Plato's "Allegory of a Cave" reinforces knowledge that we as a society have slowly learned: an individual's experience and reality is largely based on their perception and recollection. How is one supposed to expect reality to be any different from what they are currently touching, tasting, smelling, hearing or seeing? And of course our perception of whatever we are experiencing is so colored by numerous other factors that what we think we are remembering is much different than what may have been reality.
Holding this knowledge as our basis, it is only logical to look at electronic games along with other media as having the ability to shape our perception of reality and change what we think of experience. Plato explains to us that what we experience-- defined as that which can be felt through one of our five senses, shapes what our reality is. He says that reality is subjective, based on the owner's experiences and knowledge. The prisoners have a vastly different version of reality when faced away from the light than they do once they have been exposed to the light and allowed to see freely.
The philosopher referred to the fact that the prisoner who had to return to the darkness may not have truly been fortunate in being permitted to see the light as he had previously thought, because he was then forced to endure a reality that he had previously accepted but now knew was incomplete. We can see this as it may apply to games: many people suffer crippling addictions to various forms of gaming, which may be because the reality offered within their gaming world is much more attractive to the gamer than the everyday life they are in possesion of outside of their game of choice. Perhaps these people would have been happier if they had not played their game at all, if the reality and experiences offered by the games had never changed their perception.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Plato Stands Alone
It was great to see all the postings yesterday on the Blog. Remember that if you missed yesterday please try and make it up as missed posts count against your final average.
Anyhow, back to Plato who was is the topic of discussion today. The great thing about philosophical debate is that it never really ends unless science is somehow able to decide the debate in a final way. While Plato uses the Allegory of the Cave to explain the movement from ignorance to knowledge, and from knowledge to ultimate truth; we are merely concerned with a smaller part of that argument here.
I think most of us could agree that the prisoners in Plato's cave had some kind of knowledge of the world whether it was flawed or not considering that even the shadow representations they were shown had origins in a "real" world. This illustrates two important points:
1. Knowledge is imperfect. We all know what a Zebra is and what it looks like and could probably draw an accurate picture of one if we had the artistic talent. But how many of us have actually seen a "real" Zebra? I would bet that in our class it is around 1% or less. Does that mean I have no real knowledge of a Zebra? No, on the contrary we have knowledge similar to the prisoners in Plato's Cave. We are witness to shadows of reality constantly in out society. Much of what we "know" is second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, hand removed from the source. This separates us from the "truth" that Plato would have us believe is attainable and is a fact of living in an information society where the amount of information available is greater than the potential experiences we might have in a lifetime. If we lived cloistered, sheltered lives that people did 5,000 years ago it far more likely that we could experience more in our lifetime than we might read or obtain from outside sources. This is not to make you feel helpless in the face of an unknowable reality, only to point out that a fact of existence is reliance upon thoughts and information to construct "reality". This leads to my second point:
2. "Reality" is subjective. If we are creating a reality based on imperfect knowledge it only makes sense that no one perspective is "right" on every subject, since no one can have an experience of the truth of everything. As i touched on in my introduction yesterday, everyone lives in a slightly different version of reality, which are all equally "real". Plato's prisoners believed their reality was true until they had a new experience which altered their perspective. A paranoid schizophrenic may have hallucinations which are "real" enough to make them take action and put themselves and others into harms way. Given this it is a small step to propose that many of today's video games, as massive as they are, can be considered alternate realities.
This is what i would like to explore the first week of the course. Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) exist. How "real" are they?
For tomorrow please take a look at this article on New Empiricism and this article on video games and the brain. My goal is not to judge the validity of these claims just yet, only to entertain them as possibilities until we have had our own experience to reflect on.
Anyhow, back to Plato who was is the topic of discussion today. The great thing about philosophical debate is that it never really ends unless science is somehow able to decide the debate in a final way. While Plato uses the Allegory of the Cave to explain the movement from ignorance to knowledge, and from knowledge to ultimate truth; we are merely concerned with a smaller part of that argument here.
I think most of us could agree that the prisoners in Plato's cave had some kind of knowledge of the world whether it was flawed or not considering that even the shadow representations they were shown had origins in a "real" world. This illustrates two important points:
1. Knowledge is imperfect. We all know what a Zebra is and what it looks like and could probably draw an accurate picture of one if we had the artistic talent. But how many of us have actually seen a "real" Zebra? I would bet that in our class it is around 1% or less. Does that mean I have no real knowledge of a Zebra? No, on the contrary we have knowledge similar to the prisoners in Plato's Cave. We are witness to shadows of reality constantly in out society. Much of what we "know" is second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, hand removed from the source. This separates us from the "truth" that Plato would have us believe is attainable and is a fact of living in an information society where the amount of information available is greater than the potential experiences we might have in a lifetime. If we lived cloistered, sheltered lives that people did 5,000 years ago it far more likely that we could experience more in our lifetime than we might read or obtain from outside sources. This is not to make you feel helpless in the face of an unknowable reality, only to point out that a fact of existence is reliance upon thoughts and information to construct "reality". This leads to my second point:
2. "Reality" is subjective. If we are creating a reality based on imperfect knowledge it only makes sense that no one perspective is "right" on every subject, since no one can have an experience of the truth of everything. As i touched on in my introduction yesterday, everyone lives in a slightly different version of reality, which are all equally "real". Plato's prisoners believed their reality was true until they had a new experience which altered their perspective. A paranoid schizophrenic may have hallucinations which are "real" enough to make them take action and put themselves and others into harms way. Given this it is a small step to propose that many of today's video games, as massive as they are, can be considered alternate realities.
This is what i would like to explore the first week of the course. Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) exist. How "real" are they?
For tomorrow please take a look at this article on New Empiricism and this article on video games and the brain. My goal is not to judge the validity of these claims just yet, only to entertain them as possibilities until we have had our own experience to reflect on.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Introduction
I have lots of gaming experience. Over the years, I have owned literally every game counsol starting from the year that the Sega Genisus and the nintendo came out until now with the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 game counsols. I find video games to be very fun. I mainly play video games when im with friends or i get a new challanging game such as Call of Duty or the new hot sports games like Madden 10 or NBA Live 10. I look at video games as entertainment and a good way to pass time. My passion is basketball. I remember when my father went out and bought me my first basketball game which was NBA Live 2001 and after I sat down and played that game for about thirty minutes I went outside in the backyard and began trying to do all of the moves that I was just doing in the game. I began playing online games when I entered Junior High School and I would always finish typing my essay's before everybody else in the class so I began playing games on the computer. I only allow myself to play video games for mayb thirty to fourty-five minutes a day then I end up doing more productive things such as running, lifting weights or working on my basketball skills. Video games have come a long way since the first game system I had.
Introduction
I was born in 1990, having two siblings much older than me growing up. A brother who was 8 years older than me and a sister who was 10 years older. My parents didn't have a lot of money to buy things for us, but they tried.
At the age of 8 my brother and sister passed down their Nintendo to me. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world! Then a couple years later my brother passed on his Sega to me also. As he did this he got the new game systems. You have to love brothers! Then I got his Nintendo 64, and I had a game boy color. For my birthday many years later I got a game cube. I enjoyed playing games, and it was something me and my siblings could do without getting in to a fight. Which was very rare.
Now me and my fiance have got a PlayStation 3, which i like but not as much as other game systems. I have on occasion liked watching my fiance play world of warcraft, but haven't really gotten in to it myself. I think playing video games, hasn't been a bad thing for my life, it was something fun to do when it was to bad to play outside, or you had no one to play with. I still enjoyed opening a book and other things. Video games didn't take up my whole life.
At the age of 8 my brother and sister passed down their Nintendo to me. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world! Then a couple years later my brother passed on his Sega to me also. As he did this he got the new game systems. You have to love brothers! Then I got his Nintendo 64, and I had a game boy color. For my birthday many years later I got a game cube. I enjoyed playing games, and it was something me and my siblings could do without getting in to a fight. Which was very rare.
Now me and my fiance have got a PlayStation 3, which i like but not as much as other game systems. I have on occasion liked watching my fiance play world of warcraft, but haven't really gotten in to it myself. I think playing video games, hasn't been a bad thing for my life, it was something fun to do when it was to bad to play outside, or you had no one to play with. I still enjoyed opening a book and other things. Video games didn't take up my whole life.
Introduction
I was not too interested in video games or computer games until around age 10. Up until then I enjoyed playing with Barbie dolls, reading books, or playing outside.
I guess I could say that peer pressure was most of the reason I begged my parents for a gaming system. Eventually they relented,and I received a cute pink GameBoy for Christmas.
In the past I used to read several books a week; after I received the GameBoy I spent most of my time absorbed with the games.
After a while my parents confiscated the thing, because they were worried about the effects of gaming and I was more absorbed in the virtual world than the real world.
I am not saying that gaming is inherently bad; I think we need to limit our use of games. Luckily, some companies such as Wii are inventing new games and gaming platforms (like Wii Fit) which are meant to encourage physical activity.
As Plato's essay indicated, people need distraction and a break from their actual reality- games can do this for us.
Introduction
My gaming experience isnt very experienced. As a kid I was more focused on playing with barbie's and baby dolls, but when my cousins came around with what I think was the original Nintendo with Super Mario bros. I would want to play so bad id cry until they gave in and let me play. I would play for about 30 min. and get bored and go do something else. Until the next time they came around at least. The next time i was interested in any game was when i was about seven and got the Play Station for christmas. When i first recieved the Play Station i played daily once my homework was done, until my partents would make me put it away. As time time passed and it started to warm up outside my attention started to shift, i started to focus more on going outside playing basketball out in the drive way swimming in the pool, and playing with friends, and less attention on the Game. It sat there collecting dust except for on the occasional rainy day until i was about ten. At that point i went over to a friends hows where he was playing Crash Bandicoot, and we sat there for hours playing, it came to the point where i desided that i NEEDED one for my Play Station. When i got my copy i played for weeks stright until my attention once again shifted. This time my attention shifter from the game to sports. From that time on my attention stayed concentrated mainly on sports and school except for the occasional playing of games. But for the most part i concentrated on what ever sport or sports ing depending on the season (Swimming, Hockey and Basketball, Track and Fiels). Even to this day im more conccentrated on other thing besides video games like school, family, basketball, and friends. although my focus is else where i do still enjoy playing some games, mainly the Wii. Video games have played the substitute roll in my life. When i could not participate in the activities i enjoyed the most I focused my attention on them (when the weather was bad, when I was injured or even when i could just not find anything else to do.)
Electronic Realities: From Pong to World of Warcraft
Welcome to HUM 104 Pop Culture. The focus of this course is analyzing the world of online gaming and the impacts on our society. This three week course will consist of: one week of researching different online worlds and the basic philosophical foundations behind experience, a second week of first-hand research based in game experience and observation, and a third week of drawing conclusions regarding the importance, impact, and future of online games in our society.
I am a member of the first generation of Americans raised in an electronic game culture. I was born in 1974 and remember playing Pong as a young child. As i aged and matured so did the games i played. My parents invested in a Tandy TRS-80 for my sister and i when i was in grade school and an Intellivision game system a year or two later. My friends were all playing Atari games during this time and admittedly i felt left out. In 1988 i received a Nintendo game system for Christmas. This was the best Christmas present i ever received or have received. By the time i was in high school and college i was busy chasing girls and had little times to play games but still managed to play Sony PlayStation with friends. After graduating from college and entering the work force i spent my hard earned money on and XBox game system. This thing was very different from my old Nintendo. In the years since i have built several computers for my self and my wife. When time allows we play World of Warcraft together. She enjoys the game at least as much as i do, although i suspect for different reasons. While i use the time as an escape, much like running which i also enjoy, my wife values the social interaction and time spent "doing something" together. Far from being a competitive experience she sees it as a collaborative one. But more on this later.
My purpose in presenting this is to highlight the importance electronic gaming has had on generations of Americans. Many of the formative experiences in my life have occurred in what might be termed "electronic realities" or at least in the presence of their influence. This has contributed to the person i am today and to how my children will be raised and in turn, my grandchildren.
My parents, both born in 1947, have an entirely different set of experiences growing up and have a hard time seeing the importance or relevance of electronic online games have for millions of people worldwide. This does not mean their perspective is wrong, or right, or better, or worse. It simply is a reflection of their reaction to a new world confronting them which is not a part of the world they "know".
Chances are that most of you were born after 1974 and have a similar set of experiences with electronic games. If you don't play them, you know someone who does. Regardless of when you were born i would like you to keep your mind open and refrain from judgment of others' experiences. We are entering this course together in an effort to answer questions and learn about the realities we all inhabit and that will continue to change and shape successive generations of people worldwide.
For Tuesday the 5th please read "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato.
I am a member of the first generation of Americans raised in an electronic game culture. I was born in 1974 and remember playing Pong as a young child. As i aged and matured so did the games i played. My parents invested in a Tandy TRS-80 for my sister and i when i was in grade school and an Intellivision game system a year or two later. My friends were all playing Atari games during this time and admittedly i felt left out. In 1988 i received a Nintendo game system for Christmas. This was the best Christmas present i ever received or have received. By the time i was in high school and college i was busy chasing girls and had little times to play games but still managed to play Sony PlayStation with friends. After graduating from college and entering the work force i spent my hard earned money on and XBox game system. This thing was very different from my old Nintendo. In the years since i have built several computers for my self and my wife. When time allows we play World of Warcraft together. She enjoys the game at least as much as i do, although i suspect for different reasons. While i use the time as an escape, much like running which i also enjoy, my wife values the social interaction and time spent "doing something" together. Far from being a competitive experience she sees it as a collaborative one. But more on this later.
My purpose in presenting this is to highlight the importance electronic gaming has had on generations of Americans. Many of the formative experiences in my life have occurred in what might be termed "electronic realities" or at least in the presence of their influence. This has contributed to the person i am today and to how my children will be raised and in turn, my grandchildren.
My parents, both born in 1947, have an entirely different set of experiences growing up and have a hard time seeing the importance or relevance of electronic online games have for millions of people worldwide. This does not mean their perspective is wrong, or right, or better, or worse. It simply is a reflection of their reaction to a new world confronting them which is not a part of the world they "know".
Chances are that most of you were born after 1974 and have a similar set of experiences with electronic games. If you don't play them, you know someone who does. Regardless of when you were born i would like you to keep your mind open and refrain from judgment of others' experiences. We are entering this course together in an effort to answer questions and learn about the realities we all inhabit and that will continue to change and shape successive generations of people worldwide.
For Tuesday the 5th please read "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)