FuzzeePickle: Fiera…Feroz…y una Mujer Sin Compleja de Culpabilidad!

"That Pickle has HAIR!"
Figura 1: Señorita FuzzeePickle, “Ese pepinillo tiene pelo!”

Durante la última década, la comunidad de videojugadores ha sido testigo de mucho más de la evolución rápida (algunos la llamaría “la revolución”) de sus plataformas y del contenido del videojuego; ha observado también el aumento constante del número de mujeres jugadores de los juegos que tradicionalmente se han visto como masculinos, tal como First-Person-Shooter (FPS).

Según el ESRB, las mujeres comprenden 40% del número total de los videojugadores en los EE.UU. (haga click aquí para más información). De ellas surgen un número creciente de CHINGONAS CRUELES y FEROCES, como la que entrevistamos para la EDICION #2 de BOOM Salad, que se conoce con el nombre de FuzzeePickle (FP; véase Figura 1). Desde esa entrevista, el BOOM ha recibido un gran número de solicitudes para escuchar más de Pickle y estamos completamente de acuerdo. (La entrevista que sigue se grabó exclusivamente para la Edición #3 de BOOM Salad. Favor notar que muchas de las Figuras de abajo están vinculadas a los contenidos de video).

BOOM: “Buenas noches, Fuzzee, ¿qué hay de nuevo?”

FP: “No mucho.”

BOOM: “Primero, permítame decirte, “bienvenida de nuevo al BOOM,” nos entusiasma escuchar lo que tienes que decir.”

FP: “Bueno, les agradezco por invitarme.”

BOOM: “Bueno, Fuzzee, comenzamos con unas pocas preguntas fáciles. ¿Está bien?”

FP: “Sí, claro.”

BOOM: “¿Muy bien, hace cuánto tiempo has sido jugadora de video?”

FP: “He jugado los videojuegos desde pequeña, como de cuatro años de edad. Mi hermano y yo siempre jugábamos el Sega Genesis. Siempre jugábamos el Sonic the Hedgehog… (véase Figura 2)”

Figura 2: Sonic the Hedgehog
Figura 2: Sonic the Hedgehog

BOOM: “¡Ah, qué bien!”

FP: “Sí (Se ríe), después de eso, no jugaba los videojuegos por mucho tiempo. Luego volví a jugar, empezando con X-BOX, y eventualmente empecé a jugar el PS3.”

BOOM: “¿Bueno, cuántos años tenías cuando empezaste a jugar de nuevo?”

FP: “Como 12, 13, quizás.”

BOOM: “¿Qué es lo que te hizo volver a jugar?”

FP: “Efectivamente fue Battlefield: Bad Company. Luego mi hermano se interesó en Call of Duty (COD), así yo empecé a jugar eso y desde allí seguí jugando.”

BOOM: “¿Jugabas algo de FPS cuando eras más jóven?”

FP: “Sí, jugaba Golden Eye 007 con mi hermano todos los días. (véase Figura 3)”

BOOM: “Así que aún desde tu juventud, eras aficionada a los que llamemos “videojuegos violentos” como el FPS. ¿Qué te atrajo de ellos?”

FP: “Creo que es el hecho de que cada vez que se juega, el escenario es distinto. Cuando juegas una y otra vez vas a morir en diferentes momentos y también haces cosas diferentes. Siempre es distinto, así se entusiasma a ver qué pasará.”

The UNCANNY Violence of Video Games, Part I: “GAM, VME, and the Acronyms of Aggression.”

Figure 1: Violent Video Game Exposure.
Figure 1: Violent Video Game Exposure.

For nearly 20 years, medical researchers, psychologists, and behaviorists, throughout the world have sought to determine if there is a link between the development of aggressive behavior and repeated exposure to violent video games like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty (see Figure 1). Using research from previous studies on the effects of Violent Media Exposure (VME) on cognitive behavior as the basis of their hypotheses, these well-intentioned medical experts have demonstrated, time and again, that playing violent video games has a residual effect on the brain and the mechanisms responsible for aggressive and violent thoughts and actions. Their conclusions are similar to the one expressed in the article, EFFECTS OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, AGGRESSIVE COGNITION, AGGRESSIVE AFFECT, PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL, AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature (2001), which states:

” A…review of the video-game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults [italics ours]. Experimental and nonexperimental studies with males and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion. Analyses also reveal that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases pro-social behavior.”

Thus, the consensus of many in the medical research community is that violent video games are harmful to those who play them, and represent a potential threat to public safety when the effects of repeated exposure elicit a violent response.

And yet, in numerous conversations and interviews conducted by BOOM Salad with several long-term, violent video gamers, those who have played violent video games consistently for 10 years or more, we found, without exception, that, contrary to increasing aggression and violent tendencies, these games were seen as providing an almost therapeutic effect upon the player by helping to reduce the anxieties and stresses of daily life.

A clear discrepancy is, therefore, evident between the conclusions of medical research and the experiences of those who routinely play these games. In this, the first of a three-part series on the relationship between aggressive and violent behavior and repeated exposure to violent video games, the BOOM takes a deeper look at the research and inferences that are at the heart of the anti-violent video game argument, beginning with an examination of what is known as the General Aggression Model (GAM, see Figure 2).

Figure 2: The General Aggression Model (GAM)
Figure 2: The General Aggression Model (GAM)

BOOM Salad Interview #2: FuzzeePickle: Fierce…Ferocious…and Unapologetically FEMALE!

"That Pickle has HAIR!"
Figure 1: Miss. FuzzeePickle

Over the past decade, the video gaming community has witnessed more than the rapid evolution, some would say ‘revolution’, of its platforms and gaming content, it has also observed a steady increase in the number of female players in what have traditionally been viewed as male-oriented genres, like the First-Person-Shooter (FPS).

According to the ESRB, women comprise 40% of the total number of gamer’s in the United States (click here for more information). Of these, is a growing number of HEARTLESS and FIERCE, BADASSES like the one we interviewed for BOOM Salad’s ISSUE #2, who goes by the name: FuzzeePickle (FP; see Figure 1). Ever since that interview, the BOOM has received a number of requests for more of the Pickle, and we agree wholeheartedly. (The following interview was recorded exclusively for BOOM Salad ISSUE #3. Please note that several of the Figures below are linked to video content).

BOOM: “Good evening Fuzzee, what’s going on?”

FP: “Not a whole lot.”

BOOM: “First let me say, “welcome back to the BOOM.” We are excited to hear what you have to say.”

FP: “Well, thanks for having me.”

Figure 2: Sonic the Hedgehog.
Figure 2: Sonic the Hedgehog.

BOOM: “So Fuzzee, I want to start off with some easy questions to kind of get us rolling, that ‘ok’ with you?

FP: “Yeah, sure.”

BOOM: “Great, so how long have you been a gamer?”

FP: “I have been gaming since I was pretty little, about 4 years-old. Me and my brother would always play the Sega Genesis together. We would always play Sonic the Hedgehog…(see Figure 2)”

BOOM: “Nice.”

FP: “Yeah (laughs), afterwards, there was a long period of time when I didn’t play video games. Then later, I got back into it with the X-BOX and eventually transitioned onto the PS3.”

BOOM: “So how old were you when you started playing again?”

FP: “About 12, 13 maybe.”

BOOM: “What was it that brought you back?”

FP: “It was actually Battlefield: Bad Company. Then my brother got into Call of Duty (COD) so I started playing that, and just went on from there.”

BOOM: “Did you play any FPS when you were younger?”

Dr. Urg’s Tips and Tricks #3: “THE HAINAN DIP!”

Oooh. That looks TASTY.
Hainan Dip: “Oooh. That looks TASTY!” – Dr. Urg

Land mines have been around for a long, long time. The first recorded use of a land mine, the so-called  “tunnel mine,” was 3000 years ago in Ancient Assyria (see Figure 9). Later, during the Iron Age, Ancient military engineers developed the, “caltrops,” a four pronged weapon made of iron in which one of its “spikes” is always pointed upward. Its ingenious design and ease of deployment has made it, according to the website, The History of Landmines, “the longest serving piece of military hardware in existence” (click here for more info).

Ancient Roman Caltrop
Figure 1: “Ouch! Damn Barbarians!” Augustus, 9 AD.
BF4 DPV
Figure 2: BF4 DPV

Thus, for thousands of years, this little iron beauty has been wreaking havoc on everything from Hannibal’s elephants to personnel transports like BF4’s DPV (see Figure 2), and it continues to be an effective anti-vehicle/personnel weapon (something that might be nice to have in the next iteration of Battlefield…HINT…HINT, EA/DICE).

BF4 AT-M15
Figure 3: The Trusty M15.

But for the Battlefield 4 community, nothing can replace the BOOM of the trusty Anti-tank (AT)-M15 (see Figure 3). When used in the right way, the AT becomes like a BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER just waiting for its unsuspecting prey (see Figure 4). But what exactly is the “right way” to use the AT? As someone who has used it, and used it well, I can tell you it all depends on the map, and more importantly, the terrain

Brown Recluse Spider
Figure 4: “Just a little closer and…BOOM!”

Of course, anytime you can produce a crater the size of a SWIMMING POOL to obstruct your enemy’s vehicle movements, you can be confident you are doing the right thing (see Figure 5). HOWEVER, that blade cuts both ways, and what may be an obstacle for your opponent, can also become one for yourself. Still, there is a strategy to the madness of mine deployment that goes all the way back to World War I, and the German’s efforts to counteract the terrible new mechanical beast known as “the Tank”.

Tank in the Swimming Pool.
Figure 5: “MA! The TANK’s stuck in the pool again!”

As the article, The Origins of Military Mines: Part II, notes, “During World War I, Germans scattered their AT mines…in locally created patterns to reinforce wire obstacles and ditches in front of trench lines” (click here for more information). In addition, AT deployments were, “often laid in triangular groups of 3 or more” at intersections and traffic lanes that were likely to be used by the enemy, or that represented a weakness in the defensive line (see History of Landmines above). Thus the role of the AT has always been both offensive and defensive, just like in Battlefield 4.

Figure 7: Hainan Resort
Figure 6: Ingredients for Hainan Dip!

And yet, not every map benefits to same degree from a well placed mine field. The jungle maps of China Rising, and their uneven terrain (there’s that word again) make the AT an impractical, if not useless, choice of ordinance to carry. But then there are maps like, HAINAN RESORT, where the AT is not only effective, its almost UNFAIR to use it. As the title of this article suggests, the AT can be particularly useful in Hainan, and especially when playing OBLITERATION (see Figure 6).