Sean Pessin
English 114B
23 April 2013
Metacongnitive Essay
This was my first time writing and
maintaining a blog. I was completely new to this, however I also thought it
would be fun. The blog was made to talk about a specific topic of our choosing.
Our focus was to provide a way of communicating electronically with the aid of
multimedia components. It consisted of using photos, videos, and articles to
discuss our topic to the audience. For my blog, I chose to write about the
gaming culture. I would state latest news about what was going on and I would
also talk about how some people think video games itself is a bad impact for
our children.
Throughout
all my life, I had grown up with video games. I was not and currently am not a
hardcore video game player. I simply just play them recreationally when I have
free time. That does not mean I cannot love the gaming culture as much as I do.
I guess I can say I am more into the gaming scene compared to the average
teenager. Actually that is comparing it to most of my friends. They are gamers
too however I play more than they do. As much as I am into the gaming culture,
that does not mean that I know everything about it. There are other people who
know way more than I do. Those people are called the 'super hardcore' gamers.
I
learned more about the gaming culture by maintaining this blog. I also learned
that there are people in the world that do not support the gaming culture and
think video games are bad for the society. They think some video games create a
bad example for children. Such as how violent games taint the young mind of a
child and thus makes them believe that bad things are a good thing.
For
example: shooting and killing a person in the game as part of a mission, or
fighting people for the fun of it. If children experience this at such a young
age, it will be implanted in their mind that it is okay to do these things. I
think that is probably why games are T for Teen or M for mature. T is for 13
years or older and M is for 17 years or older. This is a good thing because
kids shouldn't be playing such violent games at a young age when their
imaginations are running wild. They should play it when they are able to
distinguish fantasy and reality.
For
me, yes I do think some video games are a bad influence for children. However,
they were not rated T or M for no reason. Stores will not sell games to
children who are below the age requirement of the game. That does not stop
someone older from buying it and then the child can then play it. Parents should
regulate and know what their child is playing. Especially at a young age. I
would say by the time they are thirteen or fourteen, the parents can lay off
and let the child play on their own. At that age, they should be able to tell
what is fake and not reality.
The
other posts in on my blog are just about the latest news in the gaming culture.
They range from big gaming company news, news about a new game coming out, or
just news relating to the game systems. Such as the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft
Xbox 360, or the Sony Playstation 3. One post I have however, was different
from the rest of my posts. It was not necessarily news but it was a video. The
video was a timeline of gaming history. It was a straight three minute video of
the first video games all the way to the present. From 1958 to the present, the
video showed the evolution of video games. It went from 2D (two-dimensional) pixilated
graphics to 3D (three-dimensional) high definition graphics.
That
video was such an amazing thing to see. As much as I love the gaming culture, I
had never really explored about the history and past of video games. To be able
to see how much it has evolved over time was a wonderful thing. It is always
great learning about the history of something that you are interested in.
My
posts are not just simply information on something. I research beforehand more
about what I am posting. By doing that, I become more familiar with the topic I
am talking about, and therefore I can talk more in depth about it. I can also
give my opinion but also still appeal to the audience that is reading. In other
words, it would not be a one-sided opinion. I always learn more about the topic
before I post it. Not only is that filling me with knowledge, it also keeps
those people on the internet who criticize everything and say that you have
false information away.
There
were plenty of more ideas I wanted to cover on my blog. I wanted to talk more
about old video games that created the foundation for most of the video games
today. I also wanted to talk about what I think might be the best games to play
for certain systems. Due to time constraints and a busy life, I never really
got around to doing it. I am willing to bet that if I did talk about these
topics, people may have found my blog more exciting to read and entertaining. I
would have included videos of gameplay and photos that depict what I am trying
to state.
In
the end, I can say that I have enjoyed writing and maintaining a blog. It was a
learning and a lifetime experience. I now know what it feels like to be the one
behind the scenes when I read an article or post from another website. They put
in so much effort and time to do research and learn the topic they are talking
about. Having a blog has taught me how to appeal to readers of all kind without
just stating your own personal opinion. I would like to be able to write
another blog or continue my blog sometime in the future.
