Post #4 EOTO - History of Video Games

While being a relatively new development, the history of video games is already rich and interesting. From MIT students challenging the limitations of computers in the early 1960s to the near-collapse of the industry in the early-mid 1980s to major modern titles such as Halo, Call of Duty, and Star Wars, the industry has grown so much and continues to grow in the modern world.

The first video game was not what many would think of as a video game today. Many associate video games with teenagers and kids sitting close to the TV with a remote control in their hands. The first video game, however, was nothing like that. In the early 1960s, there were no computers that were small enough, or cheap enough, to have at home. The only places that had computers were big businesses and universities. At MIT, Steve Russell and his friends were granted access to the school's new PDP-1 computer on the expectation that they would create a interactive program that taxed the computer and its resources to the limits. The program they came up with was called Space War! and it quickly spread across the country as the first video game.

As the industry quickly developed from there, releasing arcade games and even in-home consoles within 10-15 years of the creation of Space War!, many people began creating games for different purposes and of different qualities. By 1983-84, the market was so full of games that were of low quality that, with no way for the major companies to just pull them from shelves, people stopped buying games and consoles. This crash in popularity nearly destroyed the industry, but in 1985, one company managed to bring the industry back. That company was Nintendo, one of what I would call today's big three of Video Games beside Microsoft with Xbox and Sony with PlayStation, and the product they released that saved the industry was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). What was different about the NES though, that managed to bring the industry back from near death, was how it was marketed. It was not shown as a game console but as a toy, which made parents view it as a potential holiday or birthday gift and eventually led to games being considered as being "for children" for a handful of years. 

Now, we are starting to see video games less and less as being for children, but as potentially viable career fields or as forms of sports to watch. The industry produces more quality titles and continues to grow as the quality of technology that can be put into consoles and computers and even into TVs continues to expand and develop.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest federal court in the United States' judicial system. The Supreme Court has nine Justices who, when appointed, serve for the rest of their life. When a Justice dies, the President chooses a new Justice to take their place. This is all common knowledge about the Supreme Court. Having taken several social studies and American history courses throughout grade school and high school, I thought I had a fairly decent understanding of how the Supreme Court actually worked.

One thing that I did not know was when and how the Supreme Court was really started. John Marshall was made the first Cheif Justice in 1801. He was the first person to have the power to determine an act of congress unconstitutional. Another interesting tidbit that I did not know was that the justices do not get to pick which cases they hear. They also must try and make sure that everyone talks at least once before allowing anyone to speak a second time. 

I feel the most important thing I recently learned was that the court bases its decisions entirely on the power of the constitution. This is because a case that gets to the Supreme Court has already passed through the various levels of the judiciary system and therefore an issue of national concern. 

Among the things that took me by surprise was that it can take 4 weeks to write just the first draft of the report citing the Justices' legal reasoning behind the decision they came to. Despite its importance, it just seems like a very large waste of time that could be allocated elsewhere. 

Although it is a key piece in a complex system of checks and balances, the Supreme Court is still driven by people. Just because the Justices are hand-picked by the president and confirmed by Congress, they are still just normal people who have personal feelings and opinions as well.

Post #2

 The First Amendment protects American rights that many other countries' constitutions do not grant to their citizens, we as Americans have the freedom of speech, expression, and religion. Although these freedoms were established in the late 1780s, they are just as, if not more, important now. The idea of free expression can be broken down into eight smaller parts. These are considered to be the Eight Values of Free Expression.  These eight values are as follows:

Participation in Self-Government

Marketplace of Ideas

Individual Self-Fulfillment

Check on Government Power

Protect Dissent

Promote Tolerance

Stable Change

Promote Innovation

After thinking about these eight values for some time I realized that not just me, but almost everyone in the United States can relate to the value of Participation in Self-Government. At the age of 19, I was given the chance to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election. This vote not only allowed me to partake in the decision for the next president but also several local positions within my state, county, and even some city positions. Before I arrived to fill out my ballot I researched the candidates so that I could make an informed decision.

Some of these theories also can be seen and leave an impact in the real world. Consider the theory of Check on Government Power and how it can relate to the American government. Looking retrospectively over the Trump administration there were many attempts to impeach President Trump while he was in office, whether it was being used as a way to weaken his support for re-election or substantially founded accusations. President Trump was the kind of president that people either loved for his actions to help the American economy or hated for his Tweets. Returning to the 2020 election, Trump lost at his bid for re-election to the now current president Joe Biden. This is a prime example of citizens making changes to the government through voting and self-governance. 

The theory of Stable Change is that if aggravated citizens are able to vent then they will be more likely to make use of peaceful protests and boycotts to make their issues heard. The theory goes further, noting that allowing disgruntled and angry citizens to speak out about their concerns helps the government monitor potentially dangerous or radical groups. In terms of the real-world application of this theory, I think that it is only partially successful. I’ll use the example of the Black Lives Matters movement. The BLM movement recently had a major boom after the murder of George Floyd. Around this time BLM protests took a more violent turn as city-wide riots erupted across the country with storefronts being damaged and merchandise stolen. Situations such as this show that it is not always enough to let upset citizens speak their opinions against the government. 

Another of these theories that I see in the real world is Promote Tolerance. The concept is that our freedom of speech allows us and in many ways encourages us to speak about things that may be heavily controversial or seemingly harmful. Because of this, we as a society could become more tolerant and thus become a healthier society. To point out some of the practical flaws of this theory though, we currently have what is being called cancel culture. The idea of cancel culture is that we try and “cancel”, or block the statements of, anyone or anything that supports an idea that many may feel is wrong or harmful. It would be similar to when people boycott a business because it is revealed that said business is using unethical business practices. Some might feel that cancel culture is a helpful tool in exposing negative and demeaning behavior, it is not necessarily always used in a positive way. Many times, it has been used as a way of suppressing or forcing out unpopular and/or controversial opinions through the threat of public shaming. In our current age where the saying “the internet is forever” is more true now than ever before, we live in a consistent state of worry that others on the internet will be upset or angry at us based on the things we say or post. The reality of this is that, although the freedom of speech is protected for us from our government, it is not shielded from public backlash.

5 Sources I receive news from.

I don't typically check the news, most of the news I receive comes through my phone or by word of mouth from others. Primarily, if I am browsing social media and see something, I will search to learn if it is real and if it is, then if what I read was a proper assessment of whatever it may be. News travels relatively fast through social media channels such as Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and especially Facebook. 

I also have family members who consistently send me random news articles or let me know if I need to keep my eyes out for certain things. Whether they are actually helpful or not they are news that I may need at some point or may want to share with others who may be more effective. The news sent to me typically can consist of articles, news stories, media posts, etc. Although some of the news is completely unrelated to my current interests it helps diversify my understanding of modern news. I personally enjoy receiving these different articles. It helps me know what things my family is interested in these days. 

I also look at video game-related news sites quite often, being a game design major, I find it important for me to keep up to date on the current features of games that are successful and what features are not so successful. Sites such as IGN, Kotaku, and GameInformer are helpful sites with reviews of games and updates on games yet to be released. 

There also are groups that many participate in online like Facebook Groups and Discord servers that are great places to have discussions with other users about similar topics of interest. I am a part of a few of these groups to keep up with friends and people I have met through online games. These online communities are a mix between shared news articles and word of mouth. I enjoy being in these communities because they are typically geared to unique topics. This means that not only are you seeing news that you are interested in but that you can also discuss it with others who are equally as interested.