Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Metacognitive Essay

Jared Gonzalez

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.

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