http://www.facebook.com/NuLimit
But do we really have to play farmville?? I rather people now see that in my news feed.. that games is rubbish..
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Facebook Profile
Here's a link to my page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=639019106
BTW, I have never played Farmville prior to this assignment, so excuse me if I'm slow at first.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
For The Lolz..
After finally finishing the book - and trust me it wasn't pretty - I need to agree with the people here who say it was hard to take the story seriously and to try to learn some bigger truths about it. When everyone almost gained super hero abilities to further their cause, it became a joke. Yes, the book raises some serious questions about GFs and why they are doing what they're doing but the way to conclude the book is rather bad. I didn't think that a book could start off so sharp and interesting and then develop into a second class fiction novel but hey, it could happen? no? :P
At any rate, throughout the entire book i just kept on thinking about why it would ever be illegal to GF and why its such a big deal and while the book didnt really answer my question maybe you can? It's all virtual goods, the developers arent loosing anything on this, so why do they care? If anything, they could sell it themselves and make even more cash... why not?
At any rate, throughout the entire book i just kept on thinking about why it would ever be illegal to GF and why its such a big deal and while the book didnt really answer my question maybe you can? It's all virtual goods, the developers arent loosing anything on this, so why do they care? If anything, they could sell it themselves and make even more cash... why not?
For The Win Pt.2
In the second half of the book, things truly became fictional for me. By this, I mean that I could no longer take the book seriously as having the potential to be real. Every message and every appeal to emotions made by the book felt like I was reading a romantic adventure novel- you know, the one's where the protagonist, against all odds, comes out on top after having a life experience to live happily ever after. The book illustrates webblies around the world unifying and working together to fight for their rights both as humans and as workers, many willing to die for their cause. A handful of our beloved characters die- poor webblies- including Big Sister Nor but then again, even Bruce Willis had to die in Armageddon, right? The world is worth it... But no, in all seriousness, the ending of the book was a huge letdown with the remaining handful of protagonists- who by this point were either heroes or of a superhuman status- coming together with one of the main antagonists, Colin Prikkel, in India to grab lunch together- as Professor Nakamura said, we weren't assigned this book for it's excellent writing and literary value.
To be honest, I read and finished this book after purchasing the paperback edition at the beginning of the semester so it had been quite a while since I've made the read. However, the messages the book attempted to convey are still very much present somewhere in the back of my mind. On one hand, Cory Doctorow seems to want his audience to understand the power of the internet and its ability to connect the world under one singular communal identity. With this assumption in place, he then seems to want us to believe that this power can be used for any single individual to change the world if they put their mind to it. I can definitely agree with the former point and understand the world of potential that the internet provides for its users to come together but, whether it's the cynic in me or whether I'm jaded from years of living in a capitalistic country where the masses are spoonfed the same crap day after day- nonstop advertisements, bogus politics, false hope, etc.- the latter argument is ridiculous. Yes, the internet gives any single user what would have been considered a few decades ago, superhuman abilities but to say that all people who face injustice are willing and ready to become activists at the call of a few "powerful" internet usernames... Anyways, I did enjoy the book and look forward to reading some of Cory Doctorow's other publications. The novel was informative, fun, and easy to read and so I leave you with a question much like that posed by the Professor in our last class period: What did you take away from reading this book? Did it give you some substantial food for thought or did you take it as sheer entertainment?
To be honest, I read and finished this book after purchasing the paperback edition at the beginning of the semester so it had been quite a while since I've made the read. However, the messages the book attempted to convey are still very much present somewhere in the back of my mind. On one hand, Cory Doctorow seems to want his audience to understand the power of the internet and its ability to connect the world under one singular communal identity. With this assumption in place, he then seems to want us to believe that this power can be used for any single individual to change the world if they put their mind to it. I can definitely agree with the former point and understand the world of potential that the internet provides for its users to come together but, whether it's the cynic in me or whether I'm jaded from years of living in a capitalistic country where the masses are spoonfed the same crap day after day- nonstop advertisements, bogus politics, false hope, etc.- the latter argument is ridiculous. Yes, the internet gives any single user what would have been considered a few decades ago, superhuman abilities but to say that all people who face injustice are willing and ready to become activists at the call of a few "powerful" internet usernames... Anyways, I did enjoy the book and look forward to reading some of Cory Doctorow's other publications. The novel was informative, fun, and easy to read and so I leave you with a question much like that posed by the Professor in our last class period: What did you take away from reading this book? Did it give you some substantial food for thought or did you take it as sheer entertainment?
FTW
For The Win is a good book. It is certainly an inspiring story filled with many interweaving storylines. There are two main messages in the book. The first is the power of the internet, and the second is Big Sister's dying words "You all lead yourselves. Remember that!" The story is about civil rights and workers wanting to get what they deserve, a chance at a good life. With a few minds organizing the movement and a few Asian nations worth of workers being brought together through the power of the internet, average people are able to enter into negotiations with major companies around the world. We are made to know that this sort of feat is not impossible, and that if we choose to, we could lead ourselves through something like this. This novel is very aptly named, as it is about a group of people literally going for the win in a very difficult situation. With a lot of hard work and sacrifice, however, they seem to emerge victorious.
For the Win - Second Half
The different main characters of the book start to congregate together and start forming and carrying out plans. Matthew meets up with Lu and Jia, and Leonard comes over from America to China and carries with him a bunch of prepaid game cards (this plus american proxies would make them "indistinguishable from the lucrative American kid trade"). Back in Dharavi, Mala and her army suddenly become good guys again literally overnight after she tries to attack Yasmin and Ashok.
The main goal of the Webblies is to take control of the game economies of Mushroom Kingdom, Zombie Mecha, Svartalfaheim Warriors, and Magic of Hogwarts. But the characters face many hardships, like: the cafe being taken over by Mr. Banerjee's goons in Dharavi and the "army" having to defend it after they'd taken it back; Mala being kidnapped by Mr. Banerjee; police raiding Jiani's different places; Lu getting killed; Big Sister Nor, The Mighty Krang, and Justbob getting petrol bombs thrown in their room and having to jump out a window, etc.
Many strikes happen around the world in different factories with help from Jia's message to everyone to not go to work. There's also a big shooting of 42 gamers. The book really gets you feeling rebellious and you really want to stick it to the man.
Eventually, they get enough Webblies to farm a lot of gold and are able to topple the Mushroom Kingdom's economy. They call up Coca Cola games and talk to Connor Prikkel, a game runner and the head honcho economist there and threaten (but in a nice way) to topple their game economies unless they make gold farming a part of the company so they can unionize and not have to work in bad conditions. It works and everyone's happy. The book has a really corny ending with the people from China traveling to Dharavi and meeting with Yasmina and Ashok, and then Prikkel making a surprise visit and going out to lunch.
Looking back, I did enjoy reading the book. It has some pretty informative parts to it about basic economics and general info about gold farming while staying exciting and rebellious.
I used to think that not that many people bought gold and that it's just too risky to do, but this book makes it seem like it's a really common thing and that no one gets caught (even though it doesn't say that). Is this a reality? Or do a lot of people get caught buying and selling gold?
The main goal of the Webblies is to take control of the game economies of Mushroom Kingdom, Zombie Mecha, Svartalfaheim Warriors, and Magic of Hogwarts. But the characters face many hardships, like: the cafe being taken over by Mr. Banerjee's goons in Dharavi and the "army" having to defend it after they'd taken it back; Mala being kidnapped by Mr. Banerjee; police raiding Jiani's different places; Lu getting killed; Big Sister Nor, The Mighty Krang, and Justbob getting petrol bombs thrown in their room and having to jump out a window, etc.
Many strikes happen around the world in different factories with help from Jia's message to everyone to not go to work. There's also a big shooting of 42 gamers. The book really gets you feeling rebellious and you really want to stick it to the man.
Eventually, they get enough Webblies to farm a lot of gold and are able to topple the Mushroom Kingdom's economy. They call up Coca Cola games and talk to Connor Prikkel, a game runner and the head honcho economist there and threaten (but in a nice way) to topple their game economies unless they make gold farming a part of the company so they can unionize and not have to work in bad conditions. It works and everyone's happy. The book has a really corny ending with the people from China traveling to Dharavi and meeting with Yasmina and Ashok, and then Prikkel making a surprise visit and going out to lunch.
Looking back, I did enjoy reading the book. It has some pretty informative parts to it about basic economics and general info about gold farming while staying exciting and rebellious.
I used to think that not that many people bought gold and that it's just too risky to do, but this book makes it seem like it's a really common thing and that no one gets caught (even though it doesn't say that). Is this a reality? Or do a lot of people get caught buying and selling gold?
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