Digital Humanities – Spring 2018

The ‘systems’ I come in contact most throughout my life are music and (sadly) social media. Both impact my life deeply. Music can either set my mood, or I choose to listen to certain songs that coincide with the mood that I am already in. I like to listen to music with words that I can either relate to or music that has words that influence me. Social media also influences me greatly on a daily basis. I use twitter, instagram, and facebook the most. Twitter is usually just for comic relief, but facebook and especially instagram are all about posting the perfect picture and getting as many likes as you can, which kind of sucks, but we’re all addicted. Not only are these sites ruining people’s vision of themselves, but they are also now using girls who get a lot of likes on their pictures to try to sell random things and it’s annoying as hell when people ask you to sell things but also it can make people feel lesser than other people when they are NOT asked to sell anything. It’s a weird world we’re living in. I wish I wasn’t so attached to my social media, but it’s just a way of life now.

The new game I decided to play in cup pong on game pigeon, which is connected to iMessage. I never really played phone games so I decided to play my friend same. It was fun but it’s extremely repetitive and frustrating. The slightest wrong move of your finger causes the little ball to go flying in a strange direction of which you had no intention.The objective of the game is the same as beer pong. You’re supposed to shoot the ball and land it in your opponents cup. Whoever gets rid of all of their opponents’ cups first, wins. It’s fun and funny at first, but again it gets repetitive and boring after a few games as there are never any new goals to achieve.

Assigxnment: Play a game you have never played before. Describe your experience.

-The game I chose to play for the first time is Fortnite. This is a fairly new game, and is extremely popular in today’s society. I constantly watch my friends play Fortnite, but I never fully understood all the different aspects to it.

-Fortnite is basically a survival game, similar to The Hunger Games.  When I watch my friends play this game, I immediately think of the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games  is a movie that involves incorporating strategies and interacting with other people, with the ultimate goal of being the last one alive in the arena. Fortnite has many similar aspects to it, based on its interaction and communication techniques. When playing Fortnite,it is very important to engage with other players.

There are different modes and settings available for the player in this video game. The one I chose to use was the standing mode, known as Fortnite: Battle Royale. This mode has four different versions, which all can include up to 100 players. These four modes include 100 players against each other in solo, duo, or up to four-player squads. Throughout the game, the map is continuing to shrink, and the ultimate goal is to survive the longest out of all the players.

The Battle Royale mode is the most widely used one, which is why I decided to use it.  is the mode that I have seen most people play on, and seems the most comprehensive. In any type of game, it is essential to read the directions and understand the game to its full extent. This way, the player can play to their full potential. Before I played Fortnite, I made sure to navigate the internet for the basic overview of the game, and read about the variety of different aspects to this game.

I played the entire first story of NeiR: Automata. It’s a sci-fi RPG where you are playing as an android who is sent to earth in order to protect what few humans are left from hostile robots. These robots have taken over almost the entirety of earth, and you are placed in this game to investigate their motives, behaviors, and fight whatever comes at you. What’s incredibly interesting about the game is the focus on conscience and emotional behavior. There are very few humans in this game, and even fewer that express extreme emotion. The main emotions come from the robots and androids. Instead of following a general programming which is what almost all robots in video games do, almost all robots in this game, think for themselves, feel pain, fear, happiness, and even love. The two main antagonists that are twin android brothers are pretty cruel, don’t get me wrong, but after the one brother dies, the other is in incredible grief and depression because of his loss. About a quarter through the game, I encountered a mob of robots attacking me, but some within that bunch were screaming that “they didn’t want to die.” At another point, there is a group of robots that adopt a religion, but then they begin to commit a mass suicide together. Some within that group don’t want to die, however, and then they become fearful of their own beliefs. Many robots make friends, worship mentors, create families, and even establish a pacifist community. I think this greatly relates to digital humanities because it reflects a common perspective that many human beings have. Unfamiliar observations can lead to misunderstandings, fear, and even violence. There is a strong theme of evolution in this game and a struggle in trying to understand what or who the enemy is. I could argue that the character you play as and the system that you work for is the true enemy. Again, there are different perspectives that are in play and it makes the player question what exactly is inhumane about these machines that took over the earth.

-Grant Boyd

My sport is a daily system for me. Track and field doesn’t seem complicated at all from the eyes of a spectator, especially if the only thing a track athlete has to do is run in circles, but training in distance comes with its tedious elements. Personally for me, I have to incorporate coaching in this mix. Many of my assistant coaches know what types of volume that I am working with while others do not understand it due to what event they specialize in coaching. With that in mind, I must approach the correct coaches who know about my paces, times, and workouts whenever I have questions. This gets a little more difficult, however. One assistant coach, nicest man in the world, doesn’t always quite understand the workouts well. One reason is because he’s reaching his older years, but another reason is because our head coach doesn’t always make himself clear when writing out our workouts. Speaking of my head coach, speaking with him is hit or miss. Some days it is alright to approach him and ask questions, but at other times, he will bark at you for no reason at all. With three years under my belt, I have been able to sense his high and low waves of ongoing frustration toward me, so that I may avoid the blast zone nine times out of ten. Training is a huge part of the system. Each week we receive our own workouts along with our mileage quotas. When I have to clock in 80-90 miles a week, I must consider what appropriate distances I should travel each day in order to meet my weekend goal. The workouts are generally the same for everyone during cross country because we all run the same event, but when track season arrives, we tend to split ways with our teammates in order to specialize in our preferred events. For example, I run steeplechase because I enjoy torturing myself, but my workouts will always incorporate hurdles. The steeplechase is an event that’s 3000 meters in length which is seven and a half laps around a standard 400 meter track. Placed around the track are five obstacles- four barriers and one water pit barrier. Each are evenly spread 80 meters apart around the track. I must always pay attention to time, pace, stride, power, and form when going over these barriers while running. Just as I should be aware in training, every time I approach a barrier to hurdle over, I must be comfortable and relaxed with jumping over it with either leg. Failure to do so will result in stutter-stepping which wastes both time and energy. The water pit is another huge energy drainer, and if the proper amount of effort and form is not applied, then that will bring significant harm to my overall time/placement. I generally have to keep my 400m splits very consistent (78 sec per lap) but usually after a mile into the race I have to make some sort of grinding move (because this is generally where all athletes will speed up the pace) which brings me to about 76 sec per lap. It doesn’t seem like that huge of a difference, but if one considers the fact that this race requires you to jump 35 times without slowing down for 3000m, then we start to see where the exhaustion comes into play. Diet, mindset, pain/potential strain/injuries, and even what I plan to wear all have effects on this daily system of mine. By the time the weekend comes, I enter my game. Now we don’t call track meets “games” but what I am talking about is my mind game and my race game. Every race is different and every difference sways my mind differently. The object of my game is to know when I need to make moves, ignore the pain, and kick to the finish. Every runner’s fear is “no mans land.” This will occur if I am at the caboose of a line of runners and begin to fall off. This will also occur if I am at the front line of runners and begin to leave them to try and catch the lead pack of runners. Basically when one is all alone in the race, they are in no mans land. This land is population 1 and seems to spend double the amount of energy the more you are settled in it. The only time that this land has no effect when you are alone is if you are in the lead pack, and you begin to pull away from it. Your mind tells you “there is no one to catch” therefore you aren’t exhausting any energy. In some weird ways, one can gain energy because there is an insane confidence boost within yourself. Some may call it “the lift off” or “cruise control.” My favorite is “checking out” as in checking out of a hotel before anyone else. Everyone else is either still at the breakfast hall, or maybe even still in bed. But not you. You checked out. So that’s my daily system. This is generally what I think about every day.

-Grant Boyd