DOCSLIB.ORG

From Game to Play Curiosity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Online Communities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
From Game to Play Curiosity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Online Communities Research Collection Doctoral Thesis From game to play curiosity, innovation & entrepreneurship in online communities Author(s): Jäger, Peter Michael Publication Date: 2010 Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-006473550 Rights / License: In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information please consult the Terms of use. ETH Library Diss. ETH N° 19 371 FROM GAME TO PLAY CURIOSITY, INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES A dissertation submitted to ETH Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Sciences presented by Peter Michael Jäger Dipl.-Ing. University of Stuttgart born March 24, 1979 citizen of Germany Accepted on the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Georg F. von Krogh Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch 2010 For my parents, Simon and all those friends that made Zurich my new home ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing a work like this does not only involve time and passion but to a significant extent the sup- port and companionship of friends and family. Working with colleagues who are at the same time friends makes the experience even more pleasurable. My first thanks go to Prof. Georg von Krogh who made all this possible. While constantly encouraging and motivating ambitious research, he also exerted the gentle pressure that is needed to eventually finalize a dissertation and achieve the goal set. Throughout my time at his chair I always got advice from a friend and never the order of a superior that I highly appreciate. I sure hope this friendship will endure the many years to come. I also would like to express my thanks to Prof. Elgar Fleisch who immediately accepted my request to be my co-referee. His support helped very much to successfully finish and compile the dissertation to- wards the end. Stefan Häfliger played a prominent role during my time at ETH since he supported and coached my work from the very first day in his always friendly, sympathetic and unobtrusive nature. Stefan and I coauthored three of the four included papers. We travelled to many conferences and discussed our research in most extravagant places all over the world making this collaboration one of the most excit- ing I ever had. His way of balancing work and fun showed me that outstanding research is more than a profession – it’s a lifetime commitment. Whoever had the joy of conducting research knows that success is not granted at all times. When such times come, it is very important to have several other good reasons to return to the office. I always had those reasons – my friends at the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation. The team culture we had was something we were always admired for. Here I want to say thank you to all my team mates: Sebastian, Martin, Zeynep, Matthias, Renato, Andreas, Jan, Alban, Lise, Fotini, Helena, Pasqual, Lu- kas and especially our secretary Hilde who helped to keep me out of trouble more than once. My special thanks go to my very dear friend Simon who I was fortunate to meet during my first lecture I gave at ETH. His unconstrained mind and his casual nature always helped me to cheer up for an- other round of scientific work while at the same time he encouraged me with his investigative but de- termined way of discovering the big, wide world in everyday life. Among all the people I met during my time in Zurich, he changed my self-perception, the way I approach things, and how I lead my life the most. Should I ever be asked to picture my ideal brother – it would be Simon. As long as the sun sets orange, this friendship may last! Mentioning all my friends I found in Zurich and the stories that are behind them would probably take more pages than those at hand. However, there are always some that stick out. This is Christian, who convinced me to learn Swiss German, an idea he most likely regretted the following couple of weeks. He was the first to show me that Switzerland was home now. Dominik and Damian stand representa- tive for all students who became my friends. Thanks to my presidents for all the fun we had! My time at ETH is over but I definitively hope that the friendships will continue. Last but not least I am deeply grateful to my parents who always believed in me and never doubted that my work will eventually bear fruit. They always gave me the confidence that I can succeed if I only wanted. Thanks! ZUSAMMENFASSUNG “From Game to Play” beschreibt wie innovative Anwender von Videospielen als Spie- ler starten und nachdem ihre Neugier beim Beobachten anderer Spieler geweckt wur- de diese Spiele als preiswerte Alternative zu 3D-Animationsprogrammen verwenden um damit selbstproduzierte Filme zu vermarkten. Das hierzu benötigte Wissen sam- meln die Spieler in Online Communities, in welchen sie auch ihre ersten Produktionen veröffentlichen. Während diesem Prozess des Spielens und Lernens entdecken die Mitglieder der Online Communities Möglichkeiten ihre produzierten Filme in der Filmindustrie zu kommerzialisieren, was sie zu „User Entrepreneuren“ werden lässst. User Entrepreneurship als relativ neues Forschungsgebiet hat seinen Ursprung in der Literatur über User Innovation, einem Feld das sich primär der Erforschung von nut- zergetriebenen Innovationen widmet. Nutzer von im Markt erhältlichen Produkten haben oftmals Änderungswünsche oder weitere Entwicklungsideen, welche von den Herstellern nicht oder erst sehr spät aufgegriffen werden. Innovationen von solchen Nutzern dienen daher in erster Linie der Befriedigung eigener Wünsche statt der Ge- winnerzielung, wie dies bei Herstellern der Fall ist. User Entrepreneure unterscheiden sich analog hierzu von klassischen Entrepreneuren indem sie Produkte oder Prototy- pen entwickeln, welche vor allem ihnen selbst dienen. Während der Benutzung dieser Prototypen erkennen sie aufgrund von Rückmeldungen anderer Nutzer ähnlicher Produkte das gegebenenfalls vorhandene Marktpotential und werden anschliessend zu kommerziell agierenden Produzenten. Das in dieser Dissertation präsentierte Modell für User Entrepreneurship über Indu- striegrenzen hinweg betrachtet Nutzer von Videospielen, welche durch die Verwen- dung dieser Spiele zur Filmproduktion, Machinima als neues Genre in der Animati- onsindustrie geschaffen haben. Spezielle Betrachtung erfahren die für den Erfolg der User Entrepreneure wichtigen Online Communities, in welchen die Anwender lernen sich auszutauschen und ihre Produktionen zu präsentieren. Hierbei spielen Kompo- nenten Sozialer Netzwerke zur Massenkommunikation, der Einfluss von Rückmeldun- gen und Ideen zu den Innovationen und persönliche Neugier der Mitglieder eine zen- trale Rolle. Verschiedene Erkenntnisse in Bezug auf den User Entrepreneurship Prozess und des- sen Relevanz für Forschung und Wirtschaft werden aufgezeigt. Hinzu kommen zahl- reiche Aspekte, welche sich mit dem Thema Community Management befassen. Die abschliessenden Betrachtungen umfassen Vorschläge zu möglichen weiteren For- schungsthemen sowie die Grenzen dieser Dissertation. ABSTRACT “From Game to Play” illustrates the path innovative users took when they started off as avid gamers who got curious about others’ use of video games as cost effective tools for 3D animation production. They acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to realize first little projects, later staged their own plays in games which they presented to fellow online community members, and after having recognized an opportunity even- tually commercialized their Machinima projects as animated shorts in the film industry – thus turning user entrepreneurs. User entrepreneurship as a rather new field of research has its origins in the user inno- vation literature where users innovate to satisfy their own needs, hence for their own use-value instead of commercial interest. In contrast to the classic approach of entre- preneurship where opportunity recognition precedes prototype development, user entrepreneurs first develop prototypes and while using these for their own purpose receive feedback and thus recognize an opportunity for commercialization. This dissertation presents a model of user entrepreneurship across industry boundaries by studying users in the field of Machinima, a new film genre characterized by shoot- ing film in video games, who enter the animation industry. Being important for the success of user entrepreneurs, the impact of online user communities on the commer- cialization process is discussed. Therefore, several aspects of online communities such as social network site features for mass communication, the impact of feedback on innovation activities of the sponsoring firm, and individual curiosity as predictor of members’ contribution behavior are studied and described in more detail. Several implications for research and management regarding the user entrepreneur- ship process with its impact on incumbent firms as well as online community man- agement conclude the thesis complemented by a future research agenda. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. From Individual Curiosity to Initial Commercial Success 2 2. Innovating with Peers – How User Entrepreneurs Interact with and Learn from Communities 5 2.1. The Enabling Framework of User Entrepreneurship 5 2.2. Online Communities 7 2.3. Curiosity 8 2.4. User Innovation 8 2.5. User Entrepreneurship 9 3. Setting the Stage – Research Framework and Methodology 11 3.1. The Gaps – Extending Current Research 11 3.2. Change of Scene – Following User Entrepreneurs Beyond Industry Boundaries 12 3.3. Commercial, yet Social – SNS Features in Firm-sponsored Online Communities 12
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Uses of Animation 1
    The Uses of Animation 1 1 The Uses of Animation ANIMATION Animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and change by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon. Animators are artists who specialize in the creation of animation. Animation can be recorded with either analogue media, a flip book, motion picture film, video tape,digital media, including formats with animated GIF, Flash animation and digital video. To display animation, a digital camera, computer, or projector are used along with new technologies that are produced. Animation creation methods include the traditional animation creation method and those involving stop motion animation of two and three-dimensional objects, paper cutouts, puppets and clay figures. Images are displayed in a rapid succession, usually 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second. THE MOST COMMON USES OF ANIMATION Cartoons The most common use of animation, and perhaps the origin of it, is cartoons. Cartoons appear all the time on television and the cinema and can be used for entertainment, advertising, 2 Aspects of Animation: Steps to Learn Animated Cartoons presentations and many more applications that are only limited by the imagination of the designer. The most important factor about making cartoons on a computer is reusability and flexibility. The system that will actually do the animation needs to be such that all the actions that are going to be performed can be repeated easily, without much fuss from the side of the animator.
    [Show full text]
  • Kristián Néky (FAV, Bakalárské Prezenčné Štúdium)
    Masarykova univerzita Filosofická fakulta Ústav filmu a audiovizuální kultury Kristián Néky (FAV, bakalárské prezenčné štúdium) Stratégie spoločnosti Rooster Teeth v oblasti online video tvorby v rokoch 2003–2019 Bakalárska diplomová práca Vedúci práce: Mgr. Michal Večeřa, Ph.D. Brno 2019 Prehlasujem, že som pracoval samostatne a použil iba tu uvedené zdroje. V Brne dňa 20. 6. 2019 ......................................................... Kristián Néky Ďakujem Mgr. Michalovi Večeřovi, Ph.D. za všetky pripomienky, rady a trpezlivosť, ktoré mi venoval pri vedení tejto bakalárskej práce. Rád by som zároveň poďakoval svojej rodine a najbližším priateľom, ktorí mi boli vždy silnou oporou. OBSAH 1 ÚVOD ............................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 PROBLEMATIKA ZDROJOV ...................................................................................................... 6 2 MACHINIMA AKO FOLKLÓRNA ANIMÁCIA NA PRELOME STOROČÍ .............................................. 8 2.1 POČIATKY FENOMÉNU MACHINIMA ...................................................................................... 8 2.2 QUAKE A CESTA KINEMATOGRAFIE VIRTUÁLNYCH PRIESTOROV KU ŠIROKÉMU INTERNETOVÉMU PUBLIKU............................................................................................................... 11 2.3 PÔVODNÁ DEMOSCÉNA ....................................................................................................... 16 2.4 POPULARIZÁCIA KINEMATOGRAFIE
    [Show full text]
  • VIDEO GAME SUBCULTURES Playing at the Periphery of Mainstream Culture Edited by Marco Benoît Carbone & Paolo Ruffino
    ISSN 2280-7705 www.gamejournal.it Published by LUDICA Issue 03, 2014 – volume 1: JOURNAL (PEER-REVIEWED) VIDEO GAME SUBCULTURES Playing at the periphery of mainstream culture Edited by Marco Benoît Carbone & Paolo Ruffino GAME JOURNAL – Peer Reviewed Section Issue 03 – 2014 GAME Journal A PROJECT BY SUPERVISING EDITORS Antioco Floris (Università di Cagliari), Roy Menarini (Università di Bologna), Peppino Ortoleva (Università di Torino), Leonardo Quaresima (Università di Udine). EDITORS WITH THE PATRONAGE OF Marco Benoît Carbone (University College London), Giovanni Caruso (Università di Udine), Riccardo Fassone (Università di Torino), Gabriele Ferri (Indiana University), Adam Gallimore (University of Warwick), Ivan Girina (University of Warwick), Federico Giordano (Università per Stranieri di Perugia), Dipartimento di Storia, Beni Culturali e Territorio Valentina Paggiarin, Justin Pickard, Paolo Ruffino (Goldsmiths, University of London), Mauro Salvador (Università Cattolica, Milano), Marco Teti (Università di Ferrara). PARTNERS ADVISORY BOARD Espen Aarseth (IT University of Copenaghen), Matteo Bittanti (California College of the Arts), Jay David Bolter (Georgia Institute of Technology), Gordon C. Calleja (IT University of Copenaghen), Gianni Canova (IULM, Milano), Antonio Catolfi (Università per Stranieri di Perugia), Mia Consalvo (Ohio University), Patrick Coppock (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia), Ruggero Eugeni (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano), Roy Menarini (Università di Bologna), Enrico Menduni (Università di
    [Show full text]
  • Machinima As Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation
    A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Megan R. Brown December 2012 © 2012 Megan R. Brown. All Rights Reserved 2 This thesis titled A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation by MEGAN R. BROWN has been approved for the School of Film and the College of Fine Arts by Louis-Georges Schwartz Associate Professor of Film Studies Charles A. McWeeny Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 ABSTRACT BROWN, MEGAN R., M.A., December 2012, Film Studies A Binary Within the Binary: Machinima as Digital Agency and Growing Commercial Incorporation (128 pp.) Director of Thesis: Louis-Georges Schwartz. This thesis traces machinima, films created in real-time from videogame engines, from the exterior toward the interior, focusing on the manner in which the medium functions as a tool for marginalized expression in the face of commercial and corporate inclusion. I contextualize machinima in three distinct contexts: first, machinima as historiography, which allows its minority creators to articulate and distribute their interpretation of national and international events without mass media interference. Second, machinima as a form of fan fiction, in which filmmakers blur the line between consumers and producers, a feature which is slowly being warped as videogame studios begin to incorporate machinima into marketing techniques. Finally, the comparison between psychoanalytic film theory, which explains the psychological motivations behind cinema's appeal, applied to videogames and their resulting machinima, which knowingly disregard established theory and create agency through parody.
    [Show full text]
  • Games Without Frontiers
    Games Without Frontiers Keith Stuart The relationship between cinema and video games is becoming increasinly incestuous Strange things are happening to the video game and movie industries. They have been close for years, but now they seem to be merging. We are entering an era of interactive entertainment in which video game players, game developers and filmmakers switch roles seamlessly. The traditional demarcation between games machines and movie players has become irrevocably blurred. The Sony PSP, launched last year in Japan, is ostensibly a hand-held games console, but it also plays Hollywood movies on special discs and allows users to download short films from the Internet, to be viewed in transit. A Japanese website, PSPunch, offers amateur filmmakers the chance to upload their works as MPEG files, which are then specially formatted so that PSP owners can download and view them. It’s an amazing forum for unknown talent – many people who are unlikely to surf the net and watch short movies at home (too much choice, too many distractions) are happy to collect these disparate clips to view later on their hand-held games machine, perhaps during a long journey or a boring lecture. This is the filmmaking equivalent of Podcasting, where people create audio files and put them on-line so that anyone can download them and listen to them on an iPod. It is the future of independent distribution. Meanwhile, games players are turning into filmmakers. Machinima, most usefully defined as, ‘moviemaking within a real-time 3D virtual environment’, has its origins in the mid-1990s, when first person shoot-em’-ups such as Quake and Unreal started to include tools that let gamers record live in- game footage as they played.
    [Show full text]
  • A Rhetorical Analysis of User-Generated Machinima" (2009)
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2009 Deus Ex Machinima: A Rhetorical Analysis of User- Generated Machinima Sean Callot Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Callot, Sean, "Deus Ex Machinima: A Rhetorical Analysis of User-Generated Machinima" (2009). All Theses. 562. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/562 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DEUS EX MACHINIMA: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF USER-GENERATED MACHINIMA A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfi llment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Professional Communication by Sean Jacques Cecil Callot May 2009 Accepted by: Dr. Jan Holmevik, Committee Chair Dr. Cynthia Haynes Dr. Tharon Howard ABSTRACT Beginning with corporate demonstrations and continuously evolving into today, machinima has become a major expressive art form for the gamer generation. Machinima is the user-centered production of video presentations using pre-rendered animated content, as generated from video games. The term “machinima” is a combination of “machine” (from which the video content is derived) and “cinema” (the ultimate end product). According to Paul Marino and other members of the machinima community, Hugh Hancock, the creator of Machinima.com, fi rst coined the term in 2000. Video productions of this kind have been used in various capacities for the past several years, including instruction or marketing, as well as rapid prototyping of large-scale cinema projects (Marino).
    [Show full text]
  • City Research Online
    City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Haefliger, S., Jäger, P. and Von Krogh, G. (2010). Under the radar: Industry entry by user entrepreneurs. Research Policy, 39(9), pp. 1198-1213. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2010.07.001 This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/5958/ Link to published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2010.07.001 Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Under the Radar: Industry Entry by User Entrepreneurs Stefan Haefliger, Peter Jäger, Georg von Krogh, ETH Zurich* June 2010 Forthcoming in Research Policy. ABSTRACT We inductively develop a model of the commercialization process for new products or services user entrepreneurs undertake when entering an industry while drawing on proprietary technology developed in another industry. Extending the growing field of user entrepreneurship, we identify a two-phase approach to industry entry by user entrepreneurs who start “under the radar” of incumbent firms, gain experience, attract a first potential customer base, and then, in a second phase, engage in commercialization.
    [Show full text]
  • Giocare Con I Media: Il Fenomeno Machinima Nel Nuovo Panorama Mediatico
    UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI BOLOGNA FACOLTA' DI LETTERE E FILOSOFIA Corso di laurea in Cinema, televisione e produzione multimediale GIOCARE CON I MEDIA: IL FENOMENO MACHINIMA NEL NUOVO PANORAMA MEDIATICO Tesi di laurea in Semiotica del testo cinematografico e audiovisivo Relatore Presentata da Prof. Guglielmo Pescatore Valerio Sillari Correlatore Dott. Roberto Braga Sessione III Anno accademico 2007/2008 Indice Introduzione ______________________________________ p. 6 Capitolo 1 Cosa è machinima 1.1 Un primo sguardo al fenomeno ____________________________ p. 10 1.2 Machinima: istruzioni per l’uso _____________________________ p.13 1.3 Dai videogame a machinima: una storia recente_______________ p. 18 Capitolo 2 Machinima e media 2.1 Machinima e il mondo dei media ___________________________ p. 29 2.2 Machinima, ultimo “rimedio” ai mezzi di comunicazione _________ p. 30 2.3 Mod Remediation : come machinima si appropria degli altri media _ p. 38 2.4 Giocare con i media: tra machinima e forme mediali tradizionali __ p. 44 2.5 Machinima ed il cinema: un falso mito ______________________ p. 46 2.6 Serialità e machinima: tra imitazione e rivoluzione _____________ p. 55 2.7 Video senza nome, il cuore machinima ______________________ p. 65 Capitolo 3 Gli utenti machinima 3.1 L’utente 2.0: quando convergenza e nuove idee si incontrano ____ p. 76 3.2 Tra arte e punteggio record: L’utente-giocatore _______________ p. 90 3.3 Un bazar elettronico: il caos costruttivo dei machinima ________ p. 100 Capitolo 4 Il gioco si fa serio 4.1 Odi et amo : il rapporto dei media verso l’emergere dei machinima p.
    [Show full text]
  • Reverbing: The" Red Vs. Blue" Machinima As Anti-War Film
    QUT Digital Repository: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/10673 Starrs, D. Bruno (2010) Reverbing : The "Red vs. Blue" machinima as anti-war film. Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 24(2). pp. 267-279. © Copyright 2009 Routledge. Reverbing: The Red vs. Blue Machinima as Anti-war Film. By D. Bruno Starrs. Queensland University of Technology. Copyright 2007. Introduction: Animation Meets Machine. The process and product of machinima is, according to the co-founder and executive director of the New York-based Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences, Paul Marino; “animated film-making within a real-time virtual 3D environment” (2004: 1). It is a new media in which digital videography, animation and computer game development has converged and was made possible by a revolutionary development: the action and events of the computer game can be recorded in a ‘demo’ which may be played back without the necessary involvement of the game’s software ‘engine’. Rather than the time consuming frame by frame rendering required in traditional animation, cameras and lighting tracks can be set up in advance when making machinima, with the subsequent recording capturing the actor’s virtual performances in real time, or ‘on-the-fly’. Thus, a three dimensional ludic experience becomes filmic when it is saved as a video file (e.g. MPEG, Quicktime or WMV) for playback by others. With this regard, machinima can be understood as a ‘mash-up’ of the words animation and machine, and as a ‘mash-up’ of the mediums, cinema and computer game. Rising from roots somewhere in the hacker culture of the 1980s, the first, primitive machinima were simply ‘speedruns’ or records of the fastest possible traversal of all levels of the game.
    [Show full text]
  • March 15, 2009)
    Transformative Works and Cultures, special issue on Games as transformative works, No. 2 (March 15, 2009) Editorial Rebecca Carlson, Games as transformative works Praxis Robertson Allen, The Army rolls through Indianapolis: Fieldwork at the Virtual Army Experience Rebecca Carlson, "Too Human" versus the enthusiast press: Video game journalists as mediators of commodity value Casey O'Donnell, The everyday lives of video game developers: Experimentally understanding underlying systems/structures Mark Chen, Social dimensions of expertise in "World of Warcraft" players Michael Robert Underwood, The friends that game together: A folkloric expansion of textual poaching to genre farming for socialization in tabletop role-playing games Anastasia Marie Salter, “Once more a kingly quest”: Fan games and the classic adventure genre Kevin Driscoll & Joshua Diaz, Endless loop: A brief history of chiptunes Symposium Will Brooker, Maps of many worlds: Remembering computer game fandom in the 1980s Thien-bao Thuc Phi, Game over: Asian Americans and video game representation Braxton Soderman, Intrinsic motivation: "flOw," video games, and participatory culture Rebecca Bryant, "Dungeons & Dragons": The gamers are revolting! Amanda Odom, An examination of living through enjoyment: Live-action role-play Joe Bisz, The birth of a community, the death of the win: Player production of the “Middle-earth Collectible Card Game” Julia Beck & Frauke Herrling, Playing Sue Interviews Geoffrey Long, Interview with Paul Marino Clara Fernández-Vara, Interview with Doris C. Rusch TWC Editor, Interview with Tony O’Driscoll TWC Editor, Diane E. Levin: Child’s play as transformative work Reviews John Finlay Kerr, "Second person: Role-playing and story in games and playable media," edited by Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin Gina Serafin-Persson, "Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New perspectives on gender and gaming," edited by Yasmin B.
    [Show full text]
  • Machinima Quando Fare Cinema Diventa Un Gioco Di Valerio Sillari
    Machinima Quando fare cinema diventa un gioco di Valerio Sillari In una puntata della serie televisiva South Park , intitolata Make love not Warcraft , i protagonisti del cartone Stan, Kyle, Eric e Kenny, si trovano catapultati nell’universo di World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, USA, 2004), uno dei più famosi videogiochi di ruolo online degli ultimi anni. Pronti a tutto pur di salvare il mondo virtuale del gioco dalla completa distruzione, essi passano intere settimane davanti allo schermo del computer, arrivando ad annullare completamente le proprie vite pur di sconfiggere un utente che sta mettendo in crisi la sopravvivenza del videogioco stesso. Con questo episodio Trey Parker e Matt Stone, autori della serie televisiva, portano sul piccolo schermo il recente fenomeno dei videogiochi utilizzabili via internet, i cosiddetti MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game ), secondo lo stile con cui da sempre hanno esorcizzato pratiche e abitudini della società contemporanea americana. Ma oltre a offrire una parodia dissacrante e cinica del mondo dei videogame, Make love not Warcraft si contraddistingue soprattutto per l’uso massiccio di immagini create al computer, le quali ricalcano l’ambientazione grafica e le sembianze dei personaggi del videogame. Circa metà dell’episodio è infatti presentato all’interno del mondo di World of Warcraft , in cui i protagonisti di South Park , da sempre legati a un tratto grafico elementare e a due dimensioni, vengono mostrati sulla scena attraverso i personaggi che utilizzano nel gioco, i propri avatar. La scelta di ambientare la storia all’interno di un videogioco, o meglio di utilizzare lo stile e le caratteristiche della computer graphic di World of Warcraft per ricreare un set dove far muovere vari personaggi secondo una storia ben precisa, è perfettamente adatta alla vicenda narrata.
    [Show full text]
  • MACHINIMA's Movie Moguls
    THE MAGAZINE OF TECHNOLOGY INSIDERS MACHINIMA’S MOVIE MOGULS WITHOUT ACTORS, CAMERAS, SETS, OR PROPS, A NEW GENERATION OF GEEKS IS HACKING ITS WAY INTO HOLLYWOOD volume 45 number 7 north american 07.08 UPDATE 11 ITALIAN ISOTOPES U.S. critics hope to halt nuclear waste imports. By Sally Adee 13 CRIMEWARE PAYS 14 OCEAN POWER ON THE RISE 15 MIXING MEMORIES TO SPEED SOLID-STATE DRIVES 16 A LUNAR LANDING OF SORTS 46 18 THE BIG PICTURE A dusting of detritus orbits Earth. OPINION 9 SPECTRAL LINES Paper or pixels? A look at books in a networked age. 10 FORUM External controls take over, the history of commonsense management, and our automotive editor defends his top 10. 20 REFLECTIONS Getting used to not having privacy. By Robert W. Lucky DEPARTMENTS 4 BACK STORY 6 CONTRIBUTORS 26 36 21 CAREERS How to get a mentor. By Carl Selinger CREATURES COVER STORY AND CREATORS: Kiva’s founders TOOLS & TOYS and their 36 MACHINIMA’S 22 Digitize your old LPs. robotic herd; By Tekla S. Perry The Pencil, one MOVIE MOGULS 23 Meet the winner of our clock- of our 10 favorite making contest. By Philip E. Ross tech books; Forget cameras, actors, and elaborate sets: a new generation 24 Can a database think? a character from of filmmakers relies only on bandwidth and a video game. the video game By Paul Wallich Halo 3 is now a By David Kushner 25 Amazon’s Kindle is the best of cinematic star. the bunch of e-book readers. 26 THREE 42 10 GREAT By Sherry Sontag ENGINEERS, TECH BOOKS COVER IMAGE: HUNDREDS OF 24 BOOKS PHOTO: See if your own favorites Leo Beranek, pioneer of acoustics.
    [Show full text]