Reading Week 8
Midterms will now officially take place on the first class after Spring Break.
For next class on Performance/Intervention in Public Real and Virtual Spaces please review the following:
Assignments
1. Examine the following interventions: http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/07/27/news_6103575.html MEZ's discussion of MMOG https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2008-March/000282.html Blast Theory: Uncle Roy All Around http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_uncleroy.html
2. Familiarize yourself with the Second Life Texts of Alan Sondheim http://www.alansondheim.org/echo.txt This is the text of the .echo book, published by Alt-X; and review his comments here: http://www.alansondheim.org/trace.txt
For next class on Performance/Intervention in Public Real and Virtual Spaces please review the following:
Assignments
1. Examine the following interventions: http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/07/27/news_6103575.html MEZ's discussion of MMOG https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2008-March/000282.html Blast Theory: Uncle Roy All Around http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_uncleroy.html
2. Familiarize yourself with the Second Life Texts of Alan Sondheim http://www.alansondheim.org/echo.txt This is the text of the .echo book, published by Alt-X; and review his comments here: http://www.alansondheim.org/trace.txt
posted by sgorman at
11:24 AM
3 Comments:
I remember the ilovebees viral marketing campaign from back when I was a big Halo fan. I used to visit gamespot.com on a daily basis and I remember reading this article and then rushing to the website. All I really cared about was when I could get my hands on a copy of Halo 2, and of course I fell for their ploy. But beyond the economic motives behind the Halo franchise, I think there's an engrossing story going along with all the running and gunning in the game. The story-telling might not be that effective when you're actually playing, but the series has managed to spawn something like five books now, encompassing a well thought-out universe that goes well beyond what happens in the game. In the ilovebees case, this universe attempts to bleed into our own reality, but the concept was still centered around generating hype for the Halo 2 release date.
I'm also familiar with the subject matter of MEZ's discussion about gaming communities and was intrigued by the theoretical context. The fact that these communities actually exist beyond their gaming avatars and interact with one another is pretty amazing, I think. It's people who have managed to organize themselves around something as arbitrary as a computer game, and these communities have actually lasted. And the ways these communities operate reflect real-world phenomena (e.g., power relations, the development of game-specific language). What is it about these games that allow these communities to persist well beyond the lifespan of their games? I think something similar is going on in the case of "Uncle Roy"; do people actually stick to their commitments well after the game has ended?
As for the Second Life Texts...wow...just wow. That's all I can say about that for right now.
Discussion Prompts:
Compare how the artists below approach "augmenting" engagement between the forces of Meatspace and Virtual Worlds and the individuals within. What are some ways that these artists can ensure the point that Jonathan raises above: do people actually stick to their commitments well after the game has ended?
ilovebees.com
the site appears to have been the victim of a bizarre hacker attack. After a few seconds, a black screen appears with the following copy: "HALT - MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE. Control has been yielded to the SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX. This medium is classified, and has a STRONG INTRUSIVE INCLINATION."
--What percentage of readers following the context of where they obtained the link caught on to the hoax immediately? If not why? Pay attention to how the language has been crafted.
--What is the literary potential of alternate-reality games (ARGs)? How are the readers hooked?
--How does the net community's engagement with the text contribute to the body of literature generated from ilovebees?
"The only things that appear to be real are the comments on Dana's blog, many of which warn that the whole ilovebees.com thing is a marketing ploy."
"The ilovebees.com site has become a self-perpetuating phenomenon, spawning thousands of discussion threads on hundreds of forums and creating unquantifiable office-cooler banter."
mez breeze on MMOG
What is the context of this message, who/what is the target?
Is there a writerly/poetic intention behind how the questions are composed, if so what?
Discuss _Poetic Game Interventions_
"manipulating pre-set game parameters in order to disrupt or comment on
various aspects of a game's function or outcome, often within a wider
sociological perspective."
Uncle Roy All Around You:
"Initially they can chat with other Online Players but cannot see or contact Street Players." What situations does the project set up for a possible break in how they have designed the play. If users took advantage of these breaks and met in real life before committing to each-other, would this necessarily damage the art piece?
Alan Sondheim:
What do you think about his comment in http://www.alansondheim.org/trace.txt in response to the question: Comparing writing practices from the years 1995 & 2005, what do you see
as being the most significant historic development(s) in writing(s) in,
for & with digital environments in the past decade?
"This of course depends on what is meant by 'writing.' Writing per se has
not changed; what has changed is mechanics, performativity, technology. "
and
"As far as writing is concerned - I don't care whether or
not I'm writing/sounding/visualizing; it's all a mix, all developed
cross-application, cross-platform, cross-technology, cross-output devices. "
ditto ditto wow just wow about the Second Life .echo text
also all this virtual space talk reminded me of this place I used to go ALL THE TIME
http://www.thepalace.com/
i actually can't believe you can still use it.. that must have been 1995 or 96
I remember having a lot of boyfriends
Here's a little something about it...
The creator, Bumgardner envisioned Palace as a complex networking system that would allow users the freedom to make of it what they will rather than impose a specific plot or game upon them. It should be a mirror reflecting the self-image of the user and not a predetermined scenario that forced users to adapt themselves to it. He also envisioned it as a "virtual bar" where singles could meet and socialize in various entertaining ways, essentially a place for dating and flirting - the kind of focus that he felt was underexploited by other software systems.
In the end, Bumgardner's vision prevailed. The Palace became, and still is, primarily a chat world - a SOCIAL world where human relationships are the main attraction. As a result, it works well as an adult environment where flirting and cyberdating is a common experience. Yet the game dimension is still there. People play chess and Geektionary. People play tricks on each other. Reminiscent of the "imaginary world" concept, users do assume fictional identities via the avatars they wear. Unfortunately, in a kind of ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny, newbie guests assume Palace *is* a fictional, Doom-like game where they can vent their pent-up frustrations by sexually and aggressively annoying other people.... at least until a wizard steps in to either correct their deviant ways. But this battle of good versus evil is part of the "game" too. It's just another component of that intriguing game we call "human relationships."
Although he avoided the Myst-like game features, he did emphasize that Palace be "cartoony" - which creates a fantasy-driven, "this isn't really real so let's play" feeling. He also insisted that Palace promotes anonymity, or "masking." With their true identity concealed and disguised, people would behave more loosely - an ideal condition for pranks and flirting (and, unfortunately, other more harmful behaviors). Bumgardner predicted that the eventual addition of voice communications would adversely affect the level of anonymity, and probably cause people to be more inhibited. Instead, digital signal processing could make voices sound like a cartoon voice, which would be fun as well as help maintain the anonymity level.
more =
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/palhistory.html
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