Social Inequality

I love video games. I grew playing games and have been gaming for about 22 years now. I've seen many console generations and many different games in my lifetime.

Many games are geared towards men, with brutal violence, car chases, trash talking on Call of Duty over the internet, and stealing cars in Grand Theft Auto.

One big issue with games is social inequality and the way they represent women. Many games have male lead characters and hold the women in small roles. One example is Super Mario Bros. where Princess Peach is always being kidnapped by Bowser and as Mario it is your job to save her, time and time again. Year after year the Princess gets kidnapped.

When Tomb Raider was first released, it was a high profile game with a female lead character. Unfortunately, Lara Croft was seen as a sex object throughout the game, with large breasts that bounced as you ran (and you ran a lot) and short shorts.

Many women are either sex objects, or victims in games. When Tomb Raider was rebooted and brought back by the company Crystal Dynamics, Lara Croft was no longer a sex object. She was a scared girl trapped on an island fighting for survival.

After playing the new Tomb Raider, I believed Croft to be a fighter and a survivalist, not some little sex symbol that I'm controlling in a video game.

The industry seems to be changing, but it's not doing it fast enough. For every game with a female lead, there are dozens of games with a male lead. Girls play video games just as much as guys do and hopefully things will even out between the genders in video games.

Games are for everyone, and no one race or gender should be left out of games. More female leads that arent sex objects is a right direction for the gaming industry and hopefully we can get more amazing games like the new Tomb Raider where we dont have to worry about sexy women, instead we can play an amazing game with a great female lead that is more down to earth.

Net Neutrality and media

I am an avid Netflix fan, and I play many video games online. Over the last few years, Net Neutrality has been a huge issue for internet users.

Recently, the FCC decided to vote for Net Neutrality and classifying the internet as a utility. This means that Internet Service Providers can no longer throttle your internet or charge extra for access to certain websites or services.

This decision by the FCC is a huge win to keep the internet open and free for all to use.

I bought a 65" 4K television and if it wasn't for an open internet, I would not have been able to sit on my couch and enjoy House of Cards in 4K over this past weekend. If some ISP's has their way, i would have had to pay extra money to access Netflix over my ISPs service.

The way we interact with the internet could have been completely destroyed if Net Neutrality didn't pass, and I for one am glad it did pass.