it can use them as ‘given’, and so can we. For example: diamonds may be marketed by likening them to eternal love, creating a symbolism where the mineral means something not in its own terms, as a rock, but in human terms, as a sign. Thus a diamond comes to ‘mean’ love and endurance for us. Once the connection has been made, we begin to translate the other way and in fact to skip translating altogether: taking the sign for what it signifies, the thing for the feeling.

Advertisements are selling us something else besides consumer goods: in providing us with a structure in which we, and those goods, are interchangeable, they are selling us ourselves. And we need those selves. It is the materiality and historical context of this need which must be given as much attention as that equation of people with things. An attempt to differentiate amongst both people and products is part of the desire to classify, order, and understand the world, including one’s own identity. But in our society, while the real distinctions between people are created by their role in the process of production, as workers, it is the products of their own work that are used, in the false categories invoked by advertising, to obscure the real structure of society by replacing class with the distinctions made by the consumptions of particular goods. Thus instead of being identified by what they produce, people are made to identify themselves with what they consume. From this arises the false assumption that workers ‘with two cars and a colour TV’ are not part of the working class. We are made to feel that we can rise or fall in society through what we are able to buy, and this obscures the actual class basis that still underlies social position. The fundamental differences in our society are still class differences, but use of manufactured goods as a means of creating classes or groups forms an overlay on them.

Week 5 Homework

1. Please write a one page, double-spaced response to the following prompts:

Are video games today too violent? If so, give examples.
Have you ever felt like you (or a friend) play too many video games?
What are some positive aspects about video games? Are there any?

2. Read the article below.

The Attraction Factors of Online Gaming, by Nick Yee

There are three main Attraction factors of MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role-playing games, i.e. Everquest or World of Warcraft) that encourage time investment and personal attachment. One of these is the elaborate rewards cycle inherent in MMORPGs that works like a carrot on a stick. Rewards are given very quickly in the beginning of the game. You kill a creature with 2-3 hits. You gain a level in 5-10 minutes. And you can gain crafting skill with very little failure. But the intervals between these rewards grow exponentially fairly quickly. Very soon, it takes 5 hours and then 20 hours of game time before you can gain a level. The game works by giving you instantaneous gratification upfront and leading you down a slippery slope. And it overlays different reward cycles so you're always close to some reward - whether this be a level, a crafting skill, or a quest. One interviewee stated:

"The game is set up to make you want the next best thing. "Oh look what that guy has! How do I get that?" The answer is always to spend more time online either getting higher level to go camp the item, or to just go camp the item (or slight variation, camp the quest items that result in the new item). But you are rewarded for playing more. Better items, more freedom on where you can go." [male, 21]

A more elaborate analysis of the rewards cycle can be found in the Virtual Skinner Box essay.

The other main Attraction factor is the network of relationships that a player accumulates over time. There are several reasons why relationships of a platonic or romantic nature occur so frequently in MMORPGs. The anonymity and computer-mediated chat environment facilitates self-disclosure, and many players have told personal issues or secrets to online friends that they have never told their real life friends or family. The high-stress situations inherent in the game also help build trust and bonds between players very rapidly. Of course, another important reason is that the games were designed so that you have to group to achieve most goals. You can find a more elaborate analysis of the formation of online relationships in the Online Relationships presentation.

A network of online friends encourages players to invest more time to the game for several reasons. First of all, a player now plays to catch up or remain around the same level as their friends. The pace is set by the player that increases their power levels the most, and oftentimes causes a chain reaction of others trying to catch up. Secondly, a playing schedule, whether tacit or explicit, may be created and there is an expectation that each player will show up to join the group. And finally, the more friends you have, the more obligations you have to fulfill. If you play as a "cleric" character in the MMORPG called Everquest, you have the ability to heal other players and will often be asked for help by other players. If you play as a "druid" character, you may be asked for assistance in teleporting them around the virtual world. Many of these requests take a substantial amount of time, but this is all part of the normal expectations of what friends do for each other. Being in a guild (the term used to describe a team of online players) is one way in which these obligations become structured and recurring. Thus, having a network of friends encourages both a higher level of personal attachment and time investment.

The third, and final, Attraction factor is the immersive nature of these virtual environments. This factor works by encouraging players to become attached to their characters and the virtually valuable items that they own. The immersive nature also encourages players to become personally invested to what happens to their characters, and to be empathetic towards their characters. In the same way that a movie or fairy-tale enchants you, the immersive quality of MMORPGs tries to enchant you with a fantasy, and make you feel that you are part of something grand and extraordinary.

Clearly, these three Attraction factors are not equally attractive to different players. Data collected for the Facets study showed that individuals who are competitive, aggressive and rational are more likely to be interested in the achievement and rewards cycle of the game. Female gamers are more likely to be interested in the relationship aspect of these games. And gamers who are imaginative and open-minded are more likely to be interested in the immersive quality of MMORPGs.

http://www.nickyee.com/hub/addiction/attraction.html