The Clarion, Vol. 83, Issue #13, Nov. 29, 2017 - Brevard College

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Clarion

Volume 83, Issue 13

clarion.brevard.edu

Web Edition EditionSERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935

Joyce to the World

Thursday, 8:30 p.m. @ the President’s House

November 29, 2017

Fall 2017 Immersion team returns

After a successful three weeks in the woods By Jessica Wiegandt

Arts and Life Editor On Monday, Nov. 20, the fall 2017 Immersion team returned to the Brevard College campus, completing their 21-day expedition. The team of 10 upperclassmen and two instructors, Clyde Carter and David Lackey, left on Oct. 31 and over the course of the expedition went climbing, backpacking and canoeing. “For the most part we stuck to our plans,” Taylor Everard, the expedition plan leader, said, “The challenges we had with the weather and ecosystem weren’t too bad. We weren’t running from fires like other Immersion groups or anything, but there was a moment in time during our backpacking trip where we rerouted.” The reroute occurred because the original plan to sleep on top of a ridgeline was going to expose the team to cold and harsh weather. “A few people in the group had the foresight to not be

stuck on the ridgeline in such difficult weather, so they created an alternate plan,” Everard said. The team instead summited Mt. Mitchell as a day-hike and camp at a lower elevation instead of routing the trip up Mt. Mitchell and camp on a ridgeline, as the team had initially planned. The reroute during the backpacking trip was the only portion that changed in the route plan, however Everard said the most difficulty during the expedition came from handling group dynamic disputes. “Other Immersions, from what I can perceive, their biggest challenges were external,” Everard said, “And ours were more internal, which isn’t a bad thing it was just how we worked together.” Everard said the biggest challenges were faced when the team was working on making a decision. “There was a lot of indecision, so it took a long time to come to a conclusion everyone was at least going to accept,” Everard said.

Photo Courtesy of Taylor Everard

The Immersion team poses at the top of Mt. Mitchell on their 21-day excursion. Back row (from left): Cody Nelson, Casey Whitmire, Bryce Kinsey, Beau Owen, Peyton Mooney, Sam Munson, Michael Lowry. Front row (from left): Taylor Everard, Gabe Neckolaishen.

There were three evacuations that occurred during the trip. The injuries were not serious but would heal faster at home instead of treating the injuries in the field. “Being able to experience the Linville Gorge was a highlight,” Everard said, “We got to do a multi-pitch [climb] there and it was just beautiful to look out at the top of the climb, several hundred feet in the air, in peak leaf season. You can’t get that in a photograph.” After climbing, the team backpacked for 13 days, eight of which they didn’t see the sun. Everard said it rained or was extremely cloudy for about a week straight while they were backpacking, which made it difficult to keep high spirits. “Everything was damp and grungy but it was accomplishing,” Everard said, “Some of the people in the group were challenged physically, some mentally, it was difficult for us all. It made me realize ‘Wow, this is backpacking,’ because we all had heavy packs on our back, all of us were being challenged and I thought it was really cool.” Now the team has been home for over a week and they each are adjusting to living away from the back country life. “My sleep schedule is pretty hardwired. I find myself having difficulty to stay up past nine and I wake up at seven in the morning at the latest,” Everard said. “On the day we came back, I went to the caf and that was pretty weird too. There was a lot of noise bouncing around and it was so loud, my senses all felt claustrophobic.” The team will spend the final two weeks of class debriefing the expedition, covering mountain biking for a couple days and taking a trip to the Congaree swamp. “One thing I find really important during this semester is the emphasis on reflection,” Everard said, “You spend this semester with these 10 people and you have focus a lot of energy on developing your leadership style in a positive way by reflecting on your time spent in the field and what you have done in your group.”

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Campus News

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November 29, 2017

BC Science department presents student projects By Carmen Boone

Staff Writer The BC Science Department had six student presentations Wednesday, Nov. 15 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Moore Science building. Each presentation lasted 10 to 15 minutes and were part of the senior project requirements for the department. Isabel Edwards, a biology major, asked the question, “Does Stekoa Creek Impact the Quality of the Chattooga River?” The Stekoa Creek and Chattooga River meet on the Ga. and S.C. state line. Edwards described the Stekoa Creek as “wild and scenic.” She studied whether or not water quality affected invertebrates, with a specific study on aquatic oligochaetes, or water worms. Her conclusion was that Stekoa Creek was not negatively affecting the Chattooga River. Kaylee Smith, an environmental studies major, studied “The Impact of Sea Level Rise on the Mangrove Forest in Southwestern Florida.” She studied a 100,000-acre area of mangrove

forest using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She discovered that in the year 2020, if sea level rises one foot, the land loss would be 342,805 acres, in 2060 with a two foot rise 100,103 acres would be lost, and in 2100 with a three foot sea level rise, 27,160 acres would be lost for a cumulative total of 470,068 acres of land lost due to rising sea levels. This Mangrove loss translates into loss of natural barrier for land during storms, exposure of the everglades wetlands and loss of habitat leading to a possible decrease in species in future years. In 85 years, mangroves of Southwestern Fl. will be lost. Josie McElroy, a biology major, asked, “How is Occupational Therapy Used in Different Settings?” She focused on occupational therapy, which is the carrying out of daily activities, as opposed to speech or physical therapy. Her particular interest was working with eating, motor sensory and strengthening everyday muscles. In the future she is mostly gearing herself towards pediatric occupational therapy. Marlee Joyce, an environmental studies ma-

Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week By Amber Blanton

Staff Writer Most people fall asleep in their warm beds with food in their stomachs and a roof over their head. But there are many people, in places all around the world, who can’t afford the simple things that others take for granted. In order to bring this to the attention of students, BC participated in a Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week to raise awareness of the less fortunate people who live in the world and in the college’s own community. Throughout the week, students were given the chance to learn about different charitable organizations in Brevard and how they can help serve those in need. On Monday, Nov. 13, many students came to Myer’s Dining Hall to listen to a representative from Safe, the domestic abuse treatment center for Brevard. One of the many things Safe does is help families in poverty by providing them with food. BC students have already participated in fundraisers to donate canned goods to

organizations like Safe. But students were also able to learn about ways to volunteer their time. Throughout the week, both students and faculty had the chance to work at other organizations, such as Bread of Life, participate in a winter clothing drive and donate soup to go bowling. On Thursday, Nov. 16, students had the opportunity to participate in a Night Without a Home. Students were able to have some fun around a campfire, but they also had the experience of sleeping without a bed. There are many people in the community who do not have a place to stay, and winter nights in Brevard can be filled with freezing temperatures. Those who participated in Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week were able to become more involved in their community as they became more aware of the people around them. Overall, this week was a success that has hopefully made a lasting impact on all who were involved.

jor, asked, “How Does Planting Density in the Temperate Zone Affect the Performance of the Tropical ‘Miracle Tree’ Moringa Oleifera?” The Moringa Tree is called the “Miracle Tree” because it has more vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than bananas and higher protein quality than milk and eggs. She gathered results in overall survivorship, low-versus-high density survival and how density affected height and dried leaf biomass. She ended with a 40% overall crop loss, and found that she had more success in high density planting areas. Savanna Lyda, a biology major, presented “Keys to a Future Without Degenerative Diseases.” The specific diseases she outlined were cancer, alzheimer’s, and diabetes. Her main focus was on Laron Syndrome which means one’s body does not respond to growth hormones. The effects include short stature, obesity and See ‘Science projects’ on page 3

the Clarion Senior Staff Editor in Chief . . . . Jordon Morgan Managing Editor . . . Calum McAndrew Copy Editor . . . . . . Jeni Welch Campus News . . . . Zach Dickerson Opinion . . . . . . . . Florian Peyssonneaux Arts & Life . . . . . . Jessica Wiegandt Sports . . . . . . . . Calum McAndrew Layout & Design . . . Jeni Welch Faculty Advisor . . . . John B. Padgett

Other Staff Amber Blanton Carmen Boone Amanda Heskett

Lauren Fowler Cody Manning Taffon Alexander

The Clarion is a student-run college newspaper produced by student journalists enrolled at Brevard College. Unsigned editorials represent the collective opinion of the staff of The Clarion. Other opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the faculty, staff or administration of Brevard College.

All correspondence should be mailed to: The Clarion, Brevard College, One Brevard College Drive, Brevard, NC 28712, or send E-mail to [email protected] clarion.brevard.edu

 Letters Policy: The Clarion welcomes

letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit letters for length or content. We do not publish anonymous letters or those whose authorship cannot be verified.

November 29, 2017 | The Clarion

Opinion

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The battle for Net Neutrality Do you know why you should care about it? By Jeni Welch Copy Editor



There is no surprise that the American people are once again subjected to the idea of ending net neutrality. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is scheduled to vote on a repeal of net neutrality on Dec. 14. Net neutrality is also known as the open internet and it is what we use every day. It is a safety net that makes sure the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) give their consumers access to all legal content and application without favoring specific sources or simply blocking the other options. Ajit Pai is the new commissioner of the FCC and was appointed by President Trump in January of this year. The FCC is in charge of making this important decision. Oddly enough, he is also a former lawyer for Verizon. Pai said, “that net neutrality is a form of big government and he considers it regulatory overreach.” He also said that the people do not want net neutrality anymore and that “its days are numbered.” Verizon, Netflix, Google and Amazon are some of the business that will benefit from the “anti-neutrality” movement. These companies would be able to pay a premium amount to stay in the spotlight. Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, in an interview with “The Nation” said, “There can be no truly open internet without net neutrality. To believe otherwise is to be captive to special interest power brokers or to an old and discredited ideology that things monopoly and not government oversight best serves the nation.” If net neutrality is repealed, the ISP will be able to charge consumers more and could bundle

internet sites together. This is the same as cable networks bundling specific channels together. However, the ISP are saying that they would never do that. Regardless of what they say, they would legally be able to. And I would assume that it wouldn’t take long before the bundles started to appear. Service Providers would also be able to slow down the internet of other competitors. Startups and smaller businesses online will not have equal access to the “fast lanes”. The elimination of net neutrality would push these websites to a back burner because they would not be offered on the high speed “fast lanes.” The equality between the different websites would be obsolete and the companies with the most money would be able to dominate the online traffic. Internet users would be set on a path towards companies that are larger and are able to pay more money to the ISPs. Detours to startups and small business businesses would either be unknown or would take a much longer time to load and move around the site. “There are credible allegations that many of the comments were submitted by bots and others using the names of deceased people. What’s more, some 50,000 recent consumer complaints appear to have gone missing,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, FCC member, in her Op-Ed piece in the LA Times. The FCC is also being accused of fraudulent comments to support their plans. Victims came forward in May asking the comments to be removed and the incident of fraud to be investigated. However, the FCC has not removed the fraudulent comments. Victim Joel Mullaney told Fight for the Future, “Whoever did this violated one of the most basic norms of our democratic society, that each of us have our own voice, and

Photo from Wikipedia

The new FCC commissioner Ajit Pai.

I am eager to know from what source the FCC obtained this falsified affidavit. I have been slandered.” In response to the request Pai said, “I encourage broad participation in this rulemaking as in any FCC rulemaking, and what matters most are the quality of the comments, not the quantity. We will make our decision based on the facts that are in the record and on the relevant law that is presented – and obviously fake comments such as the ones submitted last week by the Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Superman are not going to dramatically impact our deliberations on this issue.” To stand up for net neutrality go to https:// www.battleforthenet.com/ and sign the petition. Dec. 14 is coming up quick, make your voice heard.

‘Science projects’ Continued from page 2

reduced muscle strength. The different growth hormones that come into play are sleep, stress and exercise among others. Lyda’s theory is that by manipulating growth hormones, a future where cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes aren’t the leading cause of death is possible. However, overactive growth hormones can be a problem as well. Acromegaly is when the body responds to growth hormones too much, the opposite of Laron Syndrome. The keys to this future free of degenerative diseases have yet to be unlocked. Ryan Williams, an environmental studies major, gave a presentation titled, “Sea Turtles Nests Face Complete Decimation as a Result of a Rising Sea Level.” He studied climate change and effects of rising sea levels. The studies were conducted in S.C. and focused on loggerhead turtles. These turtles lay nests 18 inches deep and will nest up to four times a year. With a rising sea level due to climate change, sea turtle nests are being pushed further into sand dunes, leaving less and less room for nesting sites. In time, sea turtles will be forced to nest in extremely limited or obsolete areas, as dunes are uninhabitable for nesting. All the research for these presentations was completed in the spring of 2017 and hypotheses were tested throughout the summertime. The students invested a great amount of time and effort to research and come to conclusions on their topics. It is a great privilege that we get to learn about their findings.

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Arts & Life

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November 29, 2017

Thanksgiving for international students

Brevard College international students had the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Deer Lake Park in Brevard. There were 15 students who came to the event, and some had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. Host parents were also present and had prepared the food for the buffet that was available for the students. It was also the opportunity for Alessandra Tavoloni to introduce herself to the new foreign students, and explain the importance of these events. “This is a unique opportunity to connect with each other, and share some moments together,” said Tavoloni. New students who are interested in having American host parents could meet with Helen Stewart who is the new person in charge of the host family program. Given the large number of new international students, the program has the potential to do well according to Stewart. This dinner hosted by the board of visitors was also the last event for the Fall semester for Brevard College International Club.

Photo by Pat Johnstone

New library hours start next week Monday-Friday 12/4-12/8 7:30 a.m. - 1 a.m. Saturday 12/9 10 a.m. - 1 a.m. Sunday 12/10 10 a.m. - 1 a.m. Monday-Wednesday 12/11-12/13 7:30 a.m. - 1 a.m. Thursday 12/14 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday 12/15 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

— Florian Peyssonneaux

#IHeartBC yields gifts Yesterday was “I Heart BC Day,” Brevard College’s annual day of giving in which the college reaches out to alumni, faculty and staff, and other donors to make a financial contribution to the college. The numbers from this year’s effort were still being tallied as of our publication, but Jeff Joyce, alumni director at the college, reported on the Alumni Association’s Facebook page that more than $18,000 had been raised as of yesterday morning. Later in the day came reports of a $500 gift by Alumni Association President Davis Whitfield-Cargile and a $1,000 donation by a faculty member who wished to remain anonymous. Brevard’s day of donation on Nov. 28 was part of #GivingTuesday, which is always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving that is set aside to encourage generosity to nonprofit organizations around the world. Visit the #IHeartBC web page at https://brevard.edu/iheartbc/ for more information about giving to Brevard College.

November 29, 2017 | The Clarion

Arts & Life

‘Call & Response’ Gallery Opening

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By Zach Dickerson Campus News Editor

The Spiers Gallery at Brevard College featured an art exhibition titled “Call & Response” on Nov. 17 featuring sculptures by Mark Brown and drawings by Scott Raynor. Brown works at High Point University and describes the process of working on his sculptures as a kid working with his first chemistry set. Brown also describes art as an odyssey of experimentation. He also loves the freedom that comes with it. For instance,if he wants to do charcoal, he does charcoal, or if he wants to sew, he sews. He has always had a great interest in spheres and he feels that they are probably the most challenging thing to sculpt. When he is making a new piece he likes to describe it as slamming people in the face with symbolism. Raynor also works at High Point University. He said that he typically does his work by going around and constantly drawing objects to the point

where the stuff is just ingrained in his mind. His children describe his work like “Where’s Waldo”. One of the big reasons for this is because in all of his pieces he puts a wine bottle somewhere in it because in his beginning painting courses in college he had to paint a still life that included a wine bottle over and over again and it just keeps showing up in all of his pieces. Raynor also talked about how both he and Brown’s artistic and teaching lives aren’t very separate because they always try to make their students a part of their world and their work. The exhibit runs from Nov. 17 to Dec. 8 at the Spiers Gallery inside of the Sims Art Building. The Spiers Gallery is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and many of the pieces in the exhibit are available for purchase.

Sculptures by Mark Brown and drawings by Scott Raynor are currently on exhibit in Spiers Art Gallery in a show titled “Call & Response.” Top row (from left): “Arrangement with Chicken Mask” by Scott Raynor, “Yin (yy)” by Mark Gordon, “Earth Tones & Roosters” by Scott Raynor. Bottomrow (from left): “Umbrellas & Dunces” by Scott Raynor, “Rake” by Mark Gordon and “Fruit” by Mark Gordon the exhibit runs through Dec. 8. (Photos by Zach Dickerson)

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Video Game Review:

Arts & Life

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November 29, 2017

‘Star Wars Battlefront 2’

The Force is NOT strong with this one By Jordon Morgan Editor in Chief



Given the overall debacle of the first EA/DICE “Star Wars Battlefront,” and the fact that the original two games by Pandemic Studios are still held in high regard by players even to this day, it was rather imperative that the follow up to the original in 2015 exceed expectations. Sadly, not only did they not do so, “Battlefront 2” manages to be a disappointment in nearly every way imaginable. To get the positives out of the way, the game looks absolutely incredible. Locations and designs from the movies are so faithfully recreated that you’ll find yourself stopping to admire the scenery more often than you may think, which isn’t even taking into account how particularly detailed they are. Even upon close inspection, textures and environments are rendered with striking accuracy, making “Battlefront 2” one of the best looking games to come out in recent memory. In addition, the sound design is phenomenal and it is only enhanced by the classic “Star Wars” soundtracks that have become iconic pieces in the history of music. John Williams’ scores on the original films add to the overall sense of atmosphere that the game creates, if only for a fleeting moment making you feel like you’re interacting with the actual far, far away galaxy. Typical of DICE’s work on their “Battlefield” series, the sound design of the guns and explosions that will obviously pepper your gameplay experience is superb. Guns feel appropriately powerful and the kickback from them is satisfying. Given the science fiction space opera world that “Star Wars” creates, you won’t have to worry about ammo at any point. Instead, firing your gun fills a meter that, when full, causes your gun to overheat and when that happens, a timing mini-game similar to the reloading mechanic in “Gears of War” will happen. If you time to hit the blue section, your gun will instantly be cooled off and ready to fire; if you hit a gold colored section, you’ll acquire around a five second window of being able to fire you weapon for as long as possible without overheating; and if you miss both, then your gun will become fully overheated and you’ll have to wait for the meter to be empty again. You can choose to bypass it altogether by manually cooling your gun at any point but, depending on the weapon you’re holding, it ranges on how long it’ll take to cool down. So all in all, the overall weapons system itself is solid, lending itself to one that needs to have some thought put in while playing and something that needs to be carefully planned out in some instances. Where the game starts to fall apart though is in pretty much every other aspect. For starters, Electronic Arts and DICE did address the issue of the first game not having any sort of single player component, but what they chose to implement here is a lame, forgettable experience. Set primarily after the events of “Return of the Jedi,” although events do tie into “The Force Awakens,” the campaign follows Iden Versio, the leader of Inferno Squad, an elite special operations force within the Galactic Empire. Versio and one of her team members, Del Meeko, come to the realization that the Empire they have so valiantly and passionately fought for is a force for evil, and ultimately decide to join the Rebel Al-

Photo from EA.com

The review of this game is for the Xbox One version.

liance in order to help end the Galactic Civil War. That last paragraph literally sums up the entire story as it does not in any way get more complex than that. Given the deep history and lore of the Star Wars universe, it’s a rather insulting use of such a creative intellectual property, and even worse it only clocks in at around four or five hours at most. This is sad because 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opened up so many moral avenues for exploring the idea that the Rebel Alliance isn’t as “pure” as one would believe, nor is the Empire filled with “evil” men who are just blindingly loyal for no apparent reason. Nope, “Battlefront 2” ignores all of that and presents a cast of characters who, although they are expertly voice acted and believable in their roles, fit pretty comfortably in cliche roles that amount to nothing more than “jaded patriot” or “loyal friend.” The actual moment to moment gameplay doesn’t help things either, as the campaign is quite transparently just an elongated tutorial for the mechanics of the game that will factor into the multiplayer component. It’s just so painfully obvious that the levels in the campaign are just the multiplayer maps with no other original input factored in. Subsequently, these maps make it so that the campaign has an incredibly linear structure. In addition, there is absolutely no incentive to search for collectibles or anything of the like because of how the campaign is clearly designed to be just one huge ad for the multiplayer component. Said collectibles aren’t even worthwhile either since they are so few and far between and on top of that, you can’t even see what they are. You have to go to the “Career” page on the main menu to see it, something that is so lazy and laughably counter productive to the entire idea of collectibles that it’s a wonder as to why they even bothered. Continued on the next page

November 29, 2017 | The Clarion

Arts & Life

Page 7

‘Star Wars Battlefront 2’ Continued from previous page

It also isn’t helped by the fact that the A.I. for the game, although not outright terrible by any means, does not pose much of a challenge. Again, since it’s essentially just a long tutorial, it feels as though it was designed to be relatively easy so as not to deter any further exploration of the game’s other modes. The only time you’ll really ever find yourself dying is just through being outnumbered, not because the A.I. outmaneuvered you in any way. Once you spend an afternoon beating the campaign, what’s left is what was obviously DICE and EA’s priority, the multiplayer. Of course, saying it was a priority doesn’t seem accurate as, at the moment, the game only includes five modes to play, and only one of them will you likely find yourself having a lot of fun with. That said mode is Heroes vs. Villains, in which two teams of four players each control a famous hero or villain (appropriately enough) from the “Star Wars” franchise and try to defeat a particular opposing player on the other team while simultaneously trying to protect your own team member. Though it is somewhat hampered by the fact that lightsaber equipped characters are tricky to control, and often lead to just a bunch of flailing at your opponent rather than unloading a series of carefully placed attacks, it’s a lot of fun because after you find a certain character that you love and are comfortable with their abilities, you can feel pretty powerful at times. The mode also does a good job of ensuring that teams are balanced, so that no matter the configuration of each team’s members, it feels like an even match that you can win if you coordinate with your team and actually stick together, rather than trying to go all gungho and suck up points from everyone else. Other modes don’t fare well in comparison however. Blast, for instance, is essentially just a massive team deathmatch mode where you simply kill as many on the opposing team as you can, usually 100 required kills for each team. Sure, all games with multiplayer in them tend to have something like this, but unlike Heroes vs. Villains, there’s really no incentive to work as a team. Sure, you get more battle points if you stick with a group, more precisely the ones you happen to spawn with, or if you are playing towards a certain objective, but otherwise, there’s really no negative consequence to going off on your own, as nearly all other players do the same so it isn’t too likely that you’ll be ambushed by a whole squad or anything. The battle points’ only purpose is to be used to unlock the ability to play as a famous character from the movies, which can certainly turn the tide of a battle if used correctly. They have no reflection on your actual skill and progress as a player though, but what does do that will be in a tirade that will come later.

Photo from Daily Express

A taste of “Starfighter Assault,” one of only five modes offered thus far .

Starfighter Assault is an objective based mode in which two teams battle it out in space amidst the backdrop of a famous battle in Star Wars history. Usually the objectives amount to “defend X” or “destroy Y,” something that is prevalent among all the objective based modes, and can honestly be accomplished through sheer attrition and luck, again, not really based on any sort of teamwork. The controls for piloting star crafts are solid if a little wonky. On the consoles, the left analog stick controls your craft’s angle, while the right controls your speed and direction. It takes a while to get used to but the targeting system helps keep track of whichever objective or player you’re shooting at, making it so that the other person will have to do some skillful maneuvering to avoid your attacks. This unfortunately leads into one of the bigger issues of the game that isn’t quite as easy to see as the others. All the advertising for “Battlefront 2” promised that players would get to experience combat and moments from all eras of Star Wars, from the Prequel Trilogy all the way to “The Force Awakens,” and while it does do this, it’s really only superficially so. It isn’t as if there is any narrative accompaniment to make you feel like you’re truly interacting with any of these eras. It’s really just a matter of random chance of the game deciding which era you’re playing in, combined with whichever map you happen to be playing on and whichever faction you’re playing, whether they be Stormtroopers, Droids or whoever. Digressing back to the overall multiplayer, Strikes are battles in close quarter scenarios involving a team of eight attackers aiming to capture a unique objective from a team of eight defenders, essentially making it a sort of capture the flag type of mode. Finally, Galactic Assault involves a multitude of matches set across eleven planets and locations with the aforementioned “all three Star Wars eras” involving a team of 20 attackers against 20 defenders. The latter mode doesn’t come anywhere close to reaching the epic scale of Pandemic Studios’ “Battlefront” titles that featured a mode similar to it: Galactic Conquest. In the 2005 game, a map showing all the different battles and planets along with showing how each side was faring made it feel appropriately epic in scale. You felt like you were truly fighting a galactic war for ultimate supremacy. Here though, it’s simply a rote series of “defend this” or “destroy this” matches that at no point ever feel like true, epic battles. However, the biggest issue with “Battlefront 2” and its multiplayer is its completely broken progression system. It is purposely designed around a viciously predatory microtransaction system (albeit one that has been temporarily removed due to overwhelming backlash) that, according to Eurogamer, has been described by Hawaii State Representative and Chairman of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee Chris Lee as “a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into spending money.” Instead of upgrading your characters by, you know, playing the game and unlocking items as you go, it is instead tied to a series of crates that you purchase through in game currency. These crates hold “Star Cards” that can range from crafting parts, which are used to purchasing more slots to equip these cards, to huge modifiers like additional powers for certain characters or additional defense on a star fighter. It’s an idiotic system that will likely spell doom for this game’s shelf life and if nothing else, is one of the reasons why you shouldn’t buy this game. Even worse, it gives hugely unfair advantages to certain players, with the game itself, upon death, telling you what player killed you and what Star Cards they have equipped. It makes every multiplayer game, aside See ‘Star Wars,’ page 8

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Sports

The Clarion

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November 29, 2017

‘Star Wars’ BC Basketball Team is heading to Swannanoa Continued from Page 7

By Jon Cole

Sports Information Director The Brevard men’s basketball team returns to the court on Wednesday after an eight-day layoff for Thanksgiving break when it heads to the Swannanoa Valley for a clash with Warren Wilson for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Brevard remains 0-1 on the season after suffering a 93-70 setback in exhibition action at Gardner-Webb on Nov. 21. The Tornados were led by the duo of Divese Carson (17 points, seven rebounds) and JaMarquis Johnson(10 points). Brevard also got its offense in sync, rebounding from a difficult shooting performance in its season opener, as it knocked down 27-of-61 (44.3%) from the floor and 10-of-2 (35.7%) from beyond the arc against the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Carson is one of three players averaging double figure scoring (18.0 ppg) for the Tornados, along with Shelby Parris (13.0) and Stevie Williams (11.0) on the season. Carson reached double figures in his collegiate debut, against Berry College, by hitting 7-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Warren Wilson enters the game with a 4-4 mark on the season, which includes victories over Milligan College, Apprentice School, Crown College and Columbia International. The Owls scored at least 96 points in each of the four wins, emerging with a 144-point effort against Crown College on Nov. 14. With four 100-point outings to their credit, the Owls are averaging 107.4 points per contest, converting an average of 38.4 field goals in the process. Warren Wilson has attempted an average of 40.6 3-pointers per contest in its first eight games, knocking down an average of 16.1 treys per game. The Owls have seven plays averaging double figure points, including Jordan Gant who is averaging a team high 23 points per contest. Gant is joined in scoring by Darius Bryant (16.2), Tyquavion Dix (14.0), Michael Pomeroy (13.3), Marques Sullivan (12.4), Kahlon Whitley (10.9) and Lukas Juozapavicius (10.4).

New Cyclist joining BC Team By Jon Cole

Sports Information Director Brevard cycling coach Brad Perley announced that Nathan St. Clair will join the program as part of the class of 2023. St. Clair hails from Statesville, N.C. and is completing his senior year at South Iredell High School. Among his major accomplishments on the junior circuit in 2017 include a first place finish in the Dual Slalom National Championship Category One. St. Clair also enjoyed a first place outing at the Massanutten Yee-Ha Juniors, a chainless event. St. Clair also made an impression on Perley in the 2017 Windrock Pro GRT Nationals, crossing the line in third. He capped off a solid season with a pair of top 10 outings at the 2017 Downhill Nationals Category One and 2017 Downhill South East Bailey Mountain Bike Park Pro, finishing ninth and tenth, respectively.

“Nathan possesses many of the qualities we look for in BC students,” said Perley. “We absolutely share his excitement for joining us in the fall and we can’t wait to work with him as he continues his progress both in the classroom and towards his professional cycling goals.” St. Clair himself said that his favorite trail in the area is Cedar Rock and is most excited about meeting everyone here at Brevard College. “With the time that I’ve spent at BC, I have met staff and students who are all focused, positive, and constructive. I’m looking forward to associating with these types of people and hoping to provide similar attitude during my time at BC,” St. Clair said. Of his personal performance goals for himself, he said that “I want to continue to grow in all disciplines of cycling, and win a collegiate national title.”

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