Resistance to Civil Government


Base on my personal view on these four words, “Resistance to Civil Government”, I expect this passage to go on non stop to criticize the government and sound out to his (Thoreau) audience how bad the American government is. Just as I expected, he condemn the government of America right from the starting paragraph, “That government is best which governs least”. What a short and intimidating sentence this is! I think every word he sounded is out against the government of America.
The government, in America particularly, is selfish and only cares for non other than “itself”. Why do I say “itself” rather than “himself”? Sharing the same thought hopefully, I think that Thoreau is trying to say that the government is an animal; as it is only an animal that we human uses “it” to describe him. Only an animal cares for no one other than itself. It will think of how to ease its own hunger first before coming to think of others, including their babies. (Page 752, line 4 to 8)
Furthermore, he also made a very harsh comment towards the important people of America, also my favorite line in this whole passage, “as almost legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil…” I personally think that the reason he said all this is either the fact that the government is really that towards his contrast of being a “devil”, or that the officials and all are nothing but professional boot-lickers. In the later part he is also contrast the officials as “clay”. I think that the reason behind this is that clay, which can be mould, means that whatever the government ask you to do, you do. (Page 753, line 8 to 14)
The main idea of this passage is to sound to the world of citizens that “we” should voice out our thoughts and ideas if we were to think that something is wrong and not right. We must not hesitate and regret, then petition: that will be too late. It is said by him that only a wise man will not leave the right to mercy of chance. “We” must voice our ideas towards the government and thus “we”, the majority, will out win the government. He is absolutely right and I agree towards him. But again, this passage is bias. The credibility of what he says is a mystery; but in this passage, he voices out strongly, and that means that the government must have done something harsh on him, if not his love ones.
benbasket at 8:01 AM

“Declaration of Independence”

The first thing that comes in to my mind upon reading these 3 words, “Declaration of Independence”, is the movie called “National Treasure” acted by Nicholas Cage, featured in the theaters last month. In that movie, Nicholas Cage is so called the “treasure protector” and is out there to discover the traces of the treasure. The Declaration of Independence is something that they had to steal it from the museum in order to crack the mystery behind it. That is the first time I am introduced towards these 3 words.
After reading this passage, to me, I think that the declaration of independence is something the Americans wrote to the British to announce independence of America. In the first few paragraphs, I can clearly see that the Americans portrayed themselves as a free will country; that humans are free to speak up and vote; that all men are equal in America; that human rights are well featured. Due to this mind-set, the Americans is proposing a government that is chosen by the people of America and that it shall work under all circumstances as long as it is what the citizens wanted. However, if the government have shown abuses and usurpations, it is the human/people if America to overthrow this government.
One of my favorite quote, “….shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” This quote simply means that men are a custom to sufferings that men are born to suffer; and if a system is corrupted or what, the system shall stay, whereas it is the men that is kicked out of the form of government. Following, the passage also state that, “but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism…” this line says that in a nick of emergency, that there are unbearable corruptions or what so ever, the leader will hold all the say to overthrow that someone who is unbearable.
I find these 2 quotes very interesting as it reminds me of the French Revolution during the declaration of the human rights and privileges. If I am not wrong, I presume that the America declaration of independence is derived from the French revolution. This whole system of handling a country, appeals to the world that they are fond of doing things in the name of their people and that America is a state that is “free” and independent from then on.
benbasket at 7:58 AM

Frederick Douglass


“I now come to that part of my life during which I planned, and finally succeeded in making, my escape from slavery.” This quoted which I quoted from what Frederick said, has given he a rough idea of how this journal of the day shall begin. He “was” a slave once and fought against his fate as a slave to where he is now, a “free man”. I must say, the cruelty treated towards the slaves is unbearable. The fact that they did not even allow the slaves to attain education as they are afraid that if they attain education, slaves might rebel and escape, just like Fredrick.
No one wants to be a slave, neither do Fredrick. In the means of being a slave, Fredrick was actually planning to escape, with the view of getting more money. His determination to work from day to day, night by night had really paid off. Till the day when he has the ability to escape from slavery, it is his friends that he can’t bear to say “bye”. This shows how passionate he is and that he has strong cords of affection towards his friends. Finally, he escaped and reached New York.
What I find interesting is that upon his escape, he describes his feelings as. “I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.” His contrast here of using “hungry lions” to his slavery job is something which I don’t understand. Is it that the people that he is serving and doing is as bad as lions? And hungry lions meaning they want to eat him up? Or that he is just trying to say that he is as “free” as the prey of the lions when they escaped?
benbasket at 7:57 AM

Sarah Margaret Fuller


What a male feminist she is! I mean, the first impression she gives me is that, she is fighting the rights for the women and attacks us (male) as the hypocrite. But as I read on, I find that what she is saying and conveying makes absolute sense. In her essay, she is trying to fight for women rights and in a way, “free” them. This is how i felt; not many women can rise above the others and dismisses critics against them. Her attempts to smooth away the social and radicalism, with her articles, have made her an admirable women.
But what I don’t understand from her passage is that, what exactly is she fighting for, for the woman? Is it rights and fairness or others? Anyway, I come to agree to this very statement of hers, even though she is criticizing me, male. “As men become aware that few men have had a fair chance, they are inclined to say that no women have had a fair chance.” She talks about “fair chance”, and it is a very strong word even till this era; let’s not speculate things that arise from this word “fair chance”. But seeing the world today, women are never equal to man in the working force. The man always stands a better chance in succeeding positions and jobs than that of women. This controversy remains ever since women are introduced to the work force.
Furthermore, in her passage, she mentions that “all men are born free and equal”. That is something which I feel is the quote of my day! Many people agree to this statement, even I do. But at the end of the day, we are still discriminating the women and not treating them fairly. What she is asking for is, she wants an explanation of why are men not being fair towards the women? Then why are they treating them unfairly?
benbasket at 7:50 AM

Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” and “letter from Birmingham jail”


The fight for racial equality has been a serious issue ever since the Declaration of Independence was written. Although countless people had tried to stand out to fight for their own race’s equality, none had succeeded, especially in changing the mindset of people. However, there is one men whose electrifying address, “I have a dream”, helped build up momentum for the civil rights movement. He had great ideas upon what it takes to be a pluralistic society. Moreover, he also laid out a sweeping measure that banned and ruled out racial discrimination in hotels, restaurants, and other commendations. This faithful leader of the “blacks” had even won the Nobel Peace prize in 1964. This prestigious prize proves that he made vital contributions to the society, which was especially significant to the blacks.
In both of his famous speeches, “I have a dream” and “Letter from Birmingham jail”, there is a similar approach that he engages in both his speeches. He uses simple English to convey to others the seriousness of his main purpose of those speeches- to ensure equality among races, the whites and blacks. Furthermore, I think that King also wants to induce true assimilation into the American system and that his “dream” is somewhat similar to the “America Dream”, that anybody from any social status can achieve higher social standings. Furthermore, he is also making use of this true assimilation to fight for a pluralistic country- a true pluralistic society is one that accepts all.
In both speeches, he voices out the importance of racial harmony to America and also the causes and effects of this racial dispute. Looking deep into his first speech, entitled the “Letter from Birmingham jail”, he started out saying, “Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” This quote means that anybody, be it the whites or blacks, must see themselves as an outsider. All the more, they should treat each other like how they treat people of their same skin color. They must stop what ever they are all doing and start to compromise with one another in order to seek a one true identity of America.
In response to compromising, King further stated that, “And I am further convinced that if out white brothers dismiss as ‘rabble-rousers’ and ‘outside agitators’ those of us who employ nonviolent…” This quote distinctively shows that the whites are the “bullies” in Birmingham now and that the blacks are employing a nonviolent approach towards those insightful abuses and discriminations. This shows that King and his men are willing to give in now. It is to the whites to take it and perform the process of normalization. The main issue now is “time”, as quoted from King, “….time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.” He knows that time is the key issue here and in order to achieve equality among races, it can take either 10 years or 100 years or even never; depending on how they well they construct their time engagement. If one don’t have the intentions of patching up with the blacks, it doesn’t matter how long it takes as it will never be achieved. That is why in King’s speeches, he builds in a sense of urgency in his decree.
In order to appeal to everyone in America, King also uses simple English to convey his thoughts. In his second reading, “I have a dream”, he brings across the subject of justice and equality using simple English. “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” I am sure that anybody could understand what King wants to induce from these lines of metaphors. In short, King relates the issue of racial injustice to quicksand, sucking and despising people into the quicksand and never will they stand up again. Moreover, we must build up a relationship as hard as rock, so that no one can infiltrate the brotherhood of the whites and blacks. However, at what cost to achieve assimilation?
King doesn’t want to achieve pluralism in the means doing harm towards his fellowmen. He wants to instill “true assimilation”, meaning, accepting the minorities or majorities by true heart and not because the law says so. “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” This quote from King means that he doesn’t want to achieve freedom by having bitterness and hatred among people. Like what I said, he wants to instill true assimilation in America. As I mentioned in the early paragraphs, in King’s speeches, he engages a serious approach. This serious approach of his is trying to people in America to know that this issue of racial injustice is very important and they must pay absolute attention to it. He also stated that there is no turning point once his speech was being heard. There is only one choice; to continue what he is fighting for and not restrain. “And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”
I find this quote very interesting. He is right! The white’s freedom is closely related to the freedom of theirs. That is why both races must walk on together- and that they cannot stop as in any point of time they stop, racial injustice will arise again. That is why they have to march ahead to attain assimilation and mend any mistakes along the way which carries a threat to destroying their brotherhood. In his “I have a dream” speech, what is it that he wants the audience of his to learn about this very dream? What significance does his dream play? “I say to you today, my friends, and so even though we face difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meanings of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.’”
In his very dream, he wants people to know that he dreams about this country’s prospect, which means that it is not being achieved yet: that equality will be achieved in America. He made use of a good relation of bringing up the American dream into his dream which made his dream significant, as it is related to all people of America. None of them can deny the American dream and so towards his dream. Looking towards the present “now”, the question is, “has his dream be achieved? Or that after all, his entire dream was just a day dream?” In the society of today, there is no doubt that racism is still being seen and applied on. However, there is no sign of discrimination in hotels, within the police men and other public places. But people change their way of performing racism- they joke about them behind their backs. Is this a pluralistic society? Has his dream come true? It is a fact that the assimilation that King wanted had come true in the eyes of law. But deep down within the people’s heart, they still carry colored lens on their opposite race. For that, the true assimilation and having a pluralistic society had not achieved. For that his dream was a day dream. That is something which is justifiable.
It is said that in the Declaration of Independence, the architects of the nation, America, has promised something. “Black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, the pursuit of happiness has only been promised towards the whites then. What about the blacks? Had the Declaration of Independence forgotten about them or did they choose to forget about them? Who will answer to their happiness? These are the questions I asked myself and I am not able to find a solution to it. I think that King’s approach was a good one. However, I think that he needed more time and he must learn to put his words into action. I can see his cries and unhappiness in his speeches, but I see no actions being carried forward to: probably it is due to his early death. Furthermore, I think that he should make use of those neutral white men and make use of their presence to spread the verse of equality. Ultimately, to attain true assimilation, both the majorities and the minorities have to give up something and compromise. It doesn’t matter which ever group gives out the most. The most important thing is not to give up something in the process of hatred and unhappiness. That is very important as to attain true assimilation; both races must accept each other whole heartedly.
In both readings, “I have a dream” and “Letter from Birmingham jail”, they both issued out something that America is lacking and can be achieved only if they are willing to work together and induce the true meaning of pluralism. Both essays also tell me the importance of racial harmony and do not in any circumstances perform racial discrimination as it is evil and that one is doing harm on others. I shall conclude this essay with this final quote, stated by King in his speech, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. “Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.” May the people of America understands the true meaning of this quote and not perform injustices towards their fellow brothers as it is a threat to the path of a pluralistic society.
benbasket at 7:48 AM

Solutions to discrimination in gender wage pay


When one considers wage pay, they tend to compare the amount of pay rather than anything else. Well, if they compare within their own sexes, they might get the same wage pay; if not it will be differential on account for their difference in their company position. However if they were to compare it with the other sexes, the results will be different. As male compares with female, for the same position and equivalent amount of job, the male tend to earn more than the female by 25% (Thewlis and Miller in their article about “advancing women in the workplace”).
Putting yourself in the women’s point of view, would you not find this atrocious? This is simply a case of sex discrimination/biasness appearing in the workforce. This gender pay difference getting out of hand and I feel that justice has to be implemented in this act of sex discrimination. Women of the world, don’t you see a problem in this instance: Females are getting less wage pay than the males in contrast of the same position and work load.
Thewlis and Miller had full proof speculations about women in a large absentee from the technological areas and engineering, but constitute the large majority of entrants on education courses. Conversely, if a female has been found working in the male dominance group, her pay would obviously be much lesser than the males; this is simply unfair!
On the other hand, Thomas and Wei of “Gender wage gaps in China’s urban Market” believe that gender wage differential is being cause by working experience. This omission of work experience may lead us to overstate the residual wage gap between men’s and women’s earning. There are countless problems leading to gender wage pay differentials. What the countries in this world today needed is a solution to this terrible sex discrimination act.
The problem about women receiving less wage pay for the same amount work done as men is a major concern. This gap still remains even after accounting for differences in human capital. Economist agrees that many employers use a job applicant’s observable characteristics such as race, sex and attainment of a degree as a signal about unobservable traits such as ability and motivation. Few studies have even considered whether more educated women experiences less of a wage gap.
Therefore, I think that there is only one explanation to it: Gender discrimination. Gender discrimination in the work force has caused the pay- wage to be bias and unfair. To solve this everlasting situation, I have prepared a whole list of solutions. I believe after applying these solutions, there would not be such thing as pay wage difference between the both sexes.
On account on a journal that I have found, “Fixing women’s wages” by Lynda J, states that the basic idea of this issue is that employers should set salaries based on job requirements without regard to the demographical characteristics of a job’s typical incumbent. If two jobs of the similar work require equivalent levels of skills, the two same jobs should also have equivalent salaries. However early studies found convincing evidence that jobs that were dominated by female incumbents were paid less than male dominated incumbents, not because they were intrinsically worth less, but because they were dominated by women (Treiman and Hartmann 1981:93; Remick 1984b; Steinberg et al. 1986)
To solve this problem, Lynda found a suggested a pay equity process which involves several stages, and at each stage, there are policy choices to be made (Steinberg and Haignere 1986; Ames 1993). First, she uses a method for evaluating the worth of jobs-including; in particular, the specification of a set of criteria for determining relative worth- must be developed. Second, jobs must then be evaluated against those criteria. Finally, job performed predominated by women must be compared to jobs performed predominated by men. If according to the establish criteria, the jobs are deemed comparable, any disparity in wages between male and female jobs must be addressed.
Pay equality is achieved when the job rate for the female job class that is the subject of comparison is at least equal to the job rate for the male job class in the same establishment where work performed in both classes is of equal or comparable value. Furthermore, the job rate for the female job class must be at least as great as the job rate for the male class. In the later part of this journal, Lynda stresses that pay equality initiates is to ensure that job content fully determines wage setting and that the gender composition of a job is not a factor in determining the wage.
On the other hand, Mark M and Irene P of “Does and advanced degree reduce the gender wage gap”, have a different approach upon solving gender pay wage problem. They see education attainment the key to gender pay wage discrimination. In their article, they test whether obtaining an advanced academic degree, an MBA, reduces the gender wage gap among people pursuing business careers. To allow this test to happen, Mark and Irene compares the gender wage among a group of MBA recipients with the gap among another group that considered but did not attain an MBA. The results through this test suggest that women with advanced degrees do have a smaller gender wage gap.
With reference to this result, Mark and Irene come out an explanation, Review of the Relevant Literature, to it with consideration of Breckler’s models. Women may have poorer employment prospects because of prejudice on the part of employers, co-workers or customers. Typically, they would expect that a more educated person tends to work with, and for, other more educated people. To extend that higher education promotes tolerance, a women with an advanced degree may confront relatively less sexism in her work environment. I feel that attaining education is a good way of solving this gender discrimination issue in pay wage; as education provides a signal to the employer about a worker’s innate ability.
Furthermore, an employer who carries prejudices for a women’s productivity may well be reassured by an advanced degree; education screens tend to weed out the less capable people. This is believable and also a relevant approach to be taken as an advance degree could also assuage this concern by signaling a strong commitment to job and career. Overall, the hypothesis that more educated women suffer less pay wage discrimination is consistent with the theoretical literature on discrimination.
Comparing the argument of Mark and Irene’s article to that of Lynda’s, I think that both articles basically have the main focus upon solving gender pay wage discrimination. However, the article of Mark and Irene’s solution is more of the women’s personal changes of attaining a high education. But Lynda’s journal states a thorough system which checks the pay wage, biasness between men and women, of the employers and solves the solution from then. Now, let me show you another article of a different approach. Sandra E and Elizabeth B argue that an increase product market competition will drive out costly discriminations in the long run.
In their article, “Importing Equality, The impact of globalization on gender discrimination”, they argue that an increase in competition from trade should reduce the residual gender wage gap more in these industries than in competitive industries. They find that while trade increases wage inequality by modestly reducing the relative wages of less-skilled workers, at the same time it appears to benefit women by reducing the ability of firms to discriminate. This implies a positive relationship between market power and employment discrimination: because a firm must forgo profits in order to indulge in a “taste for discrimination,” employers with considerable market power will be better able to practice discrimination than those with little market power. I think that increased production market competition in an industry over time will reduce earnings and employment disparities between men and women.
Adding on, employers with a “taste for discrimination” against women will hire fewer than the profit-maximizing number of women, employing more men who are equally skilled yet more highly paid. As a result, non-discriminating employers can drive discriminating employers out of the market because discrimination is costly: employers who discriminate against women sacrifice profits in order to indulge their taste for discrimination.
In the later part of this article, Sandra and Elizabeth use Methodology testing the simple prediction that increased competition from trade lead to declining discrimination against women and thus a declining gender wage gap is less straightforward than it appears. This approach implicitly makes two assumptions. First, it assumes that discrimination against women did indeed exist, at least at the beginning of the period under study, and that this discrimination was reflected in lower wages for women relative to equally skilled men. The second assumption in this methodology is that increased imports are equivalent to an increase in competition within an industry and that this increase is exogenous to the residual gender wage gap.
Lastly, Gender wage gap could also be solved using equations and theories. From there, new wage decomposition is produced and thus solving gender wage pay differentials. Kevin and Tony’s journal on, “Does it mean more or less: The male/female wage gap and the proportion of females at the establishment level”, had shown equations about deriving a new set of gender wage pay policy to tackle gender discrimination in wage pay.
To do this, Kevin and Tony first briefly review Arrow’s model of employer discrimination in the labor market. After thorough reviewing, Kevin and Tony then pursue the GSS data set and test the theoretical predictions at the establishment level. Their measure of segregation is the ratio of the number of females employed full time divided by the total full-time employment in the establishment, and this is labeled the establishment female proportion. From this, employer discrimination has been found.
Thus they introduced the individual-level wage equation. The objective of this equation is to estimate the differences in sex composition in the establishment account for 26 per cent of the gap in wages between male and female (they have found). Subsequently, from the results shown, traditional wage gap decompositions are derived to compare with other data sets. This exercise will also provide the background to introducing a new method of wage decomposition. Finally, Kevin and Tony examine the public policy implications. In this context, it is reasonable to assume that the goal of this public policy is to fix the proportion of females in the establishment across the sexes. As a result through researching by Kevin and Tony, new wage decomposition is developed and will be referred to as the Characteristics Decomposition. The results of this decomposition suggest that a fixed-percentage employment equity program could reduce the male/female wage gap by 8 per cent.
I believe that all these four articles have valid solution to discrimination on gender pay wage. Although all three have different approaches, but they all have adequate information to substantiate their sayings. If one looks it in another way, by combining all these four approaches into one solid approach, it may cleanly rub of discrimination in gender pay wage. With the form of systems to oblige by Lynda and economical studies by increasing in competition from trade to reduce the residual gender wage gap from Sandra and Elizabeth; adding on Mark and Irene’s education attainment and the faithful equations derive from Kevin and Tony to reduce gender wage gap, this looks like an all ready missile to bomb gender wage gap.
This problem will be solved, looking into the long run, in no time ahead the future. Economist has been venturing out in the market seeing women as a more superior worker than the men in this 21st century. In no time ahead of us, gender wage gap will be solved and that will better promote non-sex discrimination in countries.












Work cited:

1) Lynda, J, “Fixing Women’s Wages: the Effectiveness of Comparable Worth Policies” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol.48, No. 4, Jul 1995.

2) Sandra, E and Elizabeth, B, “Importing Equality? The impact of globalization on gender discrimination” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol.57, No. 4, Jul 2004.

3) Mark, M and Irene, P, “Does an Advanced Degree Reduce the Gender Wage Gap?” Southern Economic Journal, vol. 70, No. 4, Apr 2004.

4) Thewlis, M and Miller, L, “Advancing women in the workforce” Equal Opportunities commission in 2004.

5) Thomas, G and Zhang Wei, “Inequality in the rewards for holding up half the sky: Gender wage gaps in China’s urban Labor market, 1988-1994” The China Journal, No.41, Jan 1999.

6) Kevin, T and Tony, S, “Does it mean more or less: The male/female wage gap and the proportion at the establishment level” The Canadian Journal of Economics, vol.32, No.4, Aug 1999.
benbasket at 7:44 AM

Bonus Question2: Why is second life not a game?


Firstly, let us ask ourselves, what does the term “game” means? According to Kramer Wolfgang, a game is any activity, which is executed only for pleasure and without conscious purpose. In this definition, every activity that brings pleasure is a game. For example, people dance, play musical instruments, act in plays, and play with dolls and model trains.

After exploring second life, I feel that it is not a game, rather a virtual part of you living in the virtual world. It is different from playing games. In second life, we have to first pick characters of our likes, aka avatars. Upon choosing, you be exploring yourself in a virtual world. While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, it does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games. (Wikipedia, 2007)

Furthermore, Second Life has its own economy and a currency referred to as Linden Dollars (L$).Residents create new goods and services, and buy and sell them in the Second Life virtual world. There are also currency exchanges where Residents can exchange US$ or other real world currencies for L$. These exchanges are open markets, except that Linden Lab sometimes changes in world Linden Dollar "sinks" or sells Linden dollars to attempt to keep the exchange rate relatively stable. There is a 3D modeling tool in Second Life that allows any Resident with the right skills to build virtual buildings, landscape, vehicles, furniture, and machines to use, trade, or sell. This is a primary source of activity in the economy.

In a game, there must be rules, goal, and competition. In rules, it defines and the stucture of the game. Everything that is in the rules is part of the game. Everything that is not in the rules does not belong in the game. The rules are the borders and the heart of the game. (Kramer, 2000) In every game, there is a goal. The goals of a game define the purpose of the game. Lastly, competition allows winners and losers- that provides players with a purpose and motivates them to get into the game. A competition needs a system, in which the game results can be compared. The competition and the measurement of the game results are criteria, which limit the game and the cause that certain feelings will not be fulfilled throughout the game as in books, movies, and music. (Kramer, 2000)

However relating the above paragraph to second life, it seems that second life is more of an simulation (an electronic equivalent of this type of role-playing and it serves to drive synthetic environments and virtual worlds) that game. Second life reminds me of “Sims City” A game with that is not considered a “real game”- mainly to build houses and estates. Second life can act as an entertainment or leisure, or something you do online with your friends to chat and to explore or create a virtual relationship together.




Citations:
Kramer, Wolfgang (2000, December). What is a game? Retrieved April 5, 2007, from Games journal Web site: http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/WhatIsaGame.shtml
Wikipedia, (2007, April 04). Second Life. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_life
Fishwick, Paul (1995, October). What is simulation? Retrieved April 6, 2007, from http://www.cis.ufl.edu/~fishwick/introsim/node1.html
Levy (2006). "World of Warcraft: Is It a Game?" Retrieved April 3rd 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/
benbasket at 4:50 AM