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my response to Mr McCullough
slim_chaz
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I e mailed this response to Mccullough in relation to "The 'Sex Box' Race for President."
How do you guys feel about 'mass effect, ' please reply with your thoughts and responces
and if anyone else has emailed him, totally post what you sent him, lets see thwe collective arguements of da gamer crowd
(also I know alot of his article was fulla shit but I said the bit about 'valid points' because i wanted to encourage him to read on by addressing him politely)
Hiya Mr McCullough,
I writing to you in response to your article "The 'Sex Box' Race for President." Though this article has generated alot of controversy, you have raised alot of valid points, yet I'd like to respectfully earge you to consider some of the more controversial elements of the video game in a different light.
Video games whilst an example of popular culture, are a medium that due to their interactivity have the ability to communicate complex paradigms of representation. In fact the unlimited space inherent in digital media make them a medium that can challenge most forms of high culture such as art and literature in terms of complexity of encoding. Therefore video games like literature and art are a worthy medium for exploring themes of sexuality, and I believe that the inclusion of such material in 'Mass Effect' is a strong move in establishing the video game medium as a a high culture art form, able to deal maturely and tastefully with the representation of sexuality.
Furthermore, the inclusion of homosexuality in 'mass effect' is an entropic and exciting event in relation to representation in popular culture. Consider the issue of 'queer visibility' across a range of popular culture franchises. Many media texts fail to acknowledge the existence of homosexuality as a theme, for example 'The Gaylaxians,' a science fiction fan club for gays, lesbians and bisexuals initiated a letter writing campaign to creators of star Trek in an attempt to have them cast a gay character in the program. These viewers felt that by failing to acknowledge their existence the creators were encoding a vision of the future derogatory to them:
'
'As one fan wrote: What kind of future are we offered when there is no evidence that we exist?'1
1Brooker, W & Jermyn, D (2003) The Audience Studies Reader Routledge: Jenkins, H 'Out of the Closet and Into the Universe;' Queers and Star Trek'
Paramount who currently own Star Trek have yet to produce an episode that includes a homosexual character or explores the theme of queer sexuality.
Representation of homosexuality is an important issue in popular culture, and with the inclusion of a homosexual romance 'Mass Effect' has addressed the needs of a huge audience whilst representing homosexuality in a tasteful and mature way, encoding interesting and realistic characters as oppose to 'campy' men or 'butch' lesbians. 'Mass Effect' in terms of valid representation has challenged even Gene Roddenberry' utopian vision of the future, and therefore has contributed to the establishment of video games as a serious medium.
Thank you for reading this argument
I do however agree with you that video games can have negative effects, and I argue here as someone who pretty much spent all of their teens in front of a computer screen. Social Norms and values are determined by the stories and narratives we tell each other, and it seems that the narratives of video games are forever driven by stories of revenge, violence and aggressive solutions to problem solving.
Whilst I don't think this will make someone pick up a gun, I feel in the long run gamers may grow into people who will always choose the aggressive approach to problem solving as oppose to more mature means.
When Robin Hood found a wolf in her grandmas bed she went and got the wood chopper, your average gamer would probably beat up and kill that wolf as soon as the problem presented itself, and then perhaps kick the corpse in the hope that money and rewards would fall out.
Whilst maybe this arguement is a little vague, perhaps the bombardment of aggressive and frankly horrid e mails you've received from angry gamers suppports the idea that video games are giving people the wrong idea of how to deal with problems.
Still though, video games rule!
Thanks for reading, please write back
Charlie
How do you guys feel about 'mass effect, ' please reply with your thoughts and responces
and if anyone else has emailed him, totally post what you sent him, lets see thwe collective arguements of da gamer crowd
(also I know alot of his article was fulla shit but I said the bit about 'valid points' because i wanted to encourage him to read on by addressing him politely)
Hiya Mr McCullough,
I writing to you in response to your article "The 'Sex Box' Race for President." Though this article has generated alot of controversy, you have raised alot of valid points, yet I'd like to respectfully earge you to consider some of the more controversial elements of the video game in a different light.
Video games whilst an example of popular culture, are a medium that due to their interactivity have the ability to communicate complex paradigms of representation. In fact the unlimited space inherent in digital media make them a medium that can challenge most forms of high culture such as art and literature in terms of complexity of encoding. Therefore video games like literature and art are a worthy medium for exploring themes of sexuality, and I believe that the inclusion of such material in 'Mass Effect' is a strong move in establishing the video game medium as a a high culture art form, able to deal maturely and tastefully with the representation of sexuality.
Furthermore, the inclusion of homosexuality in 'mass effect' is an entropic and exciting event in relation to representation in popular culture. Consider the issue of 'queer visibility' across a range of popular culture franchises. Many media texts fail to acknowledge the existence of homosexuality as a theme, for example 'The Gaylaxians,' a science fiction fan club for gays, lesbians and bisexuals initiated a letter writing campaign to creators of star Trek in an attempt to have them cast a gay character in the program. These viewers felt that by failing to acknowledge their existence the creators were encoding a vision of the future derogatory to them:
'
'As one fan wrote: What kind of future are we offered when there is no evidence that we exist?'1
1Brooker, W & Jermyn, D (2003) The Audience Studies Reader Routledge: Jenkins, H 'Out of the Closet and Into the Universe;' Queers and Star Trek'
Paramount who currently own Star Trek have yet to produce an episode that includes a homosexual character or explores the theme of queer sexuality.
Representation of homosexuality is an important issue in popular culture, and with the inclusion of a homosexual romance 'Mass Effect' has addressed the needs of a huge audience whilst representing homosexuality in a tasteful and mature way, encoding interesting and realistic characters as oppose to 'campy' men or 'butch' lesbians. 'Mass Effect' in terms of valid representation has challenged even Gene Roddenberry' utopian vision of the future, and therefore has contributed to the establishment of video games as a serious medium.
Thank you for reading this argument
I do however agree with you that video games can have negative effects, and I argue here as someone who pretty much spent all of their teens in front of a computer screen. Social Norms and values are determined by the stories and narratives we tell each other, and it seems that the narratives of video games are forever driven by stories of revenge, violence and aggressive solutions to problem solving.
Whilst I don't think this will make someone pick up a gun, I feel in the long run gamers may grow into people who will always choose the aggressive approach to problem solving as oppose to more mature means.
When Robin Hood found a wolf in her grandmas bed she went and got the wood chopper, your average gamer would probably beat up and kill that wolf as soon as the problem presented itself, and then perhaps kick the corpse in the hope that money and rewards would fall out.
Whilst maybe this arguement is a little vague, perhaps the bombardment of aggressive and frankly horrid e mails you've received from angry gamers suppports the idea that video games are giving people the wrong idea of how to deal with problems.
Still though, video games rule!
Thanks for reading, please write back
Charlie
slim_chaz on
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