What I Am Working On...

I am working on an outline for my research paper. I want to find out how the portal of women in video games affect teenager. Artist who design the characters create them to be as physically perfect as they can. Many teenage girls look at these virtual women and believe that this is how they have to look in order to catch someone’s attention. Teenage boys play games with these “perfect” women in them and become intoxicated with the thought that real women look like they are portrayed in video games. Thus far I have only read online journals and game magazines. I have found a lot of evidence to back up my thesis statement. One of the major problems I am facing right now is gathering all of my information and turning it into a well written essay using my outline. I’m kind of confused about where certain things should go...

Electronics I use daily

Some of the electronic I use daily is my cell phone, metro card, IPod, computer, PSP etc. I use them all the time. My cell phone is my alarm clock in the morning it keeps my daily schedule, and keeps me in contacted with my friends and family when ever I need them. The internet is only one click away whenever I need it. My metro card is also use daily. I never stay home I love to go out most of the time I go to the city either to go to work or to go to school or just hang out and shop with friends. My IPod I don’t use as much just when I am on the train and have nothing else to do, I just turn on my IPod and hear my favorite songs. My computer I only use to do homework since I have text on my phone I don’t use aim on my computer as much as I use to. My PSP I use when go on long car ride with my family just as entertainment and to keep me from dyeing of boredom.

Play & Games

When I think of the word play the first thing that comes to mind is fun. When you play something you’re in action, doing an activity with a toy or a video game for example. When we use the word game we mean an activity someone dose for amusement and entertainment that involves skills. A game is defined as being an activity that uses skills taking chances and has a certain set of rules. A game had different levels and in order to reach the next level you must follow the rules and use your gaming skills to complete the task. You would be able to know a game when you see one simply because games unlike toys have a set of rules and different levels. Games also have simulation. Simulation is like pretend, fake characters in games representing real people.

Topic Idea

The general subject for this assignment has to be games and society, so I choose how games portray women. Many games such as Tomb Raider, Street Fighters and Mortal Kombat show women as being very slim with big breast.

These games are mostly played by young teenage boys, what effects does this cause on them? And the way they look at women in the real world? Not only but how does it affect the young girl who might also be playing these games and watching who each and every female looks. What kind of affect does that have a girl? Does it cause low self-esteem?

Why are games with beautiful women such a big hit? Could it be because of the women? Or are they simply good games?

Game Store Trip

The first stop I made on the game store trip was Toys 'R Us in Time Square. The assignment asked to define what were toys and games and what was the difference between the two. I figuered out that toys and games were very similar. The only difference I found was that games have rules that you have to play by in order to get to the next level, but with a toy you have no rules you can pretty much do anything you want with them. The second place I went to was Neutral ground on 37th between 5th and 6th ave. Here I found many politcal card games and president dolls. The third place I went to was The Complete Strategties on 33rd between 5th ave and Madison. As soo as I walked in I notcied they had alot of books and magazines. The types of games I saw there were war games and computer games. The final store I went to was Game Stop on 33rd and Broadway. There was nothing but video games on every wall all types of different genres, and a few game magzines. Many of the people who seemed to be shopping there were young boys.

What I have learned in this Cluster so far...

In my HUC 120 ( mass media ) class so far I have learned how much the media influenced the world around me. everything from the books we read to the television programs we watch are all there to some how persuade in some form. Many of the article I read in new papers and magazines aren't all facts as I once thought. Almost all of them are bits and pieces of the truth combined together to make a good story. I never noticed how many ads where in magazines, trying to get me to buy there product until I entered this cluster.
ENG 101/103 (English) has help me realize that I'm not good of a writer, especially when it comes to in class essays. Now that I know where I need help I can begin to focus on those problems and become a better writer.
HUC 270 (American Film) I would have to say is the worse class for me. I don't feel I am really learning anything. I find many of the films shown uninteresting and I usually end up falling asleep.
The most challenging part of this cluster for me is the fact that I always leave things to the last minute which prevents me from spending much time on my assignments so they don't always coming out so well. Over the next few weeks the challenges I expect to face are doing well on my mid-terms and handing in my assignments completed and on time.

The Matrix

This week in my Eng 101/ Eng 103 class, my classmates and I watched a movie called The Matrix. It was about a man naned Thomas Anderson, who was living two diffetent lives. By day he is just Thomas Anderson a computer programer but by night he was Neo a computer hacker. He was always questioning his reality that is until he meets a man named Morpheus. Morpheus takes him under his wing and shows him that the world he lives in isn't real and how everything in it that he ever thought to be ture was just make believe, he explains that machines imprisoned their minds and made a fake reality known as the Matrix. I was a little confused as to why they were fighting the government agents, but they were all trying to kill each other for some reason. The government agents were able to morph into any other person whenever they wanted and where super fast and strong.
Our professor also asked us to pay attention to thing like the way gender was portrayed and how they used humans vs. machines but also used humans as machines. I dont think gender played a big role in this film. As for humans and machines was pretty much the whole movie. The humans were like brain washed by the machines into thinking anything the machines wanted them to think. The government agents were like machines and they were controling everyone. They were able to jump into and take other anyones body. The humans were helpless.
Overall I thought it was a little confusing the way the used humans as machines like the machines were humans.