#opinionpiece

[redwoodgigantea]

Senior Assassin: Is It Really Worth It To Play?

Senior Assassin may seem like a fun way for seniors to celebrate the end of their high school career, but we have to take into account the proven dangers the game poses to students.

By: Shaylin Bogart

Senior assassin is an end of the year game high school seniors play, the game is a student organized game centering around eliminating their assigned targets with water guns in order to get a cash prize, there are "no kill zones" such as churches, work places, schools, homes, as well as vehicles.

Upon first glance the game seems like harmless fun for seniors to celebrate the end of the year before graduation, which most of the time is true however there have been concerns raised regarding safety for students.

There have been several instances of students landing in the hospital, inadvertently causing police shootings, as well as school lockdowns all because of this supposedly harmless game.

According to CBS News Texas, in Arlington, Texas, a 17 year old boy named Isaac Leal ended up on life support while playing Senior Assassin. While armed with water guns Isaac Leal jumped onto the back bumper of a jeep as it was pulling out of the driveway, the driver made several sharp turns to throw him off of the jeep, and after 5 minutes of holding on for his life Isaac Leal ended up on the pavement with a severe traumatic brain injury. After that he was put on life support just weeks before his graduation in 2025, he ended up passing away before he made it to graduation.

A game meant to be fun and for making great memories should never land anybody in the hospital with a severe head injury, and it especially should never cause death weeks before graduation.

When somebody is 17 or 18 years old they're meant to be celebrated for the accomplishment of graduating high school, there shouldn't have to be a funeral celebrating their life before they even get the chance to graduate.

According to First coast news, in Jacksonville, Florida, an 18 year old student at Bishop Kenny High School was playing Senior Assassin armed with a water gun in a dark neighborhood aiming to hit his target, then, an off-duty officer mistook the realistic water gun for a real gun and shot the student because of that.

The fault may rest on both the student and the police officer, the students should have known better than to carry water guns that looked realistic and aiming it at other students in public, however, the grown adult police officer with a real gun should have known that difference between the water gun vs. a real gun and should have done more to assess whether or not the situation warranted him to use his gun.

This was a horrific incident that was completely preventable from all parties, the point here is that this isn't even the only event of serious injuries caused by this game which shows that these are not singled out incidents but rather a pattern.

According to Douglass County Sheriff's Office, "In the first incident, masked kids were seen at a grocery store in Highlands Ranch, and residents thought a robbery was about to occur. In the second case, a caller reported someone pointing a gun out of a vehicle’s sunroof at fast food restaurant in Highlands Ranch. Deputies located the car and conducted a high-risk stop in a parking lot near W. Highlands Ranch Parkway and Town Center Drive. Inside, deputies found two water guns that looked like real handguns. Parents were called, and the teens were released to them after a serious discussion about the dangers of this game that is being played across the country."

The water gun in question that was involved in the South Iredell High School lock down. Photo from WBTV.com

According to WBOY.com in North Carolina, 18 year old Arkady Muller entered a convenience store and pointed what appeared to be a pistol at two other teenagers inside the store, later on authorities figured out that the pistol was really a water gun, and this was merely for the game Student Assassin.

Officials at the South Iredell High School were alerted by the police of the event, which they happened to find a car that matched the description of the suspects car in the high school's parking lot, which led to the school itself to go on lockdown.

There may not have been any actual harm done in this instances, however, Senior Assassin has been shown to go seriously wrong very quickly.

In fact, Arkady Muller received actual consequences due to this, they ended up getting arrested by police officers and charged for the crime of disorderly conduct.

Real charges, real consequences.

Even if we weren't taking into account the amount of harm and damage that this game has already caused, isn't the premise of the game in and of itself a bit questionable?

After all the premise of the game is to, in essence, shoot and eliminate people you know with a water gun, to me it sounds like a game made for the glorification of shooting and killing people for fun which is not something we need in the current political climate.

Read the full article

[maryannwrites]

Thoughts about the fight against DEI and what's happening at the Smithsonian. Please read and share your opinions.

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[rouletteweekend]

The Overturning of Roe V Wade (an opinion)

Shocked. Horrified. Sad. Angry. But Never Accepting. #abortionlaws #womensrights #opinionpiece

I’m still in shock. I don’t know why I should be, but I am. When I heard that Roe v Wade was overturned today, I immediately wanted to go protest, somewhere, anywhere. For years, I have been mystified by the idea of “separation of church and state” because in my lifetime, I do not think it has existed. We go to churches to cast our votes. Religion is brought into marriage and to our bedrooms.…

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[witchcorabell]

Ok the Hex Text is still on for Saturday 12pm EST I hope to see some of you there to chat about some interesting topics I've found and of course the tiktoker who doesn't think Rome was real. #TalkShow #opinionpiece #twitchpromotions #witchyliving #unsettlingcore #weirdcore #macabre #weirdnews https://www.instagram.com/witchcorabell/p/CYaBYmgLrAY/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nerdysoapbox]

Do We Really Need Video Game Movies?

So following the mixed to negative reception to Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, it’s reasonable to once again ponder if movies based on video games is still worth something doing. As someone who has seen this movie and the overall serviceable yet very noticeably flawed horror movie it ultimately is, where it missteps as a movie and as an adaptation got me thinking again about this question. As cool as it is to see some of our favorites experiences, stories, characters, moments and elements from the source material brought to life in a new media, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always done well, let alone with any actual care in some cases. Whether a studio wanting to capitalize on a successful game by adapting it but refuse to give it a proper budget, filmmakers not willingly or unwillingly not understanding the media they’re adapting which can be alienating to fans of that original media, or filmmakers intentionally making bad adaptations since profit is guaranteed thus negating need to make quality media. These only being some of the very real things that happen often within the industry for these kinds of projects can make one wonder if its still worth it. Each movie more or less being a dice roll with these possibilities factored in. Though there are exceptions, some of these movies actually are made with care, perhaps hindered in one or more ways but still something made with actual artistic intent. Mortal Kombat(2021) is a good example, though not a perfect movie it’s still something that was very clearly made by a competent and passionate team who had immense passion for the material they were adapting and it really showed in the final film. Though Welcome to Raccoon City could also fall into this, having been written and directed by a filmmaker who very clearly loves the source material and a cast and production team who all mostly shared his sentiment. But where this otherwise arguable “passion project” falls short is its budget, this movie was made with a very small 25 million dollar budget which for a project of that caliber isn’t something that will work out too well and it didn’t. For all it manages to do, it still comes off as cheap in many places and overall unfinished from a lack of narrative substance which is unfortunate. Despite the popularity of Resident Evil as a video game, as a franchise, the studio and other individuals backing the movie decided a project that really had potential wasn’t worth putting the money it needed to be fully realized so it was very compromised as a result. This could be indicative of entire problem, if the parties mostly responsible for these adaptations don’t respect or care for the material enough when it comes to actually adapting them, then it is still worth getting all of these if they’re either going to be soulless products or heavily cheap budget titles that can’t fully live up to their roots. Would we be better off just keeping games as is and doing anyway with film adaptations(perhaps all kinds of adaptations even), or should we keep trying in the hope there will be people who can get them right? As long as games keep being a very popular and lucrative industry, there will be a market for adaptations and spin-offs spanning other media. One can only hope there comes time when we get these consistently right.

But that’s just my two cents, what’s yours? Got any favorite or least favorite adaptations, let’s discuss it.

[nerdysoapbox]

Live Service is Lucrative but not Fruitful

What’s with all these live service games and more importantly the over abundance of them? A rhetorical question given the very obvious answer yet still baffling answer: they’re profitable, mostly at least. We all understand the schtick by now, straightforward experiences that offers dozens of hours of content with regular updates and whatnot to keep players consistently coming back. Especially in the interest of getting players to spend money on various purchasable items available, straightforward. But once we factor in all the messy practices that horrifically muck this model up and more importantly the games themselves. Yet with so many of these games already on the market and many more following suit with these very much flawed practices left unchanged is resulting in the oversaturated mess we have presently. Sure it’s understandable that the game industry would need to find creative ways to not only make games but offer them in a way will be profitable, but with that desire for profit seemingly coming before creating the actual game in meaningful way, you get a experiences that are lucrative for publishers/developers but are fruitful to players. Look at games like Marvel’s Avengers or even Halo Infinite’s multiplayer mode, games that offer very little in actual content let alone a satisfying progression and gameplay loop while pushing purchasable items at them at every possible chance. This isn’t beneficial to the player, even if they were to spend money on the game like it would often intend, it’s ultimately pointless in an otherwise pointless experience. A conundrum of putting profit over the player, a losing situation because if the games are uninspired, unsatisfying and embracing greedy practices then the player gets nothing out of it which means no one will want to play it which is a lose for the developer/publisher. So why are we still getting these? Well it’s still cheaper than building entirely new experiences from the ground up, let alone very complex ones. It’s why even Assassin’s Creed has been identical with its gameplay loop and content for the past few installments. It’s easier to create dozens of hours of the same basic and redundant tasks than go all out with creative game design. An unfortunate mindset because as said before it’s a losing situation for all, one we’ll likely stay stuck with for a long time to come because despite all the issues, this game model is still profitable enough that companies keep going for it. So until that well finally dries, they’re gonna keeping taking from it what they can.

But that’s just my two cents, what’s yours? Let’s talk about it.

[nerdysoapbox]

The Fine Line for Remasters and Remakes

In light of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition’s very disastrous launch I feel such an event further prompts an ongoing discussion: game preservation and the otherwise mixed big it presently is. An ever growing concern that’s ultimately an unfortunate circumstance of the continuously evolving game industry and more importantly the hardware games are played on. Technology evolves, new platforms are released and previous iterations with their entire game libraries are left in the past. That’s how it’s always been, sure it’s reasonable to assume there’s a number of gamers still holding onto most if not every game and console they’ve acquired, there’s retro collectors as well. But what about the likely large majority who tend not to hold onto those things? Though none of that really matters because those games are in one way or another still left in the dust. This is where remasters and remakes come into the equation, makes total sense to update older games for modern hardware for the sake of preservation and even bringing these games to a newer, larger audience. From the business side it certainly can be as lucrative as original games. It’s a win on both sides but there’s a catch: the fine line. Yes it’s amazing to see nostalgic classics from the past updated and available on today’s platforms, whether as was or with a new coat of visuals to give it some rejuvenating flare. Or even in some instances a full-on reimagining, giving a whole new way to experience an old favorite like it’s a whole different game, certainly something special about that feeling of familiarity but enjoying it as it’s own thing. This past generation alone(PS4, Xbox One, Switch) has seen quite a large collection of ports and remakes from most of the major studios. Something that should be great and celebrated, but then there’s that aforementioned line. Think about it, of all those games released how many were lazily optimized messes, simple ports that didn’t bring new, perhaps needed quality to the experience, or a reimagining that though familiar isn’t that original game so many remember. This begs the question of passion or profit? A difficult question given the varied mixed bag of all of this. Though there are the honest passionate attempts gives older games a whole new visual flare, or an opportunity to do what couldn’t have been done with the original release, or taking a chance to give a classic title a whole new feel while keeping in touch with that original spirit. Though the opposite is just as much prominent. For every well made HD Collection there’s poorly updated console and mobile ports, for every Spyro: Reignited Trilogy there’s a Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, for every Resident Evil 2(2019) there’s a XIII. For all the good there’s certainly the bad and one should wonder how essential all of this is in the long run. If the goal really is preservation then why not simply port them in all their original glory. Backwards compatibility on Xbox for example allows for most of three generations worth games to be playable on their current consoles, using just emulation almost twenty years worth of games are available to players. Playstation offers a limited number of ports of their more iconic game from previous consoles. Nintendo even allows many of their older games to be streamed through their online service and though certainly isn’t the best option it’s still something. So why can’t something like these be the norm? Is it passion or profit? If this GTA disaster can tell us something, anything, it’s that just because we can, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should. There are a lot of games out there, it’d be nice to have a straightforward means to access most if not all of them.

But that’s just my two cents, what’s yours? Let’s talk about it.

[sourcherrymag]

should i feel successful? by lauren payne (she/her)

The idea of success intrigues me. 

From an early age, people are asking us what we want to be when we grow up. At that age, the only jobs we’re aware of are the jobs our parents have, jobs we learn about in school, or the ones depicted in the movies and television shows we’re allowed to watch. Ask a child why they want to be an astronaut, it’s probably because they saw it on TV, or read about it at the book fair. 

When people talk about success, most of the time they’re talking about your work. They talk about how much money you make, what level in the company you’re at and how well-known you are in your industry. When this is the most common measurement of success, are we failures if we don’t achieve this? 

I’ve wanted to be a journalist since I was young. This was mainly because I avidly collected magazines and thought it was cool journalists got to hang out with people in my favourite TV shows (kids and their TV, am I right?!). Throughout school and university, my idea of success was defined by my job. I thought once I became a full-time journalist, I’d feel successful. 

So, when I became a full-time journalist, why did I feel so drained? I switched gears and decided that instead of a journalist, I wanted to be a writer. If I was a full-time writer, I’d feel successful. Again, getting that full-time writing role didn’t make me feel as successful as I thought it would. I kept trying and trying to find a career that would make me feel like a success but kept finding myself in situations that only made me feel anxious, defeated, and depleted. 

I kept telling myself I didn’t want a corporate job, as that would feel like a step in the wrong direction. Well, I got one and, it gave me the time to think about what I really wanted in my life and how I still had a lot of things to figure out about myself before I could even imagine what my true idea of success was. 

I have no idea how I specifically measure success, but I do know that it has absolutely nothing to do with my job.

I think the idea of success evolves over time. When you get to know yourself better, you learn and grow, as does your vision of success.  

My vision of success is a work in progress, and that’s okay. If someone came up to me and asked if I felt successful right now, I would say no. I’d also say I was content with not feeling successful. 

We shouldn’t have to worry about becoming successful. We shouldn’t have to worry about defining a specific direction or destination we’re moving towards in our lives. We should be able to move in whichever direction we like, without having to think about an end goal. 

Why aim to feel successful when we can work to feel excited, creative, and curious? Why should we be worrying about becoming successful, when we can sit back and enjoy the process? 

Am I failure if I’m not earning good money? Am I a failure if I’m not a CEO? Am I a failure if I don’t know how I define success? Am I a failure for simply exploring my passions, my interests, and my creativity? No, I’m not. 

I don’t feel successful right now and that’s okay. I feel comfortable with where the journey of life is taking me.

Isn’t that enough?

Lauren Payne (she/her) is a writer who loves exploring the reasons why people do what they do. She’s been published in Demure magazine, Fashion Journal and is a work in progress. You can win her over with an oat milk latte and a ham and cheese croissant. 

@laurenrenaepain