New on the GP Bookshelf
New on the GP Bookshelf
October 7, 2008
Here at the GamePolitics command bunker we've gotten some new books in of late.
While I don't know that we'll have time to post full reviews, I wanted to let readers know what's been coming across the desk.
I've mentioned Game Widow in the past, the new book from Wendy Kays, wife of SOCOM lead designer Graham Kays. Wendy will be on Dr. Phil show later this month to discuss game addiction and has dropped in to comment on GP here and there. At 117 pages (not counting resource section), her book looks to be a quick read. From the synopsis:
Is your loved one constantly monopolizing your computer or TV to play video games? If so, you might be a game widow. Wendy Kays, former game widow, is here to help. In this book, she successfully bridges the gap between those who game and those who don't by sharing invaluable advice and practical strategies for reclaiming your relationship with a video-gaming spouse, friend, or family member.
At 107 pages, another quick read is A Manifesto for Media Freedom by Brian Anderson and Adam Thierer. Anderson is the editor of City Journal, while Adam is director of the Center for Media Freedom at the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Adam is a GP reader. From the synopsis:
The rise of alternative media over the last 20 years has broken the liberal stranglehold over news and opinion outlets. The Left blames much of the Democratic Party's electoral woes on the influence of the new media's many vigorous conservative voices. Yet, instead of fighting back with ideas, today's liberals quietly and relentlessly work to smother this political discourse under a tangle of campaign-finance and media regulations.
Author Joseh Lieberman (not to be confused with the U.S. senator of the same name), has released School Shootings: What Every Parent and Educator Needs to Know to Protect Our Children, an update to his 2006 book, The Shooting Game. While Lieberman doesn't blame school shootings on violent video games, neither does he absolve them of blame. The better part of a chapter devoted to the video game issue and the author mentions familiar names such as Danny Ledonne, Jack Thompson and Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. From the synopsis:
Investigative journalist and longtime educator Joseph A. Lieberman takes us inside the minds and hearts of everyone affected by school shootings—and the kids who commit the shocking crimes... After years of intensive research, Lieberman shares his findings, shedding dramatic new light on school shootings—from Columbine to Virginia Tech and more—and offers practical strategies for how we can respond to and even prevent them.
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Posted 11/20/08 at 08:45pm
PHX Corp: Just asking anyway since we have 88 days til analog has finally bitten the dust
PHX Corp: Just asking anyway since we have 88 days til analog has finally bitten the dust
Posted 11/20/08 at 08:42pm
PHX Corp: Do you think the Video game industry is already aware of the DTV transistion
PHX Corp: Do you think the Video game industry is already aware of the DTV transistion
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:18pm
Shadow D. Darkman: @PHX: Yo.
Shadow D. Darkman: @PHX: Yo.
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:14pm
PHX Corp: hey shadow
PHX Corp: hey shadow
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:13pm
Shadow D. Darkman: Hmm...
Shadow D. Darkman: Hmm...
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:06pm
d.vel.oper: @sql: Ah. How's the performance? Looking for a quantifiable sum, btw.
d.vel.oper: @sql: Ah. How's the performance? Looking for a quantifiable sum, btw.
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:03pm
sqlrob: when it hits the server. The server doesn't know anything happened
sqlrob: when it hits the server. The server doesn't know anything happened
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:03pm
sqlrob: @d: The endpoint doesn't see the change. It's compressed (and other optimizations) between client and hardware, then normal
sqlrob: @d: The endpoint doesn't see the change. It's compressed (and other optimizations) between client and hardware, then normal
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:01pm
d.vel.oper: @sql: I'm assuming we're talking about more here than just endpoint compression?
d.vel.oper: @sql: I'm assuming we're talking about more here than just endpoint compression?
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:59pm
sqlrob: ..., needs the proper network backend hardware for most features, but not all
sqlrob: ..., needs the proper network backend hardware for most features, but not all
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:59pm
PHX Corp: WTF, Obama Citezinsip questioned again http://foolocracy.com/2008/11/supreme-court-to-review-obamas-citizenship/
PHX Corp: WTF, Obama Citezinsip questioned again http://foolocracy.com/2008/11/supreme-court-to-review-obamas-citizenship/
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:58pm
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I also don't want to spam. It's a WAN accelerator, runs under Windows and accelerates network traffic
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I also don't want to spam. It's a WAN accelerator, runs under Windows and accelerates network traffic
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:56pm
d.vel.oper: @sqlrob: What product(s) do you actually work on, if you're not all NDAized, that is.
d.vel.oper: @sqlrob: What product(s) do you actually work on, if you're not all NDAized, that is.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:56pm
PHX Corp: If things go well the Republicans may have to go libertaian if all else fails
PHX Corp: If things go well the Republicans may have to go libertaian if all else fails
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:55pm
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I was also part of an acquisition, I originally did VPN work
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I was also part of an acquisition, I originally did VPN work
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:55pm
d.vel.oper: Just let them have their guns and their wives/sisters.
d.vel.oper: Just let them have their guns and their wives/sisters.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:55pm
d.vel.oper: Sure, it's infuriating, but not threatening. They're obviously no longer the majority.
d.vel.oper: Sure, it's infuriating, but not threatening. They're obviously no longer the majority.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:54pm
d.vel.oper: @PHX: These are the same guys that believe fossils were a practical joke played by god.
d.vel.oper: @PHX: These are the same guys that believe fossils were a practical joke played by god.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:54pm
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I don't work on that part of the product. I work on network acceleration
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I don't work on that part of the product. I work on network acceleration
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:54pm
PHX Corp: I compared all comentaters on that site(about Humanevents.com) to Drug addicts and alcholics, not on his blog, here
PHX Corp: I compared all comentaters on that site(about Humanevents.com) to Drug addicts and alcholics, not on his blog, here
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
What Every Parent and Educator Needs to Know to Protect Our Children?
That's retarded. They don't need to "know" anything new, they just need to treat their children like people and communicate with them. Of course we can get down to the specifics but I think every parent and educator knows this anyway.
In my eyes parenting has taken a huge down turn in the past few centuries due to a combination of mothers getting out of the house and into jobs, and also because of kids getting shipped off to schools and daycare.
This isn't the way things were for tens of thousands of years. When you consider the fact that both of these things have happened over the past few couple of hundred years, it says that the human race hasn't adapted to this yet and doesn't know how to handle it.
Parenting isn't really getting worse, it's going away all together as parents send their kids to school and day care and then not actively socializing with them when they had the chance.
I can't believe that is actually considered "normal" these days, this letting someone else raise your children, and then people wonder why things like spree shootings happen. Oh wait, I remember, it's because of video games and asian taxi drivers.
I recommend homeschooling to everyone.
I hope your not suggesting every family homeschool their children on their own.
Yes.
You do realize that before public schooling, everyone that was homeschooled was pretty much a farmer and had no chance of moving up in the world. The only reliable way to move up in the world was through apprenticeships which meant you went to live with a tradesman, away from home, who would generally treat you like garbage for the first few years until you were actually able to help do something for the business.
Schooling as we know it, covering multiple subjects, was only available to the rich. Considering that there is a lack of teachers already to the point that in major cities you end up with 40-50 people in a single classroom, you have to infer that if we went to homeschooling only it would end up the exact same way. Most everything we take for granted today, including even mediocre medical care and all things technological, would skyrocket to prices beyond belief due to shortages of people with more than a basic(elementary/grammar school) education. Society as a whole would end up collapsing in on itself because most people would be forced to learn everything from their parents and family members, and lets face it, there's practically no one that could teach everything from basic arithmetic and proper grammar to physics and biology, let alone the everyday average parent.
And we all know that we'd be screwed if that happened. And no, its not pushing extremes. How many people do you know that can still remember everything they've learned just up until high school? I don't know many at all, if any. Sure, we might not feel the effects for a generation or two, but you're pretty much guaranteed it will happen.
Yes because all homeschool kids are idiots. Thanks for the insult. I will have to sleep on this and maybe get back to you after I get home from web developing at work tommorrow.
I would also like to see a formal appology to Abraham Lincoln. You may know him as the President of the United States of America who got us through the Civil War.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
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I wasn't implying at all that all homeschooled kids are idiots. What I was saying is that there simply aren't enough teachers to properly staff public schools, so there definitely aren't enough to cover every single family. What I was saying is that in a situation where public schooling is made non-existant, and everyone is forced to be homeschooled, the majority of the populace won't be able to afford teachers for their kids since teachers will be in such high demand and in such low supply that the cost will be out of their reach. When that happens, you get the wealthy families being able to give their kids a far, far greater education than the families that can't afford to pay for the teacher.
Its simply a matter of knowing that there is already a shortage of teachers in the public school system, which puts far more students into a classroom than a homeschooling situation. When you can't cover mass education with the available teachers, you sure as hell can't cover individual or small group education with them either. That leaves the average child to learn from their parents and close relatives. While I'm not implying that parents and relatives are stupid, you also can't say that someone is able to get just as good of an education from them as they would from a teacher who spent their time learning how to educate others and who are usually specialized in one area of study(English teachers, biology teacher, algebra teacher, etc). Your parents might be able to teach you what they're good at, but then you're pretty much on your own for everything else. It won't be as bad as it was before thanks to modern technologies giving easier access to a larger amount of information, but even that's not as good as being formally schooled on a subject.
Long story short, public schooling is necessary and in a situation where it doesn't exist and everyone is forced to be homeschooled(like what Sigvatr suggested), the lack of teachers would put proper, formal education out of reach of the majority. Example: Any area in the world where public schooling is nonexistant or extremely poor. There are the select few who have money and can afford proper educations, and then there are the rest who have to learn from family, can make little to no progress past that, and end up doing the exact same things their parents did. Stagnation of societal progress, and possibly even regression, is the end result.
You are right, we should send children to school to protect them from their idiot parents.
Anyway,
Home schooling is perfectly legal in most states as far as I am aware with its own regulations and standards. I think you probably are perceiving it as some random stuff thrown together by the parents that they want their children to learn, but home schooling programs are actually very organized and effective education tools backed by a lot of research.
Basically the point is that no one at school can care about you in the same way that your parents will. Mass education might be the most effective way of educating a large number of people on average, but it is inevitable that a lot of people are going to fall through the cracks, and they do.
A teacher in the mass education system gets paid chips to monitor the development of 30+ children at a time. In a home schooling situation, that teacher is going to be your mom and dad, and they will do a much better job than any teacher because they probably care about you and don't have to keep their eyes on 29 other people at the same time.
I'm not saying that all parents are idiots, just that they wouldn't be able to provide the same level of teaching as an actual teacher can. In a case where all children are homeschooled, like you suggested, there wouldn't be nearly enough teachers to go around just like there aren't nearly enough to go around in public schooling already. I know homeschooling is structured and regulated, and that its usually better in terms of educational value than public schooling, but at the same time I'm being realistic about the fact that if everyone was homeschooled there wouldn't be enough teachers to cover every family. Public schooling is a necessity. It may not be perfect, but it has done a lot more good than it has harm.
My parents were army grunts with no real prospects. They homeschooled me and I was a grade ahead of normal public schooling students and two grades ahead in math. If my parents could do it, anyone can.
Okay... then why are both my cousins 3 years behind educationally.
So...crap, crap, and more crap?
"Game Widow" I'm highly skeptical about, especially after the things this woman has said previously. I have known some guys who neglected loved ones/girlfriends/whatever due to video games. I have also known some girlfriends/boyfriends who can't stand their mate so much as playing 10 minutes worth of video games, so it goes both ways. You want a gaming-related relationship book that might actually come up with solutions? Find one that is written by both a non-gamer and a gamer. Gaming is a hobby, this book sounds like it's treating it like a bad drug addiction.
The Media Freedom book sounds like idotic right-wing propoganda on par with "Obama is a terrorist" and "Wiccans want to sacrifice your children". And before any conservatives on here get their panties in a bunch yes I know there is left-wing propoganda and yes it's just as bad, doesn't give propoganda from the other side a pass.
"School Shootings"....I'll keep this brief. The reasonings for school shootings should be treated on a case-by-case basis due to the complex social, cultural, environmental, and mental issues surrounding each case. I'm not sure how long the book is but if it's under, like, 500 pages and doesn't include input from a variety of sociologists, psychologists, etc. it's just a waste of paper.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
"The Media Freedom book sounds like idotic right-wing propoganda on par with 'Obama is a terrorist' and 'Wiccans want to sacrifice your children'."
It might seem like that at first glance, but my guess is what this primarily refers to are movements in congress to push for "viewpoint equity" in radio broadcasting when it neither exists nor is pushed for in any other form of media. In other words, there are people in your government who want to, instead of letting viewers decide their programming via ratings, decide for you what you should be hearing and mandate by law that radio stations play it.
It's impossible to stop insanity. There will always be unbalanced psyshos who will eventually snap. These people need more help available to them.
In addition, schools and society at large need to stop the hero worship of athletic children, "rich kids", and cheerleaders. The jock/cheerleader cult that dominates many schools and even colleges creates an oppressed subclass of young people who often include these few unbalanced crazy students.
Call me a know-it-all, but I believe I have a closer insight into the minds of these killers than most:
I grew up in a pre-columbine world, and went through an intense bullying and humiliation that no child deserves to experience. The jocks/cheerleaders were immune to the rules and the teachers all but endorsed the bullies and incredible cruelty that they caused. I was sent to the emergency room twice (concussion, dislocated shoulder), and bruised up weekly. The school administrators did NOTHING to reign in what I was subjected to- all I ever did to them was be smaller, quieter, and more weak (crybaby) than everyone else. Never had any friends until age 15. I can tell you that the amount of anger I harbored toward my fellow students & teachers was intense, and there were indeed fantasies about "getting even". I played plenty of videogames, but of course wasn't insane and never actually planned to act it out.
This jock/cheerleader hero worship continued even into college. I went to (and eventually worked for) Rutgers University around the time they were getting ready to revamp their football program. Just like before, the football jocks got special treatment by school authority: the got away with actions most regular students wouldn't; special PRIVATEE dining halls with better food; easier time getting good grades (RU denies this, they are liars); special treatment by RU Police, parking, and other Rutgers administrators.
Just like elementary & high school, the jock/cheerleader eleite class existed. This is a major reason for the feelings of anger and isolation these school shooters harbored. Add in a mental instability and you have a killer. Plain and simple. As I said before, I fantasized regularly about lashing out at everyone at school (teachers too) for what they did to me. Had I been crazy and had access to a gun, I might have been a school killer too.
No amount of videogames or movies can create the anger, hopelessness, and isolation these unbalanced people needed to become killers.
"Yet, instead of fighting back with ideas, today's liberals quietly and relentlessly work to smother this political discourse under a tangle of campaign-finance and media regulations."
Because right wingers have never attempted to do the same thing with media that doesn't fit their agenda.
Not that this give left wingers an excuse to do this, nor does it mean that the majority of liberals agree with these tactics. You can easily find liberal and conservative sites on the internet and I bet it won't be long before the alternative media (whatever it is) that he's referring to will get a few voices for each side too.
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God created alcohol so that the Scottish and the Irish could never take over the world. -Chris 'Jedi' Knight
Both liberals and conservatives claim to be all about freedom and personal responibility... unless it runs counter to their core beliefs.
Just look at how conservatives call judges who uphold free speech rights (keeping Harry Potter on shelves, flag burning, violent games) "activist judges". Then they try to claim that the founding fathers didn't mean for free speech to apply to the subject at hand.
Look at how intolerant liberal bloggers, college students, and activists are toward dissenting beliefs. For a group who claims to be all about "tolerance" and "understanding", they sure like to look down their nose at dissenters.
It all comes full-circle in the political spectrum.
Aye occasionally both sides use the same under handed BS tactics then act all digusted and holier than though when the other side does it.
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God created alcohol so that the Scottish and the Irish could never take over the world. -Chris 'Jedi' Knight
The GamePolitics site should include a page featuring all the books it's ever mentioned in it's articles.
--- Official Protector of Videoland!
They used to before they changed the layout of the site. Although by the time the layout happened that page hadn't been updated in a long time.
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God created alcohol so that the Scottish and the Irish could never take over the world. -Chris 'Jedi' Knight
You know, because gamers are some strange, diseased folk, barely recognisable as the humans they began as, and not under any circumstances normal people with an interest the same as someone might in sports or films, because, y'know, that'd be silly...
/b
ahh yes, the "blame video games for the worlds ills" excuse, some day this will get old
Jesus Jack Jones Thompson.... is dead... (funeral udruge, followed by Celebrate :D )
Thaipoh Ahlerit: Author Joseh Lieberman (not to be confused with the U.S. senator of the same name)
Someone needs to P on this.
You mean Wiccans DON'T want to sacrifice my kids? I feel betrayed by my conservative overlords, I tell you, betrayed!!!!!
If you go crazy then I will still call you Superman.