Plato's allegory of the cave

I was looking over this past weeks assigments and realized I never posted for Tuesdays' topic!



My interpretation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave is that its about self reflection. I interpreted it to mean that we all have "chains" which I see as burdens, sorrows, troubles that bond us to the "darkness" which i see as our own personal struggles and that the "sun "would represent moving forward and letting go of our burdens, sorrows, and troubles. That at first when we try to let go it's difficult and we may stumble back into the "darkness," but that through time and through working through our troubles we are able to eventually let them go. This being that we are able to see the future as a positive place and that while we could easily wallow in our sorrows, that we have the ability to move forward and help others to do the same. But at the same time we also have the choice to not do this and stay in darkness. It's a choice.

Proteus and Dionysus

I hope you all enjoyed a restful weekend. I know i had plenty to do and still have "miles to go before i sleep". The reading for today was a short on and highlighted the similarities between how people act in real life and in virtual environments. We are all affected by other perceptions of who we are. Have you ever felt guilty when you "let someone down" and then worked extra hard to please them? I know as a child that was often the case with my grades in math class.

As we mature we feel as if we have more control over the reins of our psyche. However as Dionysus proves to us we are only in control of half of what is really going on. The human psyche is a pretty complex thing, and something that humans don't yet fully understand. As Dionysus points out to us the hard lines between conscious and unconscious action and intent are often blurred. This is something the studies done on the Proteus effect have proven:
"Together, these two studies show that our virtual bodies can change how we interact with others in actual avatar-based online communities as well as in subsequent face-to-face interactions."

Furthermore, Proteus and Dionysus are closely related in their adaptability, versatility and mutability. These two divinities are hard to pin down in one form or another and both reflect aspects of the human psyche. Dionysus is largely representative of our unconscious mind and unacknowledged desires and intents, as well as our propensity to engage in "taboo" acts.

Just as the Proteus effect plays itself out in the virtual world, the Dionysian aspects of our unconscious also find ample ground on which to play. Much like the forest of the typical fairy tale, the virtual landscape is one upon which the normal rules do not apply. Magical and amazing things can happen there and it can be a land of transformation for our virtual, and actual selves. Heroes, dragons and damsels in distress all come to life; reawakening fantastic notions of what could be. Later in the week I'd like to look at the Mythic elements of what many online games are about as this explains much of the appeal. But after reading this article "On Crime and Crossdressing" i got thinking about on-line issues that would have serious implications in real life if carried out.

For tomorrow please take a look at: "The Ethics of On-line Gaming" and This site which belongs to a World of Warcraft guild in relation to Ethical communities.

Game Choice

The game I chose was world of war craft. The factors that helped me choose this game was how popular the game and how I always see commercials for the game. So i figured that it must be a good game if it is so popular. I always wondered what this game was like because I used to play computer games like this all the time when I was younger but it was more of a history/war game called ages of the empires. It wasn't so much a fantasy type of game such as WOW. The thing that appealed to me the most was how you can create your own character. I downloaded the free trial, but I haven't really played around on the game yet besides creating my character and learning how to move around. I expect to see a different side of gaming that I have not ventured into yet. I usually don't play these types of games but I am actually looking forward to playing it.