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A Game Ahead of its Time

 

With gender and cybertyping so common in digital media, it is rare that we find a game that embodies the norms of society. However I believe The Sims video game does a good job of analyzing gender and portrays it well throughout the game. In Sims, you are essentially creating a character that emulates a human being. You are responsible for making sure your character is fed, washed, fulfilling their basic daily needs as well as advancements on their personal and professional lives. Your character goes on to getting a job, starting a family and so forth.

Sims does a good job of remaining neutral because your role in the game is the same no matter which gender you choose. In early versions of Sims, which launched in 2000: all types of people were featured including same-sex couples. Your identity in the game focused on how well you take care of your character and build their life. You do not receive special advantages because you are male or female, no extra special powers are given.

With the newest update of Sims 4 the focus on character development rises. You can adjust Sims identities to represent actual family members are give them personality types related to their actual personalities as well. These Sims are more emotion based, and your goal is to make them “happy”. Happy Sims also have the power to cheer up sad Sims, and their everyday interactions mimic the actions of people in real life.

 

Questions

Do you believe Sims represents a true reality or are there still evidence of gender and racial stereotypes?

Why does it appear that most video games use cybertyping? Does this help or hurt the video game industry?

Sponsored Posts Will Be the End of Your Bank Account

As I started my hour of online activities, I immediately found myself open to Facebook. I scrolled through my timeline and saw a ton of recent pictures, articles about the Superbowl and the Half Time performance, political rants, and videos sponsored by Tasty (those are my favorite). After watching multiple short comedy videos, I came across a sponsored post by Nordstrom. I obviously spend a lot of time aimlessly browsing so here we go! I am immediately sucked in but there I was totally conscious of it. About 15 minutes in, I purchase a sweater. After feeling guilty, I head on over to Amazon. I start by I looking up some of the textbooks I need that I haven’t bought yet. Eventually, I had shifted over towards charcoal products; you know the ones

By: Olivia Schiekofer

Nordstrom “cookie” advertisement

all over Facebook? I ended up buying that charcoal facemask that everyone has been ranting about. Now I am here, 45 minutes on the Internet and about $60 down. I’ll never know how that happens. After that last purchase, I closed my laptop and immediately switched over to Instagram followed by Snapchat. I switch back and forth for—45 more minutes!

Now that I spent about an hour and a half aimlessly browsing the Internet and buying things I don’t need, I began to think about the assignment questions. Without digital media, I would not have been able to do any of these things. I probably wouldn’t have bought the sweater if the advertisement wasn’t right in my face on my Facebook page. I also probably wouldn’t have bought the charcoal facemask if I hadn’t been seeing advertisements on Facebook as well.

Couldry presents us with the point that social media today may be very different and/or non-existent in the predominant forms we have today. But, he also brings to light that if it wasn’t Facebook or Twitter consuming us it was an actual printed newspaper or magazine that consumed us. In one-way or another, our attention has never fully been there when talking to our peers. We always have had some type of distraction. Computerization and digitization has helped us develop many platforms to help us convey ideas and start businesses but there are also many downfalls. “Media’s importance for society and world cannot be grasped as linear development. When media are embedded in wider cultural and social processes, tensions and contradictions result,” Couldry states in his article [Couldry, Intro pg. 3]. I couldn’t agree with this more because we have not even reached a high point in technological development. Across every social media platform I have encountered some type of controversy or tension.

In a recent article published by CNN, they bring to light the many issues social media has brought us, especially regarding the new President Elect, Donald Trump. There is an extraordinary number of insolent Tweets nowadays and every political party, advocate, etc. feels offended. People use social media as an outlet not only to follow the news but to get into altercations, voice their opinion, and ultimately be the “tough guy” behind a keyboard. So here I am wondering: Is it worth it? Is it worth trading human interaction and building relationships for 100 likes? How many of us would find it incredibly difficult to go 7 days without our smartphone and our social media?