This past week I created a free account for World of Warcraft to see how it attracts the millions of the players that play it. I choose to be an Undead Female Warlock. I chose this character because I thought it would be an interesting character to play because I have a pet and can summon spells. I also liked the overall look of the character. I had high hopes for the game considering millions seem to love it and some are even addicted to it. However, by the time I had reached level 10, I was sick of the game. The controls were hard to figure out and the only reason I was able to get the jest of it so fast was through my friend Nate helping me. Once learning the controls, I assumed the game would be more interesting and more immersing, but I was wrong. First of all, the graphics are horrible. It’s 2013 and being an avid PS3 gamer, I expect high quality. This game does not deliver anything close. The game-play itself wasn’t any better. All my character seemed to do was receive a quest after talking to some random guy and then complete the quest to receive some coins and level up. For me, this is incredibly underwhelming and I was honestly bored throughout the game play. Completing quests was also incredibly redundant and if other aims of game play were intertwined with the quests, then I think I would have enjoyed it more. Overall, I did not like World of Warcraft and I do not understand how millions still play it everyday. However, I did enjoy the ability to customize my character and the endlessness of the world I played in. Still, others I spoke to in my seminar had similar feelings about the game It seems for most of us, World of Warcraft simply does not hold our attention.
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Reading the article about the “gold farms” in China made me wonder how there could actually be a business based off playing video games. Workers are usually forced to do one hard labor job during the day and then play video games for 12 hours every single day. These working conditions are inhumane and I do not understand how the government has not taken further steps to shut these underground “gold farms” down. It is true legislation was passed that made it illegal to sell online game tokens for money without a license, but the industry keeps growing. I believe steps need to be taken on both the sellers of these game tokens (many are from China) and the buyers of these tokens (mainly from Europe and the US) in addition to the workers who make the tokens. By shutting down or at least vamping up legal action against all three of these, I believe the industry will start to decline. However, at the moment, there seems to be no decline in sight. In another story of video gaming gone wrong, a young mother shook her 3 year old son to death after he interrupted her Facebook game, Farmville. Obviously, I think this shows how bad her anger coping problems were and if this had not happened, it probably would have happened at different time with a different stressor. A separate article stated how there seems to be a correlation between young children’s actions and violent video games. Teachers claimed that they had seen young students act out violent video game events, such as cars crashing and being mortally injured. For years now, there have been many claims and studies showing the negative effects video games could have on young children. For the most part, I think allowing children to play video games is okay and some are educational. I believe however, that children need to only be allowed to play games with the correct rating for their age and should not be allowed to plays games for hours on end. It is in cases where children are allowed to do both of these things or even one, where video games can become a problem. I think this is highlighted in the two stories above where video games have crossed a line from the virtual to the reality. However, one shining example of where this is good is through Jane McGonagall. She has worked on developing video games that will help everyone’s lives. All of these stories show the different facets of video games and in the end, I still think it is up to the gamer to decide which facet they choose.
deo gaming gone wrong, a young mother shook her 3 year old son to death after he interupted her Facebook game, Farmville. Obviosuly, I think this shows how bad her anger coping problems were and if this had not happened, it probably would have happened at different time with a different stressor. A seperate article stated how there seems to be a correlation between young children’s actions and violent video games. Teachers claimed that they had seen young students act out violent video game events, such as cars crashing and being mortally injured. For years now, there have been many claims and studies showing the negative effects video games could have on young children. For the most part, I think allowing children to play viode games is okay and some are ediucational. I believe however, that children need to only be alowed to play games with the correct rating for their age and should not be allowed to plays games for hours on end. It is in cases where children are allowed to do both of these things or even one, where video games can become a problem. I think this is highlighted in the two stories above where video games have crossed a line from the virtual to the reaality. When people start seeing these games as
Social Media Destroying Our Way of Life
I recently read the article, “Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds” by Elise Hu. In it, it explores a study that reported happiness declined with an increase in using Facebook. However, the reason behind this is said to be unknown by the researchers. It was suggested that perhaps people feel worse because the more they go on Facebook, the more comparisons they make between their life and the lives of everyone else on Facebook. Personally, I think this is exactly why people are unhappier. I have found myself comparing my life to the “lives” of other people I see on Facebook and the result was usually feeling worse about my own life. In this way, Facebook promotes the idea of “the grass is always greener on the other side” because one is always exposed to what other people are doing in their lives, many of times which seem to be a lot better than what one is doing. A separate article, “Amish Community Not Anti-Technology, Just More Thoughtful”, states how the Amish do not automatically reject every new technology, it simply takes them longer to decide if they want to use it or not. Unlike most of Americans and those in most modern societies, new technology is not heralded as “amazing” the second it comes out. The Amish must review it to see if it is truly necessary in their lives and for many technologies, the answer is “no”. I think Americans could really benefit from thinking this way because currently, there is the idea that getting more stuff and getting the newest things will make us happy. So far, there seems to be more studies showing the unhappiness this way of life brings than the happiness it brings. New social media seems to be separating us rather than bringing us together and I think taking some time away from the computer to enjoy people in real life would do all of us some good. However, I think completely being away from social media isolates a person in a similar way because so many other people use social media platforms to discuss important events in their lives and to share bits of their lives with others. Without a Facebook, I would miss most events that people were hosting and I would miss events that others were talking about. I would also loose most connections with my friends that I do not go to college with. In this way, I think social media is great for connecting people and keeping friend together. Once it becomes the only way you make connections with people, however, that is when I believe the issues arise. Overall I think Americans and many others need to take a more hesitant approach to social media and remember that their friends are more than just profiles behind a screen.
Facebook Article:
Amish Article:
Wander For Yourself 