Does this mean I have to wear rose-colored glassed when playin' this game? 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Bang Bang (You're Not Dead)
by Katie Dean
3:00 a.m. Aug. 30, 2000 PDT
A typical computer game centers around a violent war zone piled high with corpses. But what if those bullets turned the bloody bodies into a field of healthy humans, frolicking among the flowers?
That's the idea behind Game Theory: Bang Bang (you're not dead?)," a new exhibit designed by Kathleen Ruiz at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Ruiz, an assistant professor of electronic arts at the school, has created a multimedia art exhibit that confronts the hot-button issue of violence in computer games by satirizing it.
"We're trying to say that there are other things that can be done besides using this technology to kill," Ruiz said. "There are so many alternative experiences -- poetic, spiritual, and personal -- that we can use the technology to work with."
"I was trying to turn this (use of technology) around a little bit with the show," Ruiz said.
Viewers have a chance to play the role of first-person shooter in the exhibit. Each person sits on a toy chest and takes aim at an 8-by-12-foot digital projection screen mounted on the wall.
This is not a typical gaming environment, however, where the goal is to kill the bad guys. Instead, players can aim at dead people onscreen and try to resurrect them.
"It's wonderful to see (the player's) expression when they shoot at something and it gets up and walks away," said Linda Freaney, the director of the permanent collection at the Woodstock Artists Association in Woodstock, N.Y., where the exhibit is currently on display.
In another scenario, a pile of blood and guts (a so-called giblet, or gib, in gaming terminology) morphs into a dove or flower when shot. When the player hits the gib, she hears the sound of one of the four elements -- earth, fire, water, and air -- which symbolizes bringing the object back to life.
During the exhibit, harps and soothing music -- not gunshots -- echo through the halls.
Observers can also watch a video of young people frantically manipulating joysticks and shouting as they play computer games. Viewers can see for themselves the intensity of the games, and the emotions that it brings out, Ruiz said.
Walking through the rest of the exhibit, poster-sized prints of teenagers armed with fake guns and playing violent computer games line the walls, giving the viewer a sense of being caught in an imaginary crossfire.
Rich Czyzewski, a recent computer science graduate at Rensselaer and a gamer himself, helped Ruiz build the animation for the exhibit.
And though he plays violent computer games, he believes that nonviolent games can be just as fun, depending upon the designer. For example, Sim City, a popular game where users build their own town, rarely has any violent overtones, he said.
"This (exhibit) is an inspiration to designers to bring about a new gaming age," he said.
That may be welcome news to concerned parents.
"Bang, Bang (you're not dead?)" was an eye-opener for some parents who are unaware of the games their children play, Ruiz said.
"They drop the kids off at the mall, and they don't see what their kids do (at the arcade)," Ruiz said.
"It's making a lot of people think about whether or not video games desensitize our youth," Freaney added.
Indeed, an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission found that the the film, recording, and video-game industries all aggressively market violent content to children, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The report, to be released next month, was ordered by President Clinton last year in the wake of a number of school shootings, including the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Nevertheless, Ruiz points out that she is an artist, not a sociologist.
"(Violence in games) could be cathartic and it could be desensitizing," Ruiz said. "I don't know. I'm just an observer."
Portions of the exhibit can be viewed on the Web. The Web version was featured at arts festivals in Austria and Switzerland last year.
"Bang, Bang (you're not dead?)" runs through Oct. 16 at the Woodstock Artists Association before hitting the road.
[/quote]
The story can be found HERE.
------------------
God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!
oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
As seen in Atlanta's AJC, The Vent: "Let it be known that in this great metropolitan area that you might be able to get away with murder, but you'd better not bash a mailbox."
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Bang Bang (You're Not Dead)
by Katie Dean
3:00 a.m. Aug. 30, 2000 PDT
A typical computer game centers around a violent war zone piled high with corpses. But what if those bullets turned the bloody bodies into a field of healthy humans, frolicking among the flowers?
That's the idea behind Game Theory: Bang Bang (you're not dead?)," a new exhibit designed by Kathleen Ruiz at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Ruiz, an assistant professor of electronic arts at the school, has created a multimedia art exhibit that confronts the hot-button issue of violence in computer games by satirizing it.
"We're trying to say that there are other things that can be done besides using this technology to kill," Ruiz said. "There are so many alternative experiences -- poetic, spiritual, and personal -- that we can use the technology to work with."
"I was trying to turn this (use of technology) around a little bit with the show," Ruiz said.
Viewers have a chance to play the role of first-person shooter in the exhibit. Each person sits on a toy chest and takes aim at an 8-by-12-foot digital projection screen mounted on the wall.
This is not a typical gaming environment, however, where the goal is to kill the bad guys. Instead, players can aim at dead people onscreen and try to resurrect them.
"It's wonderful to see (the player's) expression when they shoot at something and it gets up and walks away," said Linda Freaney, the director of the permanent collection at the Woodstock Artists Association in Woodstock, N.Y., where the exhibit is currently on display.
In another scenario, a pile of blood and guts (a so-called giblet, or gib, in gaming terminology) morphs into a dove or flower when shot. When the player hits the gib, she hears the sound of one of the four elements -- earth, fire, water, and air -- which symbolizes bringing the object back to life.
During the exhibit, harps and soothing music -- not gunshots -- echo through the halls.
Observers can also watch a video of young people frantically manipulating joysticks and shouting as they play computer games. Viewers can see for themselves the intensity of the games, and the emotions that it brings out, Ruiz said.
Walking through the rest of the exhibit, poster-sized prints of teenagers armed with fake guns and playing violent computer games line the walls, giving the viewer a sense of being caught in an imaginary crossfire.
Rich Czyzewski, a recent computer science graduate at Rensselaer and a gamer himself, helped Ruiz build the animation for the exhibit.
And though he plays violent computer games, he believes that nonviolent games can be just as fun, depending upon the designer. For example, Sim City, a popular game where users build their own town, rarely has any violent overtones, he said.
"This (exhibit) is an inspiration to designers to bring about a new gaming age," he said.
That may be welcome news to concerned parents.
"Bang, Bang (you're not dead?)" was an eye-opener for some parents who are unaware of the games their children play, Ruiz said.
"They drop the kids off at the mall, and they don't see what their kids do (at the arcade)," Ruiz said.
"It's making a lot of people think about whether or not video games desensitize our youth," Freaney added.
Indeed, an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission found that the the film, recording, and video-game industries all aggressively market violent content to children, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The report, to be released next month, was ordered by President Clinton last year in the wake of a number of school shootings, including the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Nevertheless, Ruiz points out that she is an artist, not a sociologist.
"(Violence in games) could be cathartic and it could be desensitizing," Ruiz said. "I don't know. I'm just an observer."
Portions of the exhibit can be viewed on the Web. The Web version was featured at arts festivals in Austria and Switzerland last year.
"Bang, Bang (you're not dead?)" runs through Oct. 16 at the Woodstock Artists Association before hitting the road.
[/quote]
The story can be found HERE.
------------------
God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!
oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
As seen in Atlanta's AJC, The Vent: "Let it be known that in this great metropolitan area that you might be able to get away with murder, but you'd better not bash a mailbox."
Have a nice day.