Evan Schrage

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Simulating Detroit, A City with Cars & Crime, but No Races

Abstract

The original name for what is now widely known as the original SimCity was Micropolisand was developed in the lat 80's by Will Wright. The game was centered on building a city that could withstand all sorts of problems from crime to alien invasion. The game also included several scenario levels in which the player assumed the role of the mayor in a major city during an important time in the city’s history. The game was originally suited for the likes of the IBM PC and the Atari ST; but the game proved successful and was adapted to play on the Macintosh and the Commodore 64. The SimCity franchise, expanded to 4 spin-offs with other developments made for new gaming devices.

Author's Analysis

The article I read was a 2012 piece entitled “Simulating Detroit, A city with Cars and Crime but No Races” by Mark Sample. The article centered around the notion that the “Detroit 1972” simulation, which was inspired by the 1967 "12th Street race riots", was devoid of meaning and did not give due diligence to representing what exactly was going on at the time of the riots. The riots came about after a police raid on a bar frequented by members of the militant Black Panthers resulted in the call up of the national guard by then governor George Romney and left around 40 people dead. The author makes special note of Detroit’s rough history by highlighting a television ad for General Motors featuring Clint Eastwood, and includes the front cover of a 1967 Time Magazine cover depicting the riots. Also, the author includes the background information given to the player regarding the simulation; the main factor contributing to the city’s demise was the decline of the auto industry, not increasing racial tension.

The author makes a clear argument that the game developer’s attempts to use the ambiguous “crime” label and juxtaposing its "increase" with the failing auto industry as the reason for these riots instead of racial tensions causes a rift in societal interpretations of the actual events. Further, it is counterproductive to the very intent of simulations. The author writes: “The best simulations strive to find the essence of the system being modeled. In the case of Detroit in the early seventies, race—probably more so than even automobiles—was an essential aspect of the city.” (Sample). The author concludes that we must think about what is truly optimal for future simulated gaming experiences and, to paraphrase, challenges us to not be colorblind even if the game is.

Reception

Commentary on the article suggested general praise for the theme, but found problems with how simulation games were actually supposed to factor in race. One commentator, Trevor Owens, added that it would be rather difficult to attribute race to citizens because this would require a certain set of characteristics to accompany such a distinction. Indeed, to program such factors would require the black and white citizens to be at algorithmic odds with each other and create natural tension. Thereby removing the true free will that humans have to determine whether or not how they behave towards other citizens. It would surely be illogical to consider race in such a simulation in this instance, because the tension that would have resulted between the black and white citizens was not of their own accord but from the creators of the game. Making it impossible for an actual simulation to occur because the simulation would have had to allow for peace between the races as a possibility which would not fit the intended purpose of the game.

Other comments suggested that attempting to optimize game play is impossible if the aim is to remain ideologically neutral, one must decide whether or not to include certain provisions within the simulation based on how relevant, or in the case of commercial video games, how much more successful the game will be if certain factors are left out. I agree with this notion in part because I do not believe the creator of SimCity was attempting to teach a history lesson, but rather sell an amusing product for a profit. How interesting would it be to see how this simulation of a simulation video game would have turned out if the designers had included race relations? It is quite possible that, given the vast majority of computer owners were white, it may have unsettled many Americans to find one or two simulation scenarios in the game pitting whites against blacks. I truly doubt that the game would have been as successful as it was had this factor been implemented in the simulation.

Works Cited

1. Sample, Mark. "Simulating Detroit, A City with Cars and Crime but No Races." Play The Past RSS. Wordpress, 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 03 June 2014.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_%281989_video_game%29


Final Wiki: An Analysis of Anonymous, SOPA, PIPA, and so much more

SOPA and PIPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are two pieces of legislation that were respectively introduced in the US House of Representatives and Senate in 2011. These are bipartisan efforts to reign in the vast amounts of copyright infringement that have plagued the web. Companies were finding it increasingly difficult to both promote their products and insure they received proper compensation for those products. Indeed, many unlikely bedfellows have been made as a result of the growing need to curtail these infringements. Nike, MPAA, Screen Actors Guild, Ford Motor Company, and the AFL-CIO are just a few of the companies that have lobbied for the passage of these bills (Open letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the United States Congress).


With so many companies on board, it would seem like such a proposal would be rather common sense and easily pass both chambers. Not so fast. Many online companies such as Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia took issue with the legislation and also created an open letter to the government warning them of the dangers of language that has been classified as "vague" and "technologically-ignorant" whose potential for abuse is "painfully obvious" (Harvey 2012).In further protest of such actions, many of these sites "blacked out" their homepages with short paragraphs containing information regarding their companies' analysis of SOPA and PIPA and provided direct links to more information. Currently, both of these bills are on hiatus and are not likely to appear on the docket of either chamber before the conclusion of the 113th Congress in January 2015.

The importance of SOPA and PIPA is not so much their desire to inhibit copyright infringements, as it is their censorship of the links that would provide the data. The bills do not require that copyrighted material be taken down if presented with an order, which is already law under the DMCA of 2000. Rather, these bills require that websites expunge both the link to the actual material and any reference to the material mentioned on their website. Clearly, this would put an overbearing burden on large search engines like Google, not to mention start-up websites. This also poses a significant strain of the 1st amendment right to discuss things openly and freely, even if such material may be illegal (Harvey 2012). The recent rise of "Hacktivism" perpetrated by groups, such as Anonymous, is a direct result of the ongoing war to prevent over encroaching governments from disrupting or preventing free and open access to the Internet.

Anonymous

Anonymous is a group of loosely connected Internet activists who routinely engage in hacking of private or governmental organization websites because, as they say, "we are doing it for the lulz." (Peacock 2008). Although they do not have formal leadership, there is a certain ideological tendency for group members to engage in mass demonstrations against oppressive governments, notably in Tunisia and Egypt during the Arab Spring. The group's most well known American activities include Occupy Wall Street and the Sony PlayStation Network hacking of 2011 (Norton 2011). All events involved hacking on a vast scale and, in the case of the Sony incident, resulted in the compromise of over 100 million private accounts. The whole ordeal with Sony started because: "In January 2011, Sony sued [George] Hotz and others for allegedly violating federal law against circumventing encryption" (Norton 2011). Certainly, the awesome power of Anonymous would strike fear into the heart of any government that dared keep secrets from the people. This organization seems like it would be a perfect fit as the activist (or "hacktivist") wing for Julian Assange's WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden's attempts to expose spying by the US government, and it is. Indeed, in early 2010 Anonymous attacked the company PayPal after it discontinued its donation collecting account, codenamed "Operation Avenge Assange" (Leyden 2010). The commitment of this and other hactivist organizations is to prevent what they see as encroachments on the new frontier that is the Internet. They are opposed to SOPA and PIPA, as they currently stand, and continue to side with torrent companies like The Pirate Bay and BitTorrent. This activism and concern for online privacy reached new levels when Edward Snowden stepped forward and revealed the massive NSA surveillance program PRISM and the FISA Courts.


Edward Snowden and the Future of Online Privacy


When Mr. Snowden revealed himself and his information to Glen Greenwald in Hong Kong a little over a year ago, he did much more than expose a few government surveillance programs. This was serious stuff. The idea that the government could petition a secret court to obtain a warrant to access someone's private computer or other data using device without giving a clear statement of what they were looking for struck a chord with the American people who have grown up fearing the Orwellian "Big Brother". Politicians from both sides of the isle took a stand against such invasions of privacy, and many have included it into their rhetoric for potential presidential runs. The renewal of government interest in protecting the rights of the individual online is perhaps a breath of fresh air to some but an utter nightmare to those who fear another 9/11. Some argue that the government is incapable of policing the Internet effectively; however, with groups like Anonymous hacking at will and stealing personal information "for the lulz", it is evident that complete lawlessness is equally dangerous.

From its earliest prototypes, the developers of computers, video games, and the Web, have always highlighted the great social aspects of these products. The ability to connect and share information with the world is critical in this day and age, many jobs and even businesses could not function without these principles in place. But the question becomes, how much freedom are we to give up in order to prevent piracy, or terrorism? Some would say the answer lies in trusting the government to protect property rights even in cyber space, while others claim the Internet is off limits to those who would seek to inhibit its commitment to freedom and openness. The war continues to rage, but the worst thing the conversation can do is remain gridlocked. Without a set plan in place the opportunity for tyranny from one side or the other grows stronger every day.


Works Cited


1. Brown, Jesse (February 7, 2008). "Community Organization with Digital Tools: The face of Anonymous". MediaShift Idea Lab: Reinventing Community News for the Digital Age (PBS). Archived from the original on Feb 11, 2008. Retrieved March 3, 2008.

2. Harvey, Jason. "A Technical Examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP." Blog.reddit -- What's New on Reddit: A Technical Examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP. N.p., 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 June 2014.

3. Leyden, John. "Anonymous Attacks PayPal in 'Operation Avenge Assange'" • The Register. N.p., 6 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 June 2014.

4. Norton, Quinn. "2011: The Year Anonymous Took On Cops, Dictators and Existential Dread | Threat Level | WIRED." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 09 Jan. 0012. Web. 24 June 2014.

5. "Inside the Mind of Edward Snowden." Interview by Brian Williams. NBC News. N.p., 29 May 2014. Web. 23 June 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview>.

6. Letter to Congress in Support of Legislation; Chamber of Commerce Global IP Center; September 22, 2011 http://www.theglobalipcenter.com/sites/default/files/pressreleases/letter-359.pdf