Video game addiction: A new diagnosis?

Here are some interesting articles I wanted to share:

Video game addiction: A new diagnosis?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070621/ap_on_he_me/video_game_addiction;_ylt=Ai9aHQ4OPMizBYJg.RQNDMTMWM0F
alternate link
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIDEO_GAME_ADDICTION?SITE=WVEC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Fighting Cancer with Video Games
http://videogames.yahoo.com/ongoingfeature?eid=519149&page=0

I hope there is room for discussion of ethics in our field. All video games are not created equal. I think that if we are going to develop these things responsibly, they need to be episodic, have a defined goal, a beginning and an end, and a mechanism for setting the game aside without losing ground. The "designed to be addictive," neverending virtual world stuff really doesn't set well with me.

That's my proclamation from the soap box for today! I shall now go and march my army across the screen in "Stronghold 2..."

I prefer to live in the real world for as long as I have left

I do not hold the copyright to this
excellent article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20070522/cm_uc_crpmcx/ls_221727
also at:
http://www.creators.com/lifestylefeatures/peter-mckay/get-a-life.html

Here's an excerpt:

Get A Life!
Peter McKay Tue May 22, 3:00 AM ET

Creators Syndicate - I didn't watch all of them (I'm not that much of a geek), but the "Matrix" movies took place in a depressing future world where people only thought they were living real lives. As they went to work, came home and played with their kids, they were stuck in a virtual online world. Evil robots had put power plugs in the back of everyone's heads and were feeding off their life energy while keeping their minds busy in a simulation of real life.

I thought about "The Matrix" when I read a disturbing story in the paper this week. Seems while those of us with lives weren't paying attention, up to 6 million of our friends and neighbors have (voluntarily!) signed up for "Second Life," an online virtual reality where you can create an avatar (fancy name for a pretend person) and live a second life as a computer generated ... you. You can buy a house, go shopping, take a vacation or meet new friends, all without moving a muscle or averting your eyes from your computer screen. It's as if people are saying, "Soylent Green? Cool! Where do I sign up?"

For a lot of these people, "Second Life" allows them, for a few hours at least, to escape into a fantasy world where they don't have real problems. They don't have to think about a mortgage or bills or neighbors. They had a similar technology years before computers came along, but they called it "beer." I should know. I was what they call in the industry an "early adopter" and have now reached coveted "expert status."

...
Every time I see my kids at the computer I remind them that there's plenty of actual stuff to do right outside the front door. I may be behind the times, but I prefer to live in the real world for as long as I have left.
...


To find out more about Peter McKay, please visit www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

http://www.peter-mckay.com/index.htm

Pyramids: Cast Concrete?

http://www.livescience.com/history/070518_bts_barsoum_pyramids.html
More than two decades ago, Joseph Davidovits, Director of the Geopolymer Institute in St. Quentin, France, claimed that the stones of the pyramids were actually made of a very early form of concrete created using a mixture of limestone, clay, lime, and water.

Presentation by Michel Barsoum, Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

Dr. Barsoum's web site is worth a look, too.

Interesting thoughts on the truth of the Great Pyramids and the implications for the future! Perhaps we have just about come full circle...

Rome Reborn

"Rome Reborn," a virtual model of the imperial capital in what is being billed as the world's biggest computer simulation of an ancient city,
a first release showing the city at its peak in 320 AD, under the Emperor Constantine when it had grown to a million inhabitants,
Brainchild of the University of Virginia's Bernard Frischer, Rome Reborn (http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/)

Amazing and inspiring!

I wish I could be in on this, or a project like it.
[Freya sheds a wistful tear.]