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Hey, if there are any casual team wars team out there for South Park: Phone Destroyer, let me know! I wanna participate but I'm not all about that 'play or get kicked' mentality. Thanks!

[detentionairejunkie-blog]

Hey, if there are any casual team wars team out there for South Park: Phone Destroyer, let me know! I wanna participate but I'm not all about that 'play or get kicked' mentality. Thanks!

[detentionairejunkie-blog]

COURSE POST #8- The Blurring of Reality and Non-Reality

Rather than talking about The Private Eye, which is a very good comic series and believe that everyone should at least try and read it, I was actually more fascinated with the concept of simulacra and, by extension, of simulacrum.

 Now the article Transmedia Narratives, simulacra, simulation, fake and design fiction defines the term simulacra as a “process through which people constantly interpret the reality they have around them...would not be able to distinguish the signals of what is real and fake/simulated,” while, when you Google for the definition of simulacrum, we see that it is a plural of the term and stands for an representation or imitation of someone or something.  

This is an interesting concept that is further elaborated on when the articles states that “[w]e, as human beings, interpret what we perceive to be real by gathering a series of signals, of clues, from the context which surrounds us,” which, when put all together, could come to mean that we would not be able to recognize the difference between reality and non-reality if we were led to believe that it something, or someone, was real enough. This line of thinking is possibly what spurred the creation of the game Simulacra.

(Credit is given to Google)

Released back in October 2017, Simulacra is a horror game in which it has you find a phone that once belonged to a woman named Anna. From there, the player learns that she is missing and must learn what happened to her. When playing through the game, eventually the player learns enough about what happened to Anna and they finally discover the main antagonist of the game: an evil force that has made its way into Anna’s phone. 

Through the game, the player gains information piece by piece until they learn what’s truly been going on with the evil force. It is revealed that the evil force lures victims in through a Tinder-like app called Spark, people who have just broken up with someone, people who are vulnerable, and then steals them away from reality and takes their place instead. In this game, the evil force becomes a simulacrum and creates more every single time he gets rid of the real victim. If i remember correctly, it believes that humanity is weak, frail, and easily reproduced. Why should the real thing exist when it could create the perfect version of themselves, the one that people create when they set up a profile? 

(Credit to Google for the image)

It allows the person playing to think about just how much of our identities are created when we create a profile for social media and how much of it is influenced when other people believe it to be true. Truthfully, how many people could become a simulacra because they act more like their profile description than their real self? This line of thinking is further complicated when, throughout the game, to achieve the best ending in which you save Anna and a friend of hers, the player must act like Anna as much as possible. Which, now that I think about it, could symbolize the fact that the player is almost like a simulacra in and of itself because of their posing of Anna. This could further be proven when the force compliments you for the fact that the player did such a good job at being Anna. This is what is more accurately said : ”The Simulacra will compliment you on your ability to decide the fate of those around you through clever misdirection, and teases that it may not be so different from The Player, as they both disregard morals to achieve power or an outcome.”

This game plays on the concept of the simulacra so well that it makes the player question the line of reality and non-reality, especially with the notion of identity theft and creating personas for oneself. Literature does not help the matter either, with it imitating reality so well. In this case, how much will the line blur? Will the line eventually be erased to the point of reality and non-reality interacting with each other on a daily basis? Only the future can tell.

Here are my sources: http://simulacra.wikia.com/wiki/The_Simulacra

http://www.artisopensource.net/2013/05/26/transmedia-narratives-simulacra-simulation-fake-and-design-fiction/

And here’s the link if you wanna play the game! (though it’s 5 bucks):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/712730/SIMULACRA/

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COURSE POST #7- The Relationship between Class and Economics

The relationship between classes and economics might appear obvious, however, it is more complex than it first appears to be and consists of several characteristics that actively defines it. This concept is first mentioned in the introduction in Peter Frases’ Four Futures: Life After Capitalism and discussed more in chapter one: “Communism: Equality and Abundance.” 

Now, what is perhaps the first time this way of thinking is brought to light is in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s The Communist Manifesto. 

The Communist Manifesto critiqued the economics of capitalism and, in it, Marx and Engel stated their definition of class: “a group of people sharing common relations to labor and the means of production.” To elaborate on that definition, he divided the group of people into two main classes, “the bourgeoisie, the capitalists who own the means of production, and the much larger proletariat (or 'working class') who must sell their own labor power.” These concepts are important when discussing the relationship between class struggle and economics because the topic is a feature of The Communist Manifesto and, if I understand correctly, is actually where the idea of class struggle originated from. Marx and Engel say that, for a majority of history, there has been a struggle between classes. Class struggle occurs when the bourgeoisie (rich, business owners) pay the proletariat (everyday workers) to make things that they, in turn, sell. As a result, because the proletariat cannot live without money from a job, they have absolutely no say in what they make or their pay. 

When Karl Marx saw this, he believed that the workers should decide where the products should go and how much they should sell them for instead of the business owners. He also wanted them to unite and overtake the business owners. However, in this modern day and age, class struggle is still a large problem and has a huge impact on the economy. Of course, this is more so in the west because, as Four Futures says, class and politics are more tied together over here than in the east. 

Yet, class is a rather complex notion in that a plethora of different factors influence class. In chapter one, it mentions how gender is tied to class, and this rings true to this day and is brought up in a lot of different media. The first example that I could think of is actually Liane Cartman from the adult cartoon show South Park. 

In the cartoon, Liane is a single mother raising her son, Eric, by herself. Throughout the show, she is seen struggling with money, even being known to sell herself for money. Of course, as the series progress, it appears that she has given that up in favor of working two jobs. But, regardless, she is typically seen as of the lower class because of both this and her gender. Moreover, this seeing woman as a lower class can almost be found in a lot of the other women in South Park as well, despite whether they have a stable job or not. Something I’ve observed is that many of the husbands of South Park have better jobs than their wives, hinting at the notion that women are always thought to be of a lower class than men. Liane is just the obvious example of the idea. 

Lastly, class struggles are made worse by the fact that unemployment has a bad social stigma. In the book, Frase states that this exists because of the way that society overvalues work and this is true. Today, if someone that is of the age does not have a job, they are ostracized and criticized, perhaps called lazy or a leech. This situation, I believe, has escalated into the notion that if someone has a low-paying job, such as working in a grocery store or fast-food place, then they are wasting their lives. Now it is thought that one should always strive for a higher type of job, but that can only be achieved by those who can afford to do so, such as the bourgeoisie. This bad social stigma only furthers the worsening of the struggle between classes. And, if we do not do anything about it, perhaps communism is, indeed, in our nearby future. 

If you wish to read more about the topic, here is an interesting essay: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691616673192

The images were pulled from Google.

Here are the sources I used:

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_struggle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxian_class_theory

https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/c/l.htm

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COURSE POST #6- Video Games and the Dystopian Situation

The concept of a Dystopian setting has consistently been brought up time and time again in different media settings, such as literature and movies. Before the word was coined, science fiction is seen as a sort of predecessor to the genre and, while the term had not been invented at the time, H. G. Well’s The Time Machine is perhaps the earliest example of the concept. Nonetheless, while technology keeps advancing, dystopian settings keep branching off and, in this case, I will briefly be discussing their spread to video games. 

While I myself am not a large fan on the sub-genre itself, I still find myself enjoying some video games that prominently features it within the game. A good example of this would be Jak II. 

Jak II is a sequel to Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and takes place directly after a secret ending the player can achieve by collecting everything in the first game. In it, the main heroes are thrust into the future by a strange device and have to adapt to living in a land that has been ravaged and overrun with creatures named Metalheads. Not only are the color schemes and backgrounds different, the light, bright and playful setting of nature being pushed to the side in favor of dark, gritty colors with metal as far as the eye can see, but the tone and gameplay mechanics are very different as well. While your main style of fighting in the first game was with punching and kicking, only supplemented by using a material called Eco, which consisted of several different colors, Jak wields a gun and can only use black Eco called dark Eco. This change in tone is to be expected, however, yet it is still fascinating at the difference between the first and second game. An also important change appears in the main character: Jak. While in the first game he was a mute, cheerful boy, two years pass with him being tortured. After being rescued by his friend, he speaks and exudes a darker attitude. I think dystiopian settings are supposed to elicit these feelings of dread and dark tones. However, there is another game I can think of that brings about a more realistic dystopian future: We Happy Few.

While I have not personally played the game, We Happy Few takes place in a future where the Germans have taken over Great Britain and the British Empire. This game takes place in that area of Europe, where, to escape from reality, everyone takes a drug called Joy, which causes the people to see everything in a heightened sense of happiness. The main point of the game is for you to put on the facade that you are happy (because you have stopped taking Joy) in an ugly and cruel world. I am unsure of the actual plot of the game, as it has not been released yet, but it is an interesting concept that is primarily influenced by the 1985 film, Brazil. Again, this game is the demonstration of the genre: a dark, serious feel that begets fear and worry from the person playing it. 

Dystopian settings are not new and yet they do not appear to be leaving anytime soon. Perhaps they came about to warn people that, if society keeps continuing on how it is, that it may crumble and become like the fictional worlds we keep envisioning. Perhaps it is because people think that those settings can only be fiction do they allow development of more and more worlds such as the ones mentioned above. Whatever the reason, the point remains that there are more and more games, books, and movies are being produced on the topic and the implications behind that are staggering, to say the least. 

Here is a link to an article about dystopias in video games: https://www.thumbsticks.com/dystopia-video-games/ 

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COURSE POST #5- Network Realism and the Evolution of Fiction

In James Bridle’s blog post “Network Realism: William Gibson and new forms of Fiction,” he proposes a new genre for fiction which, as the title may imply, he calls Network Realism. In the blog post, he defines Network Realism as “writing that is of and about the network...It’s realism because it’s so close to our present reality,” meaning that it focuses on, not just the Internet, but every form of media that connects society together. Yet, the main reason why this is so important is the fact that this genre is becoming more prominent in several different entertainment venues, such a literature and perhaps even movies. Technology has caused this evolution to occur, has shaped it so that it needed a new title for it. He gives an example about how a football commentary turned into a work of fiction because the story spiraled into zombies. This type of fiction actually reminded me of a book I read when I was in high school called iBoy. 

The story focuses on a boy who, after getting in an accident, gets shards of an iPhone embedded in his head. However, he soon finds himself being able to hear transmissions and surf on the internet. The rest of the plot is irrelevant because of the fact that I am mainly focusing on the concept of the book. A boy inexplicably gains the ability to use the features of the phone. In a way, it is almost as if he is a human iPhone, a human network even. This book is a good example of network realism in that, while it may not originally be a large metaphor for anything, we can see it as a symbol for an evolution in themes in fiction. Like Bridle said, this would not be possible without the evolution of technology. The concept of this book would not even have existed several years ago but, with how advanced phones are becoming, these works of make-believe are made somehow viable as time progresses. In the years to come, who knows? Perhaps what happened in this novel could become a reality. 

The book was turned into a movie only last year and can be seen on Netflix.

The original novel itself was released in 2010, meaning that some believed the concept was suitable to exploit last year. I think this is due to the fact that producers believe that viewers will see the concept and think it almost real because of the progression of robots and Bluetooth. Yet, what Network Realism really adds to a discussion is the blurring of realism and fiction. If fiction warps and becomes more real, perhaps soon humankind won’t be able to distinguish one from the other. Maybe the evolution of technology has bled so much into humanity that soon maybe the idea of accomplishing the impossible will be a goal. Perhaps it will lead to our doom. Who knows?

Here is a link to a study concerning Network Realism: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221273606_The_Effect_of_Network_Realism_on_Community_Detection_Algorithms 

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COURSE POST #4- Technological Takeover

In Erin Griffith’s “The Other Tech Bubble,” while the main article discusses the negative aspects of the ever unchanging Silicon Valley powerhouses, a certain point is brought up that I would like to touch upon. Somewhere in the article, the author mentions the fact that society, as a whole, is afraid that technology and AIs will evolve and improve to the point where we may not be needed anymore, that all of our jobs will be taken from us and given to machines. 

In my opinion, that is a very viable fear. Here is an article on the matter: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/11/robots-jobs-employees-artificial-intelligence

Though, at what rate would robots and other similar technological marvels would replace us? Even if it would be a slow and long process, the fact remains is that mankind deems it as a definite: that it’s a natural fact to assume that, eventually, humans will be replaced for superior beings. Such as the Pepper robot, which can be used for healthcare, retail, and education (depicted below).

Yet, what may be even more of an issue is the disconnect between people. With how things are currently, people interact with each other on a daily basis, whether it’s with a fast food employee or a bagger at Kroger. However, if robots were to replace those that work those specific jobs, society would drift further apart. The situation in and of itself is already bad, what with cell phones and the internet; with the addition of more buffers, perhaps the isolation of humanity is inevitable. If this concept comes to pass, people will begin to talk more with technology than their fellow man (like below) which may prove catastrophic. 

In psychology, there exists a hierarchy of needs created by Maslow states that human interaction is crucial for human beings and, in my opinion, cannot be replaced by these evolving automatons. But, at this rate, robots and the like are going to widen the gap that non-sentient machines have already developed. In Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a main, crucial, key point of the book is that androids cannot feel empathy, which can be proven with a specific test. As the plot progresses, the protagonist learns that androids are evolving to the point that they can pass said test and must be taken out. However, in the end, he gains feelings for one of these said androids and is left traumatized by the events.

Robots, like in the novel, may reach that point, but I argue that they will never be able to successfully empathize and, therefore, never truly be human-like. Then again, should they? Society has already categorized robots and AIs as an other that would never be human, so why do we craft them to look and act as such? 

We are afraid that robots are going to take our jobs and replace us, but what we fail to recognize is that we are willingly asking for that by programming them to act like us and carry out tasks as we do. At the end of it all, it seems as if human beings are destined to be lost and tossed aside in the sea of superior machinery because of the hard fact that no one is doing anything to stop it from happening.      

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COURSE POST #3- Has the Internet Gone Too Far?- An Example of One of the Reasons Why Some Say Yes

In Jame Bridle’s “Something is wrong on the internet,” he goes in depth on the subject of how children are drawn into YouTube videos with fun, bright cartoon characters, only to bear witness to creepy, weird and sometimes traumatizing things within those videos. An example he used within the text was a video of Peppa Pig that started of normally, with her going to the dentist, yet turned horrific when she’s tortured. This sort of experience actually reminded me of something else on the internet that is similar: Online games for girls. 

In the past, I remember going on the computer and playing nice, safe dressing up games. But, more recently, I have noticed that the types of games girls can play online have become very inappropriate and, to be honest, downright disturbing. One YouTuber I know, RPGMinx, has a series revolving around these types of games, of which she has logically called “S**t Games for Girls.” A majority of these videos are made up of such games like "Minion Pregnancy” and “Princess Victoria Secret Show 2016″ (both shown below.) 

*So sorry you had to see these horrible abominations*

These types of games employ the same method that the videos Bridle do: lure children into seeing bad, terrible things by the use of familiar cartoon characters. More than just those two previously mentioned games, there are a plethora of others equally as terrible, such as pregnancy games, where girls can help people like Anna and Elsa give birth, or worse, C-Section, rejuvenation games, which obviously benefit young girls who obviously need to look even younger, and various other surgery games that totally contain appropriate content for malleable minds. 

The fact that these games even exist is atrocious because one, they contain material that may prove detrimental to a child’s development and two, a cornucopia of them are rip-off games that would probably be illegal if anybody cared enough to try and stop them from being produced. If the adults continue to allow their kids to see, play, or interact with these type of media, then it could lead to damage.    

What comes to mind is an episode of, ironically enough, South Park. In season 8, there is an episode titled “Stupid Spoiled W***e Video Playset", in which girls desperately want to dress in skimpy clothes and act lewd as a sort of trend. A future like this, where the minds of girls are manipulated to think that such outrageous behavior is okay or, even worse, actively encouraged, is quite plausible if the content of the Internet is not better monitored. But, not just the Internet should attempt to do so, but the parents should also put in a valiant effort and control what their children view on the Internet. Because, if the Internet won’t take the first step, then the parents certainly should. 

If you want to see some of these terrible games in action, here is the link to the latest video from RPGMinx which, conveniently enough, features Peppa Pig rip-off games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5yh4xmjpQs&list=PLQLck4CGSUpunigXNZxiXs9h9JJzH_zLn

Also, here is a link to a similar article to the one we read by BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39381889     

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COURSE POST #2- Caught in the Moment- Manufactured Normalcy

Last week, a vital point we touched on was the fact that people are looking to the past to try and predict and better the future but, instead, were staying in the past. However, in Venkatesh Rao’s article “Welcome to the Future Nauseous,” he brings up the notion that society cannot advance into the future because they are, rather, stuck in the present, believe in the idea that the future is yet to come.

I can see where Rao is coming from, for I have experienced this myself. Recently I read about how scientists are close to creating tissue that can be compatible with organ transplants and such. And, the thought of artificially creating an organ, like a heart, that actually works like a flesh one, to me, is still extraordinary. To me, I still think that something like that is going to be achieved way in the future.

Another example, again, applies to me in the fact that I saw an article about how scientists are on the possible verge of the common cold and flu. Again, I feel as if that should happen many years from now, but it’s happening and I am just taking too long to take it in, to accept that technology and science is advancing far beyond our understanding and beliefs.

Here is a visual representation of the airplane example from the article itself:

I also found another article talking about Rao’s Manufactured Normalcy that goes into detail about how the author applied the concept with others.

This is a picture of a whiteboard detailing the results of their discussion. It’s broken up into details, but what I find particularity interesting are the objects that people Thought Were Weird were pieces of cutting-edge technology: Google Glass and self-driving cars to name a few. What is naturally progressing is seen as strange or perhaps even unnatural because people get used to how things are in the present rather than think about how they will be in the future.

It’s a common dilemma: People tend to stay in the present because they are afraid of change, like how some prefer to stay in the past for the exact same reason. Nevertheless, it all affects the future, for it’s slowly happening. We just don’t acknowledge it.

This is the link to the aforementioned article: http://urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozens/2012/06/24/designing-for-and-against-the-manufactured-normalcy-field/

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COURSE POST #1: A Blast From the Past

In our readings, one of the main points that was made was that, in our modern society, we as a whole tend to keep looking to the past in order to brighten our furture. In Jussi Parikka’s “Introduction: Cartographies of the Old and the New .” What is Media Archeology?, the example that people are now turning back to “retro” fads and applying them to present-day technology. A good example of this, I believe, is the phenomenon of Sonic Mania. 

Sonic Mania was produced by SEGA and came out last year on August 15, 2017. While being relatively new, the actual game itself features mainly pixelized sprites and backgrounds.   

Both the graphics, content, and gameplay are reminiscent of the first couple of Sonic games, yet it has been remodeled for modern consumption. In an online review from The Verge, they state that “[t]hey [The people who worked on the game] managed to create the kind of game the series has desperately needed for some time: an old-school Sonic brimming with clever twists and ideas.” The fact that they emphasized the dire need of a game like this for the Sonic the Hedgehog series alone speaks volumes. 

Sonic Mania in and of itself brings up the idea that, in order for a brand-new game to be good, it must first go back and learn what made it good in the first place. For the last couple of Sonic games, while the developers have integrated dazzling new gameplay mechanics and graphics, their games have all received sub par reviews. 

Sonic Mania is a classic example of the notion that everything was better back then. One might say that nostalgia is blinding the masses in this case because of the fact that gamers don’t like new Sonic games because of how different they are when compared to the original. They are too stuck in the past to make any progress. And that is troubling, especially when it comes to coming up with new and outrageous game ideas.

Link to The Verge review: https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/14/16142646/sonic-mania-review-ps4-xbox-switch-pc