Cross Assault sexual harassment controversy overshadows on-screen combat

http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/29/cross-assault-sexual-harassment-controversy-overshadows-on-screen-combat/

We have studied this particular incident in class and it is an old news, however I wanted bring back this issue because violence and harassment  in online communities are still presence nowadays.

On Feburary, 2012, Miranda Pakozdi was harassed by another tournament participant, Aris Bakhtanians. His comments toward Miranda were things like: “what is your bra size,” “take your shirt off,” “I will smell you very closely,” and so on. Unfortunately for Bakhtanians, these comments were streamed live on video as part of Capcom's Cross Assault reality series, which pits a team of Street Fighter players and a team of Tekken players against each other in a tournament for significant prize money. However, instead of an apology he blamed the gaming community. "Can I get my Street Fighter without sexual harassment?" asked Twitch.tv community manager Jared Rae of moderately well-known Tekken player Aris Bakhtanians during a conversation about sexist language at pro fighting-game tournaments. "You can't. You can't because they're one and the same thing," he answered. "This is a community that's, you know, 15 or 20 years old, and the sexual harassment is part of a culture, and if you remove that from the fighting game community, it's not the fighting game community." Miranda decided to give up the tournament after receiving on-going harassment by Aris Bakhtanians. From this incident, Aris Bakhtanians lost his sponsorship. The sponsor, Tom Cannon said “we cannot continue to let ignorant, hateful speech slide.” He’s since apologized, explaining that his remarks were made in anger, but that didn’t help much. However, as stated in the article, few voices supported Aris. Twitter user, Supre Arcade twitted “@Super_Yan the entire time you were giggling and enjoying the attention. Someone mentions harassment and not until then do you complain?”

I personally think that sexual harassment is not part of the culture, obviously. It exists, sure, but it's not mainstream. I just think that it's a universal truth of the internet, games and any online communities, from YouTube to political comments threads, that awful people feel more comfortable hurling abuse at you if you're female, gay or part of a racial minority. Even though this specific incident that I’m talking about is old news, but many violence and harassment are still presence in the online community. Are things like the Hepler and Cross Assault situations acceptable? No. Should we quietly ignore incidences of sexism in the gaming community in the hope that it might go away on its own? No. But is this a part of gaming culture? Absolutely not. We are not like that. It's important that we make our voices heard, too. 

Women in Video Games- Gender or Sex Icons?

        In today's society, the media pushes at just about every controversial angle they possibly can, including sexually representing women. Video games are one of the main culprits of this. Most video games represent their "female" characters as sex icons or pathetic, helpless sluts. For example, in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto, you are allowed to assault women, but pay for sexual favors, however none of them are main characters, simply just added "props".

        Women in video games are also represented as damsels in distress. You are often on a mission to either make money, get to the finish line, or complete a challenge. Most, if not all of these, have the main character saving a female in one or more obstacles of the video game. These women are dressed in revealing and sexually representative clothing and almost never dressed modestly. Even the character, Peach from Mario is the one in need of saving throughout the entire Mario series.

       According to Michele Zorilla in http://radford.edu/~mzorrilla2/thesis/gamerepresentation.html, men are completely over represented in video games compared to females with the ratio being 5.3 males for every one (1) female in games, and on top of that, females are never used as the main characters and often have weaker 'skill levels' versus male characters.

       Another common stereotype of women displayed in video games is their body type. Women are either displayed as extremely muscular, or very sexualized. They are portrayed to have the ideal body type where they wear skimpy and revealing clothing. Their breasts are usually visibly noticeable to the players and they appear to look only as sex icons rather than characters. Male characters are also typically very muscular, also showing the "ideal" body type. Personally, I have never seen an overweight character in a video game.

       Women are similarly represented in other forms of media as well. For example, there are only three movies where the female character saves the male character. There are also only a handful of movies that demonstrate the female character not in need of a male. One movie in particular has raised a huge amount of publicity for this exact reason. The movie, Frozen by Disney, represents the main character, Elsa as being a strong and independent women who does not need a man in her life. Raving reviews have been said about the movie for this particular reason. I myself, have heard mothers say how great of a movie it is to show little girls because it is so different from the typical princess stereotype.

Is digital divide of young and elderly people increasing?

Kieran Kelley

CAS 283

Blog 5

4-22-2015

 

Is the digital divide of young and elderly people increasing?

            After our discussion in class on seniors and younger children CMC usuage made me think about some of the situations that I have faced with my own family. I have experienced two different occasions in my family that I have seen my grandmother, and niece use of cell phones for CMC usage. My grandmother recently got her first cell phone this past year. If you are thinking that it’s the newer modern day smart phones you’re wrong. The cell phone my grandmother is currently using is a flip phone because it’s easier for her to use, and because she never used a computer before. Since my grandmother have never experienced the use of a computer before it made no sense to purchase an smartphone that had internet usage on it when she wouldn’t know how to access it.

            This leads to my other experience with technology on the other side of the perspective on how younger children are being brought into a society where almost everyone owns a technology device. With many jobs, and individuals who access the usage of technology it’s prone to be around the child once he or she is born. This leads to them being brought into families where the usage of technology is much higher than when my grandmother was a child.  My niece, who is now 4 years older, is capable of working an IPad, computer, smart phone, and other technology devices. The number of children who are able to work technology devices has increased over the past 10 years due their uprising of how far advanced our society has got with technology. Today’s teenagers grew up with digital machines and to a certain degree —with many binary options, with a visual culture of images and their rapid procession. For example, the article identified five different dimensions of technology which have impacted young lifestyle. The five different technology that have impacted younger children are the enabler of future professional occupation chances, symbolic capital, for entertainment of fun and action, as an object for social distinction, and, as means to structure daily activities. Principally the young get in touch with these technologies through trial and error and informal learning processes among peers. The elderly are more used to reasoning, systematic and logical thinking, linear step–by–step processes which are good for formal learning but turn out to be an obstacle when dealing with new technologies.

            In conclusion, even though the rates of both elderly, and younger generations digital device work has increased, but will never reach the rates of younger users. This divide of knowledge gap between current younger, and older generations is likely to be much closer in the near future. Nevertheless the gap will gradually become smaller over time, because the rates of elderly technology usage is growing. If technology keeps on growing expediently like it’s now, you will see a wide variety of mutual support for many opportunities in the future.  

http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1286/1206 

 

New Smartphone Users

After our discussion on Seniors and CMC it made me think about some instances I've had in my own family. My grandparents just recently got their first cell phones. Yes, cell phones. I'm not talking about a brand new smartphone with all the bells and whistles. Anyway, they've never used a computer before and the thought of having to teach them technology like that is a scary one. I have had this experience with my mother though, as she just bought her first smartphone. To this day, I still get all the "how do I..." questions. The answers seem so simple to me, but I forget that I am a digital native.

With this in mind, I was questioning what the best way to accommodate a digital immigrant is in their learning process. I found an article on lifehacker explaining the best way to set up a smartphone for those that have never used one before. Melanie Pinola, the author of the article, starts by explaining her own personal situation with her 70-year old mother in law that she gave a smartphone for her birthday. She says that she was excited about bringing her into a new age of technology but was worried about her mother in law learning how to properly use it. This reminded me of our discussion on overaccommodtion we had in class. Already Melanie was acting as though she would have no idea what she was doing. That may sound bad, but could very well be the case. She gives a few interesting tips on how to make it a little easier.

Her first bit of advice is to go through the setup process with them. Then, save all of their login information. Chances are, you'll need to retrieve their passwords for them at some point. Next, make sure you enable find my phone just in case a panic attack takes place when it gets lost under couch cushions. Along with this, take the time to setup their lock screen for them and have emergency contacts ready in case they forget how to get into their phone. After all of that, she basically says to just show them how to use everything. One point she brings up that I thought was very interesting is that the younger kids will usually press every button to figure out what they do. Seniors on the other hand, will ask you to show them what they do. I can personally agree with this, especially when I had to teach my mom all the buttons.

She closes by saying that their is a lot of ground to cover, and posted important manufacturer links in case there was an emergency while you are not around. Overall, I think it is important to teach the older generation about technology such as this, but you shouldn't underestimate them. They'll get the hang of it sooner than you think!

Securing Your Information

We spend so much of our time online and use the internet for so many things that we often overlook how vulnerable it makes us. In addition to all the fun and entertainment we have online through social media and games and other things, we’re also online doing things like taxes and shopping and business transactions. As a result, there’s a lot of information that we have willingly shared on the internet that we can’t know for sure if it’s safe or not.

Of course there are various methods of security such as antiviruses, security questions, various passwords, and etc. but the issue is there is just as many different ways to get your information with or without you knowing: phishing, pharming, and keylogging are just a few. Phishing is when people send you messages in order to trick you into giving them your information. Pharming is similar, but hackers use fake websites in order to trick you into logging in your information for them to use later. Keylogging is a bit different and a lot more difficult: it is when there is a program that can record a person’s keystrokes, effectively tracking everything that a person types down to the letter.

Many hacking attempts are geared towards finding someone’s information through getting their password, and thus access to their private information. There are many misconceptions about what constitutes as a strong password. Passwords are an integral part of online security and nearly anything online uses a password, so it is very important that your password is strong. The issue is that this article emphasizes password security and how to better protect yourself from your information being stolen. Many hackers will resort to using brute force to find someone’s password, which is using a program to try all possible combinations of a password. However it is fairly easy to make a password unable to be brute forced.

The easiest way to make your password stronger is to instead of thinking of a password, think of a passphrase (like a sentence instead of a word): use a memorable phrase or sentence instead of a word as a password to add complexity and memorability. Memorability is a key component because sometimes the requirements we have to have in our passwords (symbols, numbers, etc.) made it harder for us to remember so we write them down and store them, often on our computers. However this makes it easier for it to be stolen, especially if it’s an unsecured document.

Although there’s a lot of ways for your information to be stolen, there are just as many ways for you to protect yourself. There are many threats to your security and the easiest first step to securing your information is to improve your password.

It's a Boy's Club

While sexism has actively declined since the 1960s, it is still present in video games. The gaming industry and all aspects of it from game designers to game players have been dominated by men for the longest time. It is has been an all-boys club and only recently have the doors been open to women. When people design these games they purposely make them appeal to men. Women are often over-sexualized, associated with violence, male dependent, and have idealized body types. There are a few female archetypes that we learned about in class but to keep it short I will focus on the “sex icon.” We all know which female sex icon is the most famous and is still one of the hottest female characters of all time, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. What could a guy want more than a super sexy killing machine? She is not even the worse one out there. Just look at these women from the Mortal Combat game. What these characters are wearing is sexy but also disturbing. Realistically, it’s close to impossible to fight with those types of outfits on, but I guess that is why it’s not real. Just imagine being a girl and growing up in a house hold with only boys. When I was little I played all kinds of games with my older brothers, especially Mortal Combat because it had many girl players to choose from. I always picked the girl player who I thought was the prettiest, had on my favorite color, and had the biggest boobs because that is what I thought beauty looked like. Sometimes young girls are exposed to these images at such a young age it brainwashes them into thinking that is what real women look like. Just like the perfect Barbie dolls we see in the stores, the half-naked swimsuit models in magazines and on TV, and also in online gaming. These women are made to have big breast, curves, and a big but. No one in real life looks like that. Actually, Nicki Minaj comes close but all of it is fake. 

When I look at it from the other side I see how it makes since to make these women the way they do. When it comes down to it, it’s all about selling and making money. More men play and it has always been that way, therefore companies are going to appeal to their main audience. I think if more women played then, the display of women as sex icons would be less. Recent statistics have shown that there has been an increase in the number of women gamers with the rise of games like The Sims and casual gaming apps, such as Diamond Dash and Candy Crush. I found a video on YouTube called, Video Games and the Female Audience and it just about sums up everything we learned in class about women and cmc and what I have been talking about in this blog. It is a really interesting video and definitely hits all the main issue about women in the gaming industry. One thing that stood out to me the most was when he talked about how the creator of Lora Craft, Toby Gard, made her to be a “sexy, powerful, over the top heroine, pretty much a female Indiana Jones.” He goes on to talk about the marketing side of it. The creators make them one way but then the marketers portray them in a way that attracts more men. It’s kind of sad that women’s images have to be degraded in order to sell a video game.  I believe if women feel a certain type of way about the way we are being portrayed in the media and everywhere else then they should stand up a say something. Women have been to quiet and we have been pushed to the side for way to long. We are more powerful now than ever and we should take full advantage of that. 

Identity theft in digital era

          According to our lecture, identity theft refers to stealing of someone else’s information and identity fraud is to commit fraud of any kind with the stolen information. Most people steal information from others with the intention of committing fraud, and these two concepts are often considered interchangeable terms. There are many types of identity theft, including financial, criminal, identity cloning, synthetic, medical, and ghosting. Among all these types of identity theft, the most common type that we are likely to experience in our everyday lives is financial identity theft, which is defined as using an identity other than your own to obtain money, goods, or services (often those that you don’t deserve with your real identity). Financial identity theft is most likely to occur online than offline because as credit cards and e-checks gain their popularity in the digital area, it is so much easier for white collar criminals and hackers to stole credit card and other personal information from others without even approaching them in reality and without their knowledge because everything happens online. Most people today are loyal internet users who shop online and bank online, and all information that they might possibly use online (such as their credit card number, their SSN, as well as their phones) are very vulnerable to illegal access than they are in reality despite the firewall that ward off most but not all intrusions. In general, victims of identity theft often don’t realize that their identity have been stolen until the crime has actually occurred (like when you discover that a credit card bill charging you for the things that you never purchased). This is how online identity theft differs with that of the offline ones: the crime cost is lower and the chance of getting caught is lesser. I once witnessed a medical identity theft that occurred in reality: One of my friend’s roommate stole her ID card and went to the hospital for abortion surgery and my friend found that out almost instantly because her ID card is gone from her wallet. She then infer that the only person who has access to her waller was her roommate - and finally, she was able to retrieve her ID card without leaving unwanted medical records.
          Simply put, if we choose to ever use the Internet for commercial or other purposes that involve revealing our personal information to any third party, we are putting ourselves at greater risk of identity theft. However, it would be very unwise if we just abandon internet to secure our personal information because that way the costs would greatly outweigh the benefits - imagine what life would be like for modern people without internet! Thus, in order to protect ourselves from identity theft as well as identity fraud, it is crucial that we learn about effective strategies that battle internet criminals. Vangie Beal (2006) discussed this issue in-depth in her article “How to Defend Yourself Against Identity Theft”. She first described the negative impact that identity theft might have on us by suggesting that it can sometimes “go beyond a monetary impact” if the thief used your personal information to commit other serious crimes (this would be the criminal type of identity theft, as previously stated). Beal (2006) then proposed several valid methods for “minimizing risk” recommended by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). The FTC indicated that victims of identity theft must take immediate actions to further secure their account upon discovering the crime, such as informing the police or the bank. However, Beal (2006) also mentioned that it is better to prevent identity theft from ever happening by visiting only websites with well-written privacy policy as well as good security checks, such as the websites that offer data encryption. Moreover, we should never choose to disclose our personal information until we are positive that the communication medium is secure. In a nutshell, all of us as internet users should always try to remain as vigilant and alarmed as possible when disclosing our information concerning privacy online to make ourselves less like vulnerable targets that hackers will look upon. 

Reference:
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/identity_theft.asp