The "Happily Ever After"

Todorov brings up a good thought with the idea of "once upon a time." In most stories you read, hear, see, play you start off in a world that is normal (or at least normal for the characters) but eventually a shift happens that causes some sort of adventure to return the world to normal.
I like to think of stories in "worlds." For example, Aladin is my favortie disney movie and Agrabah is a very distinct world. Although the details of the world haven't been fleshed out in terms of its past and its inhabitants I like to imagine one anyways.

Bioshock is my favorite video game and story of all time. It just so happens Tuesday marks the release of Bioshock 2 and my return to the fictional world of Rapture. Without going into too much detail, the main story of the game takes place 10 years after the events of the first game. The multiplayer component actually takes place before the events of the first game when the world of Rapture was just on the brink of destruction. I love the idea of being able to hear the walls of Rapture speak about the past, present and future!

Anyways, the point of this entire post is that sometimes a story world that we are introduced to does not have that state of equilibrium, although it did at one point and that is the direction in which stories move, back to normality (no matter what that is.)

LOST: Season 6

I am a big LOST fan. I am completely in love with the story, characters, twists and turns. If you have never seen it I HIGHLY recommend it. Anyways, this blog is going to be about retention rates. You see, I never could watch a show week to week. No matter how compelling I would get bored with it. However, I have instant netflix which streams movies and tv shows directly to my tv. I love this feature. LOST seasons 1-5 became availble last summer and I managed to watch them all in the matter of a few days. and yes, I do know how sad that is.

I used to be a big Heroes fan. The first season was awesome. After that season I had to wait to see more Heroes episodes as they weren't availble on Netflix instantly. Eventually the show came on instant netflix and I tried to give it a chance but I had just lost interest and couldn't get it back.

Anyways, what I wanted to get across but also wanted to hear from you guys was how good is your retention rate when you are watching shows? Is there anyone out there who can keep interest on a week-to-week basis? Also, any shows you want to recommend?

Video Games! Almost as good as movies!

I have issues with game developers. Specfically, the game developers at Quantic Dream. In a few short weeks the developers are going to release the long awaited game, Heavy Rain. Game director David Cage has constantly been quoted saying that Heavy Rain is an "interactive drama," and is more like a movie than a video game. Do you see the problem here?

Quantic Dream is not in the movie buisness, they are in the game buisness. I think it is insulting for a game maker to compare their work to that of a different medium. A video game should not aspire to have movie quality standards. it should aspire to have AAA video game standards. By promoting Heavy Rain using film as a comparison you set the gamer up to not have an interactive experience but to have a cinematic one.

As you may have figured out, I believe video games are by far the best medium for sharing experiences. I certainly like other mediums such as TV, Movies, Books, Radio, etc. but none of these ever make you feel like you have control. I'll be the first to admit, video games have had some horrible plots. Any video game movie you have ever seen was probably horrible and the main reason for that is because this industry is not meant to merge with any other. Games are designed to be interactive. Some games however, have the best moments I can ever remember experiencing in any medium.

Bioshock (My favorite game of all time) has a story that is so creative and so original that it has won over 50 game of the year awards. Bioshock is currently being made into a movie. I refuse to go see that movie because I believe that the experience is best had with a controller in hand. That's how it was made and that is how it is meant to be.

The Power of the Journalist

Television scares the enlightened, at least it should anyways. Ever since I took Comm Theory I have been fascinated by Cultivation theory. For those of you who are unaware, Cultivation theory revolves around the effects of television on both the individual and society. It was developed by George Gerbner in the 60's when television consisted of 3 channels and the camera couldn't show two people sleeping in the same bed. More specifically (without going into too much detail), Cultivation theory suggests that people from all different cultures in society become "cultivated" and begin to take on similar ideas and beliefs. For example, if an inner-city resident were to watch a violent television drama that person will begin to believe that the world is more violent then it actually is. Now if a wealthy country resident watches the same program that person will also begin to think the number of violent incidents is higher than what it actually is, much like the inner-city resident. The two people who come from different back rounds/cultures should have different 'truths' behind how much violence there is in the world but they begin to see eye-to-eye because of their only source, television.

This is where things get scary. Now it has been 50 years from when this theory was developed and I'll be the first to admit that things are much different. However, I would have to argue that television has become a much more significant power now than it was then. That being said, more people are watching the same things and being 'cultivated' to the same ideas. This brings me to the main point of this blog, the power of the people sending those messages.

I use journalists simply because it is what I aspire to be someday but the following rules apply to anyone who has the ability to put out a mass message (AKA anyone with a Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Blog, etc.). As a journalist you often have to speak about an immense variety of subjects. It is naive to think that journalists are experts on all the subjects that they speak about but to the viewer at home, that anchor knows more about the subject than them, making them an expert. When you educate the uneducated about something they are likely to believe what you are saying as truth because they do not know any better.

If Cultivation theory has any merit at all then the prospect of someone--especially someone who is NOT an expert in a subject--telling people who can't ask questions and can't respond to what the journalist is saying is a tremendous amount of power. A news station has the ability to decide what is important to everyone else in our society (in some cases, our global society), place value on it, and then dictate what we should think about it. Journalism is suppose to be unbiased. However, realistically it is quite difficult, if not impossible, not to put some sort of biased spin on any story.

A world that all thinks the same way based on the view points of one person is way too much power for anyone and it is dangerous: Hitler was able to make millions go to war, kill and die for his plans of genocide. Teenage girls have developed Bulemia based on someones idea of what beauty is. Many young boys get their ideals of what it means to be a man and how to treat women from the WWE. Many people don't leave their homes because news stations decided the latest murder story was more important to air than the volunteer work done by hundreds each day. There are people out there who think they can get away with the perfect murder because they have watched a few seasons of CSI. Votes for public officials have been swayed because of celebrity endorsements. TV has the ability to make us all think about the same things in the same way. Shouldn't we ask,"Who's doing the thinking?"

Xbox Live and the Overally Aggressive 12 year old

Online gaming has taken the world by storm and allowed game developers to give their titles infinite replay ability. Recently, Microsoft reported that Xbox Live users had logged in a total of 17 Billion hours over Xbox Live (Almost 2 million years!) http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/701990/17-Billion-Hours-Logged-On-Xbox-Live-So-Far.html Most of the time people playing online (including yours truly) have headsets on and talk to other gamers from around the globe. What happens when you talk on Xbox Live is very different then you would talk anywhere else though.

Talking on Xbox Live is reflective of the nature of online gaming, competitive. People will talk trash to each other to try to get each other out of their element. However, if you spend some time on Xbox Live it has simply gotten out of control. People throwing around racial slurs and talk of hate just creates an atmosphere of unpleasentness.

The worst part about this trend is that the younger more impressionable pre-teens are starting to adapt and take on this language without any real understanding of the consequences of what they say. Eventually, the slurs and hurtful words get more and more harsh as people try to top each others insults. I have begun to wonder if there is even a point to wearing a headset anymore because instead of talking tactics, I am left speechless by how much aggression people show other people who they don't even know.

What do you think? Are there any gamers out there who have had similar experiences while playing games online?