Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Taking Risk
Tolkein and DnD have been a popular venue for fantasy nerds, not to say they are the only. But much like Doctor Who was the mother of science fiction, sometimes I think that the LOTR and the Hobbit gave birth to the fantasy genre as we know it. Look at fantasy these days, littered with elves and a sorta Tolkein story. Though I applaud games and media that does different. My all time favorite RPG has to be Kingdoms of Amular. You rarely see Boggarts, and Brownies in a fantasy setting. Yeah sure the fae are like elves, but had their own uniqueness. The world was foreign and interetsing, the plants unique. And the Tuatha were just as interesting. As well I like Two Worlds 2. I really like fantasy that pushes the envelope and takes us to a strange and unique word, with descriptions that aren't entirely to familiar to us. I wish more media would push this barrier, afraid to take a risk and think the public will reject it. Okay so it's not fantasy, but take for example Avatar. It was a unique and interesting foreign world, and us audience ate that shit up. You have to think when Tolkein first wrote his Ring series, he took from old fairytales, and even the Celtic langauge a bit. He took of our own mythology, but built a world that was foreign to us I'm sure at some time. Any writer, producer, of content shouldn't be afraid to take the associated with the medium they are constructing. It's the fear of not taking risk that is hindering the this entertainment medium. Or so I believe.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
An Online Pen Name
So many of you know or don't know that Google has decided that it's Goolge+ and Youtube policies will now require you to use your full name, kind of Youtube is nicer than Google+. Now I know you could go on use a fake real name, but I don't want to do that either. I'm the Atomic Survivor, this is my Twitter, this is my gamertag, my Youtube tag, and my Skype tag. This is my online signature, my online pen name.
Now Google says that if people are forced to use their real names, that they will stop saying things with the intent of harm. But I disagree. Car alarms, don't stop car thieves from taking cars. Someone who is set on harm, will continue to cause harm no matter what. Take for example Facebook, people still say terrible and horrible things to people real name or not. And no troll would use a real name even with the policies set in place. Most would use a fake real name.
To me my alias is more than an alias, it is my virtual online pen name. It is who I am online. Just as a writer may have a pen name. Should then publishers force the writers writing under a pen name to suddenly use their real names?
People are so easily and clearly want to fix a blame. People blame video games, but don't look at the bigger picture. It's so easy to point the finger at video games or in this case anonymity. But no one looks at the bigger picture.
It's not anonymity that's the problem or where we should be focusing the blame. Because anonymity has never encouraged me to be rude or troll people. I'm anonymous because I want to keep a separate life from my online and my offline. There needs to be that line and that balance. I'm not hiding anything either, there was a quote from one of the Google people that he said something about hiding who we are. I'm not hiding, I simple have created where I'm comfortable sharing information about me and where I am not. Anonymity gives me that boundary and line.
I have twice now submitted my name on Google+ as Atomic Reviews, which is the name of the services I created as I do reviews, and let's play on Youtube. And then my name as Atomic Survivor. If I one set a fake real name, it wouldn't feel like me the Atomic Survivor and it changes the whole character I have created for myself and I would feel dishonest. But I am also not comfortable with putting my personal information online. And this is a concept that Google is not familiar with. It wants to act as a big brother without looking at the big picture.
Though I can agree that maybe this whole Real Name ploy is not because they want my real name to stop trolling, but so they can better advertise to me. Though if you can't get me to buy something on Amazon or even Steam. I have a crippling fear of putting my data online and someone taking it. Call it my paranoia, but it's what keeps me safe. You read of those cases where people put their whole lives online or give it out to people they don't know and then they get stalked or fired from their jobs. Or worse their bank account get hacked.
I refuse to be part of this charade and refuse to be advertised to. I refuse to put a fake real name up because I don't want to be dishonest and also because I don't want to lose what it is to be me, the Atomic Survivor. And I don't want to herded into the thinking that we can point the blame at something without looking at the bigger picture. But I think I'm the only person in this war with big brother.
Now Google says that if people are forced to use their real names, that they will stop saying things with the intent of harm. But I disagree. Car alarms, don't stop car thieves from taking cars. Someone who is set on harm, will continue to cause harm no matter what. Take for example Facebook, people still say terrible and horrible things to people real name or not. And no troll would use a real name even with the policies set in place. Most would use a fake real name.
To me my alias is more than an alias, it is my virtual online pen name. It is who I am online. Just as a writer may have a pen name. Should then publishers force the writers writing under a pen name to suddenly use their real names?
People are so easily and clearly want to fix a blame. People blame video games, but don't look at the bigger picture. It's so easy to point the finger at video games or in this case anonymity. But no one looks at the bigger picture.
It's not anonymity that's the problem or where we should be focusing the blame. Because anonymity has never encouraged me to be rude or troll people. I'm anonymous because I want to keep a separate life from my online and my offline. There needs to be that line and that balance. I'm not hiding anything either, there was a quote from one of the Google people that he said something about hiding who we are. I'm not hiding, I simple have created where I'm comfortable sharing information about me and where I am not. Anonymity gives me that boundary and line.
I have twice now submitted my name on Google+ as Atomic Reviews, which is the name of the services I created as I do reviews, and let's play on Youtube. And then my name as Atomic Survivor. If I one set a fake real name, it wouldn't feel like me the Atomic Survivor and it changes the whole character I have created for myself and I would feel dishonest. But I am also not comfortable with putting my personal information online. And this is a concept that Google is not familiar with. It wants to act as a big brother without looking at the big picture.
Though I can agree that maybe this whole Real Name ploy is not because they want my real name to stop trolling, but so they can better advertise to me. Though if you can't get me to buy something on Amazon or even Steam. I have a crippling fear of putting my data online and someone taking it. Call it my paranoia, but it's what keeps me safe. You read of those cases where people put their whole lives online or give it out to people they don't know and then they get stalked or fired from their jobs. Or worse their bank account get hacked.
I refuse to be part of this charade and refuse to be advertised to. I refuse to put a fake real name up because I don't want to be dishonest and also because I don't want to lose what it is to be me, the Atomic Survivor. And I don't want to herded into the thinking that we can point the blame at something without looking at the bigger picture. But I think I'm the only person in this war with big brother.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)