Kara England

Kara England's Wiki Article #1: SEEING LIKE SIMCITY

ABSTRACT

Will Wright began SimCity’s development. It was published in 1989 and new editions continue to enter the market. Due to the context in which the game was originally built, it is modeled after a 20th Century urban area. Theories of urban dynamics are used to provide realistic consequences of the user’s decisions. [1]

GAME CONTENT

SimCity was popular because it was a new type of game play during its time. Users actually get to first design the game and then each decision they make influences their playing experiences. It can be seen as more of a toy than just a game. [2] It was able to turn consumers into game designers. It is a simulation of urban life with endless possibilities.

In the game you get to:

• Develop and maintain your very own city
  • Create residential, industrial, or commercial zones
• Take on a role as the mayor
  • Provide Sims with utilities, services, reforms, etc.
  • Encounter and prevent consequences such as natural disasters and social problems [1]

ARTICLE’S CONTENT

Bob MacDougall explores the dangers of using simulations for educational purposes. His debate particularly serves as a concern for adding SimCity to the laptops for the One Laptop Per Child project. He agrees that the game is a “black box."

Arguments:

First: The game inaccurately represents social problems (e.g. crime) and provides linear solutions for preventing and reducing them. There is no room for alternative consequences that do spontaneously play out in real life. Children then are left with reinforced ideologies such as the idea that more police means less crime.

Second: MacDougall's main argument is that there is a bigger concern: the absence of history in the game. Even if the ideologies of a game are changed, history still will not appear. The goal of instilling history is translated into theories, codes, and models and this eliminates the ability to express the same experiences of history in our lives. Users become so consumed by the rules and desire to master the game, that it loses the historical meaning.

Third: The user does not have easy access to the game’s codes, models, and theories that history is transformed into. They only experience the input and outputs of the game play, but lack the logic as to why this is. This eliminates their opportunity to learning the mediators of our history. This is why SimCity is argued to be a black box.

Fourth: In order to make SimCity of any educational use, children should be encouraged to dissect the deeper roots of the game. It should not just be played, but rather hacked and challenged. The codes that produce the game can become a topic of discussion in the classroom and an opportunity to debate improvements.

SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND POLITICAL IMPORTANCE

MacDougall demonstrates that the game itself is a simulation that uses models based on social theories to calculate the outcomes of the game. Because of this, many see the game as ideal for educating students on the way society is regulated by our political leaders (hence why the player is a mayor) and how societal problems can be influenced and lessened. Models and theories represent urban life’s underlying structure of cultural, political, and social influences. He mentions controversy on the game's implemented cultural ideologies (he brings up crime) and the absence of the models to the player. The game is a representation of the intertwining control of U.S. institutions, however the creator fails to show users that the political and social power actually is existent in both the game and our lives.

WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY

One comment included the question: "Do we consume the model or does the model consume us?” It was further argued that all narratives provide experience and they are all internalized, but in various ways. The perceptions cannot be controlled and can be done in an abundance of discrepancies. The simulation games may just need some improvements to be a better educational tool, but there is the high chance that there will never be a consistent historical take away from all students because they consume the model in different ways.

I agree with the author that there is still improvement that can be done to this game. The black box does need to be opened. History is told to generations from one perspective (usually from someone of privilege) and the historical content isn’t the whole picture. So whether it is a book or a simulator there will always be a biased towards the creator’s own perceptions of history. For this reason alone, the simulator will never be enough to solely rely on. It must always be challenged and explored. It must be discussed and kept open for continuous changes in order to get others involved in discovering more aspects and versions of our history.

Simulators serve as a great opportunity to expose others to diverse groups of people and institutions' influences on our daily lives. History can finally be told from both the privileged and underprivileged perspectives. However, I believe users should be taught a prior introduction on the material they will experience in the game in order to better understand it. Also, users must be pushed to internalize deeper meanings of the game and learn how to apply their game experiences to reality.

Works Cited:

1. “SimCity”. Wikipedia. Modified 29 May 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity (Accessed 1 June 2014)
2. Lakkur, Manu. “Maxis’s Metropolis: The Evolution of the SimCity Series". Document for Stanford University. http://www.stanford.edu/group/htgg/sts145papers/mlakkur_2003_1.pdf (Accessed 1 June 2014)
3. MacDougall, Rob. Playthepast. 26 Jan. 2011. http://www.playthepast.org/?p=645 (Accessed 31 May 2014)

Kara England's Wiki #2: The War on Privacy

THE KEY PLAYERS

SOPA & PIPA

Both SOPA and PIPA are two legislations that many see as a threat to the Internet that we have today. [1]. They both have the same government agenda and that is to kick piracy to the curb.

Here is a break down of how they work:

• A foreign site is suspected to contain copyright infringement and/or counterfeiting
• The Attorney General or plaintiff can then seek a court order
• If proven, U.S. entities must then take action which means the following:
  • U.S. search engines and other sites must remove all links to the entire site
  • U.S. advertisers no longer can associate with the foreign site
  • U.S. payment networks can no longer participate in transactions with them
  • U.S. server providers must block users' access to this site [1]

Power is handed to the Attorney General to regulate the Internet. A full censorship of their site, rather than just the portion of the site that is suspected to be of illegal content, serves as the punishment and eliminates users’ full access.

ANONYMOUS

Anonymous is a community united by the Internet. They are seen as both hackers and activist, better termed as “hacktivist” as Wikipedia puts it [2]. What started out as using their skills to hack for the fun of it turned into using their skills for a political motive that provided a voice for themselves and others globally. For example, when the Tunisian government tried to censor the Bouazizi incident Anonymous provided reports on the incident and passed out the tools to regain their privacy [3]. Their retaliation has been triggered by the closing of what was once an open ended Web and an invasion of privacy. They claim that their group is self organized meaning no leader to be identified [4]. Of course this makes them more threatening due to the members’ truly anonymous identities and the difficulty to punish their actions that exposed the vulnerability of powerful institutions, especially in the United States. These powerful institutions most likely have felt threatened by the group's ability to beat their virtual security systems. Therefore, they have tried to reveal the key players in this group, but it seems that their investigation has only provoked further attacks from Anonymous. This group could be unstoppable.

THE ROLE OF THE HACKERS

Because of the threat to the Internet that is being implied through the government’s attempts of controlling it, hackers that see great value and a love for the open ended Internet are therefore also feeling threatened. Our government could abuse legislations such as CISPA and SOPA due to its broad definitions. This abuse could allow them to obtain and share our information while intruding on privacy. In “Saving Privacy” Reed Hundt says that “…information is power, and power is corrupt[5]." I couldn't say it better myself. It is this same phrase that fuels groups of hackers like Anonymous. These groups have taken it upon themselves to take this power of information right out of the government’s hands. In 2010, Aiplex, an anti-piracy company in India, claimed that they were allowed to send threats to sites that pirated films [4]. Of course Anonymous responded to this by attacking the company with DDoS [6]. With legislations like SOPA and CISPA, we will see a continued advocacy for online privacy. With their ability to expose even the most powerful entities, it could get ugly.

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH EDWARD SNOWDEN

As seen in NBC News’ interview of Edward Snowden there is debate of whether he is a “patriot” or “traitor”[7]. With all bias aside he stirred up quite a bit of attention. He exposed classified information that revealed the U.S. government was tracking cell phones and monitoring activity online [8]. According to CNN, his motives were not as a spy, but rather to inform the public and protect privacy [8]. His actions alerted the general public of what is going on behind closed doors. They had realized that their privacy was taken for granted. In reality, they never had this online privacy. In “Saving Privacy,” Reed Hundt brought up the question “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen?[5]" Snowden provided the answer: nobody is watching the government, and we are then left to face the consequences of their power. The public is not aware of these actions, including their violation of online privacy; therefore the powerful can do whatever the heck they want. Thanks to Edward Snowden, the people of the Internet, including those devoted hackers, are now in on it. Their desire to be the watchers will only result in more protests as well as more of the hacking groups’ interference (Anonymous is loading up their ammo). Watch out, here they come.

Works Cited:

1. Havey, Jason. “A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP”. Blog.Reddit. 2012. http://www.redditblog.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html
2. “Anonymous (group)”. Wikipedia. Modified 19 June 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group) (Accessed 24 June 2014)
3. Norton, Quinn. “2011: The Year Anonymous Took On Cops, Dictators and Existential Dread”. Wired. 2012. http://www.wired.com/2012/01/anonymous-dicators-existential-dread/all/1
4. Norton, Quinn. “How Anonymous Picks Targets, Launches Attacks, and Takes Powerful Organizations Down”. Wired. 2012. http://www.wired.com/2012/07/ff_anonymous/all/
5. Hundt, Reed. “Saving Privacy”. Boston Review. 2014. http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/reed-hundt-saving-privacy?utm_content=buffer36c18&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
6. Humphries, Mathew. “4chan forces Aiplex and MPAA websites offline with DDoS attack”. Geek. 18 Sep. 2010. http://www.geek.com/news/4chan-forces-aiplex-and-mpaa-websites-offline-with-ddos-attack-1285093/
7. Williams, Brian. “Inside the mind of Edward Snowden”. NBC News. 2014. http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview
8. Starr, Barbara and Holly Yan. “Man Behind NSA leaks says he did it to safeguard privacy, liberty”. CNN. 23 June 2013. http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/10/politics/edward-snowden-profile/