Cockfight Arena Versays Monopoly
Beyond the obvious observations, its still easy to see how different the virtual game Cockfight Arena and the traditional board game Monopoly are from one another. One is technologically based, while the other is old fashioned. Monopoly can have several players while Cockfight Arena limits the number of players. Cockfight also gets more involved so that the player can become more emotionally invested in the game. The players are to dress up for their roles as cocks to make the experience as real as possible. Even the controllers are modeled as wings, where as there is a definite disconnect between Monopoly players and their little game pieces. The environment also plays a huge role in the false reality of either game. In Cockfight Arena the player is immersed in a virtual environment that engulfs senses like sight and hearing. This makes participating in the game more real. In Monopoly, the player only uses sight and feeling, no hearing. Yet, the player is very aware of the disconnect between themselves and the game because they have to physically pick up and move the pieces. When I think about it, virtual games like Cockfight always make me a little nervous. They don’t seem as harmless to me as boardgames. They seem to come too close to the human mind and make the mind more susceptible and accepting of what is happening to them as if it were real life. It is scary to me how intense some video game players become, and I think the language of the game has everything to do with why these players hole themselves down in the basement for hours playing these games.
When thinking about Cockfight Arena, then immediately comparing it to Monopoly, it is surprising to see more correlations than expected. Especially concerning how the player is feeling during the game and how that differs from how they behave in everyday life. Both games allow their players to act as irresponsibly as they please with little consequence. Because of a disconnect between reality and the game, the players are free to make their game persona act in anyway possible to win the game. So if someone abiding by social standards of behavior play cockfight, the game gives them an opportunity to act violently with out any consequence in real life. And if someone else is playing Monopoly, they can make any financial decision they please, even go bankrupt because there is no consequence in real life either.
