Take the White One

As I sat at the dinner table last night having a conversation, the topic of drugs arose and as I laid in bed last night, I thought more about the topic and society. When I say drugs, I am not talking about what I can score on the corner in Flint, but of what any doctor can easily sign a slip for a magical pill that will make anything better. I am talking about prescription drugs. Before it was just my generations candy but now it has opened up to everyone's cookie jar. All we have to do now if we have pain in our elbow is go to our local doctor and they'll write a script for that. If we can't breathe, they'll write a script for that. And if we feel sad, why hell, they'll write a script for that because why shouldn't we add one more layer to disengage us further from reality?

If it wasn't enough that people are glued to their digital devices, we now have pills that can make everyone feel the same. I once thought that was what made us all unique, that none of us were the same but sadly now, we can all be the same. With our Facebook and Twitter accounts and don't forget, our pill bottles, we can easily sit in a row with one hand on our keyboards and the other popping pills.

Some days I do wake up melancholy and as I could reach for my bottle of Xanax or Zoloft and in thirty minutes, everything would be this "normal" thing the world speaks of and does not know, I don't. I don't take the pill that is the cure all to this "disease" I do not have. We are meant to feel. Our emotions are one of our greatest human features so why do we suppress them?

As humans, we have become so lazy that feeling is something that gets in the way. We do not have time to spend a day just being depressed. Sometimes the best medicine is crying for hours in a ball on your bathroom floor but who does that anymore? Two hours later you'll be exhausted and wonder what it was you were so upset about. Who cares about the side affects these drugs can cause as companies pump them out on a daily bases. If you don't have to feel anything but happiness, it is totally worth it.

Before long, there will be negative side effects that will emerge as we continue our sad journey further from reality. Suppressing our feelings, whether it is anger, fear, anxiety, or sadness, after a while of shoving it down into the farthest corners of our bodies, will eventually break when the final hair is placed on top. I know from experience and not taking pills every time I am upset, that I like to bury most of my emotions and every so often, something little comes by and knocks down my sandcastles and I lose it. Now here is where someone would insert, "if you took a pill for that, this wouldn't be a problem." To me, it isn't a problem. Just a reminder that I am real and this is reality I am in. But for those who cover these emotions up with pills, what happens when all of these suppressed emotions come crashing down? After a while it seems like they will and what, we'll take a white one and it'll put the pieces back somewhere else?

Some of My Final Thoughts

I never thought I would take a class that encourage so much. Not only did we have a chance to do something most of us enjoyed but we were able to incorporate it into our writing. Never once did I think this class had too much work, it was the perfect amount. It opened me up to the new digital rhetoric of writing, something that I am highly interested in, and I approached it with an opened mind. It was just enough and it helped me find a new voice when writing that I did not know I had.

I want to say my favorite part of this class was playing games in class, which was up there, but I have to say the favorite part was the writing styles. I learned how to write for a different audience, a gaming audience that requires different tone and word choices than when writing for an academic audience. I love that we wrote game reviews and I think that maybe next time the oral review be optional. I got more from writing then standing in front of the class and talking. But the oral reviews have their place and is why I feel it should be optional.

When in a class will you ever here, "spend the first thirty minutes blogging and Twittering" or "go get on a computer and find a flash game to play"? This is a dream come true for me. Something that help make the class stand out from other classes.

I learned a great deal from this class and I hope it is taught again. The number one thing I am taking with me is my new found voice when writing. I hope to keep it and who knows, maybe I'll be a gave reviewer some day.

My Final Project

For the final project, I still feel like I am up in the air on what were I want to go but I am going to make my decision final; I will do Tattoos and Video Games.
As far as where I want to go with it, I am not to sure yet. Having a video game tattoo myself brings me closer to the topic. I would like to interview at least ten to twenty different individuals on their video game tattoos and find the meaning behind it. Why did they feel so compelled to permanently get this aspect of the game inked onto their skin? I know my reason behind why I got my Bubble Bobble tattoo but why do others do this? There are sociological and physiological reasons behind this and I would like to investigate further into the topic.

Almost to the End

Upon reading our final game readings, I realized that I need to have some sort of idea for my final project. Throughout the semester different aspects of video games have been brought to the table, many of which I would have never really considered otherwise. Even though I should have more of an idea of where to go, I am still totally clueless on what to do.

I am not sure where to go with my final project. There are so many ideas floating around in my head but to put them into some sort of order seems almost impossible. I am sure by Thursday I'll have a proposal and a direction on where to go. This class have been extremely informative and with this, hopefully today's class will help give me the right idea.

Hi, My Name is

Have you ever saw a person on Cops being arrested for selling their body for money? They are dressed up like a crackhead, clothes dirty, face covered with sores, orange Cheetos stains all over their gray sweatsuit and when the officer breaks them down and they finally admit why they are doing this, have you ever heard, "I needed money to help my addiction. I'm addicted to MMORPGs."

I understand that these types of games are highly addictive and I have seen people, my old guitarist for example, spend months in his basement unemployed, playing for hours on end, never seeing the light of day, and considering buying adult diapers all for the game of WoW. Nine months later he snapped out of his WoW coma and deiced to rejoin the real world. He never did any harm to anyone around him, he still took awesome care of his kids, although he had his week moments with the adult diaper thing but honestly, how could we classify this as addictive?

How many kids each year find one toy and become completely obsessed with it? Remember back when you were four or five, there was that one toy that went everywhere with you. That one toy became your life as you spoke for it, moved it, and interacted with it. But as with any toy or game, you grew out of it and moved on. At one point you were addicted to the toy, so should the phrase 'addict' be applied to a child who plays constantly with a toy? MMORPGs are toys, they entertain and at one point, you'll grow out of playing them.

I do understand that there are the rare cases where people cannot overcome the addicting nature of playing a MMORPG game. In a previous article we have read in this class that dealt with sending these 'addicts' to rehab that cost almost ten times as much as a years subscription to WoW, family members stage an intervention and save these gamers. But should we be associating the words addict, addiction, and rehab with the video game world? Here is another way to stigmatize the whole gaming society so that mothers in Utah can ban together and overact, taking their translucent cases all the way to DC, making a false stand on how MMORPGs cost their sons a chance to get into BYU when they really had no drive in the first place to go to college.

I suppose there is no real way to keep people who play MMORPG games from becoming an 'addict'. Gamers who have that addictive personality will continue to play until they collapse and go into convulsions; seriously, did anyone check to see if this kid had any previous medical conditions? If you know someone who seems to be addicted to these games, talk to them, explain your concern, recommend seeing a doctor and if they refuse, well you can't save everyone. They made their own choices in life and these are their consequences that go with it.

I've Got Bills to Pay I've Got Mouths to Feed and Still Have Time To Review This Game

I don't know what sold me on this game, the graphics on the outside of the game box, the catchy intro song, or the bazillions of guns, but whatever the case was, I am in love. This is coming from a gamer who never thought anything could be better than Bioshock and now is presented with a game that is not only better but takes the cake on being one of the best games to be released this year. The game I speak so highly of is Borderlands.

The game combination of first person shooter and role playing shooter gives each gamer the chance to create a one of a kind character. Borderlands can either be played online or as a single player run through. I choose to play single player so I could get a feel for what I was up against before diving into real game play. From what I've played, the game hold endless potential for online gaming.

The game starts off like a movie, the graphics are stunning. It really does an excellent job at showing the world how far we've come from the pixel characters of the 80s. You find yourself on an apocalyptic style bus traveling to Pandora carrying four characters, Brick the Berserker, Lilith the Siren, Mordecai the Hunter, and Roland the Solider. Each character has their own specialty that is used to enhance game play but to obtain the most of your selected character, online gaming is a must.

You are on a mission to find the Vault which in the begining could be anything, treasure, women, who knows? While on the bus, a vision of a woman appears before you informing on what you need to do to get to the Vault. Throughout the game she will make an appearance, giving hints here and there on what needs to be accomplished. Once off the bus, you find yourself in the town of Fyrestone and being greeted by a friendly Claptrap robot. He will help guide you through the town and certain parts of the game. At times Claptrap becomes a bit annoying with his, "look at me, I'm dancing, I'm dancing," but when it comes time to save him, you feel compassion for the little robot. Keep a heads up, bandits are everywhere and must be destroyed in order to get to your first real mission.

As you progress further into the game, the bazillions of guns become a reality. You are able to pick guns up from dead emenies, find them in Skag piles, and purchase them through vending machines. Every gun has a different feature and should help compliment your characters abilities.

The best part of the game is the possibility of never dying. If you have mastered the skill of running away from gunfire in other games, then playing the single player mode should be a piece of cake. You are able to purchased shields that protect your health and depending on what shield you get depends on what it can do for you. Some shields take ten to twenty seconds without any hits from emenies to regenerate and protect your health while others can take more or less time. I find myself running away or hiding from gunfire at times until my shield is back up to full bars.

If you do end up dying, it is okay. There a points throughout the game that save your progress but can become tiresome when the last save point is on the other side of the Arid Badlands and requires a hike to get back to where you died. Also, every time you come back to life, you are charged a fee so make sure you have an abundance of money on hand.

Picking up ammo and money does not seem to be a problem in Borderlands. Boxes that have green lights on the outside are located throughout the game and contain all kinds of perks. Make sure to search through everything, you never know what you might find.

Enemies vary in difficultly. Skags, the mutant looking dogs are not too hard to kill if you go for a head shot. A melee attack on these creatures usually can prove deadly and saves ammo when on certain missions. Be careful, certain Skag shoot balls of acid on you and can quickly eat up your health. Also watch for Skag wearing aromor. These ones will require a nice critical shot to the head to ensure instant death.

Bandits are everywhere in the game while some can go down quickly, others have shields which can prove to be difficult when trying to take them down. The game will provide you with a bar letting you know where their shield levels are at with their health bar. Once you get the shield level down, go for head shots otherwise you will find yourself wasting ammo trying to take down invincible bandits.

My only complaint about this game are the buttons. Until you get the hang of what button does what, it can get a bit frustrating. Each button has several different functions depending on what is happening in the game. For example, the X button has four uses: you can hit it when you need to pick things up, smash Skag piles, use it to reload, and when held down while dying, will automatically start you back at the last save point. When a lot of action is taking place at once, I find it hard to get the X button to do what I want. If you're hit and dying, the game gives you chance to get your second wind by killing an enemy but if you need to reload and are in the heat of the game, you might find yourself holding the X button down too long and starting back at the last save point instead of getting your second wind. The only problem I found.

Borderlands feels like it combined games like Diablo, Bioshock, Fallout, and World of Warcraft all into one. If any other these games fit your personality than Borderlands is worth your time. I recommend the online game play to increase your loot, character abilities, and of course, the chance to find the bazillions of guns. After playing Borderlands, I give it a 9.5.

Would You Kindly?

"In the end, what separates a man from a slave?" The voice asks. I've spent hours getting to this point. The point where I think I am about to beat the game and destroy the main character. Up until now, Atlas, via his short wave radio, has informed me that it was Andrew Ryan I needed to kill in order to get out of Rapture. This was how I was going to save Atlas's family and return to a Splicer-free world. Here I am, standing before the man as he plays a round of putt-putt in his office. I think to myself, something does not seem right.

"A man chooses, a slave obeys," he tells me. This is the perfect opportunity to kill him but I have no control over my weapons or plasmids. I am only allowed to move around to see the crumbling walls of Andrew Ryan's office falling like a metaphor for his impending doom. I think back on what I did to get to this point. I have saved the Little Sisters from their curse like Tenebaum has asked me to do. I have taken the pictures of dead apprentices for artistic lunatic Sander Cohen. I have invented the Lazarus Vector in order to save the vegetation of Rapture. But I still feel like something is missing. This game should not end like this.

"You think you have memories," Ryan tells me as pictures from my life flash before me. Finally, here comes the twist. Up until now I was under the impression I was on a plane that had crashed into the Atlantic and being the only survivor, I swam to a random city shooting up out of the ocean. Seems plausible, right? But now Andrew Ryan is telling me that these memories are not my own and I was sleepwalking through my life until these so-called memories were activated by there kindly master.

"A man chooses, a slave obeys," he tells me as he walks into the dark with his putter in hand. I am anxiously waiting to have to kill hordes of Splicers or a have a new creature be introduced into the game. One I will have a hard time killing. Something needs to happen. I am on edge.

"Come in," as the doors to his office open and I am no longer separated by a piece of glass. I am now face to face with the person I have been told the entire game I need to kill. I move towards him and wait. Is this a trick?

"Would you kindly?" He asks while telling me how much of a powerful phrase it is. He is pushing me back while holding the putter in his hands, ready to bludgeon me at anytime. I really wish that my weapons and plasmids were available at this moment. Can't I just get this over with now?

Suddenly the phrase is repeated over and over by a familiar, Australian voice. "Would you kindly? Would you kindly? Would you kindly head to Ryan's office and kill the son of a bitch?" Atlas? The man who has helped me get this far in the game. The man who made sure I did not die by the hand of any creature. Now I am questioning the entire game. Have I made a wrong turn and joined the evil side? I don't remember ever having a choice.

"Sit," Ryan orders me to do with "would you kindly?" I am obeying. He tells me to run, to stop, to turn and I obey. I no longer have any control over my player. Something is about to happen.

"Kill!" Ryan shouts at me as he hands me the putter. I swing at his face. He stumbles back, holding his bleeding mouth. I continue to smash the putter into his face and he gurgles out the words, "a man chooses, a slave obeys," until I finally plant the putter firmly in his skull and he falls over dead. Too easy, now what?

"You've been a good sport," Atlas tells me over the short wave radio after I place the key into the self-destruct machine to stop it from killing us all. This is where I find out the truth. Atlas is really Frank Fontaine, a gangster that up until now, was dead. And the best part of all, I just killed my father. I knew this game wasn't going to be this easy. I have a new goal and new challenges ahead of me. No time for mourning, only time to kill Fontaine and save Rapture.