1984 has arrived

I recently returned to the UK after living in Switzerland for the last ten years.

At my Parents house, they were discussing the speed drivers come through their little village.

Apparently, rural communities have appointed " Speed Controllers", who are locals issued with radar guns to monitor traffic speeds.

I'm all for safety, but not for the empowerment of my neighbour to stop me and caution me without them being an official law enforcement agent.

" Inform on your neighbour ".

Then I noticed the destruction of the language with the alarming use of text speak, ( sorry, txt speak ).

Do you remeber newspeak ? The objective being to simplify, and finally eradicate language.

Absurd political correctness - thought crime ?

CCTV and the wild statistics of being caught on camera every two minutes in large towns and cities. - Big Brother IS watching you.

Hell, even a TV show called Big Brother,where the majority of viewers don't understand the reference and accept it as a phrase relating to entertainment.

It all seems a bit fuckin' Orwellian to me. If you have the time, read the book again and see how chillingly some of Orwell's ideas paralell the state of the world today.

To plagarise Tom Yhorke from Radiohead - " I might sound fucking paranoid, buts that because They really are out to get me." 

Posted by scratchski @ 8:26 am EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

been photoshoppin'.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/scratchski/weapon-of-choice_edited-1.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/scratchski/punk3.gif

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/scratchski/fk-jpeg.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/scratchski/ujack2.jpg

Posted by scratchski @ 7:37 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Cause and effect

I'm posting this as a blog because my clan mates have hashed throught the subject to their various conclusions. It is with respect for their opinions that I add my two cents . The endless debate of violence in video games and its impact in society is as futile as discussing faith or politics. Everybody has their own convictions, and as such, does not want to be be convinced or persuaded that they are ,' wrong '. Debate is effectively dead. Few people are capable of resting emotinally distant on these ' hot topics '. The tragedy at Virginia Tech. has fanned the flames. Well, the media has fanned the flames. A cheap holiday in other peoples misery, in my opinion. I won't start on the freakish voyeurism of the Press and the Public. As far as it goes, we will never know the truth about this troubled boy. That went with him to his grave. It's all speculation and second guessing now. Anybody who professes to know the why, and wherefore of the circumstances and the triggers for this, and any other act of seemingly pointless violence, is a deluded fool. A violent game may make a violent killer - but there are a lot of us playing shooters who could be said to be the proof to the contrary. Don't believe the hype, ( and I am sure most of you don't ).

Posted by scratchski @ 4:31 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

The Void or " where generations clash"

In most parts of the world, the distinction between adult and child is distinct and marked by age limits and activities. There are terrible exceptions to this of course- child soldiers in warring african nations, uber geeky tecnology whizz-kids and adults trying to dress like gangsta rappers. There is an area where the the worlds of adult and kid collide- The Void, or online gaming as some of you might know it. Common perception amongst non-gamers is that gaming is an activity for kids. Any , 'adult ', fool enough to spend his days stabbing away at a joy pad or frenetically pushing a mouse around a pad can expect no more than to keep the company of adolescents. We know better. Many of you are parents, and the limits and boundaries of your childrens' behaviour is well established. Online, we encounter , ' Timmie ', who has not been raised with your personal values, and has yet to mature enough to have a grasp of fundamental adult concepts of behaviour, politeness or as often as not, grammar and spelling, ( text speak has a lot to answer for!! ). Quite simply, as we cannot understand, or choose to listen to Timmie and his cohorts bad- mouthing, smack talking, flame wars take on online gaming, neither can he see the fun in playing the game our way. The problem is, until we run into each other, who we meet and play is a lottery. The advent of 2Old2Play has given rise to a community of more or less like minded gamers, who, at the very least abide by the rules of adult life. I don't believe we should expect a kid to understand the etiquette that we enjoy at 2O2P. Partly because he / she, ( predominantly he ), is just that, a kid, but mostly because it is not our place to school someone elses' child on the do's and don'ts of what is acceptable in social encounters. If this were an enviroment such as a school or a place of work, then a word of caution is well placed to help ground the offending party,but that rests well in the realms of physical, or , 'real ' , world encounters. The ether of xbox live, Sony Home and the myriad game servers has a protective anonymity-Say what I like with no real consequence or come back for Me !! We live in an era of chat rooms and forums where we can vent spleen, make friends, be positive, be negative. A site like this one allows us to choose our audience, but playing games online will continue to be where kids try and be grown up and grown ups can play like kids, yet only one of the two is having any success!!

Posted by scratchski @ 2:18 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments