Pire-at-Sea
Posted on Monday, July 25 2011 @ 15:48:47 Eastern

Far away in the kingdom of Pire-at-Sea the evil ruler Arfor concocted a diabolical plan. He would create cloned citizens to infiltrate the kingdoms of Ninmar, Migat and Sogi. These clones would work for the citizens of the kingdoms for free providing the sorts of home help services the kingdoms’ citizens ordinarily paid for regularly. Anyone who wanted to could simply import a clone and avoid paying fees to the huge home help companies of Ela, Blizz and Capla.
 
This continued for a while until the kingdoms’ rulers began to fear not only reprisal from powerful lobbyists who wanted a monopoly on the helper industry but also an economic downturn if such large companies were to fail. They all countered in their own ways: Ninmar developed equipment only registered helpers could use, Sogi locked down the kingdom in an effort to block the clones from entering at all and Migat decided to use the threat of destruction of the clone labs. A threat which Arfor laughed off knowing his land was well protected against military invaders and the clone labs were well hidden. None of these measures had any effect and the clones continued delivering free service to anyone who requested it. Some continued to respect the basic economic principle of paying for goods and services received but the situation was becoming dire.
 
To keep generating profit the companies increased their rates, thus punishing legitimate customers while having no effect on Pire supporters, nor on Pire itself. The companies introduced their own anti-clone measures. They issued each helper with unique codes to call ‘home’ every hour and withheld required services if this did not happen. The measures they introduced only succeeded in further inconveniencing the legitimate user when Pire-at-Sea residents broke the code phrases.
 
The three kingdoms and three companies refused to bow down and made the most of any minor victory by creating examples of whatever Pire-at-Sea resident they managed to catch. The unfortunate few were rounded up and held in the stockades to be humiliated but their admirers were as numerous as their detractors. When they were released they were faced with financial ruin after the various fines and fees had been levied. This hard ass approach garnered support from no-one but the most ardent of Pire-at-Sea detractor. After all, helper fees were so high and helpers who had been trained and registered before going into business for themselves were hamstrung and inconvenienced wherever possible. How could anyone see the Pires as true bad guys rather than people standing up to unjust corporations? It did, however, lead to revenge attacks.
 
The offices of the companies would be infiltrated to cause disruption and gather information. Even the sovereign palace of Sogi was entered and the commotion kicked up as a result ground the kingdom to a halt for weeks. We now exist in a curious universe where followers of Arfor and Pire-at-Sea can easily circumvent any protective systems the kingdoms or companies create and where non-registered helpers are subject to so many rules that it is impossible for them to work to the same level as those registered to the companies. To ‘unlock’ these ‘second hand’ workers an extra fee must be paid to the relevant company. The worst thing? These so called extras used to be considered part and parcel of proper service!
 
Our connected planet has become a noose around our neck when helpers cannot function independently, instead needing a constant connection to base. And what if that connection is severed? The fully paid helper can only do half a job.


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Hacking and Piracy
Posted on Sunday, May 1 2011 @ 16:56:50 Eastern

Unless you’ve been living under that special rock occupied by people who still haven’t seen Toy Story you’ll be aware that Sony, for the last two weeks, has majorly dropped the ball regarding their online service. While Sony’s handling of the situation – and their policies which led to the intrusion – has been laughably abysmal not much focus has been placed on the perpetrator.
 
Hacking has existed for as long as computers and even phones where ‘phreakers’ could obtain bonuses such as free calls through their exploits but, while most hacks are small scale and done simply for the hacker to prove their ability, hacking is generally a harmful practice and when a big hack occurs such as the one Sony has experienced it’s hard to believe that the personal details of potentially millions of people have been copied over to the hard drive of the perpetrator simply for bragging rights. There is a black market worth a lot of money for the personal details of people. These details can be used to apply for credit cards, bank loans and no doubt many, many other things. What they all have in common though is the damage they do to the person whose details that have been stolen.
 
While the hacker stands to get rich by selling the list of personal details he has obtained he is almost certainly causing hundreds, if not thousands, of people a world of hassle, stress and, if they are very unlucky, a financial loss they are unable to recoup. To reap this on people for personal gain is pure selfishness and produces far more problems in the world than solutions. Perhaps one situation is improved but countless others are worsened substantially.
 
Piracy presents a similar situation. ‘Theft’ is defined as the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it under UK law. This does not apply to piracy. The well-known image from Patri Friedman highlights the rift between theft and piracy in that the former removes the original whereas the latter creates a new copy. That is of course true but ignores the deeper aspects of piracy.
 
If I were to, in some insane parallel dimension, download the new Miley Cyrus album, I would be creating a copy out of, essentially, nothing. My 1’s and 0’s would have been manifested out of the ether but would exactly replicate the 1’s and 0’s of the official album. I am not depriving anyone of Miley’s latest squawking but I am depriving Miley, and anyone else involved in the production of her… music, of payment for their efforts.
 
And therein lays the problem of piracy. There is no physical item being removed from anyone’s possession but effort deserves to be paid for. When 3D printers become sophisticated and commercially viable no doubt people will be pirating the schematics for cameras and TVs and submarines but that doesn’t mean that taking the work of others and using it for free is morally right. Copyright, patent and trademark law has arisen to protect the intellectual property of people and exist for the sole reason that taking the ideas of others without paying any agreed price is wrong.
 
We all want something for nothing but not many of us would want to create something from scratch and not be rewarded for it. Pirates ignore this basic principle and take what they want. The argument has the potential to descend into pure, ugly economics and possess no more than facts on how little the artist earns in comparison to the record label but that is not what this is about. There are a multitude of issues regarding the earnings breakdown where music is concerned but piracy means no one earns anything.
 
So on the one hand we have hackers who will take private details and sell them for personal gain regardless of any suffering caused and on the other we have pirates who will gladly enjoy the intellectual property of someone else without paying that person for the effort put into creating that property. These are two very different offences but neither are morally sound and both are objectively selfish. A world where everything is fair is all but impossible: after all, easy will always be seen as better by many regardless of moral standpoint and so we will always be left with those willing to deprive singers/actors/authors/writers/directors and so on and so forth of income and those willing to ruin the finances of those whose details have been stolen (or pirated?) for their own gain.


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What's so bad about video games?!
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 11:42:31 Eastern

We hear it all the time: “Doom caused Columbine!”, “Mass Effect is depraved!” and “Oh my god the swearing! My poor, delicate ears!”. As gamers, dodging such attacks is pretty much a way of life; hell, take a look at my previous blog entries to see that I’ve defended games on more than one occasion.  But here’s a twist on the same old theme of ‘games ≠ bad’: what exactly is so bad about video games? I’m not here to argue for or against the wholesomeness of games. We all know that there are people who would gladly see the complete end of the games industry and we know that there are those at the other end of the scale who are fine with anyone killing a hooker on Grand Theft Auto. Then of course we have people who don’t really fit on that particular length of measurement because they still see games as the realm of losers and children. None of these views are particularly helpful and the origin for this is the same reason: lack of understanding. I’ve already frequently commented on the animosity towards video games so this time I won’t be looking at any of the aforementioned groups, instead I’ll be commenting on the lack of understanding itself.
 
Like I said before, this blog entry isn’t about defending games. I fancy doing the opposite this time; what’s the worst unwholesome element of video games? Is it the violence, the gore, the sex, the language, the drugs? Before I start I’d like to mention that I don’t have kids of my own so I can’t comment from experience when I talk about what kids of various ages are capable of dealing with. On the other hand many parents have no experience with video games so in that way we’re two sides of the same coin. If any parents wish to weigh in I’d be more than happy to listen and contribute and I think it’s this kind of collaboration that can seriously help games provide clearer warnings and help parents to become more familiar with game content.
 
Drugs have been around in video games for a long time. Depending on the level of hysteria we have the obvious drug references and drug use in Grand Theft Auto, the military style drug use in Metal Gear Solid (think diazepam), the implied drug use in any game with a health pack and the they’re-definitely-reading-too-much-into-it-now drug use in Mario and Pac-Man. Parents are right to want their children to be shielded from such adult references. After all, most parents wouldn’t be happy for their child to watch Blow (that’s the film about drugs starring Johnny Depp even though it also sounds like it could be porn) so why should it be different if the references are in a video game? Drugs are easy, they don’t appear in games much and even when they do they rarely take an important role in the story. Rarer still do they reflect anything good, rather they are something that needs getting rid of and not a potential for a bonus or reward. At least drugs aren’t often glorified.
 
Another rarity in the video game world is sex. Don’t get me wrong, ‘sexy’ has been a staple of gaming since the colour ‘flesh’ was on the palette, but the carnal act of sex is under represented. There’s the 30 second sex scene in Mass Effect which made Fox News lose its ****, the GTA Hot Coffee controversy and, of course, the game that seems engineered from the ground up to cause revulsion: Rapelay. It’s pretty obvious that Leisure Suit Larry going about his day to day business isn’t suitable for kids but what about the more relationship based aspects as found in the Mass Effect and Fable games? Regardless of how some religious fundamentalists see it, sex is a part of life and games, as art (yes they are), often reflect this. So drugs are almost exclusively an element suitable only for adults (think actual references rather than implied ones) but sex, at least in the context of loving relationships, is ok for slightly older children? It certainly seems that way if you look at the first Mass Effect being rated 12 by the BBFC and Max Payne being rated 15 by the BBFC. Of course there are plenty of other aspects to take into account for those ratings such as the other content in the games and the time they were released (after all, Citizen Kane was, once upon a time, controversial). Still though, out of all the elements of life a loving, sexual relationship is healthier than one peppered with illegal drug use.
 
Sex and drugs in games are pretty cut and dried. Neither are suitable for young children, older children might be able to play through games with those elements depending on their own disposition and their parents’ attitudes towards the content. Where it gets less clear is with bad language and, believe it or not, violence. Many parents don’t want their child to be exposed to bad language which is fair enough. No one wants to listen to slightly squeaky voices repeating processed phrases from Family Guy and South Park and if those phrases are vulgar then it makes it all the worse... just ask anyone who plays on Call of Duty. The real question is which is worse; violence or swearing? Would you be ok with a game which swears frequently but only uses violence occasionally? What about the other way around? Some people say that they don’t mind a bit of shooting so long as swearing isn’t involved and I can understand their point: it’s easy to explain violence is inappropriate and wrong but much harder to stop kids from swearing. There are even idioms to that effect (‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!’). Still, when said all at once it sounds very odd that swearing is bad but shooting bullets into people is ok.
 
Even more confusing is the relationship between violence and gore. They go hand in hand but they’re not locked to each other’s wrists. Violence can be found in almost every game – even Mario could be argued to be violent – of course the real violence can be found in games like Call of Duty and Halo. But even these games, which feature the use of guns and the shooting of squishy living things aren’t all that gory. Aside from small spurts of blood from gunshots Halo doesn’t show much gore at all, as in there is no dismemberment and so on. War based shooters sometimes allow messy headshots but many of those games allow gore to be turned off in the options panel. Now, it strikes me that any game which features guns is also going to feature shooting those guns at living things but which is worse: shooting a human in the arm only to have them shake it off and continue attacking; or shooting them in the arm and seeing the natural repercussion, i.e. the arm being shredded and rendered useless? The latter reaction would be removed when the ‘remove gore’ checkbox is ticked but it seems to me that if someone insists on being exposed to violence then they should see the real consequences, to do otherwise seems... misrepresentative.
 
Again, I have no children of my own but I do work and live with games. I am a staunch believer in an age rating system for media, I have explained why in past blogs and my opinions have since matured but the core values have stayed basically the same. A solid, dependable rating system not only gives confused parents a guide to help them choose games for their child but also protects the games industry and gives adults the chance to play mature games which would come under much harsher criticism than they already do if there wasn’t a big M or red 18 in the bottom corner. I don’t think many people would disagree with the necessity of a ratings system but deciding which parts warrant harsher treatment is difficult and a much more personal decision. Swearing is the worst because it’s easy to mimic but sex is the worst because... well, just check out teen pregnancy rates. Oh but violence is the worst because who wants an aggressive, violent child? Then again gore is the worst because it’s the reason films like Saw and Hostel are so reviled. Then again, those things are the best of a bad bunch because they’re relatively inconsequential, part of the natural order of things, easy to dissuade a child from imitating and a reflection of the brutal reality of our aggressive actions respectively. It’s really that easy to flip the reasons around so maybe describing the rating for each major component of a game would be beneficial to the different opinions of parents everywhere.


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Games and Stories
Posted on Monday, October 11 2010 @ 14:12:43 Eastern

I just finished reading an article on Cracked.com. For the uninitiated, Cracked.com is a comedy website which allows its readers to supply the site with comedic lists. Not only does this supply them with a very decent sized audience, it also supplies...   read more...

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Piracy: The Reality
Posted on Saturday, February 13 2010 @ 15:45:38 Eastern

Piracy has been with us for centuries. True pirates: the ones who cannot be mixed at the aesthetic level with zombies, ninjas or robots terrorised the high seas. They pillaged and took whatever...   read more...

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The technological limits of consoles
Posted on Sunday, January 24 2010 @ 08:40:13 Eastern

After reading an article in 360 Gamer (issue 72) I came to wonder just how much life is left in today’s generation of consoles, this is an expansion of the issue that article touched upon.read more...

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The Need for an 18
Posted on Monday, November 16 2009 @ 14:00:00 Eastern

In the past week footage from the upcoming Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 (or MW2 for short) was leaked. It depicted a terrorist act and the tragic deaths that resulted. This footage has prompte...   read more...

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Games Are Not Art: A Rebuttal
Posted on Thursday, October 22 2009 @ 06:45:51 Eastern

Melaisis made the meandering claim that games are art but not in the traditional sense. This is an idea that I can get on board with but his reasoning to lead to such a conclusion cries out to be debated.

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PSPass Go, spend £200+
Posted on Monday, October 5 2009 @ 11:37:53 Eastern

So, the PSP Go is out now and has been for a couple of days. I had a hands on go with Sony’s new iteration of the PSP a few weeks ago when Mr Sony popped into a shop I was ...   read more...

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TV shows described in 200 words or less
Posted on Sunday, May 3 2009 @ 14:26:26 Eastern

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives follows the lives of two babes, two wives and one conniving b**** after the suicide of their friend. The first season follows their stories as they come to terms with said friend's death and try to...   read more...

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