Final Group Presentation

Case study: Resident Evil

Resident Evil  or named Biohazard in Japan is one of the survival horror game being developed and issued Capcom for the Nintendo Cameube and released in 2002 a video game series.

Popularity.

- It has sold almost 40 million games as of May 2009

- A series of side products came out

   - Comics books

   - Novelizations

   - Collectibles: action figures, strategy guides and publication

   - Hollywood films

     2002- Resident Evil

     2004- Resident Evil: Apocalypse

     2007- Resident Evil: Extinction

     2010- Resident Evil: Afterlife

Values against morality

* Violence

* Exaggeration of bloody scene: gore

* Visual sexual scene

 

Violence

 As it is a survive game player have to kill all enemies to keep oneself alive, shooting and killing scene is inevitable. Frequently use of weapons to kill and torture the others are high-lighted in this game.
* Demerit: This kind of violence-oriented video games inject the wrong perception to players that 'The fittest survives' where the only criteria to single out the 'fittest' is by means of violence. In return, the immature players will bear it in mind, that is definitely a potential threat to the whole society.

 

Exaggeration of bloody scene
As we may see, the animation in this games is quite realistic as the creators try to mimic the real world in order to give the most realistic experience to players. In fact, those scenes are too bloody and detailed. From the above picture, gore scene is exaggerated.
*Demerit: Firstly, those bloody scene give players acts as excitement in the whole playing, those brutal things become all they strive for.

Visual sexual scene
 Female characters all have little clothes on that contain sexual implication.
*Demerit: Player uses different angles to peep girls' sensitive part

Dr. Craig A. Anderson

"Some studies have yielded nonsignificant video game effects, just as some smoking studies failed to find a significant link to lung cancer. But when one combines all relevant empirical studies using meta-analytic techniques it shows that violent video games are significantly associated with: increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased pro-social (helping) behavior."

Lt. Col. David Grossman, a former West Point psychology professor,

repeatedly used the term "murder simulator" to describe first-person shooter first-person shooter games.

He reckoned that violence games are "unethically train children in the use of weapons and, more importantly, harden them emotionally to the act of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single typical video game."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_violence

Video game controversy

Man jailed for life for toddler Violet Mullen's murder

Retrieved 21 November 2010.

In January 2010, Gary Alcock punched, slapped and pinched his partner's 15-month-old daughter in the three weeks leading up to her death before he delivered a fatal blow to the stomach which tore her internal organs because she interrupted him playing X-Box. She died from internal bleeding after suffering 35 separate injuries including multiple bruises, rib fractures and brain damage, which were comparable to injuries suffered in a car crash. Alcock was jailed for life and must serve at least 21 years 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11784103

Ethics of Video Games

Film in class: Gamer Revolution

a)According to the film, what are some pros and cons of playing videogames for individuals and societies? 

Pros:

Sometimes videogames can be used as teaching aids like in this film mentioned  some US army use this game to recuit Military. On the other hand, player can have a brand new life experience in the virtue world, can relieve from the sometime annoying reality for the time being.

Cons:

Some violence games may contaminate teenagers' mind, they may mimic those violence action in reality, for example school shootings is not unprecedented news for us, so it will  be a potential threat to both individuals and society.

b) According the film, is there any evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions in the real world? Do you agree?

I do agree that digital games can encourage aggressive values and some anti-social actions in the real life,it is like a catalyse for people to commit violence-related crime. In January 2010, a man killed a baby girl by giving her a fatal blow to her stomach while he was playing a violence video game XBox. 

c) Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?

I do not think that the government have the right to ban any of these games. First of all, people in the society have the basic right to choose what they like to play provided that it won't affect the others.  Besides, it is extremely hard to ban a game completely since information technology is too flourish nowadays. A ban on certain games will triggers off people curiosity which may create another vicious circle.

Didital Games.... But are They Arts?

How does Adams define art?
Adams views art from different approach: category, history, duration and expressiveness.
*Category
Literary arts: writing and drama
Fine Arts: sculpture, painting, music
Decorative arts: architecture
Industrial design: aesthetic applied to utilitarian objects
*History
Arts should be able represent its era
*Duration
Arts should be 'highly durable' in value
*Expressiveness
Arts should be expressive which contain messages and artists' thought

More or less I agree with Adam just like he came up with that it is never easy to distinguish art from their nature, there is always a 'grey area'. For instance, a sculpture itself can be regarded as fine art, but can it also be decorative art in other point of view?  I myself would rather focus on the value of a work rather then their form. I totally agree that a work of art should be expressive, or it will be just a plain work but art.

According to Adam, what is needed for video games to be considered as art?
1. Video games should have content as well as expressiveness.
2. As video games are innovative that make people feel interesting and unprecedented, they are art
3. In case a video game can come across critics about its aesthetics, it can be art

Mouchette www.mouchette.org

 

As you may see, the above picture is the front page of this controversial web site- mouchette.org. In the upper right there is a sad looking girl with a brief description claiming that she is an 13-year-old artist came from Amsterdam. In the lowest part of this page, there is a bar 'browse me' where visitors can link to more other pages for example 'cat' and ' 7songs'. 

When I first clicked to this web I am definitely attracted by a beautiful white flower placed in the centre with ants and flies on it. Apart from that,  the design of the front page is a bit out-of -date, especially the text front. When comes to the page named 'dead fly',  it makes me feel uncomfortable and where the picture is so raw with seemingly dirty thing. Like I mentioned above, there are several pages you can visit through clicking the bottom 'browse me' where they contain different theme and mood. All in all, I don't feel good when relating this web to a thirteen-year-old girl since some pictures and sounds may lure you to think of sexual elements ( a tongue licking the screen contains lewd implication). 

This work is so controversial because the public is doubtful about the maker of this web site, is it really made by a 13 years old girl who suppose to have a positive thought rather than eroded by negative suggestion like sex and suicide stuff. Moreover, people cannot figure out the intention of building up relationship between viewer since "Mouhchette" usually ask for our contact such as e-mail.

Technoligised Bodies

 

I think this work named Inter-Discommunication Machine made by Kazuhiko Hachiya is the most interesting one. 

This work requires two people to put on head-mounted displays concurrently so that one will see image and hear sound  from the display that is transmitted from the another device.  In other word, sight and sound perception of these two players will be exchanged by the machine and make players feel that they were forcibly put in the dis-connected place.

In fact, Kazuhiko did it on purpose: she wanted to break the border between identities of two people.

This machine impresses me because it  break natural barrier of physical  and perceptual dependence of mankind and makes it possible for two to exchange the honest perception and sensation between them. I can imagine how I feel after putting on this display: insecure yet surprising. To my belief, people are too adapt to the everyday environment and feel bored and  numb towards it, so this tiny  machine may help people to take baby step to re look at the world and their role in the society.   world.this it

Do video-sharing sites such as Youtube enhance or worsen creative culture?

The well known video-sharing site Youtube to me, is a stage provided for creative ideas blossom. Since there is no restriction of entrance so that people from different walks of life can share videos to the whole world regardless of content stule and quality. There are countless videos can be found in the site, from official music videos, movies to home made videos, that large variety of topics suggested creativity. For example many home-made make-up teaching videos pop up out of the blue.

           

I think that if no such user-friendly site is provided for internet users, people may not think of making themselves directors and doing so well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Youtube

1. How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

Using Bus Uncle as an example, there are several versions of this household video. One of them with bilingual subtitles attracts over 2 billions viewers.

2. How would you rate the video?
    - Is it high qualityin technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg cameral angles,us of light, the narrative, and so on?
It depends. On one hand, this video made a hugh noise in the territory and  triggered off  severe arguments about social problems among citizens, which effect is   unprecedented and deserves high rate. As for intechnical terms, it is not satisfying since the video maker merely intended to record the whole incident happened on the bus. In the video, we can see that the definition is low and the camera angle is quite straight forward without deliberate alternation.


  - Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues?
This video actually raises socio-cultural issues and it can be analyzed in two period of time. When the video had just came out, people first realised that citizens have many mental problems like stress and pressure brought by daily life. Not long after, more and more people saw it and discussed it in forum which gradually form a collective criticizing trend online. To my mind, the video itself is not a single issue, but it lead to catenation in the society.

3. Do you think that it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?
I do think that the video deserved people's attention even the stressful uncle. Before, a single voice voice is not loud enough to raise echo. This video honestly an underprivileged man 's encountering, in which the whole society can attain weight to them.