• 30Sep 08

  The Strains of a Realationship Through a "Series of Tubes"

  I find it rather interesting how we can all form a huge communal comradery in such a desolate place. Even in my realative youth this whole enviroment seems surreal. People shed their cloaks of outward personality while staring into the screen, knowing how secure they are to do as they please.

  Taking for granted, many of us are actually representing our outward selves the same as we would without such a device, there are still certain securities which can be held together by the screen. In short, whether we realize it or not, we all shed a bit more then normal on this place called cyber-space. I'd serve as a great example. I'm open about my life to the fullness that I feel secure, which includes discussing things to people in-the-flesh, which from here-forth shall be abriviated ITF (not IRL, for I resent that term), that I would even not discuss in open to people here. There is a flawed sense of what is secure here mainly due, in my case, to the existence of online communities. In a second form, I am also more literate and, for my lack of more a more concise explaination, able to express myself to a better degree in text. This is why I nearly refuse to use the headset I shelled out $15 for. Certainly I can have some sense of backing in my buddy Scott, or its a one-way relationship with him not giving me a shout-out, who happened to share with me some of his past that he would not exactly share with everyone he meets in-the-screen (Also abriviated ITS henceforth) or ITF. Or at least that is heavily immplied. More examples could be given, but they would all be far less unviersal, so this chunk will stay on its metaphorical crutch.

  Then there are those who can be completely different from themselves when on ITS. Go around any realm of these tubes and you will find this true. I sincerely doubt there are so many outward people as to voice an opinion as blunt as Fred Phelps. Its rather ironic that most insults and prejudices voiced are in the same sexual nature. Thinking off the top of my head, I have heard things such as: racial slurs of every sort, religious slurs of every sort, sexual orientation slurs of mainly homophoic origin, and also insults every-which-way inbetween about baseline personalities. Now, I'm not a huge spokesperson on the problems with "jokes" today, but the frequency and fervency of these statements shows that the person will openly admit to holding such an indescriminate hatred. Part of this can be attributed to the communities thatI spoke of earlier. For lack of a more concise and effective term at hand, I will refer to that as hive mind.

  But not only does this grand portal open doors to blunt self-expression, it also connections your expressions to other people. To poke at two particularly large communities, I can use bloggers and people with internet-based long-distance realationships as my prime examples. By allowing us all to shed some of our insecurities of being ITF. In a grand sense, this can be commonly viewed as a positive thing. Many bloggers are actually effective at voicing very grandoise ideas in such a way that they can be generally respected and even exhalted to a massive audience. When is the last time you read a blog and you found yourself agreeing with the majority of the information, even though it may be relatively new to yourself in presentation or actual factual information? In many INF forums, no such ideas could be propsed with such effect or, in many ways, with such contraversial thesies. With the second example, the shedding of one's insecurities may actually bring someone to openly love another person. I am banking on at least some of the auidience of this to have seen an eHarmony commercial in its persuasive, boder-line propaganda proposals. In truth, I know many people, who for better or worse, have such relationships and hold them dear. Me being one of these. "Matching by personality" can almost exclusively take place on a medium such as this where a person can cast aside their hendrences and insecurities to meet others who would 'mesh' with their own selfs. For a rough example, I can point out that asking if a date is into bondage might end up with either: laughing, a slap, or stupidfication.

  In many cases the shedding of our built up walls can cause social troubles simply because of how we, as a species, have evolved our social interactions. In certain cases, people will bury themselves within the giant security blanket of being ITS. Once again, I could cite at least three examples, but they would be ineffective along the lines of them not being well enough known. Such people can become so ducked into this culture that they never quite experience a true spectrum of life ITF. Obvious complications can be: population decline, increasing social anxiety, and unintentional hermitism (which can also be described as driving a person, quite literally, insane.) In other cases an immersion in this series of electrical signals may only stunt the social interactions of those involved with it. Similar examples to the last topic may be cited, but to a less potent degree. Alongside the immersive qualities, such a community may skew someone's already developed stigmas and securities that would serve them rather well in an open social enviroment. Back to the example of a forum ITF, if someone were to propose a heavily contraversial topic without a broad communal backing, it may be either disregaurded or shunned. Openess about one's self may also initiate a pathway for social exclusion, such as if a person were to openly "come out" to an audiance of unfamiliar or untrusted individuals. Granted the previous comment was not to demote gay pride or slef-identity, but rather to acknowledge that there are problems with being so open about one's self in our current society (as I view it, it would be society forever, but I am not safe to openly assume that.)

  Overall, this may affect our outlook on how we relate to other people. If we immerse ourselves within a culture that does not share the same guidelines as most communication ITF, it may harm us in ways we would never foresee. I'm sure all of us here at Gamespot would like to say that a certain person we "track" is our friend. Bloggers have their friends. Online relationships exist. Not to say these are untrue or are negative, not in the least, but in many cases we may be overstepping our boundries if we happen to dissolve our programmed methods of communication and start to proclaim said people as being as close as people ITF. Once again, such a realtionship is very much so possible, but its a heavily subjective view if it is correct, with backing on both sides. For a personal example, I can name at least five people who I hope I could claim are true friends. It would be true to say that these people may know, and possibly care, more about me then some of my friends ITF. To be fair, I must restate how I do have a personal incompetance to verbal communication as compared to textual. These people may be close to me, but if I were to simply disappear they may collectively worry, but I would eventually dissolve, where-as a friend ITF would be left with an impact, on average, for a much longer time, if not for the rest of their respective lives.

  I wouldn't make the grand statement that having a screen between us is a bad thing, nor would I state it as a good thing. Both styles of communication have their pro's and con's which I hope I have shown to some stunted amount. Our life ITS is or can be drastically different then our life ITF, for better or worse.

  • Posted Sep 30, 2008 8:16 pm PT
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• 29Sep 08

  Planescape Torment (Wootex's Suggestion)

  I've been looking for this off and on for a while, to be specific it was Wootex who made me keep my eyes open. In a talk with my cousin a while back, he mentioned that he had the game. I decided to go over to his home and raid the place, sad thing was that the only game he had worth stealing was, in my opinion, Planescape. I need to get back at him for having so many of my games stashed away.

  Anyways, I'll keep you informed about my new adventures into this game, although that may bore some of you who get this feed. To those who the later applies, I'm watching you. Closely. When you sleep.

  • Posted Sep 29, 2008 5:02 pm PT
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• 24Sep 08

  Fallout Online

  I don't know if I should be loving this or hating it. The old group is back together, but still the idea seems a bit out of the realm of the Fallout world. What do you think?
  • Posted Sep 24, 2008 4:38 pm PT
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