A Gamer’s Identity

           I come home from a long and tedious day at school, walk into my room, pick up my Xbox controller, and suddenly I am in another universe. I can be a soldier, an assassin, or a professional soccer player competing in the world-cup. The choice is up to me. The best part is that I can share this reality with my friends. Video games allow me to share vivid experiences, unlike those attainable in everyday life. I can share these moments with my friends while with them in the same room or from different continents. Video games let me take a break from my stressful reality and relax with friends, but they offer more than that, too. Not only do video games offor an experience unattainable in any other way, video games fulfill real-world human needs in positive ways. Video games provide a space for people to express and explore their identity.

            Steven Johnson is a best-selling author of eight books including Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate which is considered one of the most important books explaining the way cybertechnology impacts human perception and communication. Johnson touches on the fact that gaming has intrinsic value, as when he says ,“I have no doubt that playing today’s games does in fact improve your visual intelligence and your manual dexterity, but the virtues of gaming run far deeper than hand-eye coordination,” (Johnson 486). Johnson argues that gaming is more than just mindless fun, but in fact is problem solving. Johnson explains that most of the time when playing a video game, you are stuck and trying to figure out how to progress forward.

As a gamer, I enjoy games that make me think and solve puzzles. One of my favorite games is Portal, which is a puzzle game developed by a team of MIT graduate students. The game forces players to utilize the physics of the upcoming science of, “portals,” which are used to teleport the player around puzzles. The game pushed me to think outside of the box and forced me to plan ahead. The concepts taught early in the game were built upon, just like lessons taught in school. The experience of abstract thinking and problem solving in this video game pushed me to learn in a way not available in the classroom.

            Video games present information that is much more appealing to kids and adults alike. Johnson tells a story in which he introduces his seven year old nephew to the popular city-building simulator SimCity. After an hour of explaining the mechanics of the game to his nephew, Johnson began to revive his rundown virtual manufacturing district. “As I contemplated my options, my nephew piped up: ‘I think we need to lower our industrial tax rates.”  One hour of playing a video game taught a seven year old the effects of high taxes industrial areas. “That’s a powerful learning experience,” explains Johnson (Johnson, 490).

            Not only do video games promote critical thinking, they also offer a space for players to find and express their identity. Online multiplayer games, like the popular World of Warcraft, allow players to create characters, or avatars. The characters that the player creates in multiplayer games are an expression of aspects of the player’s identity and ideal self. A person’s ideal self is who they want to be or eventually grow into, rather than who they actually are at the time. Research on online communities, like the World of Warcraft community, suggest that the identity a player creates in the virtual world are a union of their ideal selves and their actual identity. Sherry Turckle, Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argues that online video game environments offer gamers the ability to create multiple versions of their identity and enables people to explore new and different aspects of their identity (Bessiere, 497).

“The Ideal Elf,” by Katherine Bessiere, A. Fleming Seay, and Sara Kiesler, is an essay that examines and discusses the relationship between gamers and the games they play. The three authors research the connections shared with technology and humans. In the Ideal Elf the authors focus on World of Warcraft. A survey of fifty-one World of Warcraft players was conducted in 2005, by the research team behind The Ideal Elf, to find the connection of the players’ identities and the games they play. The authors, “…consider the freedom and possibilities that come with creating an online character with ‘collaborators who have no prior knowledge of the player or his real-life situation.’” (Bessiere 495).

The survey was meant to determine whether players created characters more like themselves or like other people and also whether a players’ character was meant to represent their ideal identity. The data gathered from the survey, “…suggest that MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) virtual worlds offer players the opportunity to create idealized characters as virtual, alternate selves,” (501). On average, the participants rated that the characters that they created were more, “…conscientious, extraverted, and less neurotic then they themselves were,” (503). The results also showed that those who were more depressed or had lower self-esteem tended to use their characters to represent their ideal self. The authors of The Ideal Elf were able to conclude from the study that, “…despite the many rules, constraints, and difficulties of the game world, its anonymity and fantasy free players from the yoke of their real world-life history and social situation, allowing them to be more like the person they wish they were,” (503).

As a gamer, I experience creating characters that represent a mix of my identity and my ideal self. In a game that I was playing recently, the plot revolved around in game decisions that my character made. I tended to stick to the more moral decisions, even though it required more work. I would like to think that I did this because, if I was presented with a similar situation in the real world, I would make the moral choice. While I don’t think that an ancient alien species from deep space will attempt to take over the earth, the choices I made to eradicate the aliens represent choices I will have to make in real world later in life. In the game, the character that I created, representing my ideal self, took the harder path to save as many innocent lives as possible. This represents the fact that, in life, I hope to take the path to do the right thing instead of cutting corners.

While video games can be a place for people to express their identity, some argue that video games offer no benefit other than improving eye-hand coordination. In the newest version of Dr. Spock, a parent’s guide on how to raise children written by Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and author of a parenting advice book that was the second best-selling book  next to the bible for fifty-two years, said that, “…the only thing that video games offer to children is an improvement in eye-hand coordination,” and that “…they sanction, and even promote aggression and violent responses to conflict.” Spock’s opinion on the subject can be summed up with this, “…most computer games are a colossal waste of time,” (Johnson 482).

The opposition to video games reminds me of an old Yiddish proverb that my Dad likes to sprinkle on top of conversations whenever he can. In English it is translated to, “Too much of anything is not good.” Like anything else, video games must be used in moderation. Even Dr. Spock agreed that, “…video games are ideal teaching tools,” and that they can be a great way to “…stretch a child’s visual skills or logical thinking,” and can provide children who have trouble fitting in with others a, “…path to prestige and peer acceptance,” (Spock 744). Dr. Spock said that video games are a waste of time, but also said that they can be a great leaning tool, can provide children a way to socialize with others, and most importantly promote advanced and logical thinking.

                Video games, like any other learning tool, need to be used in balance with other tools to achieve their fullest potential. When used correctly, video games present information and lessons like no other form of media and can be a place for people to explore themselves and find their identity. Video games shaped my identity both by influencing who I am and by giving me a medium to express it. The community surrounding the world of video games is a community that I am proud to be a part of and without video games, I would not be who I am today.

Works Cited

Bessiere, Katherine. Seay Fleming. Kiesler, Sara. “The Ideal Elf: Identity Exploration In World

of WorldCraft.” From Inquiry To Academic Writing. 2nd ed. Boston: BedFord/St. Martin's, 2008. 481-84. Print. A Text and Reader.

Johnson, Steven. "Why Games Are Good For You." From Inquiry To Academic Writing. 2nd ed.

            Boston: BedFord/St. Martin's, 2008. 495-504. Print. A Text and Reader.

Spock, Benjamin, and Robert Needlman. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care. 9th ed. New York:

Gallery, 2012. Print.

Life over Death - some thoughts on Wislawa Szymborska's “On Death, without Exaggeration”

Growing up in Poland during the Second World War, it is easy to say that Wislawa Szymborska had experience with death. Being surrounded by death and destruction in her teenage years, Szymborska found a way to deal with death and remain hopeful. In her poem, “On Death, without Exaggeration,” Szymborska pokes fun at death and offers hope for humanity. The reoccurring personification used in Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “On Death, without Exaggeration,” takes power away from death.

Szymborska opens up the poem with the line “it can’t take a joke” (1). This immediately makes the reader ask the question “Who is ‘it’?” Szymborska does not answer this question until the second to last stanza when she finally refers to the subject by name. Opening up the poem by referring to death with the word ‘it’ immediately weakens Death. Szymborska is insulting Death by repeatedly refusing to use its name.  

In the first line of the poem Szymborska is degrading death by pointing out that Death has no sense of humor. By opening the poem with this line, Szymborska personifies death but immediately separates it from the rest of humanity. Using humor as the first trait to separate humanity from Death is an interesting choice. Szymborska might have used this personality trait first because the ability to have a sense of humor in unique to humans. This fact immediately isolates Death from the rest of humanity. In this context, Szymborska’s aim is to make Death less powerful and frightening. In just this first line, Szymborska brings death to life by using the concept of humor, but simultaneously separates it from humanity and takes its power away.         

In the next lines Szymborska continues listing actions that are easy for people to do but that Death is incapable of doing. Szymborska writes that death cannot “find a star, make a bridge, / It knows nothing about weaving, mining, farming, / building ships, or baking cakes” (2-5). In this section Szymborska is empowering humanity. The things listed here may seem insignificant but when you add everything together, a bigger picture is formed. The idea Szymborska is expressing is that every action one makes in life, even the trivial and insignificant ones, form together to create something that is more powerful than death. The effect of this comparison also makes Death seem less powerful because it cannot even do something as trivial as baking a cake. Here again, the author is putting humans above death; death can wipe out whole societies overnight, but it can’t bake a cake.

There is also a deeper meaning beneath these words. Coming back to the idea that it is the little things that add up to make life, Szymborska is continuing the image of death looking in on mankind from the outside. Like in the first line, where Death is first separated from humanity, the succeeding three lines reinforce the idea that Death an unwelcome guest and deserves to be in isolation. The first stanza sets the stage for Szymborska to make Death seem small and powerless by personifying the concept and then separating it from humanity.

Szymborska continues her attack on death by arguing that “it can’t even get the things done / that are part of its trade: / dig a grave, make a coffin, / clean up after itself” (8-12). In this stanza Szymborska introduces the idea that Death has a profession, “its trade.” Death’s trade is killing, and the author is saying that death actually needs the help of humanity. The only part of the process that Death takes responsibility for is the initial killing. Szymborska is saying that there is so much more to do than that. Death needs mankind’s help to handle a majority of the work. The idea that Death actually needs our help is another instance of Szymborska empowering humanity while making Death look weak. Here is another example of the author expressing the idea that death is not as all-powerful as everyone believes him to be. In this section the reader is also introduced to the idea that Death lacks a work ethic, another quality unique to humanity. By repeatedly pointing out exclusively human traits, like humor and work ethic, Szymborska is alienating Death from another angle.

The image of Death’s job is continued into the next lines as Szymborska continues her effort to diminish Death. “Preoccupied with killing,” Szymborska writes, “it does the job awkwardly, / without system or skill. /As though each of us were its first kill” (13-6). In other words, Death is obsessed with killing, but is not very good at it. He only has one job, to kill, and he can’t even do that right. Death is described as incompetent in an effort to take away the fear that usually comes along with death. These lines form the image of Death as an inexperienced killer, fumbling with his knife and tripping over himself. This new image of Death that the author creates is a much less frightening one than the classical “all powerful and unstoppable King of the Underworld.”

In the last line of this stanza Szymborska refers to humanity as “us.” The word choice here is significant for more than one reason. First of all, using the word “us” immediately groups all of humanity together. This is done to give strength to mankind. The word choice also further strengthens the goal of the author to alienate Death. When humanity faces Death together, Death losses his power to instill fear in others.

In the next section of her poem, Szymborska touches on the fact that humans defeat death countless times every day. “Oh, it has its triumphs,” admits Szymborska, “but look at its countless defeats, / missed blows, / and repeat attempts” (17-21). Szymborska is explaining that Death makes mistakes and often fails, that he is not all powerful. While Death does have many triumphs, countless people die every day, more people continue their lives. We defeat death everyday by simply not dying. Unlike the earlier attacks on Death, this section focuses more on the strength of humanity. Szymborska is offering hope in these lines, hope for people afraid of Death.

The next stanza brings the focus back to Death and continues towards Szymborska’s efforts to point out Death’s shortcomings. “Sometimes it isn’t strong enough / to swat a fly from the air. / Many are the caterpillars / that out crawled it” (21-4). Here Szymborska ridicules Death for not even being able to kill a fly. In this blatant insult Szymborska defiantly mocks Death. The lack of fear that Szymborska has is striking. There is a purpose to this unusual mockery and showcase of courage. To be so fearless of Death to be able to mock and insult it is inspiring. Szymborska is trying to inspire others to cease fearing Death by showing the reader that she is not. The purpose of this section is to illustrate that if Szymborska does not fear Death then neither should her readers.

Up until this next section of her poem Szymborska has focused on empowering humanity over Death but in this next section all of life is included in the fight against Death. “All those bulbs, pods, / tentacles, fins, tracheae, / nuptial plumage, and winter fur show that it has fallen behind / with its halfhearted work” (25-9). In these lines Szymborska is creatively encompassing all the forms of life. Szymborska argues that the simple fact that life continues day after day proves the fact that Death is falling behind because of his lack of skill. This is a very uplifting section and continues the theme of empowering life and inspiring hope in others.

In the last lines of the poem Szymborska writes, “As far as you’ve come / can’t be undone” (47-8). At first glance the meaning of this closing sentence may be unclear but when the meaning is uncovered, it becomes profound. Szymborska is explaining in this  line that that even though death may always be the end for all life, a person’s journey through life can never be erased. Life in itself is a victory over Death. Death may be able to end ones path, but he can never undo everything that someone has done and affected throughout his life. This final insightful observation on life and death by Szymborska is her most powerful tool to enslave Death.

Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “On Death, without Exaggeration,” is a call to arms. Szymborska is rallying her troops to fight against Death and his command over humanity. Szymborska’s tactic to take Death’s power of fear away is to personify the concept of death and then alienate and show its weakness. Why is Szymborska attempting this perilous task? Growing up in Poland during the Second World War, Szymborska was surrounded by death and was very likely afraid of it. In an effort to help others that share that fear, Szymborska gives offers her hope for humanity, in that mankind has the upper hand on death.

Works Cited

Szymborska, Wislawa. "On Death, without Exaggeration." Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 5. John Schilb, John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 1609-1611. Print.

Happy as a Clam - some thoughts on "Clam Ode" by Dean Young

            At first glance Dean Young’s “Clam Ode” seems to tell a tale of a man’s obsession with shellfish. However, with closer analysis, the poem turns into something much deeper. The reader is taken on an adventure, getting bounced around through different memories and situations, on Young’s path to find happiness. Young is on a quest to find happiness and finds his answer in an unexpected place, a clam. In his poem “Clam Ode”, Dean Young uses the image of the clam to represent the human qualities of patience and calmness and is the central theme to his path to happiness.

The poem begins with a sad tone, touching upon the struggles of life. Young introduces the reader to his journey to find happiness with, “one attempts to be significant on a grand scale / in the knock-down battle of life / but settles” (1-3). The use of the word “settles” has more than one meaning here. The more obvious of the two uses of the word is that Young has settled with his current situation but feels unhappy with his choices. The word “settles” also ties into the recurring image of a clam that Young keeps going back too. The word is slipped in create to the image of an object settling to the bottom of the ocean, where the clam lives. Clams settle at the bottom of the ocean, and as Young is settling, or sinking to the bottom of the ocean, he is symbolically beginning his learning process. Young is saying that sometimes people try to be amazing and rise above the rest, but end up settling for something more average. It seems that Young is giving the reader some personal insight into his life leading up to this point. Is Young the “one” he is referring to here? Happiness is not something that can be achieved by working towards being significant. Instead, as Young discovers, happiness comes more easily when being like the clam and remaining calm in hard situations.

After Young’s self-reflection, he begins to think about “the expression ‘happy as a clam,’” and “how it imparts buoyant emotion / to a rather, when you get down to it, / nonexpressive creature” (5-8). In other words, the famous expression conveys a cheerful emotion to an actually completely nonexpressive animal. Young utilizes an interesting word choice in this section, particularly the use of the word “buoyant.” This is the second example of Young using a word that adds to the image of the ocean. This word ties in with the next lines because it puts the image of floating into the reader’s mind, much the way Young describes the way clams calmly float in the ocean.

Young goes on to criticize the unexpressive nature of the clam, writing “in piles of ice / it awaits its doom pretty much the same / as in the ocean’s floor it awaits / life’s banquet and sexual joys” (4-10). First of all, the fact that Young is portraying the animal that has become a role model for him is interesting. He describes clams as if they are the same in life as they are in death. Interestingly, it seems the more he thinks about what clams do all day, float around and calmly wait for everything to come to them, the more he realizes that the clam can offer something to be learned. Clams are naturally unexpressive creatures that literally just go with the flow and wait for whatever is given to them. People have a hard time relaxing and waiting for life, instead they rush things and potentially ruin them. Young makes it seem that clams have mastered the ability to be patient and wait for happiness to come to them.

Young talks about how emotions are confusing and can keep us from happiness. Young explains that “states of feeling, unlike states of the upper Midwest, / are difficult to name” (24-5) and that “people have had more feelings than they know what to do with” (29). The clam however, does not have to deal with a slew of confusing and contradicting emotions. Young is not arguing that people need to feel less in order to be happy, but rather that people should try to remain calm when feeling overwhelmed by their different feelings and slowly sort through them. This section is interesting because it seems as if Young is starting to learn from the clam, the animal that he described as emotionless earlier.

Young has linked the clam with the sense of calmness and is now using the idea of the calm clam as a strategy to remain calm and try to control the “slue of feelings” (27). The use of the verb “slue” gives the words a harsher feeling. To slue is to slide violently or uncontrollably. Young continues this theme of violence and uncontrollability in the next lines, writing “like fire extinguisher that turns out to be a flamethrower” (31). Young is expressing his need for a solution, something to put out the fire in his head, to extinguish all of the confusing and conflicting emotions running amuck. Unfortunately, all he is finding are flamethrowers, things that are only multiplying the problem. The images of fire used in this part of the poem are almost opposite the opening images of a gentle sea. The word choice implies that Young feels that he is losing control of his emotions, which explains why he has sought refuge in such an unexpressive and emotionless animal.

Young finds hope when he gazes upon this clam because it has the ability to stay calm in any situation. Young says, “The clam however remains calm. / Green is the color of the kelp it rests on” (37-8). The color green is of great importance in this line. In psychology, the color green has ties to balance and harmony, specifically in regards to emotions. Another characteristic commonly associated with the color green is growth. The image that Young has painted us, specifically using green, combines the concepts of growth and a balance of emotions. This is exactly what Young has been searching for. What is resting upon the green? A clam. This is another example of how Dean Young uses the image of the clam to represent the ability to be calm, something that he is trying so to be able to do.

The next line in the poem continues to describe the clam resting on the green kelp, sharing with the reader that it is” having a helluva wingding calm” (39). This line presents the reader with a bit of an oxymoron. The word “wingding” is usually used to describe something that is lively and wild. To describe the clam’s calmness as wild leaves the reader with a contradiction. Did Young use this contradiction to express that fact that he is still searching for the ability to be calm?

At the end of the poem we find Young sitting at a table preparing to eat the animal that he has talked so much about. Young waits until the last lines of the poem to explain to the reader how this journey began. His clam dinner has been the inspiration of all of this soul searching. “Join yourself to me through the emissary / of this al dente fettuccini,” Young implores, “so I may be qualmless and happy as you” (Young 42-5). In these final lines Young is asking for the strength to be as calm as the clam. The word “emissary” has ties to something on a mission, much like Young is on a mission to find the strength to remain calm. The pasta that Young is about to eat is also on a mission to send him the clam. The clam in his meal is a representation of calmness, as Young has set up throughout the poem. It is very symbolic that the clam is about to enter Young’s body. The act of eating the clam represent that Young is about to gain the ability that he has given to the clam; being calm.

Works Cited

            Young, Dean. "Clam Ode." Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 5. John Schilb, John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 863-864. Print.