Return of the Nerds: How Star Wars Episode 7 Made Geeks Cool Again

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Last year something wonderful happened. Something many of us had waited years to see, something many of us thought we’d never see! A new Star Wars film was released. Now, unless you’ve been living under an Alderaan shaped rock for the past few years, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released in last year following intense marketing and it received a very positive reaction from fans.

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For geeks like me, it was a really exciting time. We got to enjoy a reinvented and reimagined vision, completely separate from the prequels and all the good will George Lucas managed to squander. And suddenly, being a Star Wars geek in vogue again. Everyone and their dog were going to see this flick in theaters (several going multiple times)! So, I’m going to look at some of the ways Episode 7 made geeks cool.

 

Anticipation

Anticipation is so often the weakness of geeks and nerds. It is our greatest strength, but also our greatest weakness. I think a major appeal of the Star Wars films is their story and moral message. Star Wars always sees the good in people and that's a universal thing for many of us. This is just one of the major things about the film's that increased anticipation for Episode 7. People wanted to go on a journey again. They wanted to feel attached and emotional on their journey. It’s so hard not to get excited about a Star Wars film, but, when you do, it lets you down (Episode 1). But this was different; it was a new direction with Disney helming the movies. And the anticipation, even from people who weren't necessarily fans, made geeks mainstream once again!

Image By Flickr.com

The Next Generation

It might seem blasphemous to use a Star Trek reference in a Star Wars post, but bear with me, okay?! See, one of the greatest things about a new Star Wars movie is seeing how all the young kids react to it. To many of them, this is a totally new thing they are experiencing for the first time. They are the next generation of Star Wars fans, and The Force Awakens really captured their imaginations. It washed away the stale aftertaste of the prequel trilogy. And now parents and kids alike could finally attend a Star Wars movie together and have the same experience. And I think that's such a big part of the appeal of these movies.

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Expanded Universe

Star Wars has always benefited from one of the strongest expanded universes of any franchise. You can get anything you could possibly want that relates to Star Wars. And, this has only intensified since Episode 7 became a runaway success. There are table top and card games such as the X-Wing Miniatures Game. There are video games like Star Wars: Battlefront, and there are many novels and comics as well. This expanded universe has become even more mainstream since the last film. And people who may not otherwise have dipped into it are doing so.

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It’s pretty clear that geeks are back in now, and Star Wars, as always, has played a huge role in this. It seems that this movie captured the hearts and minds like no other Star Wars movie has managed recently, at least at the box office. And personally, I can't wait for both Rogue One and Episode 8 to come out!

Thanks for stopping by!

3 Hacks for Students to Enjoy Entertainment on a Budget

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There are many times during our university years where we have a lot of free time. Typically, we like to fill this time by entertaining ourselves. We watch TV, listen to music, and have long gaming sessions.

But, being a student, we also often don’t have enough cash for everything we want and need. Luckily, I have some hacks that ensure you can entertain yourself without breaking the bank!

(Pexels: https://goo.gl/JLpeyl)

Make Use Of Free Music Trials

As a student, music is essential to campus life. Have you ever tried studying without listening to your favorite tunes? It’s near enough impossible, especially when you have noisy people in the dorm next to you! However, music costs money, and money is something students don’t have a lot of. Sure, there are sites like SoundCloud that provide free streaming for you to enjoy. But, you don’t get access to the latest hits and can’t download them. One trick I’ve learned is that paid subscription services all offer free trials. Google Play Music, Apple Music. Spotify and Deezer all offer decent trial periods. Plus, depending on your phone manufacturer/network, you often get extended deals. My advice is to use as many free trials as you can and experience all the benefits of a premium music service.

(Image: https://goo.gl/hnFwEC)

Free Movie Streaming

Everyone likes to Netflix and chill once in awhile. The problem is, a lot of students can’t afford to pay the streaming prices. Sure, Netflix is fairly cheap, but, it’s still too much for some of us. So, how on Earth are we going to watch films and TV shows without a streaming service? Well, there are two options available for you. Firstly, you can download one of the many Free Movie Apps out there. These are apps on your phone that allow you to watch a load of great movies without paying a penny. Secondly, you can try your luck on YouTube. Again, this is a free service, and some people may upload TV episodes for you to enjoy. Plus, there’s a load of original content to watch on YouTube that may whet your appetite. Personally, I’ve wasted away hours in between lectures just binge watching some of my favorite YouTubers.

(Credit: https://goo.gl/UhIuMl)

Buy Pre-Owned/Free Games

Now, I know some of you might spot a slight problem here. If you can’t afford a Netflix or music subscription, how can you afford games? More to the point, how on earth will you afford a games console?! Well, my argument is that a lot of students have games consoles before they go to college. Plus, buying a pre-owned game is different to buying a subscription that you pay every month. You can save a lot of cash getting your games pre-owned instead of fresh. Plus, check the store on your games console now and then. Both Playstation and Xbox users can get free games every month or so. This means you can still game, without having to spend a fortune.

 

Following these tips, you’ll have all the entertainment you need, without needing to spend a lot of money. That way, you can spend more on all the other things you need to succeed and enjoy your time on campus.

What other tips do you have for saving money as a student? Let me know in the comments!

Gaming and the Antisocial Myth, Debunked

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When you think of people playing games, what pictures does it bring to mind? For many people with no understanding of gaming, it’s still a stereotype. They will often imagine the social recluse, hiding away in a bedroom, tapping furiously on a keyboard or controller. It’s a narrative that has existed ever since home computers became popular - and it doesn’t seem like it is going away at times.

I find this odd, I must admit. I've gamed my entire life and love to play alongside or against other people. After all, way back in 2008 a study into gaming found that three-quarters of all gamers played with other people either online or in person. This is objectively about as far from antisocial as it can get. But, here were are, eight years down the line and it’s still a view that many people have of gaming. I thought I would pull together some ideas to prove that, far from being a lonely activity, the community is very much part of the gaming experience.

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The arcade

Back in the early days, most people only had the option of hitting their arcade if they wanted to play the latest games. And, while most games were only one or two players, it was still a social experience. In fact, arcades were home to all different kinds of groups, who often when on to form significant communities. There was a little too much competition at times, of course. But overall, ask anyone who remembers the early days and you will get a positive response.

 

Home PCs and consoles

It was only when home computers became widespread and consoles became popular that people started playing alone. Even then, that period didn’t last long. People would always look for multiplayer games, even before broadband made MMOGs possible. Now, of course, when you find the best games online, you'll tend to find  thousands of other people playing them, too. It's a chance to connect with people from all over the world, make new friends, and join a community of like-minded others.

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Board games

Don’t forget; gaming isn’t just about sitting in front of a screen and pushing some buttons. Board games are still relevant now as they have ever been. And these highly complex games are a lot of fun to play, and most rely on a group of people getting together. Even the mainstream success of games like Cards Against Humanity (which I personally love) could be used as evidence for the social benefits of gaming.

 

Roleplaying games

Another are to think about is role playing games. Again, the best RPGs involve a group of people coming together. RPGs rely on groups, and to think that makes players antisocial is pretty wide of the mark. In fact, the whole point of RPGs is that you come together as a group and try to solve a problem. It teaches you everything you need to know about teamwork - and a lot more besides.

 

The future...

Finally, let’s take a look at where games are going right now and into the future. A quick look at Pokemon Go’s success will reveal that social gaming is close to exploding. And I, for one, look forward to seeing what comes next.

Thanks for stopping by!

#SAGeeks - League of Legends & Female Representation

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The SAGeeks series is all about celebrating the geeky and nerdy sides of all of us working in higher education and student affairs. Check out our resources page for more geeky goodness.

There are three things that totally changed my last year of college; Miss Representation, League of Legends (LoL), and getting involved in Residence Life. Here is that story:

The Beginning

I went to my first live LoL tournament in February of 2014. Little did I know, even though I didn’t dedicate any fellowship to any particular team or player prior to this event, I was still fangirling the whole time I was there. It was such a strange experience, getting excited and taking pictures with people I didn’t know that well, and I felt really connected to the community as a whole. After the initial excitement, I had lots of questions in my head regarding my experience in a live gaming event. I shared these thoughts with a good social psychology professor of mine, and then my question bubbles exploded into a form of pride; I was proud of LoL, and I was proud of being a part of this community (even if I don’t really comment on any Reddit thread). I even put together a slideshow overviewing the growth of this game and the impact of e-sports, explaining to professors why this topic should be studied. Before I knew it, I was proposing research topics on video games and e-sports, and I was determined to incorporate my favorite game into this research. I genuinely love LoL, and I genuinely believe in the impact of video games on people’s lives.

While I was searching for limited e-sports psychology studies, I watched the documentary Miss Representation as a part of my all-campus Residence Life leader training in August. The entire documentary was moving, and the topic that resonated with me the most was sexualization of females in media. Reflecting back to the online harassments female gamers often encounter (in fact, a team’s official Instagram account shared a photo of my friend and I taking picture with a professional gamer, and almost all of the comments were sexual jokes), and a panel of very similar female character figures, I began looking into hypersexualization and sexism within the video game industry. Based on my initial literature review, there were lot of research illustrating the connection between sexist attitude and sexual content in video games, demonstrating the negative effect of hypersexualization on female’s self-esteem in media advertisements. In one particular study, females who played as hypersexualized female characters reported lower self-efficacy than those who played as neutral female character (Behm-Morawits & Mastro, 2009). This was intriguing, I wondered if playing certain characters would make people feel certain way about themselves, especially among us females. Would I feel less about myself if play Ahri instead of Annie? What’s the difference between wearing head-to-toe armor and bikini-style custom? Would playing a sexy female hero empower me or would it make me feel insecure?

The Process

Within a week, I received departmental approval to complete a 2-year honors program within a year, persuaded one of my favorite professors to be my advisor for the year (the same processor who I initially discussed my fangirl experience with), and started my journey researching my favorite video games and social justice. While the initial hype lasted couple of weeks, the frustration about designing an efficacious and effective experiment soon arrived. Researching and finding related studies online, electing champions for exposure, choosing types of measurement, determining how long the exposure should be, deciding interaction period length between subjects and games, eliminating variables, editing instruction scripts, recruiting subjects, running subjects...let’s just say the process was a bit stressful at times. I remembered distinctly that shortly after I drafted the experiment scripts and put together experiment materials, Riot (LoL’s company) changed some of their champion splash art and announced a new patch updating game visuals. This of course impacted my study progress, as I didn’t want to there to be any changes within the game halfway through my research. But disregarding all the challenges and frustrations, I knew for sure that this adventure was something I really wanted, so I’m going to finish it.

My study investigated the effect of hypersexualization of female video game avatars on player’s self-regards. Subjects entered the study with the impression that the study looks into personality type and character enjoyment: they were first instructed to view a panel of characters (hypersexualized vs. neutral), then played either a hypersexualized character or a neutral character for 20 minutes with simple instruction in a single player mode. After the interaction phrase, they answered a series of question regarding their experience playing the character, followed by measurement measuring how they feel about themselves. In my study, I had 28 male participants and 45 female participants, and five areas of self-regards were measured: performance state self-esteem, social state self-esteem, appearance state self-esteem, overall state self-esteem, and self-perceived mating value (how sexually attractive people think they are). After initial analysis (a 2x2 ANOVA for those who are interested in stats) and follow-up analysis (contrast test), female participants who were exposed to hypersexualized characters reported to have significantly lower self-perceived mating success than neutral characters, which is a finding consistent with many previous studies.

The Afterthought

My study wasn’t perfect of course, I wished I had another year to polish the design and increase sample size for stronger statistical significance. Although the research process was at times frustrating, and in a way temporarily decreased my desire to play LoL (repetitiveness sometimes makes things very boring), I am proud of myself: not only was I completing a 2-year honors program within a year, I was researching my favorite game on a topic that really hits home. In the end, this was more than just a school project, it was a personal accomplishment motivating me to combine my scholastic interests with everyday hobby, a challenge demonstrating my potential and capability through the heart of a researcher and a gamer.

In terms of personal reflections, there were two ideas that stood out to me the most in this experience: to ask questions, and to find answers. I will never forget how my mind was full of wonders after that tournament event, I had so many questions about my feelings, myself, the community, the experience, and underlying social theories. Thankfully, my advisor listened to my questions and enlightened me to ask more. Because this was what psychology about, it’s to study and question our behaviors and minds.I will also never forget how my heart was full of empowerment after Miss Representation, I wanted to become a part of this narratives, this movement, and this awakening call. Because we deserve better. I want to see more diversity in female figures in video games, I want to see less body objectification in video games, I want to see more female leadership in video game industry, and I want to see less harassment and sexual comments being aimed at female gamers.

And maybe, just maybe, I can be a part of this awareness movement on hypersexualization in video games, one game at a time. I can contribute to the improvement of my favorite game, one research project at a time.

Guicheng “Ariel” Tan is a new professional working in student affairs for almost a year now! She graduated UC San Diego in 2015 with distinction in psychology, and researched on the effect of hypersexualization in video games. Since she finished college in three years, Ariel decided to make her 4th year a “practicum year” by working for graduate and family housing department at her institution. She currently serves as the Leasing Consultant, providing residential life services and community programs for her residents. Ariel’s passion within the geek culture is combined with her social justice interest, she is interested in the effect of entertainment media on people’s self-perception and identity formation, as well as the impact of online community on real life community in this digital age. While her favorite anime is Sailor Moon, Naruto and Detective Conan (although that series is getting way too long), her favorite game is League of Legends and Chinese Paladin (a classic RPG in China). Connect with her on Facebook and LinkedIn!