Monday, April 23, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Response to "Could Gaming Be Good For You?"
I agree with Jane McGonigal in the sense that gaming can be an effective way to increase critical thinking, team work, creativity, and problem solving in children's minds. It may lead to new discoveries to solve real world problems or can possibly change the world, as she would say. My automatic answer of this NPR broadcast question was a no, assuming it was the use of games such as Grand Theft Auto or Soul Caliber, games promoting violence or doing things wrong in society's eyes. She obviously meant the right type of games. She believed in the effects of what the right game can do for parent's children. They must at least play with someone they know in real life. Gaming can teach one to achieve a goal and thinking creatively on how to achieve the goal. Working together to reach a goal too will teach them to work cooperatively, build teamwork, and build relationships with one another. Also, if they do not succeed the first time, it teaches them to persevere. It was interesting to see how she changed my point of view. Maybe gaming is not so bad after all.
I do feel, when I'm playing games, I am in control and motivated to reach a more ambitious goal. The game allows you to try multiple ways to reach the goals, each time using a different creative way to become better at something that you've never done before.
It's so fascinating to learn that there are even games designed by scientists, using real life research such as protein folding to find medicines for cancer or preventing diseases for the body. This could promote children to develop an interest in a potential career path with the simple impact of an interactive game.
I do feel, when I'm playing games, I am in control and motivated to reach a more ambitious goal. The game allows you to try multiple ways to reach the goals, each time using a different creative way to become better at something that you've never done before.
It's so fascinating to learn that there are even games designed by scientists, using real life research such as protein folding to find medicines for cancer or preventing diseases for the body. This could promote children to develop an interest in a potential career path with the simple impact of an interactive game.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
First movie watched in the theater
I don't exactly remember my first movie I saw in the theater, but the one I can recall was Matrix back in 2000. It was a night that the family would spend dinner together and then watch a movie at the theater near my home. I remember my dad was more excited to see it than the rest of the family. But since I am my father's daughter, I was pretty excited to see it as well. We never were into watching new releases right when they came out, so we didn't have to buy tickets in advance. As we walked into the theater, we took our seats in the middle of the room. I remember always wondering where the projection of the movie was coming from. My dad showed me the window of the backroom. I was fascinated with how the room setup would look like and what I would find on the inside.
Of course, no one was allowed in there. Still intrigued by the mysterious room, I would constantly check back to look at the room. Since the movie hadn't started, I decided to take a small peek into the room because curiosity got the best of me. To my surprise, I found a middle-aged man standing next to the projector. I knew someone had to work the projector, but he startled me enough to send me back to my seat. The movie started to play and I was immersed into the storyline. With the crisp sound from the giant speakers and the movie projected on a humungous screen, all I could do was glue my eyes to the movie.
Over the years, I've realized I no longer crave that same experience. I'll watch movies in the comfort of my own home even though there are other things to easily distract me from fully experiencing the movie. Every now and then, I'll go to the movies with friends, but it's no longer the same. Maybe it's the busy lifestyle or the stress of money consumption, but overall it is a feeling I miss.
Of course, no one was allowed in there. Still intrigued by the mysterious room, I would constantly check back to look at the room. Since the movie hadn't started, I decided to take a small peek into the room because curiosity got the best of me. To my surprise, I found a middle-aged man standing next to the projector. I knew someone had to work the projector, but he startled me enough to send me back to my seat. The movie started to play and I was immersed into the storyline. With the crisp sound from the giant speakers and the movie projected on a humungous screen, all I could do was glue my eyes to the movie.
Over the years, I've realized I no longer crave that same experience. I'll watch movies in the comfort of my own home even though there are other things to easily distract me from fully experiencing the movie. Every now and then, I'll go to the movies with friends, but it's no longer the same. Maybe it's the busy lifestyle or the stress of money consumption, but overall it is a feeling I miss.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Essay 3 Idea
Should video games be played in schools? Some people believe video games are a waste of time, especially a concern for parents. Parents worry that their children are devoting too much time to their video games, instead of going outside to play sports or with neighborhood kids. However, Jane McGonigal believes video games help children and that they should actually be playing more. She thought if time was devoted to the right type of games, it would work in the children's favor. She researches the affects of video games on society. She discovered that video games bring out the passion, drive, positive emotions, bring about social relationships with others. She also brought up that there was an emergence of cooperative games instead of competitive games, teaching children to work together and overcome the same goals.
Jane's research led to the discovery of eustress, positive stress that people tap into as a psychological state.When society can control their own outcomes, they tend to do better and feel more positive. She believes that people tend to be more motivated, energized, positive, and willing to ask help. She gave an example about a golf game. In reality, if someone was frustrated with getting the ball in the hole, they would pick it up and put it in the hole. However, in a game, they have to find a way to put it in the hole, supporting creativity and perseverance. This leads to practicing something that you haven't done before.
Even callers are agreeing with Jane Mcgonigal's claim. One teacher expressed her concern of technology interfering with children's capability of critical thinking and problem solving. When she gave those types of problems on a piece of paper, they showed little interest. But when it was computerized, they went right to work and worked together as a team and developed more skills.
Jane McGonigal does talk about some bad aspects. She promoted playing video games more often than parents would like them to. But after about 23 hours per week, she says her research shows that is when benefits start to decrease.
Jane's research led to the discovery of eustress, positive stress that people tap into as a psychological state.When society can control their own outcomes, they tend to do better and feel more positive. She believes that people tend to be more motivated, energized, positive, and willing to ask help. She gave an example about a golf game. In reality, if someone was frustrated with getting the ball in the hole, they would pick it up and put it in the hole. However, in a game, they have to find a way to put it in the hole, supporting creativity and perseverance. This leads to practicing something that you haven't done before.
Even callers are agreeing with Jane Mcgonigal's claim. One teacher expressed her concern of technology interfering with children's capability of critical thinking and problem solving. When she gave those types of problems on a piece of paper, they showed little interest. But when it was computerized, they went right to work and worked together as a team and developed more skills.
Jane McGonigal does talk about some bad aspects. She promoted playing video games more often than parents would like them to. But after about 23 hours per week, she says her research shows that is when benefits start to decrease.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Catfish
Materiality, according to Critical Terms for Media Studies, "serves as a commonsensical antithesis to, for instance, the spiritual, the abstract, the phenomenal, the virtual, and the formal, not to mention the immaterial." In other words, Bill Brown, the writer of Materiality, believed materiality to be something physical, being able to acknowledge the look and feel of the object. He gives the example washing a sweater, in which he exclaims it destroys the materiality of it by altering the sweater's physical quality. He illustrates a link between the sense of touch as "privileged access to the physical" to the distinctions of what one can see and what one can change. Critics have claimed that materiality of our human experience had been compromised to modernity, being carefree and innocent with the real.
I believe real to be the common definition of materiality, as mentioned in the book. Being able to look and feel the object in person defines it to be "real". However, adding emotions into the mix makes it harder to distinguish whether something is real or not. Things that are virtual may not necessarily mean fictional, but it correlates to the nonexistent physicality of it. It can mean a different version of a life or object, created to meet the person's ideal state such as the game Second Life.
Catfish is an American documentary film involving a young man, Yaniv Schulman, who meets the Pierce family through an 8 year old girl and connects to the whole family through the social network, Facebook. Abbey Pierce sends Yaniv a painting of one of his published photos. Yaniv's brother and friend decide to film the relationship between Yaniv and Abbey's family. He becomes romantically involved with Megan, Abby's 19 year old sister, developing a long distance relationship by telephone and over the internet. The problem arises when Megan sends him samples of her music, in which Nev (Yaniv) discovers that the songs were taken from existing videos from YouTube.
I believe real to be the common definition of materiality, as mentioned in the book. Being able to look and feel the object in person defines it to be "real". However, adding emotions into the mix makes it harder to distinguish whether something is real or not. Things that are virtual may not necessarily mean fictional, but it correlates to the nonexistent physicality of it. It can mean a different version of a life or object, created to meet the person's ideal state such as the game Second Life.
Catfish is an American documentary film involving a young man, Yaniv Schulman, who meets the Pierce family through an 8 year old girl and connects to the whole family through the social network, Facebook. Abbey Pierce sends Yaniv a painting of one of his published photos. Yaniv's brother and friend decide to film the relationship between Yaniv and Abbey's family. He becomes romantically involved with Megan, Abby's 19 year old sister, developing a long distance relationship by telephone and over the internet. The problem arises when Megan sends him samples of her music, in which Nev (Yaniv) discovers that the songs were taken from existing videos from YouTube.
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