Hello there, My name is Nicholas Trusch and welcome to my blog. I am a senior at High Point University, in High Point, North Carolina. I was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and I live there with my Parents and dog Bailey. I am a Strategic Communication major and plan on graduating in the fall of 2021. I enjoy hiking and being out in nature, as well as video games and politics. I am on the Esports team at HPU for the game League of Legends and I am also the captain and run an armature league team also. I am an avid lover of politics and debates, so much so that I got the opportunity to intern for the National Republican Convention over the summer of 2020 in both Charlotte NC, and Jacksonville FL. When I graduate from High Point, I know I want to go into the communications field of either social media or advertising. What I would love is to eventually work in the Communications department of the White House, and then work for a lobbyist group or run communications for a gaming company; preferably Riot Games or Ubisoft. Now you have learned a little about me, Hope you stick around for what content I create.
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Monday, May 4, 2020
EOTO part 2 - CARDFIGHT VANGUARD
My final Blog will be about something that I hold close to me. It is a game called Cardfight Vanguard. This game is a Japanese trading card game, like Yu-Gi-Oh and the American TCG Magic the Gathering. I was tough the game by one of the first upperclassmen I met at college during my freshman year. I was with my friend Will in the first floor of Smith Liberty on a Saturday night. His name is Max and we are still Really close friends to this day after he graduated last year. Also he lives like 2 miles from me in Raleigh and apparently, we worked together for like 3 years and didn't even know it, haha. But i was with my friend Will playing Magic the Gathering and he was doing homework. he saw us playing and told us about the TCG club he runs at the school on weekends and to check it out. We went to it and made alot of new friends and memories. I learned the game Cardfight Vanguard there from him and I have to say, it is one of the cheapest and most fun TCG games I have ever played.
The story of the game is is a story which revolves around the collectible card game with the same name. On a planet much like the Earth called “Cray”, you battle your opponent with the help of your units. Cardfighters become Vanguards, and lead their units towards victory! There are 24 different clans which incumbent hundreds of different units. There is a play style to fit everyone. You like dragons fight for Dragon Empire where we have Flame Dragons ruled by Dragonic Overlord, or my clan of choice the Thunder Dragons ruled by Dragonic Vanquisher. There are also Ninja clans, Dinosaurs, Mermaids, Pirates, Demons and Vampires, a Football clan called Spike Brothers( American Football), An Imperial Navy, Time Dragons, Bugs, Plants with the power of the Forrest, Intergalactic Police force, the evil Link Joker clan full of cyber dragons and the Savor or the planet Cray Genesis Dragon Messiah, and many more clans out there.
My local game store here in Raleigh is where we play on weekends and we would drive down to play at it on weekends for their shop tournaments. I met a great community of people at the shop from many different backgrounds. They were like a tinny family and they invited me in without hesitation. After about a year of playing and winning some shop tournaments, I felt was ready to play at the nation level and went to my first regional tournament in White Plans, New York. I was facing some of the best Cardfighters in the county and I did pretty dam well. This tournament was a team format you having a team of 3. I led my team and we called our selves The Try Hard Casals, or T.H.C. for short. I was me, my friend Max who tough me how to play who used the power of the Orical Think Tank, a clan or fortune tellers and Goddess, and our friend Robby, who fought with the power of the Royal Paladin clan, the Holy Knights of the planet Cray, let by his avatar Blaster Blade. together we fought our way but sadly lost at the Final round of the preliminaries coming in at 54 out of 578 teams. If we would have won, we would had made top 8. But it was fun, we learned alot and made new friends. We planed to go back to the the Regional in White Plans again and than Atlanta, but Covid-19 came and canceled 2020. Even thought our plans were canceled, we still play with each other over discord and in different Facebook, like the one I run called Try Hard Casuals. In the group I run, we have cardfighter from all over the world, in the US, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the UK, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Canada. I look forward to when I can play with them and my friends from our shop Game Theory once again. Playing the game has made me even more or a people person and improve my communication skills greatly, plus its always pun to teach new people no matter how old they are. I can't wait for this quarantine to be over but who knows how long that will take haha. If your reading this and interested in what the game is more ill post some likes to the game and the anime the game is based off or.
Have a safe and healthy day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTyO64RuRZM&list=PLZaz0lCoygozQ6BUQLHT2qs6q75tk69je - Episode 1 of the Anime in English dub where they show you how to play in episode 1 + 2 (its a good anime, the main character is not overpowered)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6fyPt4XTnQ - How to play Cardfight Vanguard explained in Japanese with subtitles by game makers
How to play the game explained by the maker of the game.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS881US881&sxsrf=ALeKk022YtU4AcIUFIgrpfZWBPT70dNaCA%3A1588590235744&ei=m_avXuf6LIeOsQWkz4G4Cg&q=how+to+play+cardfight+vanguard&oq=how+to+play&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgAMgQIABBDMgQIABBDMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAA6BAgAEEc6BQgAEJECOgUIABCDAToECCMQJzoICAAQkQIQiwM6BwgAEEMQiwM6CAgAEIMBEIsDOgUIABCLA1DRqGBYnLlgYP_BYGgAcAV4AIABcYgB7AeSAQM4LjOYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6uAEC&sclient=psy-ab#kpvalbx=_6_yvXqL9JMmMtgXY8rPADg66
EOTO Part 1 - Propaganda
What is propaganda - information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Propaganda is usually used by governments and businesses to push their agenda on to their peeople and consumers. It can be good, bad and neutral. There are millions of examples of propaganda used from ads you see to speeches, to clothing. Everything contains a message, and the people creating it, us it the push their agenda, weather it be selling burgers, cars, perfumes, an inferior race, violence or a new way of life. One of the biggest times, propaganda is used is during conflict. War is just that time. Like looking too World War 2. We had hundreds of propaganda from "We want you", Uncle same(The spirit of America) telling the American people that we want them to come and join the fight. There was also if not the most famous, the second most with Rosie the Riveter, saying "We Can Do It!". This poster was to help get women to work in the factories while all the men were out at war. It was to promote the women to do their part and work together. These are positive versions of propaganda. Another and probably the biggest thing this caused was the rise of women working and wanting to stay in work after the war. This help relonch the women's suffrage movement and brought a rise to women in the workplace well after the war. Another view of propaganda that was seen by some as negative and some as good was the ad, "When you ride ALONE you ride with hitler!" This was to spread fear into the US populations and tell them that we need alot of gas for the war effort, if your not ridding with others, you are helping the enemy by not sharing gas with others. It was to promote coming together as a community, but some felt that it could ostracize them or others.
Even american companies got in on the World War 2 propaganda like Disney and the comic book industry. In the world of comics, Captain America was created to help bring entertainer and joy to people in the US as well as the make propaganda. Captain America was a true All American who fought and help defeat the Nazis and Hitler. With Disney on the other hand, if you ask most boomers and people, they might say that saw the cartoon or know about it. The cartoon being when Donald Duck had a dream he was a Nazi in Germany. The cartoon was call Donald Duck in Nutzi land. It was so popular that after a while they changed the name of it to The Fuehrer's Face when a song in the cartoon became a hit with the public. The film was funny to the people at the time and it still is today. It brought the serous tenants of Hitler's Nazism to absurdities. The cartoon also give all of us American a chance to think about and our freedom and rights we take for garnet. It even won the Academy Award as Best Animated Short Subject of 1943. The cartoon showed Donald being over worked in a Nazi factory with no breaks, along with showing that the Nazis had little food as well as had terrible living conditions. The cartoon also makes it very apparent to make fun of the fact that the Nazis say Heil Hitler an absurd amount of times to the point that its just funny. At the end of the cartoon Donald wakes up from his nightmare and he finds that is in American in America and he is so relieved to be.
Propaganda would affect people of the middle to lower class more than the upper class. The upper class are normally the ones who are making the propaganda to persuade the lower classes that they need this or that in order to survive or to stay up to date on the latest trends or why you should vote for me over my opponent. Along with this, some propaganda can develop fear by mistake or get taken out of hand, like with the Salem Witch Trails, or the Red Scare. Or the rounding up of Japaneses Americans during World War 2 after Purl Harbor was bombed. Not only in the US, but all over the world, the propaganda the government feed its citizens, is what they will normally go with and make their fears and beliefs off of. I am apart of the middle class, so it could effect me on how I get my information from the news. I take news media from sources of both sides of the ail politically and from some independent news outlets. I do believe though that there is a new wave of socialism that is slowly taking control of your adults in different parts of the country, and I hope that one day those people will see what is really going on in the agenda of the people they follow to take their rights away and give more control to the government which is not what we need in this country, especially when it comes to language and affecting the first amendment. Only time will tell how this will content to go in the future.
My Time Playing League of Legends for High Point University
At High Point University, over the last 2 years, I have been apart of the League of Legends esports team. It was only a year old when I joined the second semester of my sophomore year. It was only the five of us and than the 8 people on the Overwatch team that made up the esports club at school. Than at the start of this year, we grew exponentially. Working with both the school of communication and president Qubein, we had a new arena build in the comm building, new gaming PCs, 8 different games under the sports club, along with over 140 different members. All of this in just the course of 3 years now.
We had some many different people from different backgrounds all coming together to play the games they love for the school we all go too. We participated in tournaments, lands, and even competitions at over schools. But with all the people, and being at HPU, me and others knew that there would be some people who think they are better than the rest and DAMMMMM, was drama caused. We had favoritism and infighting between the caption of the Rambow 6 teams who thought he was the most important person in the room because his parents are rick and he is a VIF. But he soon found out that just because you come from money, and get special treatment from the staff at HPU, does not mean you get it all the time. He was forced out of his position and soon kicked out of the Esports club all together, all because he could not admit he was wrong and was a jerk to most people.
Thank came the League of Legends team, the one i'm on. We had 3 teams originally at the start of the year, than it shrank own to two by mid October. The Varsity team had alot of infighting with its players causing 3 to leave the team and 1 to leave the game all together. I was on B team at the time and because of these events, me and 4 others from both teams were moved up to the varsity team.
The way league of Legends works is, its a team game with two teams of five members fighting it out on 1 map. There are 3 lanes and a jungle, and each player plays a certain role in the game. Top lane if a solo lane where normally a player plays a tank type of champ, the jungle has one of the most important jobs and thats to travel around the map unbalancing the lanes in favor of their team, to make a 1v1 turn into a 2v1. The mid lane is another 1v1 lane where they fight and roam to help top and bot and to help jungle take objectives on the map. The bot lane is the only two person lane where its a 2v2. A support (my role) and an ADC (Attack Damage Carry). my job as support is the help the ADC get kills on the other team and our lane opponents and to keep him alive. We all work together to destroy the enemy nixes/base. This is probably the best way I can explain it without going on for 3 pages. I'll post a link to a video better explaining it. But back to the story.
When we got moved up, there was me and another support main fighting for the spot and she went as low as starting rumors about me and another player to get us suspended or kicked off the team. And to make matters worse she did this when she knew as well as everyone elts that I was up visiting my sick grandmother in Virginia for 5 day during January, so I came back to a message from my team caption (who was really close friends with the other support player) that I was banned from the area and practice until further notified, and he would not tell me anything as to why. So I did the logical thing and go over his head by messaging the head of the esports club directly. He told me to go to practice and he would handle it. I find out that when I get to the arena, that every member of the team is having a private meeting with the coach, head of esports and the LoL( league of legends) captain. It turned out she made these commits about me, were made with me not even being there or causing them in the first place. I was assured that I would not be in trouble for anything, but that everyone on the LoL team had to be nicer and sign a stick contract because of the incident.
Everything returned to semi normal after that, but i lost trust in the individual completely after this, and so did others on the team. Into our season we work all working together fine until spring break and eventually Covid-19 caused the season to be canceled. I made new friends on the LoL team at HPU and found a new love for competition too. I continue to play even now and through the summer to get my spot back on the varsity team for next school year, if we are on campus that is, haha. I continually stride to get better, and i know the other girl who wanted my spot and still wants it is playing for the same goal, but for the first year of the new official esports club, it was a wild one. I know for sure that we will have more drama, because lets face it, some students at HPU think they are the best ect, and will have those big personalities or more infighting between players. But this year and the LoL team has help shape and show the heads of the esports club how we can better handle and address it into the future.
WHAT IS LEAGUE OF LEGENDS, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING THESE THEY ARE GOOD AND FUNNY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brNGDA5R048 - Funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGYi2OEulA - Funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGtROJeMPeE - Made by League of Legends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z0CqQEHWxc - My favorite ad
My online Foot Print
How large is my online foot print? That is a hard question to ponder, because I regally use social media, but I post stuff every now and then. I know the earliest picture of me was in 2012 when I made an account with my friend Parker in middle school and that was the first photo on my Facebook and the first I ever posted, you can still find it on google imagoes if you type in Nick Trusch Facebook. From there I have posted alot of stuff, from memes, to political videos and pictures based off my views, updates of my personal life, and funny videos. For sure facebook has my biggest online footprint and most used. I also have a Linkedin that I use for internships and business stuff but not much is on it besides my resume. My Twitter that I made for American Politics class has little to nothing on it, I just made it because it was required and we got updates from our professor on it. My Instagram is my second most used social media after Facebook. On my Instagram, Post there every now and than, mostly for big changes in life or memories I want to keep and share. I have photos of trips and vacations, and end of the year post of all my years in college, and some hangout with friends. I don't really post that much so that mostly just it.
If someone would visit my Instagram, they would first need to send me a friend request, because I have it on private just like all my social media accounts. I have them all set to private so i can see who friends me and if I know them or not. If i accept their friend request, They would see i'm into politics, care for my family and friends deeply, and love to laugh at funny video and memes related to pop culture references and history.
When it comes to giving out your Email, to different sites for stuff i have a person email I use for for work, banking, and important information. Than I have another for all the websites I have accounts on for social media, Streaming, and gaming. I do this to separate my important stuff to the websites i use more often, and so my person information I care about is safe on the private email I use.
I personally feel to me that social media helps people who could or would feel isolated and depressed. it gives them a way to connect not only to people they know around the world and keep up with whats going on in the world, but to connect to a multitude of different people. Find a group of people who share their hobby or interest, to their favorite music, to even a group of people who share their favorite food. There is a group out there for everyone on social media, you just have to search for it and it will be there.
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Diffusion of Innovations
I am choosing to write about the dating app Tinder. Tinder is the most popular and used online dating app used today. It is used by people of all ages 18+. Tinder was founded in Los Angeles, in 2012 by Sean Rad, Jonathan Badeen, Justin Mateen, Joe Munoz, Dinesh Moorjani, and Whitney Wolfe. The app was marketed to young adults and has spread world wide. It helped revolutionized the dating scene by having people do 3 simple steps. Post pictures on their account of themselves and make a short bio, you and others swipe on people's photos left for people you don't like and right you do, and finally message the people you match with. It brought the world of online dating to thousands of people in an instant. No more the times of making the online profiles on your computer, you could be on your phone walking, at work or university, or board at home looking at men and women you might want to date. It made the dating scene so easy for young adults because they didn't have to go out every night to bars and clubs, they could do it from their own home in their pajamas, on the couch. Some of the downsides to this thought, as we get older as a generation that use this (younger people), we could not devolve the social skills to actually go out and talk to people face to face at clubs or bars. Not to mention you can photoshop your self or not post a real picture of you to try and catfish people, which have been done in the past. Because of this, you don't even know who you are really meeting if you do go on a date or meet up with your match. There have been some rare occurrences where people lure men and women out to commit crimes to them, from robbery, kidnap, rape and in some rare cases, murder. But through it all, Tender has changed the way we do and see online dating on multiple levels, and there is no sign of it slowing down.
https://www.datingsitesreviews.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Tinder-Statistics-Facts-History#ref-ODS-Tinder-2020-8
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tinder-went-viral-sean-rad-reveals-app-marketing-tricks-in-podcast-2017-2
https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/5-genius-things-tinder-did-to-achieve-explosive-growth-36c840e061d3https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/5-genius-things-tinder-did-to-achieve-explosive-growth-36c840e061d3
Values of Free Exspression
Eight Values of Free Expression
I believe that promote innovation is the most important one the eight values. With out it with the freedom of speech, there would be little to no individuality along with multiple interest in different ideas and ways of thinking. There may not be freedom of religion or press. We would all be told the same thing and think the same. Like in Nazi Germany or in North Korea of all places.
I think the most inspiring value is Individual Self-Fulfillment. It lets us express ourselves in any way we want, and in any form we want. It lets us have voices threw ourselves not through speaking, but through showing with our ideas, actions, what we ware and do. It gives us a freedom to be ourselves without judgment.
I feel that Stable Change is the most underrated one of the eight values of free expression. The ability to speak one's mind and vent helps people everyday and it kinda goes unnoticed. This is true for everyone. A good example is girls venting to other girls about how "terrible" their ex was for dumping them. Or for gamers for how terrible a teammate is or their last game was.
The most meaningful to me would be Protect Dissent. It allows us to have our different opinions and not be targeted or punished for them. It helps us have freedom of religion and why we have multiple religions in the US and no set religion by the Government. It lets us be able to make any kind of music or art, movies, literature ect. without recuse from people in power to punish us. It also lets us question the government and criticize them if we don't agree with that they are doing. This is how we are protected both as private citizens and in the news media.
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