Edu Glogster: Loss of Identity.

Speech: Loss of Identity

The addiction to video games is a growing problem in our society. Children will not only spend the whole day in front of a shinning screen, but they will also isolate themselves from society. In an online gaming world, you will be no more than a nickname. Therefore, game addiction can cause a loss of identity. In this sense, when you are  gaming, you will only be worth for your skills or levels, and not for the person you are. Also, after some time gaming you will meet new people and make new friends, with whom you'll spend most of your online life. However, this friendship will be also based in a game, so once you quit playing you'll lose the relation with these people. I think this mostly happens because sometimes games bore you, but as you are addicted you want to get to a higher level or get to the top of the high scores ranking, so you keep on training. In this situation, you will be more likely to talk to new people to make your training funnier, but that realtionship will only last for some weeks. In the other hand, as you get addicted, you will stop doing activities that you used to do in real life to spend more time online. Long story short, games will become the centre of your life. 

At this point, we must make a difference between addictive gaming and once-a-week gaming. Some people play games once a week with real life friends to have some fun and laugh, and this is not much of a problem. The real conflict comes when games become the most important thing in your life, because with some games you can not decide to play 1 hour a week: It's just the game or your life. You lose control. You lose your identity.

But, what's someone's identity? Well, this is something very difficult to explain. I think identity is built up as you live, as simple as that. The things you like to do, the way you think, the religion you follow, the friends you have, and even the country you were born in, they are all combined together to create your identity.

The moment your gaming skills become more important than your hobbies, your family, or even your religion, then you are in problems. In that precise moment, when your nickname becomes more important than your real life name, then you've lost your identity. And now I want to ask you, what will you do once you quit gaming? Is there something worthy in your life, other than games? Do you have real life friends? You don't know who you are, because you've lost all the components that make a life worth living, such as sports or hobbies.

I think games are important in a teenager's life. But we should only leave games as a friday night pastime, and never as the center of our lives. We matter for what we feel and think in the real world, not for a bunch of levels. Never let a game control your lives, my friends.

Video Games Presentation

Last class, we had the chance to watch an interesting video about video games. It was special to reflex around its ideas and to realize that I, as a person who enjoy playing games, understood many of the "gaming messages" shown in the video. We must consider that games addiction is a growing problem in society and that we must be aware of it. In fact, most of teenagers have been addicted to a game at least once in their lives. In the video I heard a phrase that surprised me: "What are you afraid of? - Im afraid of not knowing who I am". Now, we've to present about a subtopic, and after thinking about it, this is my starting point.

Subtopic: Loss of Identity caused by video games.

Text Type: Speech

Information Sources: 

Shooting in the Dark (NY Times)

The effects of Video Games on Children

What is Video Game Addiction?

(Edu Glogster Nickname: VMind23)

Reflexing on Advertisement

“Advertising is everywhere you look, whether it is in the newspaper you pick up daily or on that billboard you see while driving down the highway. Some people may say that they are not in fact influenced by the advertising that is thrown at them each day, and that they do not fall into it, but everyone does.”

Advertisements are something that we cannot avoid, because they are wherever we look. In fact, they are part of our lives and in some way the keep us updated and connected. I think Advertisements are awesome, because they show us all the options available. If you want to buy a TV you're not forced to buy one because you know there are many different models and brands in the market. Nevertheless, Ads can also be confusing and can trick us, so we have to be aware of the products offered to us. If we know how to interpret Ads, we'll rarely have any problems. 

Going deeper, I want to refer to the main point of Ads: Showing us a new product. But, who is behind that? Who says what the new fashion will be or how are the new mobile phones going to be? The only answer for that is Major Brands and Big Companies. They want us to follow their guide, and it's not rare that fashion, for example, changes every year... and there are the blind persons who follow and buy new clothes every year. I think we have to be balanced and not agree with everything we are shown. If the Ads say that skinny pants are "cool" and you don't like them, well, don't buy them! I think self confidence is crucial to follow our own way of living and not accepting everything the system shows us.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Ad!

Analysing an Ad

I found this advertisement video very interesting because it offers a product in a special way. Domino's Pizza introduced their all new "Pizza Box Office" service into the UK market by bringing a military-related scene to a common pizza delivery, set in a regular neighborhood. The Ad shows how a pizza is delivered by a group of soldiers dressed with special vests and helmets, which relates the delivery to the new movie service that Domino's Pizza offers. In the Ad, we can also see that the customer that receives the pizza is surprised by the way his pizza was brought home, as he expected a common pizza guy. This ad takes advantage of the natural relation between pizzas and movies, and that's why it must be oriented to people who like to enjoy a movie while eating some pizza at home. 

To contribute to the atmosphere, the ad includes helicopters and guns, which create a military theme. The commercial also includes sounds related to war so that the Ad seems to be a real movie, and only at the end it's revealed that it's not actually a war but a pizza delivery. Another technique used is the close up to the soldiers to offer a movie-like recording. It's also important to note that the ad includes very little text, as the military-scene takes all the attention. This advertisement seems to be very eye-catching, although it doesn't include any special celebrities. Also, I believe the message behind the scenes is that now you can watch movies in a much more enjoyable, easy and fascinating way with the new Pizza Box Office service. 

The King without a Kingdom.

Once upon a time there was a king without a kingdom. He traveled to far lands and across the seas, but he couldn't find a kingdom. In one of his adventures, he met a gorgeous queen, and he inmediately fell in love. Unfortunately, the queen didn't seem to like him, so the king decided to prove her he was a brave man.
The kings went to England nad asked Merlin how could he prove his manhood. Merlin told him to go to the woods and kill a Blue Dragon, take his eye and present it to the Gods of the Olympus. After doing this, the Gods will intervene and the Queen will love him.
The king rushed to the woods. He found a firendly elf who told him that Blue Dragons came out from their vaces at night, and that he could find them at the fairy pit. The elf rapidly disappeared and the king started searchng for the fairy pit. He walked through the trees following a path of glowing blue flowers. After some time, the flower's path disappeared. The king felt lost, but he inmediately climbed up a tree. From the top, he could see the magnifisent fairy pit at some distance. The pit was a big circle made of colourful glowing flowers, with a huge round rock in the middle. the king waited in the tree to be safe of the coming dragons. as the night fell, he saw how a tremendous and scary dragon entered the pit. it was a blue dragon. at that momenmt, a group of fairies approached him and picked him up. the king was taken to the fairy pit.
the brave king took his great sword and prepared for the battle. the dragon attacked him with his fire breath, but the king managed to avoid it and ran towards the dragon. The king jumped andstabbed the dragon in the neck. The dragon screamed for hisdeath and the king proceded to take its eye. Once he did this, the kingwalked to the middle of the pit and got on his knees. raising the eye towards the sky. The night was interrupted by thunders and the king knew the Gods had accepted his offerings.
The king went out of the wood and to the queen's castle. He entered and she was waiting for him. They decided to marry and have a happy life together. Finally, the king had a kingdom.