Counterintuitive Fall 2024

When the gaming market crashes it won’t be with a bang or an explosion it will be with a whimper. The gaming industry is one of the largest growing industries of all time succeeding with books movies and other legacy industries becoming a titian among titans. It’s hard to believe that something that screams “too big to fail” all over could ever crash and it is unlikely it will crash shortly but closer to our present than you think. The crash will not be caused by a single devastating blow but by a death of a thousand cuts. Cuts that if left to fester and decay will poison the industry that is built around those cuts seeing them as a necessary evil instead of what they are There are multiple avenues in which the current system in place in the industry fails repeatedly. To major AAA developers and investors, these cuts seem like a drop in the bucket for them, yes in the grand scheme of things losing a couple million dollars by releasing a bad game is fine. Employee turnover? Just get more employees and reviewers not enjoying the game then pay them off. Game studios are unable to deliver a game that sells unrealistic sales numbers then liquidate the company and sell it off for a quick profit. Selling a game at a sixty(now seventy) dollar price tag is not enough anymore than loading it with microtransactions to make its money back. What happens when you can’t afford for a game to be a flop, when you have no more employees you can’t exploit, when you have no more studios that make games, when the consumer gets fed up with predatory practices in games they pay for? This short-sightedness leads to an upsetting present and an ominous future.

Game development is like a machine, there are many different moving parts to make it work, every part is essential, and each deserves an equal amount of respect but sadly isn’t always the case. Game developers take many forms and shapes. There are game directors who keep the vision of the game intact, concept artists who develop the game’s personality through their art, game testers who make sure the game bugs are dealt with before the initial release, and the code monkeys themselves who pound away making lines of code to create a playable experience. The human element of games should always be a priority but what happens when that human element is used and abused to the point of breaking? Crunch is a common practice used in the game industry where employees spend inhumane overtime hours in their office (usually without overtime pay) slaving away at their desk trying to get as much work done as possible in the hope that the game ends up worth the sacrifice. The sad part about this is crunch in the gaming industry is often self-inflicted due to the culture surrounding the industry and the expectations from peers this is called “ good crunch”.  In the paper   Game Industry Discourses Perpetuate Unsustainable Labor Practices by Amanda C. Cote and Brandon C. Harris

m. “In the case of crunch and labor practices, this research considers “good crunch,” the self-imposed or scheduled crunch that developers endure to make the best games possible, as a form of cruel optimism. This is because developers set good crunch up in opposition to (indeed, as a solution to) problems of bad crunch or extended overtime imposed on developers by publishers or technology”. Crunch whether it be self-inflicted or mandated by upper management is inherently toxic to the industry, as crunch has become a commonplace practice instead of a last resort the industry becomes reliant on a practice that destroys employees.

Game reviews are intrinsically linked to the games industry and thus connected to the game development process. It is expected by industry leaders that a major release will not only be profitable but will also be reviewed well hoping to increase profits further due to good press. . In Nikolai Surminskis’s The Role of Video Game Quality in financial markets Journal he states “Data on the financial success of a game is only available weeks or months after the game’s launch. This means that during the release, game quality measured through reviews constitutes the only new information released to the market.”. Making a good game is the hard part and is in the hands of the developers, the same developers that are being crunched to make said game good will eventually lead to burnout. When developers burn out mistakes get made, people quit, and holes in development start to show. These holes cause games to get worse in the process meaning that the same practice the industry uses to make their games is the same process making the games review worse.

The Game industry loves to chase trends because it is seen as an easier way to make a profit in an increasingly expensive market. When “World of Warcraft” came out and made an absurd amount of money everyone wanted to make an MMO same with Call of Duty and Fortnite. Now game companies are not just chasing genre but copying a popular marketing strategy called ( GAAS) or games as a service. This strategy is used to make a single game last as long and be as profitable as possible usually by the implementation of content packs before and after the initial release and microtransactions. GAAS is greatly inspired by the mobile game market which profits nearly double the console market as seen in the J Clements Market renevue chart done in 2022. The problem with GAAS is that it’s a mobile game system being used on games with a premium price tag. There’s a big difference between being subjected to microtransactions in a free-to-download game that you play for an hour max on your phone versus a premium 70$ product that you need to pay hundreds of dollars for a console to have an opportunity to play and still needing to sell more money to get all of the content it has to offer. It puts pressure on consumers to pay more for less and effectively lowers engagement instead of retaining it.

References

Clement, J. (2023, August 29). Global gaming revenue by segment 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/292751/mobile-gaming-revenue-worldwide-device/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20mobile%20games%20generated,U.S.%20dollars%20in%20global%20revenue.

Cote, A. C., & Harris, B. C. (2021). The cruel optimism of “good crunch”: How game industry discourses perpetuate unsustainable labor practices. New Media & Society, 25(3), 609–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211014213

Surminski, N. (2023, June 3). The role of video game quality in financial markets. . https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1773250/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Will Retail Health become the first stop for the Common American? 

There are many reasons for the common American to not choose to go to their primary doctor. There are many other resources like urgent care, retail clinics, and even the ER. There are numerous reasons for the common American to factor in while choosing the best route for their needs when they become sick or injured. Some injuries or sickness can be worse than others and cause them no choice but to go to the ER. However, today many Americans are taking different courses of action when it comes down to being sick or injured. There are many benefits to going to an urgent care compared to a primary doctor yet there still might be another option that is even better. Around 15 years ago retail health clinics started to pop up. Today there are around 2,000 of them across the country. In recent years, retail health clinics have been becoming more popular across the country due to the many benefits that come with going to a retail health clinic compared to a primary doctor or urgent care. 

Retail health has been growing at a fast speed throughout the US. Retail health clinics are located within retail stores, pharmacies, food stores, and many other locations. Having retail health clinics located in types of places makes it very easy and accessible for people. Beside the convenience of the location of these clinics, they are also very upfront about prices for their services. For instance in the article, “Retail Healthcare Update: Disrupting Traditional Care by Patient Needs” it states, “Prices average between $50-60 per visit, which is 30-40% less expensive than a doctor’s office visit and 80% less expensive than an ED visit. These prices are displayed upfront to provide as much cost transparency, and most accept commercial insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or cash.” These clinics are not only being clear and transparent about their prices but also are seen to be much less expensive than other alternatives. One of the most important and many factors that cause the common American to go to an alternative doctor compared to their primary doctor, is because of cost. In addition to the low prices, these clinics accept a great deal of insurance. Although not everyone has insurance the costs of these visits are seen to be much lower than any of the other options like the ER or urgent care. 

With low prices, some Americans might see this as suspicious or think that the clinics aren’t as good as the urgent cares or a primary doctor visit; however this is not the cause. These retail health clinics are seen to have good care. They are able to give medications and are able to treat many illnesses and injuries that you may come across in a day to day. In the article “Retail Healthcare Update: Disrupting Traditional Care by Patient Needs” it also states that “The scope of practice allows retail providers to follow treatment guidelines and, in some cases, provide better care  than that received in a primary care physician or ED visit.” With this being said, these retail healthcare providers are seen to have high quality care for their patients at affordable prices for the common American with or without insurance. This is a very important factor due to most Americans that may not go to the doctor at all because of high prices or having to pay an immense amount of money for a low-quality doctor’s visit. Additionally the article states that, “They provide a bevy of benefits including locally-based and immediate care, lower and transparent costs, shorter wait times, and direct access to medications.” Taking that into consideration, these retail healthcare clinics are not only priced fairly but also are able to give the services and medications that are necessary for their patients. 

These retail health clinics are a very good way for the common American to be able to stay healthy and not spend a vast amount of money on a doctor’s visit. One of the most common issues that Amricans run into is cost. Not all Americans are able to afford or have access to good or any health insurance. When you find yourself without insurance it can be very difficult to be able to stay healthy or even have the option to be able to go to the doctor. At the same time Americans with insurance still have to pay large amounts of money for doctors visits. With this being said these retail healthcare clinics are very critical to all Americans, insured or not. Although in a perfect world the common American would not have to choose between being sick or spending a large amount of money to be healthy. Americans should just be able to go to the doctors when necessary with no worries in if they will be able to afford it or not. In the article “Health Insurance and Access to HealthCare in the United States” it states, “Health insurance, poverty, and health are all interconnected. Among the poor, more than a third have no health coverage (36%) and those who are near-poor (incomes between one and two times the poverty level) are not much better off, with 30% uninsured.” While the insured common American still has to pay loads of money for primary, urgent care, and ER visits; The uninsured have much larger amounts of money that they have to pay when in need of a doctor. This is why retail healthcare clinics are becoming one of the most valuable ways to get treated when sick or injured. Due to the cost efficiency and accessibility for the common american. 

For the many purposes of going to see a doctor in America, it can still be a stressor to people. From the costs, accessibility, and over quality in care. Unfortunately, the US is not one of the many countries in the world that have free healthcare. So, because of this numerous Americans everyday stumble across this issue of affording and being able to get good quality care for their needs. 

References 

Hoffman , C., & Paradise , J. (2008, July 5). Health Insurance and Access to Health Care in the United States. The New York Academy of Sciences. Health Insurance and Access to Health Care in the United States – Hoffman – 2008 – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences – Wiley Online Library

Gaur , K. C., Sobhani , M., & Saxon , L. A. (n.d.). Retail Healthcare Update: Disrupting Traditional Care by Focusing on Patient Needs. The Journal of MHealth. https://thejournalofmhealth.com/retail-healthcare-update-disrupting-traditional-care-by-focusing-on-patient-needs/

Y.B.A.M.O.C

We find that consuming too much caffeine can lead to your mind and body being affected. Some studies show that your mind is awake so long that your body can’t keep up with it. Caffeine reduces the amount of deep sleep that you enjoy from your mind being awake. Studies by Christopher Drake and others show that having over, “400 mg of caffeine taken 0, 3, or even 6 hours before bedtime significantly disrupts sleep. Even at 6 hours, caffeine reduced sleep by more than 1 hour. This degree of sleep loss, if experienced over multiple nights, may have detrimental effects on daytime function.” Your sleep cycle is significantly affected by this as when it’s time for you to sleep you can’t do to your brain telling you to get up. It’s like your mind is in an endless loop and you don’t know whether you are awake or asleep. I found that high school students can’t even focus in class due to them being always tired, they gave us a small video from CBC News on students who are sleep deprived which is called, Generation sleep deprived: How lack of sleep is hurting Canadian teens | In-Depth.

Caffeine affects your sleep by blocking your adenosine receptors which is supposed to help produce chemicals in your brain that help you wake up. The more chemicals that are produced the more you feel sleepy but the caffeine blocks it all. From it bring builds up so much the caffeine blocks this process, which makes you remain alert and vigilant at all times. I found a video that talks about how coffee can ruin your sleep from the Sleep Foundation. Which tells us how to avoid caffeine if we want to sleep better, but the reality is a little more complicated. Studies show that caffeine and adenosine compete with one another for receptors in your brain. But caffeine doesn’t decrease the adenosine in your body like it does with sleep. Instead, it prevents the amount of adenosine from being received by your brain making you feel less drowsy.

References

Christopher Drake, Ph.D., F.A.A.S.M., & Timothy Roehrs, Ph.D., F.A.A.S.M., & John Shambroom, B.S., & Thomas Roth, Ph.D. (2013 Nov). Caffeine Effects on Sleep Taken 0, 3, or 6 Hours before Going to Bed.

CBC Radio-Canada. (2018). Generation sleep deprived: How lack of sleep is hurting Canadian teens | In-Depth

Frances O’Callaghan, Olay Muurlink, & Natasha Reid. (2018 Dec) Effects of caffeine on sleep quality and daytime functioning

Sleep Is The Foundation. (2023, Oct). Coffee Is Ruining Your Sleep – But It Doesn’t Have To (Our Tips!)

Associated Coffee. (2019, April). Fight Grogginess With A Coffee Nap

Miguel S Cabalag, David McDonald Taylor, Jonathan C Knott, Paul Buntine, DeVilliers Smit & Alastair Meyer. (2010 Jan). Recent caffeine ingestion reduces adenosine efficacy in the treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia

The Mystery of The Princes in The Tower: A Causal Argument

     In every mystery and/or conspiracy there is lots of room left for cause and effect relationships. In this case specifically, there is a cause for Richard III to have had the princes killed, yet looking at this through a different lens, there are also many causal relationships that would support the claim that Richard III allowed the princes to live. It is important to acknowledge the fact that there are causal arguments on both opposing sides of this mystery, however there is more of a reason to believe that Richard III allowed the princes to live based off of not only research done by scholars and historians over the years but also archaeological, or shall I say lack of archaeological evidence as well. 

     Firstly, let’s acknowledge the fact that the two princes are Richard III’s nephews. This fact in itself would cause anyone to believe that the probability of Richard ordering the murder of these two innocent children is particularly unlikely. Although it is true that Richard was not supportive of his brother’s (King Edward IV) choice of wife, the princes were still his family. The prince’s mother, Elizabeth Woodville, was a widow and a mother already before she had even married King Edward IV. During the time this was almost an unacceptable choice of suitor for the king. However, the two married anyway and went on to have Prince Edward V and his younger brother Richard along with many other children. Since Elizabeth Woodville had these underlying factors against her legitimacy as queen, this in turn would make it unchallenging for Richard to simply declare the princes as bastards after his brother, King Edward IV, died.

  Being that Richard did in fact declare the princes illegitimate on the grounds that King Edward IV was already betrothed to Lady Eleanor Butler before he married the prince’s mother, why would he have any causation to have the princes killed. If they were illegitimate in his eyes, and also parliament under Richard’s influence as well, what threat would two illegitimate children with disgraced claims to the throne pose to him? The fact is that they wouldn’t. Because of both the prince’s young age and their mother, the dowager queen’s unpopularity at court, Richard had the most leverage in this situation to easily lay claim to the throne without murdering his nephews.

     Many scholars could argue the fact that based on the accounts of Sir Thomas More on Richard III, and even Shakespeare’s dramatization of the reign of Richard III, that Richard would have a cause to in fact murder the princes. This is because Richard is portrayed as power hungry in these works. However, as I mentioned in my defining argument, it is extensively speculated that these accounts are Tudor propaganda to smear Richard’s character. Another primary account by Italian Chronicler Dominic Mancini states that the princes were “Withdrawn to the inner apartments of the Tower proper, and day by day began to be seen more rarely behind the bars and windows until at length they ceased to appear altogether. Already there is a suspicion that they have been done away with.” According to the Historic Royal Palaces, Mancini was a minor diplomat in Edward IV’s court between the years of 1482 and 1483. With his role being a diplomat, he recorded what he saw and heard at the royal court. Refuting the foreign diplomat’s claims, things simply heard at court would almost always include foul rumors and gossip. This would cause his records, like those of More and Shakespeare, unable to be proven accurate.

     It is recorded that after the disappearance of the princes, also Richard III’s peak of power, Dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville (the prince’s mother) came back to court and seemed to have mended relations with King Richard III. Since this had all happened after the princes disappeared, if Richard did have them killed, this would cause it to be extremely unlikely that their mother would travel back to court and face the man who ordered the deaths of her beloved sons. This is another unequivocally pivotal argument supporting the claim that the prince’s lives were spared. 

     Another cause and effect relationship in this case is the discovery of two children’s skeletal remains in the Tower of London. This discovery, that would make the remains seemingly belong to the two princes, caused many to believe that this was finally the missing piece in this greatly debated mystery. However, with the almost immediate internment of the bones, and the re-examination of them in the 1930’s, evidence was provided that could disprove these bones belonging to Prince Edward V and his younger brother Richard. This archaeological variance has caused an even more in depth debate on what happened to them. One point in particular is that the older set of remains (presumed to belong to Prince Edward V) had a disease that affected the jaw and facial features as well, leaving them deformed. The young prince’s doctor had no record of him having any disease that would cause his face to be deformed, and the disease is also said to lead to death as well. We know this is not the case because of records of the elder prince’s appearance, and as I mentioned previously, his physician’s records of his health and wellbeing. This lack of archaeological evidence to defend the claim that the princes were murdered in the tower, causes the claim that they were spared, to be strengthened. 

     Looking at the lines of succession for the English throne, the end results almost always stem from cause and effect relationships within the families that have reigned over the years. In this case, they can be as simple as the death of Edward IV caused Richard to come to London and claim the throne. They can also be as complex as Edward IV marrying Elizabeth Woodville (a widow), caused their son’s claim to the throne to be easily challenged, which in turn caused the princes to be imprisoned, which caused the rise of Richard III, which then caused the War of the Roses, and so on and so forth. A domino effect, some may say. In defense to my claim that the princes were allowed to live, the multitude of causal relationships are conspicuous. 

References

Shakespeare, W. (1593). Richard III: Entire play. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardiii/full.html

Leslau, J. (1988, December). The princes in the Tower | Moreana. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/more.1988.25.2-3.7

More, T. (n.d.). The history of king richard the third – thomas more studies. https://thomasmorestudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Richard_III_English_glossed.pdf

The Princes in the Tower. Historic Royal Palaces. (n.d.). https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-princes-in-the-tower/#gs.00nsg9

Who Has the Upper Hand?

By promoting their misleading environmental sustainability efforts, companies are greenwashing their corporate image to hide their destructive business practices from the public. Companies try to focus the market’s attention on a tiny, so-called, positive achievement, so that consumers do not think to look any further and see what is truly happening behind the scenes. The misleading campaigns that the public are seeing all over social media and the news are leading to the people’s ignorance of not really knowing what is going on or what they are putting their money towards. The planet is paying a price when an abundance of propaganda is being advertised for people to see and believe.

An issue we are seeing with fossil fuel companies is not only their pollution, but also their donations to colleges who are conducting climate research. You would think that millions of dollars towards research is a positive contribution, but fossil fuel companies are doing it for their own advantage. These enormous donations to research groups do not go unnoticed so the companies specifically want the donations they made to be publicized so consumers think they are working towards a greener future, but sadly they are not. In a Yale Climate Connection interview, Bella Kumar, a Fossil Fuel research student at George Washington University, “funders can influence which topics are studied. And in some cases, they influence how results are framed, for example downplaying the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels.” So, while we continue to let fossil fuel companies donate to research projects that contradict their business, we continue to let them have the upper hand in what is actually allowed to be studied. Throwing money around is the easiest way for these companies to keep their harmful practices in the dark.

When people see positive promotions from their favorite companies saying that they are planning environmentally friendly efforts, the more greenwashing the companies are able to get away with. These companies are unleashing advertisements for their green campaigns with no actual concrete evidence to support it. By making vague claims saying that they have ambitions to move towards being net-zero, they are secretly granting themselves years of good grace until they return saying their ambitions failed. There is a difference between making a pledge about what you want to achieve, and taking meaningful actions that will actually take you there.

“Companies should be saying exactly how they’re going to reduce their emissions all the way to zero, if they have to rely on offsets — where are those offsets coming from? How credible is the offset company that they’re working with?”

According to Angel Hsu, data scientist and founder of Data Driven EnviroLab, if companies are being secretive about their plans to reduce their emissions, then there is likely no plan at all. By proposing “offsetting” as a solution to this enormous pollution problem, it is a no brainer that these companies do not actually have a concrete plan to put into play. Another phrase that is a good representation of “offsetting” is stalling, which is not an option since there is no time left to waste.

Since the COVID-19 epidemic, consumers are willing to spend a little more cash if it means that they are supporting a business who is working towards better alternatives that eliminate carbon emissions. “While consumers have long said that they value sustainability, the COVID-19 crisis perceptibly shifted consumer behavior and enlarged the pool of conscientious consumers  willing to pay more for healthier, safer, more environmentally and socially conscious products and brands,” according to PwC research team. Having said, companies do not want to lose their customers because they do not have a plan that involves them moving to net-zero emissions, so developing open-ended goals is the best way to appease consumers for the short-term. Companies pulling publicity stunts to keep their business flow going is only putting off the inevitable of eventually being exposed for their bad practices. The cycle continues to go around and around with greenwashing.

A more recent tactic that we have been seeing from fossil fuel companies is attempting to silence protestors who are fighting against them. Protestors have been attempting to exploit these reckless companies and break the silence on how they are the reason for climate change. Companies can lie about what they are doing behind the scenes, but when it comes into the vision of the public, there is little they can do, or so we think. In Nina Lakhani’s anti-protest research, she interviewed Greenpeace director, Ebony Twilley Martin, who claims, “We are seeing an escalation of tactics to criminalize, bully, and sue those working for climate action, Indigenous rights and environmental justice… [as] oil and gas companies find new ways to delay the transition to clean energy and protect their own profits.” With fossil fuel companies silencing the voices of the public, there is little ways to spread awareness of the damage they are doing to the planet. With over 250 anti-protest bills in place, these environment activists are facing life-altering risks to try and continue the fight against fossil fuel companies and their destruction.

Fossil fuel companies are fighting against the people in order to keep their cash flow going. Whether they are donating money into research, being vague to consumers, or fighting to put anti-protest bills into place, it all comes down to the same outcome; they get to keep being vicious towards the environment. The greenwashing tactics have grown in numerous ways, but they are working tirelessly to keep their practices in the dark, and it is working. Recognizing the cause and effects of what is taking place is the first step to take down greenwashing and the pollution it brings.

References

Hsu, A. (2023, January 10). Data-driven EnviroLab tracks climate action. UNC Global. https://global.unc.edu/news-story/data-driven-envirolab-tracks-climate-action/

PricewaterhouseCoopers. (n.d.). 2021 consumer intelligence series survey on ESG. PwC. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/consumer-and-employee-esg-expectations.html

Team, YCC. (2023, May 18). The fossil fuel industry is donating hundreds of millions to university climate and Energy Research ” yale climate connections. Yale Climate Connections. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/05/the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-donating-hundreds-of-millions-to-university-climate-and-energy-research/

Better Stats mean the best?

When we think of the best players of all time do we think of their stats? Or do we think of these achievements these players made throughout the years they played, or is it how these players changed the landscape of the game. Stats have caused many to have different opinions on who they believe is the best players, but how do you take one statistic from the hundreds that there are to declare that one stands above the rest? Stats can also be used out of context for example a player that played the game in the past may have scored less three point shots then todays player because of a rule change that brought the three point line closer to the basket to make the NBA games more high scoring. If a player has missed more shots then another does that mean they are worse then that player, or if a player has score more goal in more games does that make them better.

In the article “Are We Becoming Too Obsessed With Stats In Sports?” its explained how people today, are taking these advanced stats and comparing every player with them, the problem with that is these advanced stats don’t include everything that goes into a player for example the stats could be comparing the points per game and the assists per game between two players and only using these to compare the players when a players may be better in other major areas then these two fields. Its explained how stats are being overvalued and cant truly show how dominant a player is. The article also goes into how people may never watch these players play and just go to the stats section of the players career and use that to define them, this leads to many people believing another player is better then another.

In my next article, “LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: How their careers compare” this was a summary of the two player overall careers and who hold the better statistics and how threes so many different ways to compare the players. The first statistic was Lebron has had the longer career, going into his 21st season while Jordan played 15 seasons. Many people could use this stat to say Lebron was more dominant over a longer period of time, or someone could say Jordan was more dominant in his years played the Lebron. The next stat was all time points scored LeBron’s has 38,799 while Jordan had 32,292. Lebron currently holds the record for most points scored of all time, this stat can be a major one used to say Lebron was better then Jordan, or you could use another stat which shows Jordan who averaged the most points per game of all time was better. The final stat the article would use was championships won which has Jordan currently ahead with his six championships won while Lebron James has 4 championship wins, However Lebron has been to the championship ten times total compared to Jordan’s six unfortunately for Lebron he lost six of those finals while Jordan never lost a single NBA final. The article’s overall conclusion was how do choose which statistic makes a player better when there are so many different ones to choose from.

In my final article I chose “What is the average points per game (PPG) in the NBA by year? Looking at the last decade and evolution of scoring” In this article is goes over how the 2022-23 season was one of the highest scoring seasons ever in the NBA. Due to the new rules that they did not have in the past which has led to the empoison of the three point shot, the game is played much different in todays game of basketball then in the past. This is yet another example of how the best statistic cause people to think players are better then other, due to more scoring this means there will be a higher assist average and higher points per game averages for everyone. A player back in the day before these new rules would average around fifteen point a game and be treated as a superstar however in todays game this kind of player would be what you hope for from a sixth man. In 1996 around 16 three point shots were being attempted per game while in 2022-23 the average is 34. My purpose for choosing this article is to show the effect that stats don’t mean everything when comparing players.

In todays world with all of this technology players stats are being more used now then ever before, and the effect of this is causing fans to have all different kinds of opinions on who is the best, but they are consistently downplaying the past players and their greatness and what they brought to the game of basketball.

References

• https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/what-average-points-per-game-ppg-nba-year-looking-last-decade-evolution-scoring
• https://www.ocregister.com/2023/02/07/lebron-james-vs-michael-jordan-how-their-careers-compare/#:~:text=Jordan%20was%20the%20flashier%20scorer,triple%2Ddoubles%20to%20Jordan’s%2028.
• https://www.tacklesmartsports.com/are-we-becoming-too-obsessed-with-stats-in-sports/#:~:text=It’s%20a%20complicated%20question%2C%20and,game%20(and%20a%20player).

Quality vs Quantity

Work less, earn more. Many individuals all over the world have this common goal in mind. Unless you’re at the top of a prosperous company or born into money, this goal is certainly hard to achieve for the average person. The correlation between the hours that one works and the amount of money they receive has been in place in many companies for over a hundred years. Minimum wages can barely keep up with market inflation and due to this more and more people fall into poverty. The market for jobs is a strenuous one, especially nowadays with more and more college graduates unable to find work due to demands of years of experience in certain fields. 

Without work and still having to pay off enormous college loans and miscellaneous bills, many people will find themselves working high demand jobs with low pay just to get by. One of the many jobs that draws these types of individuals in is a delivery driver for companies such as Amazon. The pay is relatively decent compared to minimum wage and you are paid hourly. The kicker though is that you always have a set amount of deliveries per that day. Due to this, the drivers who are more efficient in their deliveries finish faster. That would all be fine if they were not punished for it, and yet due to the pay being hourly and no set hours, the faster you complete the job the less you are paid. This situation has caused many in this position to draw out the delivery process in order to earn more, and be less productive. This also implies that if two drivers had the same amount of deliveries but one driver took twice as long to finish the task, they would be getting paid double the more efficient driver.  

This doesn’t completely justify the fact that working longer hours is never better than working faster. But what it does do is bring up the idea of efficiency in one’s work. Unlike a retail worker that will work a set shift from opening to closing, many jobs out there are more or less work until the job is complete. In this type of work, as long as it is completed to the satisfaction of the company, the workers will be paid their wages for the time they put in. If it is completed in 40 hours, they receive 40 hours of pay, 30 hours will earn them 30 hours of pay. Even if the job were to have been the exact same task. In the article “The $2,000 Hour: How Managers Influence Project Performance Through The Rework Cycle”, the rework cycle is a chart in place to roughly manage the work done. It compares the amount of work completed to the quality of said work. The comparison of work time and quality work hours is what’s demonstrated by this chart. As the article stated, employers would pay nothing for the hours put in where workers had not performed well, and thousands for the hours that had actually made progress on their project. In this case unlike the delivery drivers, working less, yet actually being efficient and thorough is rewarded. 

Of course, the position in a corporate chain like the ladder is very much different than an entry level job at a delivery company or similar jobs. Yet in both cases the work is performance based. Why is one rewarded and the other punished for being efficient and productive? The problem is that in the system we have in place, the correlation with money earned and time spent at work have been so indoctrinated into the way we live we wouldn’t even think to question why a 9 to 5 job is so common. Work 8 hours, get paid for 8 hours of work. In many cases, the average worker is not slaving away for 8 hours, and maybe gets 5-6 solid hours of productive work done at that time. There is a point in which working tirelessly long hours hinders work performance, in which quality diminishes. If companies were to offer incentives to those who produced quality work for the entirety of their time on the job, this may not be the case. If your house has a leak and you need someone to fix the roof, would you choose a person who offers work for an hourly rate, or someone who has a fixed price. In most cases, the person with the fixed rate. Why? The price may seem a bit much, for example if the fixed rate was 220 dollars compared to the company that offers 80 dollars an hour. The fixed rate may be finished in only two hours, and seemingly you paid 110 dollars an hour. But for someone offering an hourly rate, they would have worked less efficiently and taken 3 hours. Therefore you are paying 20 dollars more than the fixed rate. 

Efficiency and quality are the only things that should be considered when being paid. If a company were to offer a position where you work less hours and are paid the same amount, then the question of work quality and efficiency come into play. As in the previous examples, this is very much prominent, as work is more or less on the employees time. Rarely are employees left with overdue work and not enough time to complete it, and on the flip side, many people are dragging out their work in order to receive the pay that they deserve. If companies had greater incentives to employees, this would not be the case, and efficiency would skyrocket. 

Work less, earn more. This is a statement that formerly seemed like a reach to achieve, and yet, with the given examples, it almost seems as that is the way it should be. Earn what you give. If you give quality and produce results, why does it matter if it took three days or five days if the result is the same and pay should follow accordingly.  

references

Cooper, Kenneth . “The $2,000 Hour: How Managers Influence Project Performance through the Rework Cycle.” Project Management Journal, vol. XXV, no. 1, Mar. 1994.

Liu, Jennifer. “Workers Report a 4-Day Workweek Improves Health, Finances and Relationships: It “Simply Makes You Happy.”” CNBC, 24 Feb. 2023, http://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/24/worlds-biggest-4-day-workweek-experiment-shows-big-health-benefits.html#:~:text=Employers%20and%20workers%20around%20the.

Low Self- Esteem

A low sense of self-worth might be characterized by a lack of confidence in one’s own skills. According to the “Texas Division of Student Affairs” article on counseling and mental health, self-esteem is more important than the typical ups and downs brought on by situational changes. Normal ups and downs can cause brief changes in how someone feels about themselves, but only to a certain degree, especially for those who have high self-esteem. While for others, these fluctuations have a significant effect on how low self-esteem individuals see themselves. Over the course of our lives, as we form an identity through interactions with other people and activities, our self-esteem changes. Having low self-esteem can stem from external forces, such as early childhood trauma and past experiences. Early childhood experiences are very important in forming one’s sense of self and allows for feelings of safety and love. Children’s positive emotional development is crucial since it will affect how well they manage their own emotions as well as their capacity to form positive interactions with peers. The article “Self Esteem and Mental Health” discusses how our upbringing—including the treatment we received from our peers, teachers, coaches, parents, and religious leaders—built our self-esteem.

People with poor self-esteem have deeply held self-beliefs that cause them to think negatively all the time because of prior trauma. Traumatic events have the power to undermine a person’s sense of self and have an impact on their self-esteem. Trauma frequently causes someone to believe that things are out of control, and they are not in control of their own circumstances. In the article “How Trauma Affects Your Self Esteem”, Trauma shatters trust in ourselves, others, and the world around. It gets harder to believe we should have good experiences and to feel protected. Rebuilding confidence can be difficult when there is a lack of trust because it might lower our self-esteem. Identity disruption can also result from early trauma. It can be difficult to feel confident in who we are, which can cause uncertainty and loss of identity when memories or triggers from the past come back to torment us. These obstacles prohibit us from moving forward with more beneficial thought patterns and make us feel stuck.

Trauma affects, challenges, and modifies your self-perception. It also tests your relationship with one’s own life and emotions. Disapproving parents, fear, bullying, and being lied to as a child can all be childhood causes of low self-esteem. According to the article “Self- Esteem and Mental Health”, health direct claims, a few things that can make someone feel bad include not fitting in at school, struggling to live up to parent’s expectations, and experiencing abuse or neglect. This results in a loss of identity as you become engrossed and fixated on the negative aspects of life. This could be explained by a situation in your life that triggered your sensitivity and led you to act in a way that was counterproductive. Whether you realize it or not, the experiences from your past—particularly the ones that led to your lack of confidence—still influence your day-to-day activities as you age.

Low self-esteem people believe they are unimportant and that nothing they do will change, while high self-esteem people believe they can accomplish anything they set their minds to. Trauma’s detrimental effects on one’s sense of self-worth can contribute to harshness and self-hatred. In “The Toxic Effects of Negative Self-Talk” Author Elizabeth Scott states, self-talk that is critical prevents you from realizing your own potential and from having faith in your own talents. It’s any thinking that undermines your confidence and your capacity to change your life for the better. Therefore, having negative self-talk can seriously hinder your success in addition to being unpleasant. The article “Good Therapy” supports this idea by stating that trauma harms the mind by generating false thoughts and conclusions that don’t make sense. These ideas chip away at your self-worth and fuel negative perceptions to the point where the resulting crippling self-loathing makes you want to run away, hide, and always apologize for being alive. 

 The “Emotional and Psychological Trauma” document states that unresolved childhood trauma creates a sense of fear and powerlessness that persists into adulthood and paves the way for worse trauma and a decline in self-esteem. People with low self-esteem often hear this inner voice as a harsh, uncaring critic that makes them minimize their value and denigrate themselves. According to a study cited in the article “Trauma and Self Esteem,” the development of PTSD results in a reduction of memory and attentional function. This interferes with daily living and encourages self-denial, hence lowering one’s sense of self-worth. This “inner voice” constantly reminds your subconscious mind of the unpleasant feelings you’ve had in the past and reminds yourself of the negative lessons associated with those bad childhood events.

Low self-esteem can have devastating consequences. According to the “Texas Division of Student Affairs” article on counseling and mental health, low self-esteem can cause several problems, including difficulty managing one’s emotions, an inability to make educated choices, impaired cognitive functioning, increased sensitivity to stressors as an adult, and an increased risk for mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. These devasting effects could hinder someone’s career and academic success, as well as creating more negative feelings. One may enter a downward spiral of self-destructive behavior because of low self esteem.

References

Australia, H. (2023, -08-01T01:49:06.424Z). Self-esteem and mental health. Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/self-esteem

CMHC Self Esteem. https://cmhc.utexas.edu/selfesteem.html

Emotional and Psychological Trauma – HelpGuide.org. https://www.helpguide.org. Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/coping-with-emotional-and-psychological-trauma.htm

How to Reduce Negative Self-Talk for a Better Life. Verywell Mind. Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.verywellmind.com/negative-self-talk-and-how-it-affects-us-4161304

Mental Health: How Unresolved Childhood Trauma Impacts Adult Decision Making? Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.india.com/health/mental-health-how-unresolved-childhood-trauma-impacts-adult-decision-making-6436317/

Susanne M. Dillmann.GoodTherapy | How Trauma Impacts Your Sense of Self: Part I. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/identity-trauma/