Why Do We Care?

     As someone that does have a passion for videogames, I obviously pay close attention to reveals from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and any other company (still pulling for another Dreamcast). With Microsoft's Xbox One reveal, a lot of new information was immediately thrown upon us, as well as a new controversy for the Internet to get all kinds of upset with. Now I won't go into the details, since that isn't the point of this post, but it is easy to say that people are upset. This isn't the first time the Internet has blown up over something, especially videogame related, but I had a bit of an epiphany moment. As I was getting upset over comments that I disagreed with and thinking of possible ways to retort, a simple question went through my mind, "Why the hell do I care? Why do I care so deeply about the opinions of complete strangers? I will most likely NEVER meet these people in the real world, so why do their words (texts) cause such an emotional response?"

     I believe a lot of it stems from the fact that the Internet is indeed bleeding over into reality. This is natural since we are becoming more dependent upon it, but like anything else that becomes a part of everyday living, it brings good and bad. Sadly, one of the bad things it brings is the way we are effected by what others say when it actually should have no effect on us. No matter how connected forums, social media, and other sites may try to connect us, the fact is that unless you've met the person and got to know them outside of the virtual world, they are strangers. In fact, I don't believe calling them strangers quite sums up what they are because a stranger implies that you actually saw them. This is at least how I view a stranger; someone that I saw but did not recognize or know from a previous time. With the Internet, that person may as well be fictional because no matter how "thorough" sites may claim to be, it is WAY too easy to create a completely fake person and life. All you need is a little creativity and any image search engine and you're good. I don't state this to seem overly negative, but to hopefully help people establish perspective. Just as we have to always remember that movies, shows, and videogames are fictional so that we don't begin to blur reality with fiction, we have to remember that "knowing" someone on the Internet is NOTHING like knowing someone in real life. It may sound like common sense, but it may surprise you the lack of people that are unaware of this.

     Another reason we let comments get to us, I believe, stems from the fact that we don't have anything truly weighing us down. What I mean by this is that for the majority of us on the Internet, we are in industrialized countries that are not going through issues such as civil war, disease, or constant terror. With a lack of serious problems, we find more gravity to things like Internet comments that if we took a second to step back, we would realize that it doesn't mean much at all. It is also worth noting that should any of us go through a bad time in our lives, we suddenly tend to stop caring about Internet comments, which further proves my point that when it comes to the big picture, we should not care what others on the Internet say.

     Now this is not a reason to become a tool online. We should try to be as civil as possible even though children trying to act tough does make this difficult, I know from experience. The point of this is that we should make sure our priorities are in order. So, for instance, if you like what the Xbox One has to offer and looking forward to what else is revealed, then don't let "Internet Strangers" bring you down with their views. If you disagree, then of course you can tell them how you feel, but just don't let it get to you. The real world has plenty of things that are out of your control trying to bring you down. The experience you have in the virtual world is 98%, give or take, under your control, so why should you be brought down there as well?

Getting Stuck in a Conversation/Mood

     This is a topic that has come across due to my own personal actions lately. What the title deals with is a particular conversation or mood that I would find myself resorting to whenever I was talking with close friends. In a nutshell, I would open up about my insecurities, doubts, and fears with my closest friends that I trusted. Of course, they were more than willing to listen and offer advice if I asked. We would grow closer as friends and learn from each other.

     It would seem curious as to how something like that can be bad right? Well, it comes from constantly speaking on the same topic. Not only would I speak on the same topics, I would have the same emotion and mood every single time. Like a good friend would do, it was blown off at first. As time went on, my mood and emotion over the conversation would wear on them. We are all human, meaning that we only have so much patience to give on certain things. What this would lead to is friends accusing me of just complaining constantly and having no self-confidence. Now I won't go on some narcissistic like rant to make myself seem better, but after some serious thought over everything, I can honestly say that I cannot blame them for thinking that way. 

     As I thought it over, I realized that the complaining I was doing, and yes that would be the proper term for how I would get, is due to a comfort zone I created. Within this comfort zone, I was able to make my life seem somewhat better due to things being the fault of someone/something else, or I would get pity (unintentionally) from those listening to me. It came as a gut punch since I have a personal pet peeve about people who complain for attention or for the guaranteed pity. I strive to not be like that, so when I was told this, you can imagine how it struck me. They would explain that it never started off as complaining, but that is exactly what it evolved into over time. It is just like a joke; no matter how good it is, it will become annoying if said again and again. The same goes for a song, no matter how well made the lyrics and/or music.

     What struck me the hardest was the fact that most of the things I would dwell on was from the past. In other words, things I can't change even if I wanted to. I would hide behind the past memories and experiences to explain things I would do presently. Now sometimes this would be true, because people are a product of past experiences, but the past cannot be my go-to excuse for my present actions. This would be the root cause of why I would be accused of having no self-confidence. I would complain about bad luck in the past so often that people began thinking that I must feel this way all the time. I discovered that my words were beginning to shape people's perception of me far more than my actions, and that is unacceptable. 

     I bring this up in a blog because I want to help those that may be in a similar situation. Whether it is due to creating a comfort zone, having an easy scapegoat, or just because it is force of habit, we cannot become stuck in the same conversation and mood with a topic. What goes from perhaps being a therapeutic experience of venting your feelings begins to shape your personality. It is like the old saying that if you're told a lie enough times, you'll begin to believe it. The same happens if you get stuck in a certain mood or conversation.

     Also, if we are going to be perfectly blunt, having the same conversation all the time makes you pretty boring. If this is coupled with having the same emotion, people will avoid being around you since the emotion tends to be negative like anger, upset, depressed, ect. This isn't to say that they don't care about your situation, but if you never show improvement or any signs that you are trying to fix/move on from the situation, people will just flat out give up. Nobody wants to be the person that brings down a conversation just because a certain topic gets brought up. 

     I hope, if you are still reading, that this helped in some way. I know I'm going to try and change how I speak amongst friends. There is nothing wrong letting people in and revealing parts of yourself that not a lot of people get to know about, but we have to avoid getting stuck in one gear.

Remember, Don't Panic, and never forget your towel. 

Answered Prayers on a Dime

     Something that I have learned rather recently and feel the need to share is how quickly prayers can be answered. I know it sounds silly to say this because we pray expecting to be answered. The Bible makes it clear that we will be answered with either a yes, no, or wait. What I mean is how we don't expect a prayer to be answered in a quick fashion sometimes.

     In my experience, I will give an issue up to prayer and kind of expect that a bit of time will pass before any of the three answers are given. Of course I know that God could easily answer the prayer as soon as the words/thoughts leave me, but i just developed a strange expectation. Yesterday, I had a prayer answered that I had only began prayer over earlier this week. It was an issue that I am currently dealing with in college and considering the pace that universities go, especially at the beginning of a new semester, I wasn't expecting responses or any sort of results for a couple of weeks. Instead, I now have a response and potential results depending on how future events unfold. To say I was taken off guard by how quickly things came together would be an understatement. I called my Father up quickly and told him what had occurred. He was happy to hear it. I instantly had nerves and doubts creeping into my mind. My Father then made a great point to me to get rid of those thoughts. He told me that I can't pray over something and be surprised when God answers it. I cannot do like Moses and begin thinking of excuses of why I can't go through with what was transpiring.

     Due to this event, it got me thinking about other times I may have acted this way and how often Christians do this in their lives. We ask God to help us in some way, but when that help comes, we instantly try to make excuses of why we can't do things that way. This could stem from things like us not liking the form in which the help comes in, or perhaps the help comes along, but it involves us having to do something that we are either uncomfortable with or isn't a great strength of ours. Instead of being happy that God answered and decided to help, we find reasons to back away. I mention how quick the response may be because as a defensive mechanism, if a solution comes along that we believe came "too quickly" or may seem "too good to be true," we discard it. We need to remember that as Christians, we walk by faith in things unseen. God answers prayers, and we need to recognize when He has. We also need to recognize that even if the answer does not come in a form that we wanted or a form that we are not use to, that does not discredit it or suddenly not make it a response from God.

     If anything, this is something that both our minds, and Satan, uses to make sure we doubt ourselves. So, don't be afraid to pray for ANYTHING, but also be aware of what could be God's response to that prayer. If we pass it up, we could be missing out on great opportunities and/or chances to quickly and painlessly deal with the issue.

     Now on a more personal/blog related note. I do have quite a few views on this blog, so that means there are several people that do read this or my stats would remain very low. To anyone that is still reading at this point, what is a topic that you would like for me to write on? Keep the topics within reason (I know the weird people out there) since I am obviously not going to do anything that is either extremely sexual or a topic that could be morally compromising. I could talk of the current NFL playoffs, the big news about the Kings moving to Seattle in the NBA, the latest noteworthy stories in gaming, something political, or even something to do with Christianity. I would like to leave the topic up to those that read these posts. Comment on what you'd like to see me speak on, or know my opinion about, and I will do my best to make an entertaining and satisfying read.

Literature, Theatre, Cinema, and Video Games?

     The topic of video games and how they should be labeled has been quite a hot topic. In fact, this has been such a hot topic that when brought before the supreme court, they decreed that they are protected speech via the 1st amendment. This is significant since that is what cinema, theatre, and literature is also covered by. Now the other three areas are considered art. Video games have been, and still are, fighting to have this same moniker. It is quite a unique case when you sit down and look at a medium that does have artistic qualities to it (just look at the beauty of the landscape in some of those games) but unlike the other mediums, video games are 100% entertainment. What I mean by this is that even games that are meant to teach or have possible academic aspects to it, like Portal, entertainment is still the number one issue at hand. No matter how educational or factual a game may be, if it isn't entertaining, it will not be successful.

     Within cinema, there are documentaries that serve the purpose to inform and/or persuade on a certain topic. Theater has specific styles (like Brecht Epic Theatre) that puts the importance of an issue over the entertainment that an audience may have. Literature has both fiction and non-fiction books that deal with issues and discusses them in ways that get people to talk. If anyone has ever read Fahrenheit 451, you know that it deals with how easily manipulated the world is when books are all destroyed since people are not provoked to think. That is what the three mentioned mediums can do and have done over the years. Video games struggle with the art debate because of the fact that, like I said earlier, entertainment is the core.

     Where video games have gained steam in the debate is the fact that games have been made that provokes thought. It may not deal with topical issues, but the games force you to think about the morality and the overall ripple effect decisions may have. The best examples are the Mass Effect games and the episodic games of The Walking Dead. Neither of these games are set in everyday circumstances or dealing with current issues facing oppressed groups or economics. Where people get hooked is the fact that these games deal with the issue of trying to be moral in the face of an overwhelming task where taking moral shortcuts, such as stepping on/screwing over people, are very tempting since they make the current objective so much easier. The long term consequences of taking the shortcuts can be minor, or the reason why you end up losing a key member of your group, to even the death of the character you control. Mass Effect deals with this on a grand scale to where a few decisions you make could decide the fate of an entire planet. The game deals with a scenario that people cannot relate with of being a super-soldier that is tasked with preparing and defending the universe against a threat that could wipe everyone and everything out. People can relate to things like the relationships, the hardships Shepard faces as he talks to different races that have long standing issues (some are similar to racial issues), and just being an underdog the entire time.

     The Walking Dead games takes a much different approach. You are Lee Everett, who was on on his way to jail for murder when the outbreak occurred. Although the zombie apocalypse is something we cannot relate to (not matter how much people may want to), we can relate to a guy who has hit rock-bottom like Lee and is just trying to redeem himself. We can also relate to his struggles with trying to band people together under tough circumstances and keep the very dysfunctional group from breaking.

     These two games are extremely thought provoking and 2 of the games/franchises people point towards when making the argument for video games as art. The biggest thing that games have going for them is the fact that unlike in the other three mentioned mediums, the person playing the game "experiences" what happens. Since we are the ones shooting, deciding, planning, and picking the speech lines, it feels like we are the ones pushing the story along. In a sense, we are, but of course at the same time, the story gets pushed along as the developers wanted it. Still, plot twists, such as the amazing "Would You Kindly" phrase in Bioshock 1 hit on a personal level since it effects "us," the person we're controlling. Since we put the hours of time into them, we feel an attachment to them that just is not felt in the other mediums. This does not mean that we don't feel anything should something tragic happen to a character in the other mediums, but it has a special sting when it is a character that we took the time to "bond" with in a video game.

      Because of this, I personally believe that video games can be art. Are there games out there that are not art in any definition of the word? Of course, but there are books, movies, plays, and music that are the exact same way. There is always bad with the good. Video games, I believe, capture the thought provoking through a different means. I don't know if I could elevate games to the same level as books, but I believe they can still impact a person in a similar way that a great book can. I think as video games evolve, the case for them to be considered art will be stronger since the story elements of games have been strengthening over the years. As I said, I don't know if I could put them on the same level as theatre, film, and literature since I have never seen a video game cause a dramatic shift in the thought process of people or cause a new movement, but I believe that they can be in the conversation of art that provokes thought and emotion.

     As with any controversial topic, one opinion will not sway it one way or the other, so that was not the point of this. I wanted to basically give my two cents and see what people think. To anyone still reading this, what do you think? Are video games art? If yes, should they be put on the same level as books, film, and theatre?

And remember, Don't Panic, and never forget your towel.