I was thumbing through and I found an interesting address by Azucena Gajo Uranza on ethics and electronic writing. While I did not feel that he touched all the issues here, Urzana did raise the issue of timeless morals in a culture of instant communication. He seems to have some consciousness of the power of representation reminiscent of Joyce and Hayles, though his ethical angle looks different. For those of us who believe that there are great truths out there that compell writing, this is worth a read.

Listening in class, I was relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one who found it irresistable to push the limits of Facade (trying for kisses, to turn the argument violent, threesomes, asking for more and more drinks etc.) What interests me here is how players attempt to rebel against the freedom they are given in a game like Facade. Rather than trying to complete the game the urge is to romp around within in it trying to come up with outcomes that seem the furthest from what the creators intended.

A few posts ago I mentioned how I imagined the future blog to be a wise-looking old man. Well apparently someone out there sees the future search engine as a sexy young multiracial woman in a lowcut but very classy black suit/dress. Her name is Ms. Dewey. She talks on her cell-phone, reads a magazine, and pesters you to query her with more searches. She grows bored and annoyed when neglected.

And she is damn creepy. Why? Well first of all there are the disturbing racial and gender implications of her submissive+sassy attitude and attire. But, and this is what I'm interested in, it seems also to be an issue of invasion. There's something disturbing about having such a vivid virtual personality present itself on your computer screen. Even when the page is minimized or sub-tabbed you can feel her presence, watching you, waiting for instruction.

Still fascinated by the possibilities of the virtual gaming world, I have been scanning around message boards and whatnot when I came across the link to this Disturbing World of Warcraft Clip. A member of a guild (a unified horde of WOW players) died in real life. Her guild decided to give her a virtual funeral, out in the open, in a kill zone. They invited players from other guilds and stated that it would be a nonviolent event. Well, players from a less scrupulous guild raided the funeral and slaughtered all, and I mean ALL, of the attendees.