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Plague Inc. Evolved

Put simply, Plague Inc. is a game where you kill all humans by engineering a deadly disease. 

How the player wants to achieve this is more or less up to them - there are many available symptoms or disease types that the player can use to inflict any amount of suffering onto the human population before (attempting) to kill them all. 

The creator (James Vaughan) was inspired by the Pandemic games, which have the same plot (if a bit more simple). You use anything from a bacterium to a virus to a zombie plague, a mind-control parasite, literally Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and most recently, a disease that makes people turn into vampires... or slaves of them, anyways. 

Seems a bit morbid, and maybe even a bit dangerous, right? The Resident Evil games are one thing, but a game that literally puts you in the role of a bio-terrorist trying to end the world? Wouldn’t this game be used as a model by actual bio-terrorists in order to attempt to commit their horrible acts in the real world?

This isn’t an unreasonable worry, given that games do exert an influence on people’s thinking. It would not be impossible for someone to be inspired by the game to attempt to commit bio-terrorist acts because ________________.

Still, the game takes advantage of the fact that it’s a game to reassure those with the worry of this inspiring bio-terrorist attempts. An actual pandemic would not spread as quickly as the one in the game does. When a pathogen develops a new symptom or ability, in-game it only takes a few days for everyone to start suffering from this new development, but real-life diseases require a much longer and less certain time to develop anything new and even then that means that it has developed into a new strain of the disease, which will need to spread on its own in order to propagate the new effects, and if a new strain arises THAT one will have to spread... 

Basically, the features that make the game a game, and try to maintain its being something to be enjoyed, are the same ones that would make anyone trying to follow it as an example for their own attempt at bio-terrorism fail. 

Does this address the issue of the possibility of the game inspiring bio-terrorism? Not really. It only covers the possibility that said would-be bio-terrorist is an idiot and tries to use a game as the basis for his activities.

Moving on to another topic, the game has a little news ticker that gives cute news updates that are often humorous (stuff like Justin Bibble’s new album, Liquids with a Half-Life of 3 being unable to pass through Valves) but do make some references to real-life issues like natural disasters, anti-vaxxers, etc. Countries are pretty much sorted into particular categories in order to facilitate certain game functions. Probably the most notable would be “Rich” or “Poor” with Rich countries requiring a drug resistance perk in order for your disease to spread properly, and Poor countries being relatively vulnerable to your plague. 

It’s not inaccurate. In fact, besides the game elements, the game actually has quite a bit of accurate and well-researched information on how plagues spread, what kinds of disease vectors exist, which kinds of communities are vulnerable to which kinds of transmission, etc. But again, the difficulty with these kinds of games is that the more accurate you are the more the danger of someone going too far with the concept in real life becomes an issue. 

On the other hand, though, the game has been praised as a way of raising awareness about diseases and how they spread, and by the CDC no less. It is sufficiently informed to be able to give people an insight into something that is often not very well-understood, but also simple enough that a general audience can understand it. 

All in all, it’s an interesting game, and different people use what they take away from it differently. Here’s to hoping that it’s mostly used positively.

Links:

https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2013/04/plague-inc/

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1z07e2/im_james_vaughan_creator_of_plague_inc_and_plague/

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Digital Footprint

You know, snakes are shy animals. They don’t like being out in the open and exposed, and they prefer to hide when bigger animals like humans come close.

That seems like a weird thing to talk about, but my point is that I’m shy. I don’t like talking about myself, and in general I’m not one for conversation either unless it’s with a friend of mine.

But, ah well. Let’s see what I’ve been up to on the internet.

It’s hard to track down these posts at this point since i make them so infrequently, but I do sometimes get into arguments over really dumb things (or things that are important to me) online. It’s usually something to do with sexuality or sex or gender or discrimination. Depending on how good the other person is at arguing their point I can get extremely passive-aggressive.

Of course, there’s this tumblr. Which I don’t really use that often, but it’s here. Similar to my AO3 (AHeartIsAHeart. I update extremely slowly.) I mostly use this for fanfiction writing/reading purposes, and not much else. I suppose it’s worth noting that I’m quite openly gay everywhere except for Facebook (because my parents and relatives follow me there). I don’t post (much), but I do share posts often. It’s usually a mix of jokes, memes, news, and things regarding school activities or whatever. I would post screenshots of them, but for some reason Tumblr just won’t let me post pictures so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

The thing I use the internet the most for is gaming, and most of the time these are single-player games, but the more important one for the topic of my digital footprint are the multiplayer online games. I like to joke that I really get around with MOBA games because I tend to jump in between them constantly. At the moment, the main one is League of Legends, but I also play SMITE and DotA 2 occasionally. As a general rule, I mute chat for those games so I don’t get lured into being as toxic as the other players in the game tend to be, but I also tend to splurge a lot on cosmetic items or new units just because I can.

If I were to try and see what kind of identity I’m building with all of this, I’m kind of an angry gay couch potato who plays video games and reads fanfiction 24/7. Not entirely accurate, since I do take the time to do homework (like this) or thesis or just sleep, and in real life I’m way too mild-tempered to actively start an argument unless it’s just THAT important to me. Otherwise it’s a fairly accurate representation of me, given that I really do spend most of my time on my computer.

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Overwatch and the Fearsome Gay Agenda

At this point it’s almost a year-old issue, but hey, it’s still one that people love to bring up so why not.

Soldier: 76, a character in the Blizzard (no, we’re not going to be talking about that other issue today) FPS game Overwatch, was revealed to be a Gay man in January 2019 in a short story. (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/soldier-76-from-overwatch-has-been-confirmed-as-gay-and) 

All well and good, yes? Well, as the article above shows, the reactions to the news were... well, mixed.  On one hand there was great approval from the LGBT+ community and their allies, who praised Blizzard for promoting diversity in their games, and on the other, great opposition and outrage from many who felt that the change was “unnecessary” and simply “pandering” to a minority.

But what is it that makes just saying “Oh, this character is gay” so “necessary” or “unnecessary”?  

Let’s look at the character first. Soldier: 76 (or Jack Morrison) is a former super-soldier commander turned vigilante who has become jaded and pessimistic about the organization he used to lead and its goals and ideals. Nothing about that really says “THIS IS A GAY MAN”, but, we have to think, why does there NEED to be something that says so? By the same logic, those same traits I just listed are not necessarily indicative of a Straight Man either. There is no way to identify a gay man besides their attraction to other men... and even then you’d have to consider that they might just be bisexual or pansexual. So where does this “but it doesn’t make sense” or “it feels forced” or “I just don’t see it” or “it’s bad writing” come from”? 

(posts like this: 

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/soldier-76-how-not-to-write-in-a-gay-character/283992/3

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/why-is-soldier-gay/285303/7

and this article: https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/8/18246516/overwatch-queer-characters-soldier-76-vincent-toxic-community 

are a good place to see the “negative” reactions to the reveal)

It’s hard to really conclusively say anything since gender studies on video games aren’t super common and are pretty hard to access besides, but it shouldn’t be too hard to see that there exists a trend of gender stereotyping and hypersexualization in most forms of media now - video games being no exception. The images that these trends impart to the audience create a bias against things that do not really fit those images, and those who actually enjoy such images will actually react violently to other images that contrast with them. Recall Anita Sarkeesian, who dared to comment on the portrayal of women in video games and received a massive amount of hate from (generally male) gamers regarding her statements about the issue of the representation of women in video games (it’s here btw, it’s cool to watch. really interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYqYLfm1rWA). 

This particular “issue” of characters being “turned” gay is similar, in that it involves the introduction of the presence of something that a particular group sees as a “threat” to it, thereby drawing backlash from said group. Because Soldier:76 was not a flaming gay queen since the start of the game, it is suddenly too “forced” to reveal that he is gay now. He is not even the only queer character in the game - Tracer, (Lena Oxton) was revealed to be Lesbian almost three years before him. The reveal of her sexuality was also met with mixed reactions, though one could say that with the fetishization of lesbians as a whole (which is a different discussion altogether) even some of the positive reactions could actually be harmful. 

So SHOULD Soldier: 76 have been written as a gay man? Being honest, it doesn’t matter much to me. Yeah, I’m gay, and I’m happy that there are gay characters in the games that I play, but since it doesn’t affect gameplay I don’t see why people should care about it. Since Overwatch is one of those games where the lore is pretty much completely separate from the actual gameplay, the easiest solution (but also the one that won’t make anyone have to think about their stance on these kinds of issues) is just... ignore the lore. The sexuality of a video game character is only as important/offensive/whatever as you make it. 

Let people be happy that they’re being represented, and maybe you won’t need to worry so much about the “necessity” of “making” a character gay. 

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Well, here’s another post that... might... make you think about something! I hope. Honestly I don’t really know if anyone will actually read through these. Sadt.

Anyways, today we’re going to talk about... New Media! And how mediated culture is now experienced primarily through computers and the internet now. 

I’m sure you’ve heard all about how kids these days are so glued to their devices, and how back in the good old days people actually talked to each other without the interference of cellphones or whatever, and that today’s generation are all degenerates because they’ve been corrupted by the media... okay, maybe that last one was a bit less “everyone has heard it” and more “I’ve heard it too many times myself”. But you get my point! There’s a really big gap between the culture before New Media became a thing and the culture of when New Media became a thing. 

But in the first place, what makes New Media, “New Media”? Well, New Media has 6 characteristics, Digital, Interactivity, Hypertextual, Virtual, Networked, and Simulated, none of which I’ll go super into detail about since I’ve got a word limit here, but I’ll put some links at the end if ever whoever is reading this is interested.

If I were to describe New Media considering all of those characteristics, I’d say that it’s really fast. Like, ridiculously fast. And it’s only trying to get faster and more efficient. 

Take messenger, for example. It delivers messages to anyone with the same app. This means that people aren’t just waiting by their mailbox hoping that a letter will arrive from their SO in France anymore, they can just get broken up with over messenger! Amazing. 

Joking aside, information traveling this fast and this conveniently means that people can actually react much faster to things happening than they could before. It takes, like, two seconds to send someone a message now, unless it’s like an essay or something. This affects how a lot of companies and institutions operate, since it introduces a large variety of opportunities and possible problems that they have to navigate in order to prosper. 

This article (https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/culture-for-a-digital-age) points out that in the digital age, things like Risk Aversion and Weak Customer Focus, which were already problems for companies before, are outright death sentences for them now. Given the larger access people have to... everything... it’s only natural that they’d all want something from a particular company or institution or whatever and that company would have a hard time pleasing them all, if that’s even possible.

So what exactly does this new, fast-paced, culture demand literally everyone to do in order to keep up? The obvious answer is that everyone’s gotta go fast too. Fast to react, fast to respond, fast to get on the biggest piece of news, etc. It might not be as observable to everyone, but time has become an even more precious resource nowadays. Everything is so fast! Wasted time means wasted chances to see something you might like, or seize an opportunity that’s extremely time-sensitive. 

Do I like this kind of culture? This “The Fast and the Furious” kind of culture where the slow are left to choke on dirt while everyone else scrambles for some kind of space? 

Being honest, I’m pretty slow as a person. Like, running is the only thing I do fast. I like to take my time, is what I’m saying. So I don’t particularly like that culture today, especially how it’s being expressed through media on the computer screen, is so focused on getting somewhere as fast as possible. I’m not the most patient person in the world, but even I know that rushing headfirst into something isn’t really the way things should be, yeah? 

I love this age of convenience, but let’s try to slow down a little so we don’t miss so much of the world outside of the computer screen. It’s a corny message, but it really does have a point. 

Don’t let the computer screen be the only way you can experience anything. 

Sources:

 http://channel-to.blogspot.com/2015/05/six-main-characteristics-of-new-media.html

https://revisesociology.com/2018/12/13/main-characteristics-new-media/

https://www.scidev.net/global/opinion/how-to-adapt-education-for-the-digital-age.html

https://hbr.org/sponsored/2017/10/is-your-company-adapting-fast-enough-to-thrive-in-an-increasingly-digital-world

https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/how-to-adapt-education-for-the-digital-age

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/culture-for-a-digital-age

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trust-todays-volatile-fast-paced-digital-world-azran-osman-rani

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3D Printing

So, yeah. 3D Printing. It’s not normally something I really think about, since it always seemed like the kind of thing that was still in development, given that it seemed too “advanced” to be completely true. I mean, just imagine, technology that can just print you what you need? Come on. It’s probably still being fine-tuned or… something.

Well, lo and behold, I was wrong! Like I am about so many things. Anyways, 3D Printing has come a long way since it was first brought up as an idea, and at this point in time 3D printers are actually quite capable of printing various complex things like a flute, a camera lens, a fully functioning acoustic guitar, a loom (those complicated things they used way back when to weave things), medical models, a case for your iPhone, a hanging light…

…And a fully functioning gun. Did I forget to mention that? That seems like something that would be important to know.

Oh do you think I’m joking? I’m really not. Sometime before, when 3D Printing was still relatively new, some guns could already be made – it’s just that they broke after the first few shots were fired. Now they don’t! Technology evolves so fast.

But I’m sure you get what I’m talking about, right? Sure, 3D Printing is useful and all since it allows us to more easily and conveniently create the things we need without having to go out all that much. That’s really not in question. But what price does that accessibility and convenience come at?

Since I already mentioned it, let’s start with the whole “YOU CAN PRINT GUNS NOW, CONGRATION” thing. Gun control is already a massive issue in the United States, and you’re really going to make it so people can just MAKE their own guns if they have 3D Printers? What’s that going to do in relation to gun-related violence? Let me make clear that we’re not talking just handguns here, though those are already pretty goddamn dangerous on their own.

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-3d-printed-gun-controversy-everything-you-need-to-know/

While the article that I’ve linked above does make the point that one can’t “just” print the guns themselves, the fact remains that with some blueprints or basic knowledge one can just buy the parts they need to complete said firearm. Not to mention that while expensive, you can also still print the metal parts that you need.

Like… dude, I’ve only got 1000 words max on this article. Guns aren’t even the only issue 3D printing brings along with it. They are, however, probably the most worrying. Just think; these blueprints are online. If I were so inclined, I could probably get them pretty easily off the internet off several sites from a google search or three. All I’d need then is a 3D Printer and the needed materials. Isn’t that… kind of scary? That that kind of danger is made so much harder to properly manage because of how technology enables it?

What do 3D Printers mean for socio-economic concerns? Because like I said, 3D Printers are VERY flexible. They can make a lot! So many things, in fact, that they might start putting manufacturing companies out of business.

Maybe not food companies (yet) but things like, say, medical equipment, molding, maybe even toy companies? What happens to them when everyone can just make their own thing if they have a blueprint for it?

One could make the argument that they would also employ the use of 3D Printers, but then what happens to the people who work there? Do they just go their own merry way? Good luck, hope you find a job that gives you an adequate, livable wage when your skillset has been negated by 3D Printers?

I guess I’d like to close this post by saying that all the things 3D Printers can do are definitely pretty cool… but maybe we should be more cautious about what this kind of tech will do to our society as a whole. Stuff like 3D Printers might seem like there are mostly just positives, but let’s all look a little deeper to see what kind of negatives there are, yes?

If it helps, call it being realistic instead of pessimistic.

Sources, for anyone who might want to read the same things I did:

http://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201524848647901.page

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-3d-printed-gun-controversy-everything-you-need-to-know/

https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/3d-printings/

https://gizmodo.com/the-3d-printed-gun-threat-is-getting-weird-and-scary-1835694478

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/3d-printed-guns-blueprints

Let’s hope I didn’t get put on some government watchlist for specifically googling about 3D Printing guns…

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@blizzard make this Symmetra’s new highlight intro

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I AM HEALED

Baptiste blows a kiss when he says hello

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan Buries Armie Hammer for Criticizing Stan Lee Tributes.

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Lets debate biology.

I feel like a lot of abortion debates are becoming based on feelings, emotions, and subjective morality. I’m not looking for an ugly knock out drag out debate, i just want to discuss hard facts about abortion and see where this goes. 

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rb if you’d wipe all pedophiles off this earth

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god is a woman

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Please pray for us here in Greece.

Three different places near Athens were destroyed by massive forest fires.

• 180+ people are severely injured and burnt.

• 50 people and counting were found dead on the streets, in their cars or houses, including families that were found hugging each other.

• 100+ are missing.

This is a national tragedy. So many were lost because of ARROGANT PEOPLE.

Spreading awareness. There’s no need for such things to happen, so many lives were destroyed for no reason.

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I love this movie so much

Literally one of the few movies where I DON’T fast-forward through most of the scenes

ratatouille went so hard and it didn’t even have to

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I hate it when people say technology is taking away kids’ childhoods If anything, it’s actually giving kids more of an opportunity to let their imagination out

A lot of times when I let kids play on my phone, they go for the drawing app. I watched a girl on the bus write a silly poem about her friends and then laugh as she made Siri read it I hear children say to their friends “hey, FaceTime me later” because they still want to talk face to face even when they’re far away. I see kids sitting, who would feel lonely and ignored if it weren’t for the fact that they’re texting their friends who are far away. Children still climb trees. They might just take a selfie from the top to show off how high they’ve gotten. They can immediately read the next book of their favorite series on their Kindles. Most kids would still be up for a game of cops and robbers. Or maybe they’d google rules to another game they haven’t played yet. When children wonder why the sky is blue, they don’t get an exasperated “I don’t know” from tired adults. They can go on Wikipedia and read about light waves and our atmosphere. They show off the elaborate buildings they created on Minecraft.

Technology isn’t ruining childhoods, it’s enhancing them.

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Good morning, Who are we cancelling today?

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This fucking site: hey net neutrality is about to die :((( please help us :(((( boost and rb everything you see even if you’re not American :((((((((( we’ll have no wifi :(((((( we need you!!!! :((((

Non-Americans: okay

Non-Americans: hey greece is basically on fire, 150 people are wounded, 53 are killed and our nature is being destroyed. we’re suspecting arson. can you please reblog some posts and help spread awareness?

This fucking site:

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Why not

hey if ur lgbt rb this with ur orientation and ur fave soda