Monday, 3 October 2011

Week 10 - Tutorial task


Essay plan week 10

I have chosen to do my essay on “Does the extensive use of computer/video games have an adverse impact on the health of young people. What are the most recent papers? Clarify what both sides of the argument claim and only then offer your reasoned opinion based on facts.”
There are several studies on the topic that says video games has a positive impact on children’s health and education, such as health hero games which educates the players about different health related topics and plays the part of a role-model,  such as “Packy and Marlon” a game that teaches children about diabetes and healthy food.

Gentile, Lynch, Linder & Walsh (2004, p.6) "adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 hours a week, whereas boys averaged 13 hours a week". The authors also stated that teens who play violent video games for extended periods of time:
-           Tend to be more aggressive
-            Are more prone to confrontation with their teachers
-           May engage in fights with their peers
-           See a decline in school achievements. (Gentile et al, 2004).

The interactive quality of video games differs from passively viewing television or movies because it allows players to become active participants in the game's script. Players benefit from engaging in acts of violence and are then able to move to the game's next level.
 Reference: Gentile, D. A. & Anderson, C. A. (2003). Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. In D. A. Gentile (Ed.), Media violence and children. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishing. 


Video and computer games can have various effects on young people’s health depending on the content of the games they are playing. There is both negative and positive effects on the health of young people.

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TOPICS OF DISCUSSION 
What is your favourite cyberpunk production? Movie? Book? Graphic Novel?

The Matrix, the movie is kinetic, atmospheric and visually stunning. It toys with the boundaries between reality and fantasy in unique and interesting ways. The Matrix is undeniably cyber punk, it ventures into territory that, while not virgin, is sufficiently interesting to provide an involving, invigorating backdrop.


    What is happening in Burning Chrome?
Burning Chrome is about two hackers who hack systems for profit. The two main characters are Bobby Quine who specializes in software and Automatic Jack who specializes in hardware. Rikki is a girl with who Bobby becomes in love with, and he wants to hit it big. Automatic Jack gets a piece of Russian hacking software that is very sophisticated and hard to trace. Bobby decides to break into the system of a notorious and vicious criminal called Chrome, and Automatic Jack agrees to help. The break-in is successful, but Rikki decides to leave the group and go to Hollywood, to the grief of Bobby and Jack who has grown to love her.


    Is anime cyberpunk?

Yes, Anime and Manga is cyberpunk it shows the possibilities inherent in computers, genetics, body modifications and corporate developments in the near future. This is the definition of Cyberpunk


    Is cyberpunk sexist? Explain.

Personally I don’t think Cyberpunk is anymore sexist than any other genera of Movie, book or Graphic Novel. It has a storyline with people and feelings like everything else. In fact it’s less sexist because in cyberpunk people even fall in love with others that are “different” from them selves 

    Cyberpunk is thirty years old and fantasy is the clear winner in the genre stakes. What does that say about the future?

You can never really predict how its going to be in the future, you can only imagine. And fantasy has also given us ideas to try to make new inventions. 

week 10 - Response to Content


What is cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk is a genre within science fiction that came out in the 1980’s. The action takes place mostly in the near future on Earth, often in dystopian urban communities. Cyberpunk is mainly targeted at computers and ICT, but it’s also in the extraordinary energy and diversity. This is a result of self-correction in the science fiction genre, which had traditionally ignored the information technology importance. Cyberpunks dystopian world has been called antithesis of the utopian science fiction that Star Trek versions is a good example of. In cyberpunk much of the action takes place online, and the distinction between the real and the virtual world can be somewhat diffuse. Some theorists see the cyberpunk stories as fictional forecasts of the Internet's development. Internet's virtual world occurs under various names, such as cyberspace, the Metaverse and The Matrix.

Refrences:
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/