This is the place for my recent musings, commentary on the latest games I've squandered my paycheck on, and tales of my many virtuous missions at work...

• 31Jul 09

  Videogame Violence

  It's been a loooooooong time since I've posted anything here, but I'm happy to report I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I am, however, crawling ever closer to the degree I sought for more than 10 years ago. I've taken at least one cla$$ each semester (including the summer sessions) and I have about 2or 2-and-a-half years to go at my current rate. At the moment, I'm writing a paper for a cla$$ on Communication Ethics, and I've been posed with an interesting topic: Videogame Violence. I've been charged with exploring the subject from both sides and carefully outlining a neutral, fact-based argument in favor of, and against censoring said violence, and why. Then I would need to pose my own conclusion on the effects of this violence on the public-at-large.

  The reason I'm posting all this here is because... well... It's GAMEspot. The best place to acquire opinions on this topic is at one of the common gathering spots for gamers. My project has some rather broad margins from which to gather data and literature on the topic, and I thought it would be interesting to include some actual user opinions in my analysis. I KNOW most of everyone here has a rather passionate feeling on either side of this common debate and I'd love to hear about it. Even if your professional opinion on videogame violence is simply"violence is teh roxorz" or other equally un-substantiated drivel, I want to hear it. I haven't decided how I will include any statements I gather here, but be advised, I might be compelled to submit where the statements came from: i.e. handles and screennames. If you wish to keep your names anonymous, please include that with your statement and I'll gladly leave your name blank in my report.

  Now, it's just a dumb little paper being turned in to a local professor at a small university for a painfully ridiculous little summer class, so it's not like anything I collect here will end up in the hot-sheets or on 60 Minutes. However, itwill, for all essential purposes, be technically "published," so keep that in mind. Anyone willing to help me out will be greatly appreciated and the more opinions I collect here will make my report more interesting, so if you like, take a minute and shout out your feelings on this matter... for science!

  • Posted Jul 31, 2009 7:52 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 14Jan 09

  Couple Days Off

  Wow! It's been a loooong while since I posted anything here. Video games, among other things, took a back seat to work and cla$$ for the past few months. I've still been hammering away at school to throw my best efforts at turning my career path around. The rest of the time has been spent at work, and work really takes away most of my creative will, so writing outside of cla$$ just seems like a chore. However, with the weeks surrounding the holidays, I've managed to take some time off and unwind. I'm ready to approach the new year with a fresh perspective and take a new approach toward things. I also managed to acquire a PS3 with all the overtime money I've earned, so now I've finally managed to join in with the next-gen-console gamers. That said, now that I have this new toy, and ample time-off to use it and catch up with other things... I can definitely say that life is good these days.

  Right now, I'm at work getting ready to finish up my work week and head home for some more R&R. Afterwards, I can sit on my ass, relax, and be a total waste of life with no remorse, while dispensing death to total strangers on the PlayStation Network. I suppose that's my favorite feature of my PS3 so far. Most of my friends are at work during the day or moved to areas far-far away. Now, no matter what time it is, or wherever my friends are, I can obliterate them through my shiny, black, oddly-shaped little internet appliance! I love it!!! Now all I need are some more "PS3 Friends". Unfortunately, PS3 is rather cost-prohibitive and never really caught on as I hoped it would. I do hope that any PS3-enabled readers that browse through this post or peruse through my profile will think to add me to their friends list. I know I've been a lousy GS member and my friends list and profile has been horribly neglected, but like I said, a new year should yield a new perspective, right?

  Anyway, I have to wrap this up, but send me some news to get me abreast of how everyone's doing nowadays, and tell me some holiday details.

  -B² out

  • Posted Jan 14, 2009 12:54 am GMT
  • Category: Rant
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• 27Jun 08

  Insomnianity

  So it's been a while since I was last on here, but I figured I'd share something for a quick moment between work and cla$$. I had mentioned to a friend that I had trouble sleeping the other day. Naturally, he said it's because it was the other day and not the other night. Anyway, I told him that I went to bed as usual, got the room nice and dark... and stared at the ceiling for 8 hours. I felt nothing. I didn't even get drowsy in the least. The next theory my friend proposed was that I couldn't "switch off". I asked what he meant, but he just said that my "ADD brain is always all over the place and makes it hard for me to settle down". I kind of left it at that and shrugged it off because... well... he's right. The creeping on of middle age hasn't really slowed down my crazy brain very much. The next day, THIS appeared in my e-mail and I got a humungous laugh. Never has my head been portrayed so accurately!

  -B²

  • Posted Jun 27, 2008 7:37 am GMT
  • Category: Humor
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