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.

After some comparison and debate, as well as battling with installers, I have chosen to try out Warhammer Online. Because I haven't done even single-player gaming in a few years, I had to take some time to look up information on the MMO's to figure out what they were all about.
One of the main points, or arguments I suppose, that was used for Warhammer was their graphics. After looking further into the game, I would say this is what I found to be most appealing. While I did like what I saw from the graphics in screenshots of WoW, those that I saw for Warhammer seemed to be more artistic. The landscapes appear to be more detailed and whimsical. In addition to this, the mysticism, in my opinion, is slightly more apparent.
I look forward to experimenting with the game and possibly gaining new experience. Furthermore, I am eager to enter on the mental journey that I believe the game will provide. While some games I look to be realistic and based on everyday experience, there are some, such as this one, that I expect to get lost in. The artistic landscapes, for example, help facilitate this experience.
As noted before, it has been some time since I've engaged in computer game play. I'm guessing that my personal skill level will definitely be lacking. Despite this, I think the game will be enjoyable all the same.

Game Choice

I decided to choose "Virtual Villagers" because I didn't want to choose a game based on violence. I don't really play computer games, and I didn't know anyone who plays computer games, so I chose this on my own.

According to the description, one builds a civilization in the Virtual Villagers game, including building shelter and harvesting food. It sounds like an interesting concept.

I think it is also appealing because of it's simplicity- the game doesn't sound too complex like other virtual reality games.

Foray into WARHAMMER....

I have decided to play the game WARHAMMER as my research project, and it is much more complex than I had expected. It took me two hours just to finally figure how to actually launch the game interface, although that was much more due to mylack of experience than anything else. I have realized that I need to set aside some serious time to dedicate to playing this game in order to truly understand the definitions and ranks, and most importantly, the social code that exists within the circle of the game's players.

It is my intention, once I understand the game a bit more, to spend equal amounts of time playing the game at various times of the day to hopefully understand who is playing when and why and how often. It would seem if one could find a pattern to the gameplaying, one might find what many of these players feel is missing from their lives that these games fulfil.

Game Choice

I think that I am going to choose World of War Craft. I don't have any friends or family that are into any online games, so I too can't get any good advice or feedback on what would be best for me. I went on to the WOW site and it looks like it will be an interesting challenge. I won't lie and say that I'm not worried or intimidated by it all, I have no past experience with on line gaming and since you play with others, that makes me anxious that i won't be able to get the hang of it, but I will give it my best shot.