Cyberspace Essay

The idea of the internet as cyberspace has been a part of our contemporary culture for some time, particularly in the popular medium of film. But is the concept of cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society? Discuss with reference to your own experience of contemporary media.

A mission of computer subterfuge, executed by a group of criminal experts, in a world of highly advanced technology and fierce crime; a virtually created world. [1.] Cyberspace. The concept of cyberspace portrayed in Neuromancer, a novel written by William Gibson 25 years ago in 1984, was a shocking one when it first emerged. Published back in the days when computer technology as we know it had just begun, no one wanted to think that it could ever be as it was in the book.

Now, society seems to be drawing ever closer to this very concept of virtual worlds. Cyberspace, as it is today, is defined as a non-physical environment, created by computer networks. [2.] This virtual space, where so many of the world’s citizens reside, is often described as an actual “place” with terms like electronic frontier and information superhighway being implemented. [6.] None of them, however, are quite as popular in present times as the term cyberspace when describing this rapidly growing virtual world, a world in which the interaction of people has no requirement other than that of directing a mouse and hitting some keys. Gibson described it as a “consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators” (p. 51)

There are many sub environments in this vast non-physical realm, where you can buy most things online and have them delivered straight to your home, where you can socialize on the vast array of sites created purely for the purpose of social networking, where you can watch almost anything you want, where you can be anyone you want and no one can really stop you. More and more of the physical world embodied in our corporeal lives is becoming ever so swiftly embedded in that of the digital world instead. [9.] Soon everything, even the most human of activites, will be done through virtual reality, like the act of sex is in the movie Demolition Man (1993).



The possibilities that cyberspace offers its users, the ability to access information and communicate with whom they want, to be“freed from the material and social constraints of their bodies, identities, communities, and geographies” mean that these technologies are regarded as a potential form of liberation for those who are at a disadvantage, whether it be socially, materially or physically. [7.]

World of Warcraft (WoW), the fourth title in the series of a massively popular MMORPG franchise that began in 1994 [4.], is by far one of the most notable and widely played games in the world today and exhibits perfectly how a user has the ability to be freed from their constraints, to become whoever and whatever they want no matter what they are in real life. Over ten million users across Australia, Europe, Asia and the U.S.A play this game, a lot of them for a surprising 20 hours per week. And the concept is rather basic, too. You get a character, who you raise or “train”, and abandon the real world to undertake heroic quests in the “World of Warcraft” where as well as embarking on such quests, you earn money, traverse the world and interact with others doing exactly the same thing as you.



Then there’s Second Life, which is another form of escape into the cybernetic world where, just like World of Warcraft, you can be whoever you want to be. It differs from Wow in that it is more like “real” life, similar to The Sims, though much more widespread and more easily real-character interactive. Just as its name suggests, it’s like having a second life. You get a job, you go to the gym (I assume), you eat and such (I would expcet, if it’s anything like the Sims) and you go on dates to “fall in love.” [5.] How the last of these is achieved online I am quite unaware of, but the rest seem to be pretty average, mundane activities that one must perform to progress, just like in the real world. Except all online.



The Matrix (1999), a film made a decade ago, encompasses all the activities mentioned in the last few paragraphs (even the Demolition Man reference there) in that the characters’ entire reality is a virtual one. Everything they do, all that they feel and smell, touch, see and hear is not through the “real” world, but through a network that everyone is “jacked-in” to, created by machines that use humans as an energy source. In The Matrix “a reality of millions is declared to be due to cognitive manipulations effected by machines and computers.” (p. 107) [8.] Much of the film revolves around what is reality and what is not, and how to overcome the limitations of the cyber world. It brings to the forefront of our minds the possible idea “that the world we inhabit may, in fact, be an illusion, a projection, or a simulation.” [10.]



The concept of cyberspace is still relevant in the real world; things like The Matrix and Neuromancer are still being produced and continue to be popular with society because they are a prediction of where our internet addicted culture is heading in the not-so-distant future. And games like World of Warcraft, but especially Second Life and The Sims, give us a glimpse of what to expect: more and more of life will be lived online. Hopefully the real world won’t just simply fade into the background of such an existence.

Resources/Bibliography

1. Neuromancer Plot Summary and Quotes, Bookrags, viewed 23rd October 2009, <www.bookrags.com/Neuromancer>

2. Kayne, R 2009, What is Cyberspace? wiseGEEK, viewed 23rd October 2009,
<http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cyberspace.htm>

3. MacKay, M. 2006, History of World of Warcraft, Buzzle, viewed 23rd October 2009, <http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-27-2006-87479.asp>

4. 2009, World of Warcraft Basic Guide, viewed 23rd October 2009 <http://www.supermandoc.com/world-or-warcraft-basic-guide>

5. What is Second Life, Second Life, viewed 23rd October 2009 <http://secondlife.com/whatis/>

6. Cyberspace and Virtual Places Paul C. Adams Geographical Review, Vol. 87, No. 2, Cyberspace and Geographical Space (April, 1997), pp. 155-171 Retrieved from Jstor 23rd October 2009

7. Cyberkids? Exploring Children's Identities and Social Networks in On-Line and Off-Line Worlds Gill Valentine and Sarah L. Holloway Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 92, No. 2 (June, 2002), pp. 302 Retrieved from Jstor 23rd October 2009

8. Botz-Bornstein, Thorsten 2008, Style and Substance in the Matrix [Review] in Film-Philosophy, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 107-116. Retrieved 20th October 2009 from Google Scholar


9. The Ontological Crisis of Melancholia, Christopher Parsons, 2007 Accessed: 23rd October 2009 <http://www.christopher-parsons.com/Academic/The_Ontological_Crisis_of_Melancholia_(3_1_for_web).pdf>

10. Woodward, Steven 2008, “The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded” in Quarterly Review of Film and Video, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 442-447. Retrieved 21st October 2009 from inform world

11. Sponsler, Claire 1992, “Cyberpunk and the Dilemmas of Postmodern Narrative: The Example of William Gibson” in Contemporary Literature, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 625-644. Retrieved 23rd October 2009 from JSTOR.

12. The Matrix 1999 (DVD) Feature Film, Warner Brothers, United States

13. Demolition Man 1993 (DVD) Feature Film

Lecture 9.0: Studying Video Games

Studying, to me, equals student + dying. It's a Facebook group I joined. However, studying video games? Now that seems like something I could enjoy. In fact, this lecture was one of the very few I paid 100% attention in! I didn't even think it was possible, but as an avid gamer it's really no surprise that I did.

So there are different types of mediums for games, these include:

PC
Consoles (like the PS3 and the XBOX360)
Arcade (Timezone, anyone?)
Online (World of Warcraft... just typing that name makes me shudder)
Mobile (stuff you get on your iPhone etc)

And then there are the various genres, like RPG's and fighting and racing games (all the main ones I own hehe) and FPS's and platformers (those are the ones I cannot STAND ew).

Anyway, there's this stereotype of the gamer that's been around for ages of the guy (aged 18- 25) who sits alone in his room at his parents house being an anti-social loser mashing buttons. Now while this may be true of some gamers, its not true of all of them. A study done prior 2005 stated that 80% of gamers were the aforementioned losers. I don't think that was ever true. But anyway, studies done rather recently show that its closer to a 40/60 split between female and male gamers nowadays. And that females tend to go for the cutesy games like Pokemon (where nurturing and touchy feely feelings are involved) and males go for the blood and gore and the explosions. Guess I'm a guy then, since I like blood and gore (Mortal Kombat on the PS2 where one of the challenges was to impale your opponent with your weapon and he had to bleed a certain amount of blood before you could move on) not that I didn't enjoy Pokemon...

Also one other thing I got from this lecture... GAMERS HAVE SUPERPOWERS. Ahahahahaha. No, seriously. We're meant to have better peripheral vision and more manual dexterity, faster reflexes and quicker decision making times. Ha, BEAT THAT. Unless I just heard what I wanted to hear? Haha.

Another Scavenger Hunt Dealy-o

E-Petition
I signed this petition: STOP ANIMAL TESTING. You should too. There's no point in animal testing, seriously. They don't even react the same to major substances that we do! You know that rats or something aren't allergic to arsenic? Its not deadly. Pretty sure it's deadly to HUMANS. Ugh.

Respond to a professional blogger on a major news site
Haha, yes, "major" I'm choosing to take that to include www.pocket-lint.com
It is major in the gaming world, I think... And so's Gamasutra. Haha, I love it!

Anyway I commented on this news item: PSP Sales Rise 300%

This was my valuable response to the article:
"It still sounds pretty pricey to me... And it just looks like an upgraded version of a GBA. Which makes me wonder... what ever happened to Nintendo? After the last GameBoy, their position in the handheld market just plummeted. Don't even talk to me about the DS, that thing is crap."
I left my name as "Anonymous" cos I'd rather not be abused for my controversial views, ha. Free world my ass.


Barack Obama
Oooh, look, he's got a TWITTER. My respect for the first black (well, half) president of the States just plummeted. Not that I had much respect for him anyway, he's american. Ahahaha, just kidding, yanks aren't that bad. It's just dumbasses, like George Dubbya Bush, who give them a bad name. Anywhoooo, B.O (haha) was tweeting about supporting the health reform in the U.S. I agree with Ling on this one, it is nice to know that the big man up top can take time out of his busy presidential duties to chat to his peeps :)

Local, State and Fed Reps
Local - Ron Clarke - tis the Mayor!


State - Anna Bligh


Fed - K-Rudd! - He kinda looks like the Milky Bar kid!


Last time local member spoke in parliament

Oh, Ron Clarke, wherefore art thou? You didn't pop up anywhere. Not that I searched very hard. But wait, your name appears in here somewhere, if you search "Ron Clarke" in the Hansard link:

Queensland Legislative Assembly

Good enough (:

Let your local member know what you think about their last speech

Couldn't find anything about this either, surprise surprise. But, turns out he thinks the Gold Coast is a wonderful place (well derrr, he is the Mayor, he kinda has to say that, but shh) and I just so happen to agree. Here is what he says about it exactly, if you're interested. Seems a bit too "Gold Coast is fantastic" to me but I'll still agree, cos I think it rockssss my socks man.


Clean Feed
This definition is brought to you today via No Clean Feed

"The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers [ISPs] to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and slow down Internet access. Despite being almost universally condemned by the public, ISPs, State Governments, Media and censorship experts, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is determined to force this filter into your home."

I'll tell you something, he ain't forcing nothing into myyyyy home, uh uh. I'll move overseas where they have fast internet, lol. Okay, I will agree that if it stops pedophiles and people with crush fetishes from getting their rocks off then yay for that, but I still think those kinds of people should be castrated (hey, its a hell of a lot better than this censorship bullshit, and HELLZ CHEAPER) since they'll just find a way to get around the censorship (cos they're freaks) and/or other means of getting what they want. Plus, I'm pretty sure its not just the illegal stuff they're censoring. If it's not illegal... why bother slowing our net down to block it?

Maryman's Art!

One of the most painful, excruciatingly time consuming forms of drawing is with... dots. Ha, this took me like a week and half to do. Mainly cos I was slack and only did it when I had art class, but hey, it was the "dumb" art class, and nothing was expected of me. The teacher even seemed surprised when I turned up. Anyway, keep in mind this is made entirely from dots. Appreciate my art GODDAMMIT!!!


Hmm, it looks kind of fatter and unrealistic now that I've scanned it in and cropped the picture... See, this kind of art just looks better on paper and not on a screen :)