Synthetic Worlds by Edward Castronova

Synthetic Worlds by Edward Castronova focuses on how people around the world interact, communicate, and live in the virtual worlds of MMORPGS. Castronova is obviously a supporter of people who play and for all insensitive purposes he himself is one of these people. The book starts out about how to build a character and get started in a MMORPG, all MMORPGS must include a membership(it may or may not cost money), an avatar or character(with an original name), and a computer or platform on which to join these virtual worlds. I can easily relate to Castronova when he goes into detail about how difficult it is to create your own name that no other player has claimed. I myself rely on two names Richea and Adelphi which almost 95 percent of the time are free. I personally do not play MMORPGS but have at least dabbled with WOW and Ragnarok, I primarily play FPS's like Resistance and Counterstrike which are both online with up to 40 people at a time. Castronova defines MMORPG players in simple terms, most players fall into one or more of these categories in relation to their MMORPG of choice. MMORPGS all have, explorers, socialite's, achievers, and controllers without these different types of players the game would become unrealistic and boring to the point that their virtual world is not as realistic and their real world hence defeating the point of MMORPG. On page 80 Castronova states that to have a happy player the virtual world has to resemble the Earth, the Earth is "persistent, physical, and interactive". A MMORPG developer must follow these physical rules when it comes to creating their gamers environment but developers are allowed to bend the rules and change the environment as they see fit as long as it still applies to these rules. Castronova explains that most people who play MMORPGS are not trying to escape the real world just extend the real world into a virtual one and connecting the two. This connection between the two can cause as lot of problems as Castronova goes onto explain. Many players have admitted to being harassed or harassing other players outside of the MMORPG world because in game rules do not allow it according to the EULA "End User Licensing Agreement" and the COC(Code of Conduct), ToS(Terms of Service) contracts. Many people have had their accounts stolen and sold for actual money. In China much of their crime was a direct result of MMORPG theft of accounts. The object of money in MMORPGS is very real, in games that you are required to spend money in the money or gold you earn during the game then to the player gains a sense of actual value, many people have attempted to sell their MMORPG accounts and money on Ebay. The games currency can then be used to purchase weapons and good in order for your avatar to survive. A few more things Castronova touched on were FPS's or first person shooters and their comparison to MMORPGS. FPS's are fast-paced and usually involve far fewer players in a closed area with a common goal or killing each other, capturing the flag, or working as a team to stop terrorists as he describes with Counter-Strike. On the other hand, MMORPGS a primarily slow-paced, with huge highly detailed maps while you play along with hundreds of thousands of people. MMORPGS are meant to hook and keep the player paying and playing for longer and establishing solid connections and friendships with other players. In conclusion I believe everything Casanova explains to be very true, he understands that MMORPGS can be dangerous to some people particularly depressed anti-social individuals who mis-interrupt the fact that their character is not real but at the same time he addresses all the benefits of playing these games. Socialization, learning, business/economic, and completion skills. Many of the tasks in MMORPGS require involved thinking and immediate action which can help any individual in the real world. I loved how he explained that MMORPGS are not an escape from the real world instead and extension of everyday life. These social networks allow people from all over the world to connect and relate to each other and in the long run I believe MMORPG players will have a higher racial tolerance then our current adult generation. I believe it is healthy to experience new activities and have fun in life and if a person enjoys MMORPGS I cannot understand why people criticize and accuse these players of being losers that are anti-social. We see horrible things happen everyday on the news and around us and a chance to escape might just give everyone a little piece of mind and freedom from the "real" world.

Does Video Game Addiction Exist?

I personally believe video game addiction can exist, based on the fact that I myself know several addicts that cannot pull themselves away from the television or the computer but at the same time I feel that if they were not addicted to video games they would be addicted to something else. Looking at the article entitled “Does Video Game Addiction Exist” by Mark Griffiths and Mark N. O. Davies they give detailed examples and conditions that video game addicts experience.

Looking at the young age of gamers today, a younger gamer can become “socially isolated” and become unable to “develop social skills” with other children of their age, (364) if they are allowed to play too many video games. Many gamers, regardless of experience level have been known to have “epileptic seizures” (364) many times because of an underlying condition to photosensitivity but it can sometimes be sudden with excessive play. These are some mental conditions that arise from video game addiction but there are also many physical conditions that also arise. According to Griffiths and Davies repeated and addicted players can develop “blisters, calluses, sore tendons, and numbness or fingers, hands, and elbows directly as a result of their game play”(364). In addition, reports and studies have been done that show that some players experience “negative effect on both heart rate and blood pressure” (364).

Looking at my two of my friends that I consider gaming addicts I can sometimes clearly see some of the symptoms of addiction. On page 362, Griffiths and Davies list the main addiction components, “salience, tolerance, euphoria, chasing, relapse, withdrawal, and two different types of conflict.” Looking at two of my friends I can easily classify them as gaming addicts. One in fact was kicked out of school for playing too much World of Warcraft and the other had to withdrawal from all of their classes for failure to attend any classes. The first one had all of the symptoms he was a vegetable that sat in front of his computer 20 hours a day while the other only shows four or five of the components he has also made attempted efforts to stop playing as much unlike my first friend.

In conclusion though I do believe video game players can become addicted but I also believe that it should be simple to quit which makes it not as addictive. My World Of Warcraft friend could not help himself and lived in a fantasy world whereas my second friend cannot be found without a controller in his hands if he is in his dorm room but he is still able to complete classes and make time for social activities. I myself have some of the components of a video game addict but I, like my second friend do not let it consume my life. So in a sense video game addiction does exist but I also think if these people didn’t play video games they would be addicted to something else may is be drugs or alcohol. These people may just have an addictive personality that is always in search of something to cling onto and use for a “buzz” or “high” (362).

Critical Reading: Super Mario World for the SNES

Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo may have been the first game to provide the player with a true experience of meaningful play. The game focuses on Mario who is on a rescue mission for Peach, the princess. On the way Mario encounters many bosses and enemies that he must fend off to meet the ultimate boss and captor of Peach, Bowser. However Mario also has help from Yoshi, his lovable dinosaur, several types of power-ups, and Luigi in co-op play. Looking at the article entitled narrative in the video game by Mark J. P. Wolf we can apply its ideas directly to Super Mario world. Super Mario Brothers is a diegetic story, meaning it is a cohesive story with characters and a narrative that has a beginning, middle, and end. Super Mario World is a very interactive game, the game includes many secret levels and to drive the player mad only has a 99 percent completion. Each level is a circle on the main map this circle can tell the player a lot about the level, if the level is yellow on the map it only has one exit, if the level is red it has two exits. For a first time player this takes some time to discover from the map you can also tell if the level is in water or in a cave depending on its circle, obviously blue equals a water level and brown rocks equals a cave level. Looking again at the interactivity of the game and its meaningful play we can define Mario himself, Mario is a “’Player –characters” who are the main, goal-oriented agents in the game, and who are said to “win,” “lose,” or score points. The player-character is the human player’s surrogate character in the games diegetic world; games with multiple human players have multiple player-characters.” This is Mark Wolf’s definition of the Mario and Luigi, they are played by you and they gain points and items and they inevitably save Peach from Bowser through your playing. Peach and the baby dinosaur yoshi’s you gain after each boss on the other hand are “computer-controlled incidental characters which move the game along but are not “players”… they are not goal-oriented in the same way as the player-characters; they cannot win or lose. After each boss level you save a Yoshi egg, this egg introduces you to the next map and gives you hints in the game. Peach being your final goal does nothing but end the game she is the goal and helps keep the game moving along. Mario does not challenge our definition of video game, in every sense that it what the game it, a story with an end which you must play in order to see the “video”. You don’t need to open all the secret levels in Super Mario World to save the princess, the extra levels leave are made to challenge the experienced player to find and complete. These levels only add an extra level to the game, by opening Star Road you can gain short cuts to the main map so commuting from section to section is easier. After completing Star Road you open the Special World which includes levels named Awesome and Radical. All these levels give you are a big headache because of their difficulty and after completely every level with each exit some of the enemies and backgrounds change colors. The bonus worlds are just there to add complexity to the game it does not affect the narrative in any sense, it’s just there for the obsessive compulsive gamer who won’t out down their controller until they have 100 percent or in this case 99 percent. Super Mario World was an original genre it was a totally new type of game, its genre was original and today it is repeated by many games .Mario was the first game to have several sequels made and Mario was remediated into movies, books, and a television show. The narrative in Mario was simple but it was solid, Mario changed the video game industry and its narrative still sparks many creators’ minds with ideas for games today.

Blog #1 Personal Narrative

As I sit my guitar hero controller onto the floor next to me and pick up my computer I can vividly recall all my major experiences with video and computer games. When I was five my parents and I moved into my current home and in celebration my father purchased us a Super NES. Our only game we had was Zelda: Link to the Past, we sat hours on end together trying to kill bosses and figure out the games intricate puzzles. It was out "family time" and we cherished it very much. As I got older my father and I played more and more together fantastic games like Super Mario All-Stars, Mystical Ninjas, Donkey Kong Country, even the re-release of Space Invaders controlled my Super NES and provided me and my Dad with hundreds of hours of fun.
As new systems like Sega Saturn, N64 came out I refused to give up my beloved Super NES, not until the infamous Playstation came out did we purchase a new system. Crash Bandicoot then occupied much of my time, and a new generation of gaming began. Soon I realized I was playing alone, my father could not adapt to this new format and I fell into a world of one player games considering I am an only child.
This did not end my father daughter bonding time, when I do manage to go home and spend time with my Dad, I cannot help but to sometimes pop in Mystical Ninjas or Super Mario on our still in great condition Super NES and play some low pixel, non high-definition games with my Dad. The old games can still captivate my attention and provide as much entertainment as my PS3. It really depends on who your playing with and who you want to play.
After many years of Playstion I was truthfully pretty bored but suddenly a new game became available that was to captivate my attention, it was in a simple game called Roller Coaster Tycoon and for several years I wanted to become a theme park designer. I dabbled in the SIMS but I would prefer to sit at my computer at play hours and hours of theme park building instead. Today I am a loyal Playstation customer, I own a PSP, a PS2, and a PS3. My favorite games have to be all the Metal Gear Solid's, Kingdom Hearts 1&2, God of War 1&2, Guitar Hero 1&2, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Amplitude/Frequency. These games to me are like the Super NES games to my Dad, and when I have children my games will be ancient history to them as this continually evolving technology wll continue to offer for years and year to come.
Hopefully my children will have as many rewarding and memorable experiences with video games as I had as a child but with the continuing increase in violence and depth in games I don't want the new generation of gaming systems to kill their minds.
Here are a few sites I would recommend for this course:
1.) X-Play, a gaming review show on G4
2.)Attack of the Show a nightly technology show on G4
3.)E3, the convention that has the top 3 gaming company's, aka, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony gather and preview their new games each year.