Lions and Tigers and Narcissism, oh my!

I think that after reading the analysis/summary of Stewart’s “Communicating and Interpersonal Communcation” and then reading Goleman’s “Rudiments of Social Intelligence” it was interesting to see how some people viewed the articles. In Stewart’s article he seemed to want people to experience individuals instead of role fillers and cultural representations. (Stewart 35, thanks to spiceynoodlesoup) Then to read Goleman’s article about how he sees natural leaders and the traits associated with them. One of Goleman’s four parts to social intelligence is social analysis which he says is the ability to read people and glean little details that provide information on how that person feels and thinks. Outerbodyboi puts another good detail of Goleman’s in his description: “[The article] also talks about how some people are socially inept, and are truly afraid of interaction. At the bottom of this fear is the idea that nobody would find what they have to say interesting.” I feel that this assignment was given to help determine the group leader, and help people to see how the leader sees, and help the leader see how his peers see (that’s a lot of seeing!) I picked that quote of outerbodyboi’s because the leaders have to realize that some people in their group might feel that way, and that those people aren’t weak, they just need some healthy encouragement!

I know it’s bad practice to quote yourself, but I think this applies here (duh) when talking about Barrett’s “Maintaining the Self”. I had written previously: “Barrett seemed to be explaining the self defense mechanisms that we’re all familiar with, more than providing advice on how to get around it. He offers control (strategizing, foreseeing events), achievement (perfectionism is the word he uses), opposition (dissent, resistance, nonconformity), attribution (having someone to blame), anger (bad temper, or passionate), denial, withdrawal (avoiding conflict by not being there) and prevarication (white lies). (pp. 103-105)” and my teammate outerbodyboi provided a good closing line to it: “Extraverts (sic) may favor anger, while introverts prefer withdrawal. It all depends on the individual personality. It’s very interesting because everyone has their own way they go about dealing with the “self.”” Again, since I think this is an assignment for the leaders, I feel that identifying and working with all of the self-defense mechanisms is an incredibly important aspect of group work, and outerbodyboi is absolutely right, everyone chooses a different path depending on the situation, and it’s unlikely that two people will choose the same paths.

Again, whether out of narcissism or simplicity I’m quoting myself again (if I wrote ideas I didn’t believe, what kind of credibility would I have?!): “Barrett says shame is “the prime motivator of our time”, and “as we strive to protect ourselves against shame, our communicating is affected” (p. 98) It has become the thing we want to avoid in communicating, so we will lie to ourselves and others in order to avoid shame.” Commsyr has a prime example of this: “I knew that by not completing an assignment my group members could ascribe me as being a slacker, so I found myself explaining why I was unable to complete the assignment and even saying, “I am not a slacker.”” She used a defense mechanism to avoid shame, and she likely will not miss many, if any, more assignments because she wants to avoid that possible shame (which is natural in Western culture according to the authors). Again, if this is based towards looking at the leadership, it is the leader’s responsibility to stay with the members and help them finish any assigned task, and to look to help anyone struggling.

Gimme a “C”, Gimme an “O”, Gimme an “M”, you get the idea…

Between conversing with my teammates through the chat and our mini-group discussion boards, it seems that we all want one thing: open lines of communication. We had one person that couldn’t attend the chat, and another one that was there to start, but had to leave due to emergency; this didn’t hinder us from discussing things. Right away it was evident that there was confusion about the assignment and we worked through it and I feel that we completed it in the fashion it was meant to be done in. As part of my nature, if no one steps forward to lead a group discussion, I step forward and try to help as best as I can. Grant2u was having some troubles finding everything and seemed a little flustered with the whole online chat process, which is by all means understandable when it’s your first time experiencing it! I was lucky that most of the questions were computer-related things and I knew a lot about it, and I felt that the chat went well.

As for the responses in the other post, the idea flowing from everyone’s responses seemed again to be open lines of communication and attempting equal workloads. Ooloveshoo says that you need to “be yourself if you want to build relationships with the others”, and this definitely applies to these groups. I liked outerbodyboi’s comments because I share a lot of the same views. He also makes a very good point: “It’s okay to argue in order to learn more, but when you start to try and win the battle, that’s when it gets away from learning and works as a tool to separate us further.” A second, very poignant point is “[w]riting can be one of the most deceiving forms of communcations because you are projecting your inner emotions onto the words that someone else has written.” Working in a group online is going to have its own little problems and advantages, and singer12 states that “in order to work in a group, especially one in which physical contact is not an option, proper communication tactics are crucial.”

Mario, Master Chief, Solid Snake and Jesus walk into a bar…

Alright, so Jesus doesn’t fit in with the other fictional characters, but the others are what I am interested in talking about today. I have recently been looking into the future of video games and gaming in general, as it might be a possible venture for me in life. I’ve been playing games since I was very young, as is the case with many of my generation. I’ve been obsessed with computer games mostly, simply because they are usually the most technologically advanced (how could a console be better off than a computer when a console is just a specialized computer? I digress.) .

I’ve been looking into this because the past 2-3 years have been astonishing for the gaming industry. While the economy has been floundering and fluttering this industry has only grown larger and larger and gained enormous strength. Interestingly enough, what was considered to be a “nerd” thing has become one of the strongest and most prevalent industries in our economy and culture. If anyone says to you “What profession is Mario?” what is your first thought? The fat Italian in a red jumpsuit jumping through pipes after mushrooms, or him thrown onto a go-kart, depending on your age. Another name that most of my generation will probably never forget is Master Chief, or Solid Snake, depending on your platform of choice. If you don’t get it, you’re either too old (sorry), or chances are you’re a girl (not sexist; studies show males are 90% more likely to play videogames avidly than girls are).

I looked into the future of gaming because there seems to be a want to spread this industry as far as it can reach, and that means pushing it more into the online forum than ever before, and to market to people other than adolescent boys (read: less “Coke-bottle” nymphs as sidekicks in games). Growing up with games always geared towards me was very interesting and I am very much excited to see where gaming will turn to for influences and how it will help to shape society.