"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be."The mother rocks her son as an infant up until he is a teenager and moves away from his home. This story relates to mine in that in my story, my grandmother takes the mother role in the story book. My grandmother use to come over and rock me as a baby until I fell asleep. In the book, the mother grows older and older and eventually becomes sick. She calls her son and tells him he needs to come over immediately. As he arrives at her house he then picks her up in his arms and rocks her as if they had switched roles. He then begins to sing the same song to her that she once sung to him as she passes away. In my own story, my grandmother had grown old and grey just as the mother in the book did. My grandmother did not have much longer to live given the fact she had cancer and Alzheimer's . Just as the mother in the book did, my grandmother also passed away as I was holding her hand. I feel as if the story line in the book very closely resembled my own personal story. The end of the story where the grown up son holds his own mother in his arms reminds me of my own experience. My grandmother took care of me as a baby until I was grown, then I became the one who had to take care of her because she simply forgot how to care for her own self. This story reminds me so much of my own that I had no choice but to pick it.
Although the book was written for children, some language and devices are still present that I can employ into my own writing. The text had the use of repetition such as "rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth" to create the image in the readers head of the rocking chair actually rocking back and forth as they do. The story also uses details to provoke the sensory images, the song that repeats over and over can almost be played in one's own head as if they're own mother was singing it. The book also has colloquial language since it is directed towards a younger audience, the words are simple and easy to understand. In my own story, I can use sensory details to help make my story stronger and more relateable to the audience. I can talk about the way my grandmother use to talk, or the way the house smelled when she cooked, or even the last moment we had together when I held her hand. All of these are examples of sensory details that I can employ in my story.
The architectural method I am choosing to employ into my short story would be the aspect of curiosity. In my story, I am going to use curiosity to make the reader interested in my work and want to read more of it. This method should be remotely easy because most literary works have some aspect of curiosity in them to make the story worth reading. My story will generally be telling about a crucial moment that has altered my life forever. I will be leading up the the climax and then making the resolution show my whole purpose in writing the story. I want my short story to help develop who I am individually as a person and how I became to be that way.
In writing my story, I have come across a few obstacles. Such as, trying to keep the time frame within the 1-3 day span. I also have had problems with coming up with a subject and story line that I feel others would be able to understand me better as a person by reading it. Trying to keep my story interesting too is quite a challenge because I do not want my story to be a bore. I will try to leave out the pinnacle of my story at first, but later on hint to it and then finally expand on it so that I do not leave people wondering. I want the readers to be able to relate to my topic, which I am almost positive that everyone has experienced the aspect of death like my story will include. Thus making my story even more appealing because others will be able to feel the same emotions I have felt and described. I believe that once I get fully finish my story and have it corrected the way I want it, it will have curiosity and others will enjoy it.
Wark
In Wark’s definition of an allegory pertaining to the Sims, a question was imposed about if we could explore games as allegories for the world we live in? I believe the answer to be yes. An allegory is “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.” In video games, the person is playing in a virtual world which can in fact have a hidden meaning behind it. Wark uses the example of the Sims game because in the game one must buy their character items to make it happy. This can have a political meaning behind it saying that Americans need items to be happy. In his text it says “And it’s actually kind of a parody of consumerism, in which at some point your stuff takes over your life,” adding onto his thought that the Sims was created to be a parody mocking the American citizens. The Sims game shows how humans are consumerists, we have to buy items to make us happy. The game has been called a parody because it mocks our consumerist ways. The moral could be interpreted that we do not need materialistic items to make us happy. This type of example can be used with almost all video games in that they can be used to have a meaning behind it that one might not have considered before. Such as Grand Theft Auto for example, it has destructive violence in the game, but maybe the moral is to teach against violence? Maybe it also is mocking the political system with the cops in the game. There are different ways to interpret each game played though.
Compare/Contrast
I chose to read Subin’s argument pertaining to Grand Theft Auto IV and how he believed it affected ones id, ego, and superego. I enjoyed his paper because I have also played this game and am able to relate to what he wrote about. He used Freud’s theory to justify that in the game he uses his id because he is able to commit crimes he would not normally do in life. He also stated that he uses his superego to know right from wrong from this game to realize that he should not commit those crimes as he did in the game. I felt his argument to be valid and effective at getting out his point. I agree with the way he structured his argument, he included examples from the game. He should have used more examples about dream interpretation than he did. He only touched on it a few times instead of really drawing connections of the game to the dreams. I might have included more examples of the violence taking place and how that could be used in dreams as well. Overall, his argument proved the point he wanted to make and it was valid.
The second argument I read about was one by Tyler Anthony who wrote his on Call of Duty. His argument focused more on stereotype and archetype of the game rather than on dream interpretations. He argued that the game was focused primarily on culture because it depicts war and actions that are still currently happening today. He says that the game has many characters that are the “typical American solider” being scruffy and muscular. This is a stereotype that has been included into the video game because soldiers today vary in size and ethnicity. I believed his argument to also be effective and valid because he had examples to back up what he said. He does stray sometimes in his argument by talking about missions which do not have much to do with his point. I would have continued with my point and made it stronger unlike him. Overall, his essay was well written and I agreed with his point he made.
Jung
Carl Jung talks in his essay about dreams and how they can be interpeted differently based on the dream and the componants in it. He states that one can not determine why we dream or the reasons behind our dreams. He says he can not determine what the dream means. He does however give examples that if they occur in a dream can have a meaning behind it. Freud says that each dream can have a symbolic meaning behind it that was stored in our own unconcious. He states "It needs psychological empathy, ability to coordinate intuition,
knowledge of the world and of men, and above all a special “canniness” which depends on wide understanding as well as on acertain “intelligence de cúur.” All these presupposed qualifications,
including even the last, are valuable for the art of medical diagnosis in general. No sixth sense is needed to understand dreams." Jung states that the method of compensation can justify dreams "means balancing and comparing different data or points of view so as to produce an adjustment or a rectification." Jung also states that even average dreams have stages to them such as : statement of place, a protagonist, exposition, development, and a resolution just as a story might have. The understanding of dreams has not fully been discovered because it would require going into the unconcious to see why our brains allow this phenominon. In my own video game, I will try to use these techniques to make my game almost into a dream.
Critique
After reading the web page created by Elza, I did not like the structure at first at how she numbered the exposition and all. It seemed more like she was trying to structure it like a story line should be. But, reading further into her personal connections with the video games, she improved a lot. I felt as if she really understood the concept of how to connect her video games to herself, but not so much to dreams. I also did not like the video games she chose, especially the one where she was in a Utopia and had to write newspapers. She also made some typos that I was able to pick up on such as " The government was evil- they had taken my family, forced me into a job, and some of the articles I had abou them showed me the lack of freedome the citizens of Republia had." She made some typing errors as well as spelling errors that should have been proofread before submitting her assignment. She also was careless in her writings, such as " It is such a simple, brainless game, yet it has something it has something in common with many other games: there is something bad or "evil" and something good." She repeated "something" too many times, and also said "it has something, it has something" twice. However, I did like how she talked about the concept of good vs. evil throughout her narratives, which brought all the pieces together.This showed a lot of pathos, ethos, and logos because the topic of evil has to deal with ethics and can also strike emotions in others. She also included resouces from other texts and quotes. I thought it made the text stand out more when she included a quote from Macbeth and a definition from the Webster Dictionary of evil. Overall, her webpage was good, but it had some grammatical errors and should have included more relation to dreams.
In reading the webpage of Grayson, I felt as if I was actually in the video game playing Skyrim. However, I am not quite sure of why he wrote Dream 1, etc when they really had no connection to a dream at all. I thought when it said Dream 1,2,3,4,5 etc that the text would have some relationship to a dream, but instead it was just his own step by step play of the game. He did use great imagery and his point of view was good too. In his Interpretations, he also used quotes from other sources, as did Elza. Similarly, he used a reference to Shakespeare as did Elza. His interpretations did include the connections to dreams unlike Elza's page. He writes on archetypes, like the sensitive topic of religion. I liked the way he included themes, symbols, and motifs, which are not usually thought of in a videogame. He touches on the themes of jealousy,trust and belief, as well as, the symbols of the items he found while playing the videogame. Overall, I liked his webpage better than Elzas and thought he really understood the assignment and drew great connections to his video game to a dream.
"The Sims Medieval" by Kevin VanOrd, Espen Aarseth's article, "Define Real, Moron!"
Upon reading VanOrd, Aarseth, and Warks discussions on video games, I found similiarities in all three. VanOrd did not provide much information or associations about video games rather than just describe his own game playing with Sims Medieval. He does provide a very detailed experience of his gaming with rhetorical questions and vivid details. This coincides with Aarseth's discussion about morals and reality of games. Aarseth argues on the subject that games do not have a complete defintion that one can describe about a video game versus another type of game. Aarseth also states ethics during game playing, that there is no proof that violence can come from video games. VanOrd says in his story, that his Sim had options he could choose, maybe wether to kill someone, spare them, or rob them. This provides the player with actually choosing what they want to do morally, instead of being forced to kill or rob, etc. In Wark's essay, he talks about the game playing of Sims as well, but his reflects on allegories more so than telling his experience. He reflects on how video games have alternate hidding meaning behind them, such as morals. Morality and ethics play a huge role in some games, such as the Sims because they must choose thier characters feelings, and actions. How the actions play out can effect the outcome. VanOrd also touches on the personal choices he has with his Sims game, while Wark does not tell about the personal choices more so than the interpretations behind the game itself. Aarseth tends to touch more upon definitions of reality, and gaming rather than describe an experience or hidden messages in the game. He focuses on how one can interpret their own definition of what a game is, and if it might effect their reality. He also focuses on game objects, the actual object in the game, as well as, the object that one must conclude themself. This goes along with Wark, in that the allegory may be chosen by the player, just as the game object has to be chosen by the player. Overall, all three discussions seemed to touch on the act of playing the game and what the player has control over, such as the interpretation or morality.
Aarseth: A Hollow World: World of Warcraft as Spacial Practice
In summary of Aarseth's essay on World of Warcraft, he begins the essay with a quote from Mark Twain, which I thought was clever. He also gives an introduction as to what his essay will be about and what methods he will go over. He uses comparasion to another game which came out shortly after WOW called EverQuest 2 to compare the and contrast these two games. He discusses features of the graphics and how WOW is not graphically equal to EverQuest in that, Everquest is more developed and allows more choices for the game players to choose from, such as roles, and designs of the world within the game. He states "Norrath, the world of Everquest 2,feels like a labyrinth of connected, different-sized game levels, not a semi-unified, semi-endless surface like Azeroth. While some MMOGs allow their players to create buildings and govern towns or districts, in
Azeroth the player is a ghostlike guest on an uncaring, slick surface, a stranger to a
strange land." He states that the game is structured so that, in order to succeed, one must play the game often. Games are designed to make the player want to play more, almost becoming addicted to the game. And those who succeed in the game, will get more benefits and rewards out of the game than those who play rarely. Aarseth compares the size of the game world in terms of what the game would be like in reality, meaning the game was not designed to be realistic. He states that "In multiplayer games, spacetime cannot be individually flexible, but is, in fact, objective and continuous." He also says that video games correlate with theme parks in that they're designed for people to have fun in an unrealistic manor. Such as DisneyWorld has themes from cartoons that were designed, the same goes for video games. He describes the definition of a world being "As we have seen, the ‘world’ in World of Warcraft is not a proper world, or even a fictional one, but ‘world’ in the theme park or zoo sense,
a conglomerate or parkland quilt of connected playgrounds built around a common theme."
"The Perfect Crime"
After reading the argumentative essay written by Bozzo, I realized some new ways to structure my own argument. I noticed in Bozzo's writing he did seem to be a little more harsh on his critique than I would have chosen to be. He writes his argument on the film that took place about a murder of three boys in Paradise Lost. He writes that the filming of the case seemed to alter it more than if there was not a film in the first place. "In this sense, the film seems to imply that the media’s constant presence surrounding the case destroyed the reality of the community in which the crimes occurred; artificial constructs, altered personalities, and modified behaviors have replaced the previous “realities” of life in this small town, representing the dawn of Baudrillard’s “age of the hyperreal” in the media-saturated world of West Memphis, Arkansas (Adkins 15)." Bozzo then backs up his argument by providing multiple sources to creat validity. He then begins to talk about a "public sphere" in which people in privite will come out in the public during an event, such as the murders.The film was created to make the public aware of the crime and let them hear the evidence and be able to decide on their own of the verdict." This coincides with the filmmakers’ belief that their film represents a return to the bourgeois public sphere; they are providing the public with information that will enable them to
use their reason and “to draw their own conclusions about the crime” (qtd. in Adkins 16)."He then begins to describe the film and the effect it had on him. He says that the film was different than most crime videos because it showed the childrens bodies first. Almost numbing the audience who watches it. Bozzo does not agree with this method and overall does not agree with how the film makers produced these films and the sequel.
In my own argument, I wish to have as many sources as Bozzo did because it makes the paper seem more valid and provides more background rather than his own personal opinion. I found his argument to be effective in its point. He clearly states that he does not agree with the film and then provides facts about why he does not. I did not like how blunt he was about the subject though, he almost seemed hostile about the subject matter, as if he was too attached to it. I believe one should have strong feelings about their subject, but I would choose to write it a little less bluntly. I liked the structure of his argument, he would introduce a topic and then go in depth into it and provide the sources to back it up. He did get a little wordy on some of the topics such as the public sphere, even though that was his main focal point. Overall, he did a good job discusing and proving his point in his argument.
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