Author: ELLIOTT

Soulcalibur II is a fighting game released by Namco, and is similar to games like Mortal Kombat and Tekken. In the game, female characters such as Ivy, Taki, and Talim are all clad in very objectifying clothing, as well as their dialogue in the game being flirtatious and suggestive in tone and nature. In this way, the game suggests that men who play the game are only interested in women who can serve some sort of sexual desire or appetite. Also the female characters’ fighting techniques all tend to focus on distance attacks or defensive attacks, which would imply that the game argues that women either attack from a distance or they tend to hide behind something while they attack. An example of this in the game is the character Ivy, who wears very revealing body armor and whose weapon is a sword that can extend across the field of play to do things like choke her opponent from behind. She also has attacks where she crushes the opponent’s head between her legs and tells them to “stay down”. These attacks and aspects of play all suggest rampant misogyny  on the part of the game designers.

After reading a chapter in a book I Know Who my Comrades Are, I wanted to muse on what privacy actually is, specifically in relation to mobile apps. While many users of mobile apps, when they first install an app, are asked if they want to allow the app to use their camera, microphone, and location, they don’t actually think about the implications of what that actually entails. For all intensive purposes, whenever a user of the app gives consent to the app to use their microphone, camera, and location, they essentially allow the app to not only use these things when they want it to, but also when they are unaware of it, as well.

It’s almost as if the app argues that unless someone wants to give up certain aspects of their own privacy that they will not be allowed to participate in the realm of the app. Many different types of media make this argument that one cannot participate in society while maintaining their own type of privacy. This is similar to many websites that do not allow people access without signing up for the website and creating an account when, for all intensive purposes, one would be able to enjoy what the website or app has to offer without needing to sign up.

On Sunday, November 5th, the Philadelphia Eagles destroyed the Denver Broncos 51-23, and given the nature of the game, there was a great amount of celebration among Eagles fans. By the end of the game, the Eagles used their back-up quarterback, Nick Foles, instead of their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz. This example of switching players argues that a team is willing to not play as hard if they feel that they have certainty of their win in a game. Because of this, it could be suggested that the better a team is playing, the more willing they are to slack off in the end of a game. This is almost like an analogy for the tortoise and the hare story; the hare feels far enough ahead in the race so it decides to take a break.

What one may wonder, though, is when does this point occur in a situation of play? At what point does a player or team decide to throw in the towel and stop playing like the game is on the line and become content with just relaxing? One could argue that this choice is directly related to the choice of how seriously one takes the game to begin with. If the team truly cares about winning, they would not at any time decide to take things easy.

While it may seem that Dungeons and Dragons is a simple role-playing game, it actually argues that one’s success in life is not reliant on how well equipped someone is for a situation, but rather how they are able to find solutions to a situation with what they already have.

The definite aspect of dice rolling in the game, while it does leave certain aspects of a situation up to chance, it never guarantees that a player is going to have a situation play out in a definitive way until the Dungeon Master says whether or not the roll was successful. With this in mind, players must continuously take into account the role of uncertainty with the decisions that are made.

The only real certainty that a player has is in their ability to make new decisions after seeing the success of their first decision. This aspect of the game appeals to cynical players who are willing to scrutinize every decision that they make, understanding that all things in life are uncertain. It is almost as if the game argues that every situation in life has a different type of kairos to it that is unknown until the situation plays out in its entirety.

http://dnd.wizards.com/

In The Oregon Trail, players must make decisions in order to keep characters alive until the wagon train makes it all the way to Oregon. The game, however argues that lives are of no value in lieu of attaining an ultimate goal. While some may argue that the game takes a rather blasé stance on death and disease given the time period it is meant to emulate, it is evident that the stance of the game toward death is that it is of no greater purpose, and there need not be any reason for it other than the direct cause. This is seen in the way the game words the causes of death, ie “You have dysentery.”

The game does not give any form of sympathy or explanation for the acquisition of the illness. This happens throughout the entirety of the game whenever there are any negative consequences for decisions or during negative events. The game, through this, seems to say that one should not question the negative things that occur in life, but rather just recognize them and not fight.

All About Eve is a 1950 film that argues that women are unable to create lives for themselves outside of their connections with men. The film does this through its focus on Eve and Margot. Eve and Margot are both rarely seen without either their faces or figures being exploited for the purpose of their beauty. While both of them are in different stages of life–Margot being exploited in that her beauty is fading and what a shame it is to her, and Eve being exploited for her beauty in being young. While the film never outright mentions their beauty in regards to their success, it is overtly suggested by not only the male gaze from a cinematographic point of view, but through the gaze of the male characters in the film, as well. Characters like Addison and Lloyd when being spoken to by Eve and Margot will rarely focus on the eyes of the person that they’re talking to, but rather scan the face of the woman or take multiple quick glances at their body. Once the men have decided that the women are up to their standard of beauty, then they use their power to directly affect the women of interest to them.