#schoolblog

#Gamergate is a controversial phenomenon that really took off in response to the situation regarding game developer Zoe Quinn, who before was known for developing the interactive game Depression Quest, being accused by an ex-boyfriend of sleeping with other game developers to supposedly get ahead in her career.

Although Quinn has denied these accusations, many of her opponents already had their minds made up and began a harassment campaign against her which also included leaking her personal information which included her address and even some nudes.

Some went even deeper, some of them even sending Quinn death threats and rape threats, so many where she had to leave her house. They even hacked her and some even made sock puppets to “spread controversy”.

But what does Quinn have to do with Anita Sarkeesian? Well, it’s simple, Anita Sarkeesian would later receive the same treatment for her perceived slight on the Gaming Community.

Around this time, Sarkeesian launched her series of critiques on Women in Video Games that was appropriately called “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games”, a series of videos that deconstructs and discusses the roles women had in video games up until that point.

Her series of videos were no different than any other media analysis videos and although her takes could be argued weren’t the most nuanced and there are some missteps in judgements she made, the takes themselves weren’t outrageous and could be reasonably debated with an open mind and rational exchange of dialog. That is not what happened, what ended up happening was that Sarkeesian got WAVES of harassment for these videos.

First off, Sarkeesian received a HUGE amount of Youtube Videos responding to her videos, although there were some that were more rational and gave Sarkeesian the benefit of the doubt or at the very least just focused on her points and where they differed with her, there were plenty of them that were essentially filled with ad hominem attacks and insults.

This doesn’t even get into the harassment she received on social media. Like Quinn, Sarkeesian ALSO received a boatload of trolling, hate comments, and even some death and rape threats for ALLEGEDLY trying to “take the fun out of video games” or “injecting politics in video games”. These threats ALSO had resulted in Sarkeesian leaving her home due to safety concerns.

This insult also produced memes attacking her character and making wild claims about the views expressed by her in her videos. (trigger warning: misogyny). And also, there some memes discrediting the harassment she was receiving at the time.

And it even dipped into Antisemitism (trigger warning: antisemitism), implying that Sarkeesian is Jewish and is making those videos for corrupt agenda. Sarkeesian is NOT Jewish, she’s actually of Iraqi descent, but even if she was, to claim that her “Jewishness” is the reason she made those videos and implying that she’s doing it for some more nefarious reason other than analyzing Women in Video Games is nothing short of conspiratorial and paranoid.

All of this harassment even ballooned into a bomb threat issued to the Game Developers Choice Awards. The perpetrator of the threat specifically issued the threat to blow up bombs in that building unless they removed Anita Sarkeesian’s Ambassador Award. Fortunately, there were no bombs to be found, but that threat truly shaken everyone involved.

There is also a shocking threat that caused Sarkeesian to cancel her lecture at USU. There was an anonymous alleged Student that threatened to bring a semi-automatic rifle, pistols, and pipe bombs. It appeared the threat was nothing more than a scare tactic, but it was enough to have Sarkeesian cancel the event, fearing for her life.

What was Sarkeesian’s biggest crime to warrant all this harassment? From many could see, the most she did was make some takes that some took issue with. But are those takes worth the wave of harassment, death threats, rape threats and even threats of a bombing or a shooting? Many reasonable people would say no.

But to too many of the Pro Gamergate people, this was what Sarkeesian deserved for making takes they didn’t personally agree with. To them, Sarkeesian has ceased being a person and instead became a symbol of what they believed they were fighting against, which to them was at the time was “SJWs trying to inject their politics in our video games”.

When one doesn’t see a person as a person, it’s EASY to justify all the harassment Sarkeesian received. This is one of the things the #Gamergate situation showed to the world. It showed that if somebody reduces a person to a “symbol of what they’re against”, that somebody will more likely levy vicious attacks and justify death and rape threats towards their opponent.

Sarkeesian had to endure this for a while, but luckily, as of this writing she is doing alright and seems to have look back on the Gamergate Situation as something that keeps her going and giving her a deeper insight in the minds of certain gamers.

Hi! If you are interested in helping or improving your drawing skills then you came to the right blog!

Shapes:

I bet you already know about your shapes and how to draw them but did you know that they are helpful? They are helpful because they are simple shapes like circles and squares and you can use them to help you with your drawing sketch! If you knew this already then good for you! 

Reference is by  Bob Davies on Art Tutor

https://www.arttutor.com

Yourself:

Yes, you can use yourself to help you with either movement, shading, or emotion in your drawing! Other artists like me and probably yourself do use their own body for drawings which is good in many ways. But there is bad about this, this can be tiring and start to hurt you a bit so just take a rest and do something else!

Time:

This is the really important! Taking time on your drawing does really matter! The more time you take, the more details you can do for your drawing! If you do plan on taking commissions sooner or later, do let them know how much time it will take! People may want to know!

Love Your Art:

If you draw a lot and some pieces aren’t good, they are! Never doubt yourself when you are drawing or done drawing! If you post your work and someone comments something negative on it, ignore them. They are just jealous that they can not be you!

Welcome to blog #3. Now, I don’t want to make this sound like a rant but it is a little.

Sam and Colby recently uploaded a new video in which study decided to explore abandoned set of Canada Splatalot Show which was like an American Wipe Out.

As you can see in these pictures above, that is what the Game Show used to look like. It seemed pretty cool in my opinion. I didn’t even know about this Game Show until Sam and Colby explored it. Seeing such a change happen in such a short amount of time is shocking. As I saw this video, I was impressed by how the company just left all of the set there in the middle of nowhere. Many people would actually enter this place even though it was prohibited so Sam and Colby decided to record this. unfortunately, After they published their video, they got a message from the owners of Splatalot and were forced to take this video down within 24 hours or else they would be sued. I honestly don’t see the point as to why they forced them to delete this video. Because of many YouTubers, abandoned Splatalot has been getting recognized again. I get that they were trespassing but that isn’t fair. If they were forced, why don't YouTubers get forced to take it down too?

I honestly really enjoyed this video (while it lasted:-:) and it made me think about how the years can go by and many things change. This specific game show was very well known in Canada and was successful. To see it now abandoned breaks a lot of peoples hearts and brings back memories from childhood. Now, being able to experience this would be amazing. I have always wanted to visit an abandoned place nearby but I haven't been able to find any. If you have seen Sam and Colbys abandoned places videos, you will know that they are always so suspenseful. In this video as many others, you can see how they expose themselves to possible jail time for their subscribers which is very risky.

I very much love and hate the fact that they get burnt, stung, trip, chased, and many other things in order to make us (the subscribers) happy and satisfied. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to them because it will make me happy hehe.

oh yeah, they got new merch too!! so hopefully, I earn some cash and buy Colbys red hoodie or phone case :D

 This officially ends my rant and love for this video. 

RIP Splatalot Video

“ Stephen Hawking was January 8, 1942. He is a British scientist, professor, and an author who has done groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology whose books have helped to make science accessible to everyone. At age 21, while studying cosmology at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “  -Biography.com

FACTS: ♥

Hawking has made many important contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity. He is also well known for his bestselling book ‘A Brief History of Time’.  ♥

Helped by the success of his book ‘A Brief History of Time’, Hawking has released other books aimed at making his work accessible to a wide range of people, these include ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’, ‘A Briefer History of Time’ and ‘George's Secret Key to the Universe’, a children’s book with a strong focus on science. ♥

Hawking has worked extensively on the subject of black holes, providing theories for their behavior, including the idea that they emit radiation. ♥

Hawking suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a type of motor neuron disease that has left him almost completely paralyzed. ♥

Mr. Hawkings is one of the scientists who is greatly intrigued with the works of the brain. He believes that brains can exist by itself even without the body, but that the indication of a predictable afterlife is just a fiction. 

He has said his views about the mind during the premiere of “A Brief History of Time” A movie-documentary of his life. 

"I think the brain is a program in the mind, which is like a computer, so it's theoretically possible to copy the brain onto a computer and so provide a form of life after death. “ - Stephen Hawking

"However, this is way beyond our present capabilities. I think the conventional afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark." - Stephen Hawking