BLOG INSTRUCTIONS
Please respond to at least one of the assigned readings each week on our ulearn blog. Your response must be the equivalent of at least two double-spaced pages in length, published in 12-point font (2 pages per week x 10 weeks=20 pages). For each of your weekly responses, choose one of the following forms: criticism/persuasive entry; your own film or television script; a reflection on the relationship between one text and another, between the text(s) and your life, or between the text(s) and society. Informative summaries will not count toward this requirement. In order to earn full credit, you must complete your blog entries before the first or second class of each week. Responses will not receive full credit if they are late, short, published in a font larger than 12-point, written with more than one header line, or formatted with non-standard margins. Please post your entries as .doc or .docx files.
EXAMPLES
General Criticism/Persuasive Entry: I disagree with Anderson’s belief that video games cause people to act violently, largely because individuals may have already developed violent tendencies prior to game exposure. Furthermore, it is impossible to show that the proverbial chicken came before the egg in any laboratory setting; laboratory conditions cannot reproduce the natural environments in which individuals play games. Nor has it been shown that violent games turn non-violent people into murderers. Continue writing for two double-spaced pages.
Reflection on the relationship between one text and another: I can’t help but wonder how Anderson would respond to Jenkins’s claim that “most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship [between exposure to violent video games and behavior]…” (108). If Anderson argues that the opposite is true, then how many studies show causation rather than correlation, and why is their significance still contested? We cannot rule out people—friends, family members, etc.—as reasons why people behave violently. Continue writing for two double-spaced pages.
Reflection on the relationship between the text(s) and your own life: The violence debate really hits home for me. I have played video games for ten years, and can honestly say that I am neither a violent nor an aggressive person. If anything, I am more afraid of violence in the real world. If one can conclude anything from empirical studies, it may be that cultivation exists, meaning that individuals who regularly play violent video games could believe that the world is scarier than it actually is. As a college student, I think that I fall into this category, largely because… Continue writing for two double-spaced pages.
Reflection on the relationship between the text(s) and society: I’m not sure that Anderson understands the reality of violence in society. He makes several claims about “risk factors” and “variables,” but I don’t think about my college friends or their actions in these terms, and I’m fairly sure that they don’t think of me as a number. Many of my friends, for instance, have no idea how much violence actually exists in Providence. News reports have scared them away from the West Side, but are all of Providence’s neighborhoods really as scary as they look on the evening news? Could it be that for every report of violence there are thousands of nonviolent actions that go unnoticed? Is there a link between exposure to violence on television and in video games, or is one purely fictional and the other completely non-fictional? If that were true, then why are there studies that claim individuals behave violently in the real world after playing “fictional” video games? Continue writing for two double-spaced pages.
Original Film or Television Script: The following script takes place in a small town in rural Nebraska. It depicts several of the themes that were mentioned in Jenkins’s text, especially myth #7. Siblings Hugh and Herman, both 16 years of age, are playing a violent video game together.
Hugh: We always play this stupid game! I never have any contact with people anymore!
Herman: What do you mean?
Hugh: I mean that I don’t have any real friends with whom I spend any quality time outside of school.
Herman: What about our fellow gamers? I know these people better than anyone!
Hugh: What do you mean by “know”?
Herman: Well… Continue writing for two double-spaced pages.
RUBRIC (A maximum of 2% can be earned each week):
2%= the blog’s content reflects the spirit of the assignment; and
the writing is clear, cogent, and coherent, with minimal, if any, grammatical issues; and the entry is at least two double-spaced pages and written in nothing larger than a 12- point font; and
it was posted on time before one of the designated week’s classes.
1%= the blog’s content partially reflects the spirit of the assignment; or
the writing may have some parts that are unclear or affected by grammatical issues; or
the entry is not at least two double-spaced pages in length or is written in a font larger than 12 points; or
it was posted late.
0 %=
the blog’s content is wholly inappropriate or inadequate; or
the writing is unclear and plagued by grammatical problems; or
the entry shows little effort; or
it was not posted at all.
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