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February 22, 2005
Welcome to the InterAdNet
Many of you are probably too young to remember this, but the Internet used to be a collection of services that allowed clear and rapid communication between multiple parties via electronic mail, document sharing and discussion forums. Then something happened: commercialization.
Businesses found an entirely new demographic to rape and plunder. And by businesses, I don't mean the plague that is Wal-Mart and its ilk. I mean "small" businesses, businesses unregulated by laws, businesses run by people who knew only one thing: "I can make money on the internet by peddling anything!" These morans prey on the stupidity of the exact same people doing the same thing as they. When the average education level of the Internet community dropped below college level, it should have been obvious that the future of the Internet was destined for something more childish, more degraded, and more pointless than any given post in rec.humor without an OBJ.
I guess the 'net has become an exercise in anarchy in its rawest intellectual form. Morals play no role in governance of the 'net. Government regulation only succeeds in providing legal loopholes for unscrupulous behaviour. And complaining about it, like I'm doing now, only adds to the millions of terabytes of worthless drivel available at a few clicks of the mouse.
There is no cure for the ravenous destruction of the benefits the Internet has given us, short of shooting the already dead horse it has become. And yet, were the 'net to be shut down, economies would collapse. The skin rag industry would go grass-roots. And I could finally be free of TrackBack Pings that are nothing but advertisements for nothing relating to the contents of what you see here.
Horray humanity. :P
Posted at 07:26 AM | Web Site Stuff | Comments (2)
February 09, 2005
Roleplaying Genders
When playing MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online roleplaying games), I tend to split the gender of my characters about 50/50. Half of them are male and the other half female. Why do I sometimes play female characters? I've broken it down to a few reasons.
One, very few should be surprised to learn that the female character models in games are not always realistic. Their proportions generally match an optimistic view of the female form to please the 90% young male audience. Well, sex appeal works, and the models are pleasing to look at. And when one spends hours playing a game, looking at one's own character, it may as well be one pleasing to look at, no? Granted, the male character models are also over-exagerated as well, but, when in put in other terms, I'd rather have a wall calendar with female models than males.
Two, playing an opposite gendered character in game provides a unique academic exercise. One's perspective of how one gender treats another en masse is certainly challenged when experiencing the other side of the fence. Young male teenagers are particularly blunt, abusive, and, dare I say, cocky when dealing with what they expect to be a female both in-game and out. I have also heard from female gamers playing male characters that the shift is rather insightful.
Three, crossing the gender line further enhances the roleplaying experience. When one plays an elf, dwarf, troll, or orc in-game, there is only a rough estimate and group of stereotypes as to what those creatures would really be like--particularly because they are strictly fantasy creations. However, genders are something that everyone is intimately familiar with, and therefore emulating the opposite sex brings a real world challenge to the fantasy of the game.
A friend brought up an interesting point, however, that it appears that female gamers tend to cross the gender line less often than males. Why the disparity? There are some seemingly obvious answers, but not being an actual female gamer, I don't rightly know.
Posted at 07:49 AM | Misc | Comments (0)