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Videogames and Sociology: Twitter's pic of the day summary (21-25)

This is the fifth round of Pic of the day RECAP (21-25). To understand what all of this is about, check out the original entry.

21 - Glitchhikers: We're surrounded by possible connections all the time 

You probably won't find a more straightforward truth in this section. We're surrounded by possible connections all the time. Amen to that. What's more, not only are we surrounded, we are also covered, traversed and flooded by those connections. We walk on connections. We walk thanks to connections. What the hell, we are connections too! Connections of connections, that's what we are. That's what the social is: a contingent articulation (that is, a set of connections) of heterogeneous elements.

22 - The Black Mirror 2: Did I see a ghost?

How many times have you asked a similar question to yourself? Was it real? Did I image that? Was all that a dream? Did I lock the door? The fact that we are asking ourselves about something that has just happened and only us can answer is odd at the very least. If you didn't notice the first time, why are you asking again? It is commonly believed that those are just rhetorical questions, that we already know (or not) the answer. In both cases, why ask then? Good question. Do I have to explain to you why I cannot answer it? So, Did I see a ghost?

23 - Thief Gold (The Dark Project): Stay in the shadows, avoid the light
Light casts shadows, which means that without light wouldn't be shadows. Therefore, shadows are extensions of light. Are shadows and light different states of the same reality? If so, does staying in the shadows equal to staying in the light? Is it possible then to follow the mandate of keeping off the light and embracing the shadows without coming into existential contradiction? Since I'm not a a physicist, all what I've just written might be nonsense. But if we consider this as a metaphor of how we represent reality, we may we able to work around the paradox. We shed light on the pieces of reality we want to know better with our methods of representation. That way of proceeding leads us to produce knowledge about what surrounds us, but also obscures other parts. The illuminated areas are what we think about reality while the dimmed ones are what we ignore. Hence, staying in the shadows could be a good way to approach reality differently. To know what is unknown. Be warned, though: you will cast a new spectrum of shadows and lights.

24 - Cognition: You made the same fucking mistake twice?!

Have a look at the picture. What do you see? An angry woman. An accusing finger. A man in a defensive posture. Some papers on a table. And some f-wording. How did we get here? It seems that someone made the same mistake twice. That's John, the guy trying to protect himself from that menacing finger. Who's behind that finger? Erica Reed, a detective with an unusual but useful gift: she can see the past when she touches something or someone. Now we understand why John is afraid of her finger. As if he, like the rest of us, made the same damn mistake just twice!

25 - Super Hexagon: Level up

Most of the time video games are about levelling up. Rising to the challenge. Beating the boss. Hitting the high scores list. Completing stages. Overcoming adversity. Increasing our skills. Video games are tales of success. Now think how all that could be easily applied to life in general. And how you are on the Pentagon level of a game called Super Hexagon. We all are. Do you see it now? No? Try again. Most of the time video games are...

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