"New Video Game:Dungeons, Dragons, and Now Gay Sex"

Itzkoff, Dave. "New Video Game:Dungeons, Dragons, and Now Gay Sex" 4 Dec. 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/arts/television/05dragon.html?_r=1&ref=television

In this article, it talked about a new video game that was just released. This video game is Dragon Age. It talked about how this game has given its users far more than just the power to fight against foreign beasts and monsters, but to also engage in sexual acts. This game however has raised controversy because of the ability a player has to engage in gay sex. They talked to the lead designer of the game, and asked him to talk about his game. The creator said that his game wasn't intended to provoke a social discharge, but rather to, "provide players with an immersive gaming experience". He also mentioned that the game is "is designed to celebrate player choice and create a story that is reactive to the way you choose to play it". He ended his statements by saying that he knew about the criticism of his game, but said that people who have played his game like it, and are happy with the game. According to him, "If players are happy with the experience, I think we’ve done our job".

I found this article to be disturbing. What type of person would want to see characters in a video game engage in sexual acts, let alone gay sex? I thought it was interesting how the creator of the game said that the sexual situations included in the game were suppposed to "provide players with an immersive gaming experience". People don't need to witness sex in a video game to be immersed in a game. His last comment really hit me hard. He didn't care what his audience saw; all he cared about was making money. I really enjoy playing video games, but if the games that i enjoy start putting in wacko stuff that Dragon Age includes, I am going to stop playing them.

Fashion In the Media

"Women's Belts Add Chicness and Accentuate Your Figure"
Ezilon.com Articles. "Women's Belts Add Chicness and Accentuate Your Figure"
26 Nov. 2008. http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_20238.shtml


In this article, it talked about how belts are coming back into style again. It talked about how belts are much more than just a necessity, they are a huge fashion statement. They mentioned that there are a lot of different ways to wear belts now and how there isn't one set way to wear a belt. They also talked about the different kinds of belts, like wide belts and skinny belts and how they affect the way you look. They said that wider belts tend to show off and accentuate a womens curves more than skinny belts do. Specifically when women wear the belt just under their bust line. Skinny belts on the other hand, they said accentuate a woman's clothing. Overall they pretty much said that belts are the new fashion item that is a must have.

I thought this was an interesting article, because the media plays a huge role in influencing the way that people dress. Teenagers always want to have the new jeans that are out, or the new kicks, or the new jacket, or whatever. They simply feel that if they have a certain item that the media is portraying as "cool", they will be "cool" as well. I thought it was funny how they said that a belt is much more than just a necessity. I didn't really think that belt's now-a-days were such a big fashion statement. I guess no matter what, the media is going to influence people to dress a certain way to be "cool" or look "hip". It is what it is.

"Online Gambling Leads to Crime and Hurts Young. So Why Encourage It?"

Bachus, Spencer. "Online Gambling Leads to Crime and Hurts Young. So Why Encourage It?" 1 Jun. 2009.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2009/06/01/online-gambling-leads-to-crime-and-hurts-young-so-why-encourage-it-asks-spencer-bachus.html


In this article the author addresses the topic of online gambling. At first he talks about how online gambling has certain characteristics that set it apart. Some of those include that one can gamble 24 hours a day 7 days a week if he/she wanted to. He also mentions how age verification isn't sufficient enough. He then brings up how online gambling really has no benefits. One hardly wins ever, and can get his/her own self into major debt. He tells of a boy who got into online gambling and got into so much debt that he tried robbing a bank to try and pay that debt off. He basically just lets us know that online gambling has no positive effects.

The way that I respond to this article is similar to the author. I view online gambling as a dangerous thing just like the author does. I'm sure there are some winners every once in a while, but most of the time, people get ripped off and lose a ton of money. I think that it is a good idea that the federal government is cracking down on this problem, and trying to make it illegal. A couple years ago the NBA had a gambling incident with a referee. The ref had made different bets with other people about how a game would turn out, and won a lot of money that way. Basically I am against online gambling period!

"Virtual Dating And Love"


eNotAlone.com. "Virtual Dating And Love." 3 Feb. 2009
http://www.enotalone.com/article/19306.html


This article talked about how "cyber love" or internet dating/love is becoming quite popular. It talked about several different ups and downs about this issue. They started out talking about how important or how big of a role the internet plays in our life. One of the good things was that you can meet people that you might never meet in your lifetime, or would have never met without the internet. Another one was that you can stay in touch with people who live far away. Another one was that you can talk to many people without ever having to leave a room. They then started talking about the downsides. Not all online dating websites are believable and there are many frauds out there who are pretending to be someone who they really aren't. They also talked about how you just build up an image of a person through what the person tells you and you never can truly see who the person really is like on the other side of the screen. They also mentioned that people are often discouraged when they meet the other person in real life.


Me personally, I think that this whole thing of "cyber love" is so lame. Why would you ever want to develop a relationship over a computer? You can't even get some suga... hahaha just kidding! No but i still think that it is lame. I agree with the fact that you really don't know if the person your talking to is really who he/she claims to be. Knowing this and knowing that there are creepy people out in the world, makes me disagree with online dating. I understand that sometimes this works out with some people, but I don't agree with it. Whenever I see an eHarmony commercial or something similar to that I just laugh, because it is so lame. However I agree with the fact that computers are useful in the way that we can communicate with others who are long distances away.

"Body Image And Mass Media"

Hazboun, Bishara. "Body Image And Mass Media." 19 Jan. 2007. http://ezinearticles.com/?Body-Image-And-Mass-Media&id=423036.


This was an article that was written about the influence that magazines and the media have on young women, specifically targeting body image. The article explained that now a days teen magazines are promoting different styles and different body types. In the article it said that there have been 266 articles in "Seventeen" magazine that are related to the body from 1992 to 2003. They went on to explain that this is having a great effect on girls. The girls are wanting to look like certain celebrities or models and are willing to buy certain products or starve themselves or do whatever they can so that they look like whoever the media proclaims to be "acceptable".

I feel that this is definitely applicable to our generation. You can see it in so many places. Teens are always looking at the media and trying to find out what the "hot, new" trend is. And whatever the trend is at that given time, they want to be part of it. I've heard of girls that think that they are fat, even though they are a normal weight, and they starve themselves so that they may look a certain way that the media portrays as being "hot" or "sexy" or "cool" or whatever. Truth is that this is a reality, and the media really does have a big influence on young people.

"Sex Offenders and Myspace"

"Sex Offenders and Myspace." CBS News. CBS. 18 May. 2007.

This was a news clip from CBS News that was on their website. It was about how there are actually registered sex offenders that are currently active on Myspace. According to the social networking site they refuse to give up the names of those sex offenders. Kevin Poulsen was a person that created a program that linked sex offender information to Myspace user information. Through his findings they were able to uncover 744 convicted sex offenders that currently had accounts on myspace and the news reports that 500 of them had commited crimes against children. Police arrested several sex offenders who were users. Basically all they wanted Myspace to do was to try and verify that the person is who they say they are online.

My opinion on this is basically this, sex offenders must be stopped, and I feel that Myspace has the responsibility in turning those names in. We are just creating a more dangerous environment. I mean Myspace and other social networking websites are great, but they also have their down falls. Because it is an online thing, people can be whoever they want to be. You have to be very careful with who you choose to talk to, because you never know if that person could be a sex offender, murderer, or just someone who is trying to be someone who they really aren't. While social networking programs can be very useful and fun, they can also be very harmful.

"The effects of video games on children: what parents need to know"

Gentile, Douglas. "The effects of video games on children: what parents need to know." Pediatrics for Parents. Jun. 2004. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/pg_2/?tag=content;col1


Gentile discusses how over the years America's video game industry has evolved. He recalls when people wanted to get computers in the classrooms of American schools, and how everyone assumed that it was a good idea. He explains that they in turn had positive effects on the children. However he states that as video games started to become more popular, kids started to spend more time on them than ever before. He then related this to the drop of kid's grades in school. He then started to talk about how violence in video games can influence the way that a young child acts. He stated that violent video games attributed to aggressive behavior, and that they had no positive effects on the child. To sum things up, he pretty much just said that the more time that you put into playing video games, the more negative effects it has on your academic performance, and that they also influence individuals in both positive and negative ways.

I found this article to be very true, because i too at one point in my life was addicted to video games. At that time I didn't really notice how much time I was putting into video games as opposed to my school work. I found that I was always procrastinating my school work, and that my grades were also gradually decreasing. For the most part I didn't own any violent video games. However I can see how violent video games could have a negative effect on children. Overall I found this article very convincing in its main points.