Research Paper

Tian Zhou

Honors American Literature

Mr. Rehak

23/5/2013

Censorship in Video Games

Video games have long been the supposed cause of many kinds of seizures including absence, grand-mal, myoclonic, clonic, tonic, atonic, and status epilepticus. (Senelick) However, seizures can occur to anybody at any age and at any time. Also, whether the individual has epilepsy does not factor in the odds of having a seizure. Millions of nerve cells in the brain, called neurons, transmit electrical impulses. Seizures occur when the neurons misfire. More than one type of seizure can happen at a time depending on where the electrical disturbance is occurring in the brain. (“Seizures”)

Seizures caused by certain visual stimulation is a condition called photosensitivity. Video games are commonly being targeted for producing this type of seizure, some more than others. There is only speculation on the matter and not enough research to back up the claims. Therefore, flashing lights and visual patterns like stripes or grids in video games should not be censored. Photosensitive epilepsy can be detected early and treated with antiepileptic drugs; players with this condition can and should take special precautions. Video games only make up a small portion of seizures in photosensitive patients. Other triggers that are more common include natural sunlight, television, stress, venetian blinds, theaters, dance clubs, rock concerts, and sleep deprivation. (Erba)

There are many easy methods to avoid having a seizure while playing video games. Dr. Giuseppe Erba, Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and former member of the Epilepsy Foundation’s professional advisory board, recommends “watching television in a well-lit room, reduce the brightness of the screen, keep as far back from the screen as possible, use small screens. Players should not play if they are tired, especially if they are sleep deprived. Avoid excessive use of alcoholic beverages. Take frequent breaks and look away from the screen every once in awhile.” (Erba) One method Dr. Erba describes as most useful is monocular vision. Players should cover one eye and look away from the screen if they start feeling their bodies jerking. Closing both eyes does not safeguard players from photosensitivity “because the red-tinted light filtering through the eyelids will be just as provocative, if not more.” (Erba) With so many ways to easily prevent seizures from occurring while playing video games,  video games should not censor their materials that can be portrayed as visually stimulating. Photosensitive epilepsy can even be detected early on in childhood.

Photosensitivity is rare; about three in one hundred epilepsy patients have it. The ratio of patients are about 60% girls and 40% boys. Photosensitivity begins before the age of twenty, usually between seven and nineteen. (Harding) This is one of the counter arguments people commonly use. However, the possibility of having epilepsy is already very low; paired with the possibility of having photosensitive epilepsy, the condition is very scarce. The amount of people with this condition is too few to make a difference.

An electroencephalogram test, or EEG,  “records the electrical signals from your brain on an EEG machine. During the test, you will be asked to look at some flashing lights. If doing this changes the electrical signals in your brain, it may indicate that you have photosensitive epilepsy.” (Harding) This explains why video games are always being targeted as the main cause of seizures in children and teens since children and teens make up a big portion of the video game industry’s audience and they are more prone to having seizures because of their younger age. However, a simple EEG test can determine if one needs to take special precautions when playing video games. Therefore, they should not have to censor their content.

A counterargument to the electroencephalogram test is that its not safe. NYU Langone Medical Center, one of the best hospitals in the United States, has an overview of EEG tests. “The EEG itself is an extremely safe test,” they say, “The wires used to record electrical activity only record: they do not deliver electrical current to the scalp.” (Overview of Electroencephalography) It is clear that EEG tests are a safe method to test for photosensitive epilepsy. Video game players should take the test if they are worried about having a seizure. Video games themselves should not be censored due to players having seizures that they could have foreseen. Epilepsy precaution is even mentioned in most games’ user manual.

Video games always come with a user manual that mentions safety precautions to its players. Nintendo, a leading video game developer, is a good example. In their health and safety precautions, they say “A very small portion of the population have a condition which may cause them to experience epileptic seizures or have momentary loss of consciousness when viewing certain kinds of flashing lights or patterns.” (Nintendo) They continue, “If you or your child experience any of the following symptoms: dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitching, involuntary movements, loss of awareness, disorientation, or convulsions, DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY and consult your physician.” (Nintendo) This is a clear and direct warning towards epileptic patients about playing video games. The game itself has done its part on protecting the player. It is the player’s decision to play the game and risk a seizure. The games should not be censored; a fair warning is enough.

A popular premise is that every player is at risk for video game induced seizures. However, there is strong evidence suggesting that only a small amount of players are at risk for seizures caused by video games. Of the 2.5 million epileptic patients in the United States, 2.5% have photosensitive epilepsy, only 300,000 of which are children. (Sullivan) That is merely 7,500 children in the United States that are at risk of video game induced seizures.

Another false premise is that video games are the cause of epilepsy in children. Peter Van Haverbeke, a spokesman for the Epilepsy Foundation, “emphasized that video games do not cause epilepsy; they only touch off the seizures in these children.” (Sullivan) Haverbeke is saying that video games act as a trigger for seizures, not as an origin for epilepsy. Most epileptic patients are born with the condition. Therefore, video games should should not be censored as they are not the true cause of player’s seizures.

While it is true that some photosensitive epileptic children suffer their first seizure through video games, the fear is highly exaggerated. Dr. Jerome Engle Jr. chief of epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, says “There is just a small chance that children will suffer their first seizure from playing a video game.” (Sullivan) It is much more common for a child to have their first seizure before they even play a video game. In that case, they should be taking special precautions when playing their first video game. The popular ideal that video games cause the first seizure in children is very exaggerated, so videogames should not be censored because of this.

The biggest overlooked aspect of the whole argument of whether video games cause seizures is that there is no scientific evidence supporting video games causing seizures in children. As James Wheless, expert on video games and epilepsy, says, “Because epilepsy is a common disorder, it is not surprising that some children will have their seizures while playing video games, just by coincidence. How often this happens, and to what extent the games trigger the seizures, if at all, is not known.” (Wheless) It’s common knowledge that playing video games is a common pastime for children. So how is it possible to say that just because a child had a seizure, video games are to blame? Other factors like stress and fatigue can also trigger seizures. There is simply not enough evidence to conclude that video games cause seizures, so they should not be censored.

It is still a very important issue whether video games should or should not be censored to prevent video game induced seizures. To sum it all up, one side argues that video games should be censored because of flashing lights in video games causes seizures in children. The other side argues that video games should not be censored because photosensitive epilepsy is a very rare condition among children and that patients who do have photosensitive epilepsy usually take special precautions when playing video games. In conclusion, If video games are played on the television, why aren’t movies and television shows getting as much accusations of causing seizures? There is a simply wealth of prejudice against video games. They should not be censored.

Works Cited

Anderson, Jessica. "Rick Ross Blames Lack Of Sleep For Seizures. What's The Connection?." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/rick-ross-blames-lack-of-sleep-for-seizures_n_1071058.html>. Testimony that sleep deprivation is a valid cause of seizures.

Chuang, Yao-Chung. "CyberPsychology & Behavior." Mary Ann Liebert. Version 9 issue 4. Mary Ann Liebert Inc. publishers, 10 Aug. 2006. Web. 9 Mar. 2013. <http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2006.9.451http://>. Supports that MMORPG’s cause seizures and should have a warning.

Erba, Giuseppe. "Shedding Light on Photosensitivity, One of Epilepsy's Most Complex Conditions." Shedding Light on Photosensitivity, One of Epilepsy's Most Complex Conditions. Epilepsy Therapy Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2013. <http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/seizures/photosensitivity/gerba.cfm>.  Supports that video games cause seizures.

Ferrie, C. D. "Video Game Induced Seizures." JNNP. BMJ Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/57/8/925.short>. This article summarizes an experiment with patients who had seizures while playing video games.

Gaff, William D., Gian-Emilio Chatrain, Stephen T. Glass, and Thomas A. Knauss. "Video Game-Related Seizures: A Report on 10 Patients and a Review of the Literature." Video Game-Related Seizures: A Report on 10 Patients and a Review of the Literature. American Academy of Pediatrics, 19 Aug. 1993. Web. 01 Mar. 2013. <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/93/4/551.short>. Explains the science behind Video Game Related Seizures (VGRS) and has an experiment that supports video games do not cause seizures..

Harding, G F A, and Stefano Seri. "Advice and information | Epilepsy Action." Epilepsy Action | Epilepsy information and advice. British Epilepsy Association, 1 Mar. 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2013. <http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/photosensitive-epilepsyhttp://>. Explains photosensitivity and methods to treat it.

"| Nintendo - Customer Service | Health & Safety Precautions for Cartridge-Based Consoles - English | ." Country Selector at Nintendo. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2013. <http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/manuals/precautions_console_pak_english.jsp>. Used in the argument that video games come with a precaution for players with epilepsy and therefore do not need to be censored.

"Overview of Electroencephalography." Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2013. <http://epilepsy.med.nyu.edu/diagnosis-treatment/eeg/overview-electroencephalograpy>. Explains what EEG tests are and how much they cost.

Ricci, Stephano, Federico Vigevano, and Mario Manfredi. "Epilepsy Provoked by Television and

Video Games, Safety of 100-Hz Screens." Epilepsy Provoked by Television and Video Games, Safety of 100-Hz Screens. American Academy of Neurology, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013. <http://www.neurology.org/content/50/3/790.shortCite a website by entering its URL or by searching for it.>. Experiment with different Hz of television screens and patients who have seizures. Explains how flickering lights causes epilepsy.

"Seizures." Epilepsy Foundation. Epilepsy Therapy Foundation, n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2013. <http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/seizures/index.cfm?gclid=CKT_14r-9LUCFeZFMgodOW8Adg>. Explains the basics of epilepsy and seizures. Fundamental to background information.

Senelick, Richard. "Types of Seizures and Seizure Symptoms: Grand Mal Seizure, Myoclonic Seizure, and More - WebMD." WebMD - Better information. Better health.. WebMD, 21 May 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/guide/types-of-seizures-their-symptoms>. Lists types of seizures and the symptoms. Use with background information.

SULLIVAN, RONALD. "Some Seizures Tied To Flashing Lights - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/12/us/some-seizures-tied-to-flashing-lights.html>. Supports that video games are not the cause of seizures and should not be censored for it.

Wheless, James. "Video Games And Epilepsy | epilepsy.com." Epilepsy and seizure information for patients and health professionals | epilepsy.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2013. <http://www.epilepsy.com/info/family_kids_video>. Says that there is not enough evidence to conclude video games cause seizures in children.

Ted Talk Review - Tony Robbins

Tony Robbin's Ted Talk discussed why we do what we do. He delved deep into what motivates us to do things and what is our inner drive. I agree with Tony that our biggest driving factor is emotions. Strong emotional passion causes us to be resourceful and creative. This is why passionate people always find a way to reach their goal. Doing a profession without any putting any feeling into the work is simply a waste of time.

Advice for next year's class

1. Bring your journal everyday and your vocabulary book every Wednesday.
2. Keep up with the journal entries.
3. Don't fall behind on reading.
4. Study every little detail of a text in case it ends up on the quiz. (and it will)
5. Make friends.
6. Enjoy the wonderful world of learning.
7. Learn some computer skills.
8. Learn to annotate.
9. Become comfortable talking in front of the class.
10. Do. not. procrastinate.

Ted Talk Review - David Blaine

In David Blaine's Ted Talk, he narrated how he came to hold the record of longest period of holding breath. I felt empathy for him when he described the sweat and tears that went into achieving his feat. He has been pushing himself to the limits to come to his goal. He never gave up, even when situations looked dire. A near death stunt is merely a challenge waiting to be overcome to David. In conclusion, he inspired me to do great things. As he demonstrated, all that one needs is willpower.

The Great Gatsby Movie Review

The Great Gatsby has definitely improved since the last adaptation. I really liked the imagery in this movie. Specifically the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. It was an unsubtle manner they used to introduce Gatsby and his obsession with the green light. In the very first minutes in the movie, the silhouette of Gatsby reaching out for the light makes it easily understood. 
The cinematic aspects of the film make it an overall better experience in my opinion. The bay and the valley of ash look amazing. The images were very immersive. I like how they camera  zooms in on the scene so that it gives the impression that the audience is being thrust into the movie. 
There were many details that were different from the book written by Scott Fitzgerald. The biggest difference, of course, is that Nick Carraway is in a sanitarium. This comes into the ending. The book ends with the famous quote "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past." The movie ends with Nick writing The Great above Gatsby in a flourish. Secondly, Nick and Jordan definitely had a relationship in the book. However, the movie shows that they never really hooked up. Nick was too busy observing Gatsby. Then the obvious difference between the book and the movie is that all racism and anti-semitism has been censored out for obvious reasons. Finally, Gatsby died thinking he won. In the book, Gatsby waited until long after anyone who would have called. However, in the movie, Gatsby was stepping out of the pool when he was shot by George. He was stepping out to answer the phone call that he believed was from Daisy. So Gatsby died believing he was a winner even though dramatic irony tells us that the call was from Nick. 
I personally enjoyed the movie. I don't understand why some critics are giving bad reviews. I know some people are upset with how they used modern day party music at Gatsby's parties but it just fits the setting better. Scott's book felt like it came from a particular age in time but the movie felt like a mixture of all times. Some things that bothered me is how Tom becomes a super villain at the end. He was the one that planted the evil image of Gatsby into George's  head and ultimately convinced him to kill Gatsby. It seems too out of character for Tom to stoop to that act. In conclusion, I think that The Great Gatsby should be taken first in book form, then followed by the movie. It would be hard to understand what is happening if one did not read the book.

Top 10 American Poems from the 20th Century

1. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 

2. My Father's Hats - Mark Irwin

Sunday mornings I would reach high into his dark closet while standing on a chair and tiptoeing reach higher, touching, sometimes fumbling the soft crowns and imagine I was in a forest, wind hymning through pines, where the musky scent of rain clinging to damp earth was his scent I loved, lingering on bands, leather, and on the inner silk crowns where I would smell his hair and almost think I was being held, or climbing a tree, touching the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent was that of a clove in the godsome air, as now, thinking of his fabulous sleep, I stand on this canyon floor and watch light slowly close on water I'm not sure is there. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16707#sthash.yACQvD58.d

     Sunday mornings I would reach
high into his dark closet while standing
     on a chair and tiptoeing reach
higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
     the soft crowns and imagine
I was in a forest, wind hymning
     through pines, where the musky scent
of rain clinging to damp earth was
     his scent I loved, lingering on
bands, leather, and on the inner silk
     crowns where I would smell his
hair and almost think I was being
     held, or climbing a tree, touching
the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent
     was that of clove in the godsome
air, as now, thinking of his fabulous
     sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
     on water I can't be sure is there.

3. The Snow Man - Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. 

4. A Time to Weep - Craig Erick Chaffin
I suppose you could call me heartless
as a dull anvil clanking in a sodden barn,
the damp wood too lazy to echo your pain;
and your limbs twisted like great roots,
your hearts rank melons bursting with fluid,
your tidal headaches, your equatorial fevers
were all grist for my scientific mill,
my hands cold and precise like metallic probes
on your beaded foreheads.

I suppose my brief visits and cryptic prognoses
do little to comfort your collapsing veins.
You ask for a word, I spout statistics.
Your skeletal hands pray for light--
I check your pupils. Do you understand?
It is not that I care not for healing
if only the power would come;
but science is an impotent matchstick
broken in death’s fingers.

I have never collected moths
but you are pinned somehow on my mind’s wall
several hallways from heart.
Allow me this distance,
allow me not to weep.
Should those dark waves with their thousand eyes
once spill over the dike, I do not know
what sort of god I should become--
most likely a madman
but never again your doctor.

5. She Didn't Mean To Do It - Daisy Fried
Oh, she was sad, oh, she was sad.
She didn't mean to do it.

Certain thrills stay tucked in your limbs,
go no further than your fingers, move your legs through their paces,
but no more. Certain thrills knock you flat
on your sheets on your bed in your room and you fade
and they fade. You falter and they're gone, gone, gone.
Certain thrills puff off you like smoke rings,
some like bell rings growing out, out, turning
brass, steel, gold, till the whole world's filled
with the gonging of your thrills.

But oh, she was sad, she was just sad, sad,
and she didn't mean to do it.  

6. Sudden Movements - Bob Hicok
My father's head has become a mystery to him.
We finally have something in common.
When he moves his head his eyes
get big as roses filled
with the commotion of spring.
Not long ago he was a man
who had tomato soup for lunch
and dusted with the earnestness
of a gun fight. Now he's a man
who sits at the table trying to breathe
in tiny bites. When they told him
his spinal column is closing, I thought
of all the branches he's cut
with loppers and piled and burned
in the fall, the pinch of the blades
on the green and vital pulp. Surgeons
can fuse vertebrae, a welders art,
and scrape the ring through which
the soul-wires flow as a dentist
would clean your teeth.
And still it could happen, one turn
of his head toward a hummingbird,
wings keeping that brittle life
afloat, working hard against the fall,
and he might freeze in that pose
of astonishment, a man estranged
from the neck down, who can only share
with his body the silence
he's pawned on his children as love.

7. Ode to Gumbo - Chris Tusa
Born from flour anointed with oil,
from a roux dark and mean as a horse’s breath,
you remind me of some strange, mystical stew
spawned from a muddy version of Macbeth.
Only someone’s replaced the spells with spices,
the witches with a Cajun chef.

Maybe you’re a recipe torn from Satan’s Cookbook,
a kind of dumb-downed devil’s brew
where evil stirs its wicked spoon
in a swampy sacrificial hue.
Maybe God damned the okra that thickens
your soup, the muddy bones that haunt your stew.

Maybe this is why, when we smell the cayenne,
we’re struck dumb as a moth.
Maybe this is why everything that crawls or flies
seems to find its way into your swampy broth.

8. Saturday At The Canal - Gary Soto
I was hoping to be happy by seventeen. 
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
On a bedroom wall. We wanted to go there, 
Hitchhike under the last migrating birds
And be with people who knew more than three chords
On a guitar. We didn't drink or smoke,
But our hair was shoulder length, wild when
The wind picked up and the shadows of
This loneliness gripped loose dirt. By bus or car,
By the sway of train over a long bridge, 
We wanted to get out. The years froze 
As we sat on the bank. Our eyes followed the water, 
White-tipped but dark underneath, racing out of town.

9. Tree - Richard Jones
When the sun goes down
I have my first drink
standing in the yard,
talking to my neighbor
about the alder tree
rising between our houses,
a lowly tree that prospered
from our steady inattention
and shot up quick as a weed
to tower over our rooftops,
where it now brandishes
a rich, luxuriant crown.
Should we cut it down?
Neither of us wants to --
we agree that we like
the flourishing branches,
shade like thick woods.
We don't say it,
studying our tree in silence,
but we know that if the roots
get into the foundations
we've got real trouble.
John goes back inside.
Nothing to be done in summer --
not to those heavy branches.
I balance my empty glass
on top of a fence post.
In the quiet early dark,
those peaceful minutes
before dinner, I bend down
to the flower beds I love
and pull a few weeds --
something I've meant to do
all day.  

10. I Am - Judith Skillman
I am the red brand
on the shoulder of the condemned,
the gallows and the rope,
the ax and the block,
the whip and the cross.
I am the lion's tooth
in the flesh of the gazelle.
In my veins I have
the blood of the slave trader.

Hangman,
I have deserved the hunger of the wolves.

My victims have left me nothing
but their deaths.

   Sunday mornings I would reach
high into his dark closet while standing
   on a chair and tiptoeing reach
higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
   the soft crowns and imagine
I was in a forest, wind hymning
   through pines, where the musky scent
of rain clinging to damp earth was
   his scent I loved, lingering on
bands, leather, and on the inner silk
   crowns where I would smell his
hair and almost think I was being
   held, or climbing a tree, touching
the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent
   was that of a clove in the godsome
air, as now, thinking of his fabulous
   sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
   on water I'm not sure is there.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16707#sthash.yACQvD58.dpuf

   Sunday mornings I would reach
high into his dark closet while standing
   on a chair and tiptoeing reach
higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
   the soft crowns and imagine
I was in a forest, wind hymning
   through pines, where the musky scent
of rain clinging to damp earth was
   his scent I loved, lingering on
bands, leather, and on the inner silk
   crowns where I would smell his
hair and almost think I was being
   held, or climbing a tree, touching
the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent
   was that of a clove in the godsome
air, as now, thinking of his fabulous
   sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
   on water I'm not sure is there.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16707#sthash.yACQvD58.dpuf

Art Fair Review

My personal favorite piece of artwork from the Art Fair was the typography portrait of Samus Aran. I like the shading and the background on the piece. The words that make up her armor are well thought of and show that the author has played the Metroid series before.