Unleashing the Amateur Potential of Video Games
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Accessibility for the Marginalized: Unleashing the Amateur Potential of Video Games A Sociotechnical Research Paper presented to the faculty of the School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Virginia by Nicholas Moon May 9, 2021 On my honor as a University student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment as defined by the Honor Guidelines for Thesis-Related Assignments. Nicholas Moon Sociotechnical advisor: Peter Norton, Department of Engineering and Society Until about 20 years ago, video game development was largely confined to corporations (Dyer-Witheford & de Peuter, 2009). Game developers typically required formal training and access to development kits, a publisher, and existing code or a development engine. Computer art tools are now more accessible than ever. Graphics applications once exclusive to Pixar can be freely downloaded, and game development tools once programmed in assembly or bought as middleware are useable by artists with no special or expensive technical expertise. About 244 million Americans play digital games; the number ballooned with the adoption of smart phones (NPD, 2020). However, among employees of U.S. video game companies in 2019, only one quarter were women; people of color are also underrepresented (IGDA, 2019). Yang and Hsieh (2020) indicate that representation in media shapes development of self-identity, and cite Ranciere’s (2010) dissensus, or a cutting along “cultural and identity belonging and hierarchies between discourses and genres” as the power media holds. Underrepresentation in game creation then limits transgressive frames of reference in public discourse, and hinders self-growth and acceptance of those within the community. In the past decade, marginalized and non-technical artists have used new digital tools to produce innovative media for video games, much of which challenges the conventional perspective in games, and the people who would keep it that way. Review of Research The technical requirements of art and art production have constrained “who creates”. They have imposed barriers to entry to media that only some can cross. Lowood (2009) contends that the genesis of videogames in engineering projects at top-tier U.S. universities in the 1960s bequeathed thematic elements of games that have persisted ever since. For example, Star 1 Trek and Lord of the Rings have endured since the 1960s and 1970s as reference points in “nerd” culture. As Jenkins (2006) notes, games in this tradition featured narratives of adventure or competition culturally gendered as masculine. Narratives of emotion and relationship, culturally gendered as feminine, were scarce. For example, according to Paul (2018), the seminal online game MUD was developed by two angry young men whose game design reflected their goal of a purported meritocracy valuing the skills of “nerd” culture. Speaking to more contemporary issues in game development, Stöckel and Pettersson (2016) note that accessible applications have enabled indie Steam games. Developers of games that represent marginalized perspectives have used accessible digital tools to evade the homogeneity that the commercial game market has favored. Sens (2015) observes that with artist-friendly tools such as Twine, independent developers could host game jams in queer spaces. To Harvey (2014), Twine is a harbinger of a democratization in game development that can accommodate creators such as Anna Anthropy, and the revolution she espouses. The relationship between technology and art has been studied in other media as well. Goolsby (2008) credits the personal computer with democratizing music production since the 1990s. Sinnreich (2010) observes that this development let a new class of musical artists, “bedroom producers,” often younger and working class, produce digital music without expensive instruments or recording booths, or sometimes even singing skill. Sinnreich associates the trend with 1980s and 1990s countercultures, including populations devastated by the AIDS and the crack cocaine epidemics. Ruberg (2019) makes similar claims for queer video games in the past decade, but notes that publishers have attempted to profit from creators’ subversive works. Researchers have studied similar innovations among amateur artists who use phone cameras. Schleser, Wilson, and Keep (2013) found that mobile moviemaking has widened the 2 diversity of voices and methods in film, particularly in Korea. Anyone with a touchscreen device now has access to high-definition recording. In South Korea, mobile film festivals have promoted segyehwa, or internationalization. Such events are recognitions of the cultural influence of media, a recognition also evident among LGBT, black, and women game creators who use video games to normalize their experiences. In addressing normalization of marginalized experiences, Cavalcante (2018) portrays representational media as transformative and an “outlet for self-discovery” for underrepresented communities. Invoking ludus (“play”), Frissen et al. (2015) frame digital interaction and new media such as video games as “self-constructive”; that is, the games place the self within context of clashing cultures and identities. Technological developments have opened doors to marginalized voices, changing videogames and game communities and extending access to transgressive ideas. Games within Games Perhaps the most accessible game creation tool is games themselves. Benson-Allott (2016) argue that video games are platforms in which to stage other games, a tool to create. Particularly in the 2010’s, the popularization of the “sandbox” game generated both an audience and creation community. These games allow for freeform play, Caillois’ (2006) paidia, as well as player defined structure using the mechanics within the game to produce a shareable interactive experience. No game shows this better than the sandbox creation game Minecraft (Mojang Studios, 2011), which has 126 monthly active users in 2020 (Vincent, 2020). In particular, the reach Minecraft has with children makes it an ideal platform for producing art that subverts or challenges traditional or safe points of view. The only skills needed to make or play a 3 game within this virtual environment are those used to navigate and interact with Minecraft itself, a skill that an increasingly larger percentage of the population has. Black Wall Street (Sherman et al., 2020) is a Minecraft world recreating Tulsa, OK in the 1920’s, with the expressed goal of understanding “justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society,” and the “harmful impact of bias and injustice from the 1921 events”. The accessibility of Minecraft as a platform has allowed the creators, historians and public servants at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa to create this interactive historical piece as an educational experience. Similarly, Lessons in Good Trouble (Ford et al., 2020) is a Minecraft world with a digital version of late Representative John Lewis guiding players through an interactive environment focused on social justice movements, and “how protests and social justice movements are an integral part of human rights” (fig. 1). The game was developed by educators in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Figure 1. Promotional Image for Lessons in Good Trouble. Pictured is the Selma March. (Ford et al., 2020). This act of constructing experiences within games is what is referred to by Gee and Hayes (2010) as “soft modding”, reworking the mechanics of a game to change its socio- technical meaning, utilizing only the mechanics of the original game itself. In the case of Black 4 Wall Street and Lessons in Good Trouble, the authors have subverted the recreational and survival mechanics of Minecraft to create interactive social and historical explorative environments. The creators’ professions also highlight how accessible game technologies, both in terms of creation and outreach, have motivated real-world political movements to use interactive media as an educational tool. Note that the use of the game in such a way also contrasts with Minecraft’s original lead developer, Markus Persson, who propagates a conservative ideology regarding social justice and feminism (Persson, 2017). On the other end of the spectrum, there are also “games” released by publishers or independent developers that simply provide the tools, and sometimes sharing functionality, to create independent interactive experiences. Games like LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule, 2008) and Super Mario Maker (Nintendo, 2015) in addition feature core gameplay mechanics that constrain the range of freedom, but other creation games offer toolsets not unlike industry game engines. Dreams (Media Molecule, 2020) is a game whose purpose is to “bring your ideas to life with innovative, easy-to-use tools, then share them with a global community”. Effectively, this means that anyone with access to the game and a PlayStation 4 has the ability to create and distribute an interactive experience, with built-in tutorials. Game Mods and Fangames Game modifications (mods) are changes to an originally published game made by the audience. While mods have been present in gaming since the 1980’s, their relevance has waxed as access to emulation of old game consoles enabled fan-reconfiguration of games old and new (Welch, 2018). Analyzing fangames and game mods as transformational fandom as opposed to affirmational leads to characterizing these practices generally as feminine