Unfortunately this is less of a purposely constructed visual and more of a spontaneous image captured by a redditor who was kind enough to upload it. This image was uploaded to the subreddit /r/gaming by /u/RVA_GOP a few hours ago. RVA_GOP clearly used some rhetorical strategies when uploading this image to receive the maximum amount of karma possible which as we all know is the goal on reddit.
The image depicts an elderly man, amidst his morning breakfast at the local dinner, hunched over and squinting at his Pikachu decorated Nintendo DS, playing what we would assume to be Pokemon. With the intended purpose of the photo to show just how far and wide video games has spread and how impactful it really is. It also wants to convey that every man or woman no matter how old, is a kid at heart.
The lighting and aperture of the photo act as a beam of nostalgia and enlightenment being poured down and installed upon the elder man. The crux of the photo is captured in the man's ruffled hair and plain yet enthralled look on his face revealing the sheer amount of engagement this man has for the game. He cares more for how he his doing in his game than how his looks are perceived by others.
Since /r/gaming is a subreddit dedicated to all posts about gaming and reddit is the place for the typical 18-35 year old web browser, this post positively foreshadows our, the redditors, future, and how video games will always remain apart of it. Many redditors are already beginning to age into the latter part of life and society constrains video games as a childish activity but this helps to show that we should just embrace our gaming livelihood. Overall, RVA_GOP did a brilliant job snapping a photo to help inspire his fellow redditors embrace their inner child.
(http://imgur.com/lAaqmgu)
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
TOW #13- "ISIS Cancels Plans for Fnatic CS:GO Sponsorship" (Written)
ESEX, better known as eSports Express, is a satirical news site that posts articles pertaining to electronic sports or video games. This specific article was written about one of the most popular current first-person shooter games, Counter Strike:Global Offensive. Some backstory necessary to understand this satire is needed.
About a week ago, CS:GO had one of it's three major tournaments of the season. DreamHack Winter took place at Elmia in Jönköping in the southern parts of Sweden. All of the best and the biggest teams compete at DHW one of those teams being fnatic. Fnatic, a local Swedish organization, used some highly questionable tactics in the quarterfinals of the tournament. While facing of against LDLC in a best of three series on the last match, fnatic used a boost that allowed their player to essentially see the entire map. From that vantage point olofmeister, a member of fnatic, was able to see LDLC's setup and where they were going to attack. Olof could also shoot many players while they couldn't see him at all. This boost that fnatic used utilized something known as pixelwalking, where the player in game is walking on an invisible ledge. Fnatic went on to win the map but then withdrew from the tournament because of all the backlash they got from fans across the globe.
ESEX uses this occurrence to their advantage to joke about an issue that the majority of the CS:GO community completely despised. The article revolves around the fact that even ISIS a terrorist organization dropped their sponsorship for fnatic due to how the community reacted. The author then also went on to make fun of flusha, one of fnatic's players who has recently done some shady things in game that make it appear like he is cheating. "ISIS had already reaped some benefits from the potential partnership, as Fnatic professional player Robin “flusha” Rönnquist was sent to train ISIS insurgents in Iraq, increasing their weapon accuracy by 40% through smoke and walls." ESEX intertwines a virtual video game with a real life terrorist organization and joke about how a video game hacker was able to teach and improve a terrorist's gun skills with real life cheats.
(http://esportsexpress.com/2014/12/isis-fnatic-csgo-sponsorship/)
About a week ago, CS:GO had one of it's three major tournaments of the season. DreamHack Winter took place at Elmia in Jönköping in the southern parts of Sweden. All of the best and the biggest teams compete at DHW one of those teams being fnatic. Fnatic, a local Swedish organization, used some highly questionable tactics in the quarterfinals of the tournament. While facing of against LDLC in a best of three series on the last match, fnatic used a boost that allowed their player to essentially see the entire map. From that vantage point olofmeister, a member of fnatic, was able to see LDLC's setup and where they were going to attack. Olof could also shoot many players while they couldn't see him at all. This boost that fnatic used utilized something known as pixelwalking, where the player in game is walking on an invisible ledge. Fnatic went on to win the map but then withdrew from the tournament because of all the backlash they got from fans across the globe.
ESEX uses this occurrence to their advantage to joke about an issue that the majority of the CS:GO community completely despised. The article revolves around the fact that even ISIS a terrorist organization dropped their sponsorship for fnatic due to how the community reacted. The author then also went on to make fun of flusha, one of fnatic's players who has recently done some shady things in game that make it appear like he is cheating. "ISIS had already reaped some benefits from the potential partnership, as Fnatic professional player Robin “flusha” Rönnquist was sent to train ISIS insurgents in Iraq, increasing their weapon accuracy by 40% through smoke and walls." ESEX intertwines a virtual video game with a real life terrorist organization and joke about how a video game hacker was able to teach and improve a terrorist's gun skills with real life cheats.
(http://esportsexpress.com/2014/12/isis-fnatic-csgo-sponsorship/)
Sunday, December 7, 2014
TOW #12-"The Week 14 Mailbag" (Written)
This week I decided to read and analyze an article published by Grantland. Not only was it published by this famous sports analytical and statistical site, but it was the founder himself, Bill Simmons. Simmons is an American sports analyst who is featured on many of ESPN's shows such as NBA Countdown, SportsCenter, and is the visionary behind 30for30. Every week so far this year of the NFL season, Bill Simmons does something called a mailbag where he attempts to answer as many questions as possible sent in to him from all different audience members. The questions range from on the field actions, coaching decisions, locker room disputes, best candidates for a position, postseason outlook, and more. Simmons typically has a main focus or topic that he hits upon the most in the article each week although a kitchen sink of stuff is covered.
This week Bill Simmons focused on all-star defensive end JJ Watt of the Houston Texans. It's important to understand Simmons as an author and what his intentions are for this piece. Instead of just discussing the same old boring facts that any analyst can spit at you, Simmons takes a humorous yet factual approach. After discussing issues presented about Watt's performance and how he will fair up against Demarco Murray, Simmons goes on to talk about a hypothetical fight to the death between Watt and Gronkowski. As this article is obviously intended for sports enthusiasts as myself, we understand the humor in that joke and not the morbid death-fight some might see in it. Gronk and Watt are two beasts of the game and both their statures are immensely large. It'd be entertaining to see something like that go down as Simmons suggests. Simmons also gets tech-savvy inserting various YouTube clips and gifs to go along with his responses to the questions he receives. This interests and engages the audience even more so that they aren't just reading a wall of text.
(http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-week-14-mailbag/)
This week Bill Simmons focused on all-star defensive end JJ Watt of the Houston Texans. It's important to understand Simmons as an author and what his intentions are for this piece. Instead of just discussing the same old boring facts that any analyst can spit at you, Simmons takes a humorous yet factual approach. After discussing issues presented about Watt's performance and how he will fair up against Demarco Murray, Simmons goes on to talk about a hypothetical fight to the death between Watt and Gronkowski. As this article is obviously intended for sports enthusiasts as myself, we understand the humor in that joke and not the morbid death-fight some might see in it. Gronk and Watt are two beasts of the game and both their statures are immensely large. It'd be entertaining to see something like that go down as Simmons suggests. Simmons also gets tech-savvy inserting various YouTube clips and gifs to go along with his responses to the questions he receives. This interests and engages the audience even more so that they aren't just reading a wall of text.
(http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-week-14-mailbag/)
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