Objectives

• Learn about the history of computer graphics
• Examine the role of technology as force for cultural maintenance and change
• Discuss the validity of art created with the aid of machines

Original Post

While watching the video it made me think a lot about technology and how it is impacting the future. I do believe that video games are important, but I do not believe that they are the solution to our problems. As an active video game player, and what she said in the video, I came up with some ideas about video games somewhat counter to what she said but at the same time agree with some of her ideas. I feel like playing more video games isn’t the solution. As said in the TED talk, “So far, we’ve spent 5.93 million years playing World of Warcraft”(McGonigal). If that much time has already been used for one game, the amount of time that could have been used for work or real world applications from all games is unimaginable. A lot of the time people who play video games are trying to get away from real life, and I personally don’t think those kinds of people are going to change the world. I do think video games could be beneficial to critical problem solving and coming up with a solution though. From this I created my question. Is it possible to design a game, that players will enjoy, that will have real world problems simulated in a different medium? By this I mean could someone create a game like World of Warcraft with more real problems and quests that require critical thinking and team work to solve problems that they could also do in the real world, and through this actually make changes to the world? As well as that a game that going out and doing things in the real world help your virtual world character or game grow stronger or progress? These kinds of games are a way to change the world, but trying to make everyone start playing video games is not a sustainable or efficient solution in my mind, there is no point in trying to make someone new start playing games, while there are already so many people who want to be doing it.

Reflection

Technology has such a huge impact on the world and cultural change, that if you look back a mere 15 years things would look so much different. Back then people were just starting to have their first cell phones, and I am not sure but I doubt that online classes like this were anything like what this class is today. Technology I feel is the biggest driver in how the world will be in the future because it has such an enormous impact on our lives. We live in a culture currently where being on your computer or phone or some sort of video game at most times of the day is just the normal thing to do. Technology has been the change in our lives and it has hit us hard. If all of a sudden people didn’t have it so readily available I feel like people wouldn’t know what to do.

Technology is such a big part of our lives that it is also part of our art and without the aid of machines we wouldn’t have some of the art we do. By bringing art and technology together we were able to share art all over the world though the internet and videos. Yes any artist would say seeing a famous work on the computer could never compare to the real thing, but I still would rather see a picture of it on my computer rather than nothing at all. Technology is also being used in the art that we are now creating. By creating artwork with technology we are creating all new genres of art that is paving ways towards a whole knew way our society looks at the world. I picked this artifact, because it shows just how much we are on video games and computers and how this can become a good thing and use it towards working to a solution to help the planet as well. As an avid gamer and someone who spends a lot of time working with technology I think this is a brilliant article to bring technology together with the world to create something new and some change, which in a sense is using the technology to help create something new, something artistic.

Future

I see big things in the future for technology and art together. There are some negative stigmas about art and technology being together, but I have very high hopes for the possibilities the future holds. 15 more years from now I see the world and culture that we see today being completely changed again and this is a wonderful thing because change sparks creativity, and will help us as humans to continuously grow.

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