Media Made My Day

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Indie games: a new way of communicating ideas and feelings?

A blooming sector

Maybe you’ve already played one of those games: Minecraft, Super Meat Boy, Castle Crashers, or Fruit Ninja. What have they got in common? Well, they are all labelled as “indie games”, meaning that they were all developed by independent games studios, in opposition to the “big fishes” of the gaming industry such as Call Of Duty, Halo or FIFA, also called “AAA” games. The indie games phenomenon, seems to have started around 2008 as we can see in this Google trend chart for the request “Indie Games”.

Even if independent games always existed (since the beginning of computer, there were always one or two “nerds” to develop games in their parents basement), the phenomenon really started to get big around 2008 with the launch of World of Goo, a reflexion game. Then it was Castle Crashers on the Xbox Live platform, released in 2008 and making 4.6 million dollars for the year 2011 (just on the Xbox platform).[1] Of course, it would be hard not to talk about Minecraft: in June 2016, it had sold over 100 million copies [2]. In comparison, Grand Theft Auto 5, which I’m sure you already heard about, sold 65 million copies between its launch (2013) and May 2016 [3]. But the fact is that Minecraft cost almost nothing to develop: it was made by a developer on his own, the famous “Notch”. GTA 5, on the other hand, was the most expensive game to develop in History, with a budget of 265 million dollars [4]. As you can guess, the indie game sector started to be trendy when it became bankable.

Typical independent developer

A new kind of connection between the players and the developers

So, now, that we’ve seen the exponential growth of the indie games sectors, it might be interesting to see what does it change to the media experience. To many observers, games do not suit the definition of a media, which is, according to Wikipedia “the collective communication outlets or tools that are used to store and deliver information or data”. It is true that games, and video games, are originally designed for entertainment purpose: what type of information is delivered by Call of Duty, or by FIFA? Probably none, or very little. However, the indie games, as they are not designed for commercial purpose, seem to be a medium connecting the player to the mind of the developer(s). For instance, in the Netflix documentary “Indie games: the movie”, all the developers recognize that their work allowed them to express themselves. The guys behind Super Meat boy, Edmund McMillen‎ and ‎Tommy Refenes, really see their games as a reflexion of themselves. Another game developed by this team, Aether, even seem to be a kind of therapeutic for McMillen: it is inspired by his fears, emotions, and its childhood. He declared that: “It’s a very honest and personal project I’ve been a little worried about making public because it exposes a lot of the fears I had when I was a child and puts me in a vulnerable place. But I feel like there are some out there that can appreciate something honest that has a lot of heart.”[5]

For instance, in this screenshot of the game Aether (2008), what the character is saying is actually something that McMillen suffered during his childhood and which appeared in many of his drawings as a kid. [6]

A screenshot from the game Limbo, 2010

Arnt Jensen, developer of the famous game Limbo which features a lonely kid in a devastated world, declares that “I think it's pretty important to have the right feelings throughout the game. I don't know if it's that important if it's specific storytelling. I don't care about that. It's important to have those special feelings. It was supposed to feel this loneliness so that in the end, when you meet the little sister, it seems like you haven't seen people so long, the impact will be so much bigger.”[7]

A new art form?

Screenshot from the game Flower, 2009

From my point of view of media’s expert, it is interesting to notice that the independent games seem to offer a new media experience. Instead of being driven only by entertainment purposes (for the player) and monetary goals (for the developers) as the “AAA” games, this new type of games offers a whole new experience: it connects the feelings of the developers to the players. As Henry Jenkins explains “games represent a new lively art, one as appropriate for the digital age as those earlier media were for the machine age. They open up new aesthetic experiences and transform the computer screen into a realm of experimentation and innovation that is broadly accessible.”[8] However, as a conclusion, we have to nuance this quote. In my opinion, it is hard to say that the “big games” represent a new form art, as they are more a product of the cultural industry than a way for people to express themselves. On the other hand, the indie games seem to offer a whole new media experience, between art and entertainment. We can hope that, in the future, this sector will continue to grow to give us new possibilities of interacting with digital media; and maybe that one day, indie developers will be recognized as real artists…

[1] Matt Liebl, “XBLA 2011 sales total $144 million”, Gamezone, january 27 2012

[2] Chloi Rad,”Minecraft sales surpass 100 million copies”, IGN, June 2 2016

[3] Eddie Makuch, “GTA 5 has now shipped 65 million copies”, Gamespot, May 18 2016

[4] Luke Villapaz, “'GTA 5' Costs $265 Million To Develop And Market, Making It The Most Expensive Video Game Ever Produced: Report”, International Business Times, August 8 2013

[5] Alec Meer, “Aether”, Rockpapershotgun, September 4 2008

[6] Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, “Indie games: the movie”, 2012

[7] Christian Nutt, Hanging in Limbo, Gamasutra, February 24 2012

[8] Henry Jenkins, “GAMES, THE NEW LIVELY ART”, Massachusetts institute of technology’s website

Wayne, “The indie revolution: how little games are making big money”, Game academy, October 9 2013

Monday, November 7, 2016

Does anybody hear me? Alone on Twitter

Take your smartphone, open Twitter, think about a really intelligent text, think again, think, type, delete, change again, don’t forget tags and hashtags to reach more people and maybe add a GIF at least. Excellent, publish now!Wait…wait…nothing happens…Hello? Is there anybody out there?

Tweet out loud.
(Source: http://www.sexysocialmedia.com/5-ways-to-get-people-to-tweet-about-your-business/)

A commentary

Twitter has got 310 million active monthly users (Statista 2016). Each wants to tweet. All of them want to have their say and wants to be heard. At least this is the ideal idea of the communication service that wants us to talk to each other with only 140 characters. When you take a look at a typical Twitter-Profile and compare it with a Facebook- or an Instagram-Profile, you may figure out one thing pretty fast: Not the narcissistic own presentation is the most focused thing, but rather the discourse on variable topics and news. The main aspect shall be the elements of communication.

The idea of participating, being a part of something, of a community, of a happening, of a topic which is highly important in a current situation, seems to be even more important than the self-presentation like we know it from other Social-Media-Platforms like Instagram. Thirst for appreciation and the approval of it through the “Likes” we earn of a complete digital stranger seems not to be what you’ll find on Twitter.

But, does the social network work like Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter) and all his employees wants to have it? Actually, I don’t know exactly what they want. And please don’t ask me what they want us to do. The only thing I know is their companies’ mission: “The power of now” with what the Silicon Valley company tries to pride itself on. This mission contains one of the main USP’s of Twitter – The aspect of “now”. It seems that Dorsey doesn’t want to give his users the possibility to use a social network to substitute their old-fashioned 90’s homepages that includes all pictures and video clips of our last vacation or birthday. He want’s to offer the global location-independent speaking tube for everyone, every time on every and especially specific topics.

To be even more special, it has to be the most efficient way of communicating, which is declared by the aspect of the “Now”. Highspeed communication of the 21 century around the whole globe. Be always involved – Directly and now.

The thing is, whoever raises his own digital voice wants some people to listen to him. Get reactions: Likes, Retweets, Shares, Replies… And that’s the point where my problem with Twitter starts.

The big amount of people discussing about one topic, tweeting all the time, leads to the “Top-Tweets” function that should help the reading users to see just these Tweets which might perform best. All this kind of users who have enough strategic digital skills to use social media and especially Twitter in the right way, have the biggest chance to be top ranked. All the other ones will get lost in the mass and prove unworthy in the discussion – Sorry guys, no one will hear you.

It’s at least a smart function to entertain the passive, reading users and help them to blank out “irrelevant” stuff. Don’t be angry. Don’t feel controlled. At least, no one out there can read all 140-character comments of one Top-Trending-Topic. Not unusual that it can be about 800.000 Tweets. So would you know any efficient way to filter by your own? Probably not.

So when there is a trending topic and you want to take part in the digital conversation, you add the specific hashtag to your Tweet and tag relevant persons to address them directly. The consumer becomes a producer. He is really pleased with the chance to give his thoughts a platform and is now a part of it, of the trending topic – of the now.

And then nothing happens.

(Source: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/359syd)

The embedding of the micro-participation (Twitter is known as a Micro-Blogging-Platform) in the right topical area is done, but the Tweet you spread to the world seems to be classified worst and can be found in the group of the whiners. Despite of the meticulously intellectual game you had for finding an intelligent literarily expression of your own thoughts. Your Tweet belongs to them, which are not liked, or retweetet and not a Top-Performer at all.

When you think about this a bit more detailed, it’s actually like in the “real” world, the offline, not digitalized, world. When you’re not a Big-Player, not an Opinion Leader, your voice is drown out by others, who seem to be more important – Offline and online.

Whoever want’s to be on the Top-Trends speaker’s podium has to have a remarkable number of followers, pretty exclusive content or just a little bit of luck.

In case you finally are one of the Tops, your eventual fame also stays in Twitter’s typical “Now”. (Unless your Tweet performs so good, that an amount of users start to follow you.) Cos the participation in the exchange of ideas is always just as long contemporary like the topic itself. With the remove of the topic out of the virtual focus of currency, the user-participation and relevance walk hand in hand directly to archives.

That’s it.

Discussion closed.

In was of your digital voice wasn’t loud enough during the micro-conversation, you have still the chance to say something now. But please, don’t expect an answer. You might be too late.

However, who want’s to increase his or her digital influence in Micro-Blogging, has the chance to try another highly touted advantage of Twitter. Contacting every other Twitter-User directly – no matter how famous or untouchable a person is.

That this highly considered advantage and strength is less “wow”, seems obvious.

Discourses of really high significance occurs in elites. Whoever uses the tag @BarackObama, to criticize the foreign policy or whatever, can definitely do that. Chances of getting a reply of the most powerful man on earth are unsurprisingly low. Even if he looks cool and relaxed enough to reply.

Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/image_file/p051815lj-0085.jpg

But this is not the fault of Twitter as well as Obama himself. When you enjoy a well-earned closing time beer with your colleagues in the pub or have really deep conversation about the last quarterly figures during the Business-Lunch, you may take rarely advice of a stranger in the same location, who is trying to join your talk.

It’s not only a Twitter-thing. You can always put in your two cents to a discussion, but you don’t have to. Know your place in society and you know who you are, if your voice has got a chance to be heard and your say in things.

That one’s who have not the privilege of a big number of follower or supporters, and are not called Opinion-Leaders, may see low chances in the appreciation of their statements.

Out of the perspective of a usual user, it seems that the unique selling proposition “On Twitter you can text/talk to everyone around the world. Even to your Stars, Heroes and powerful people” is nothing more than an empirical unfounded marketing-gag. So it’s not surprising that users, after their first self-created Tweets and paying fussy attention to all promising communication-strategies, tend to loose their motivation to be part of it and to participate. And they may forget the revolutionary Social-Media aspect that no one is excluded and everyone can raise their voice.

When you want to increase the your own volume and influence of your digital voice, you may keep an eye on creating a fanbase that helps to get big. Those who just want to be part of it, passively, escape from this strategic task.

In 2014 there were approximately 391 million Twitter accounts that haven't had at least one Follower (Source: Socialmediatimes.com, 2014) The power of “Now”, which Twitter wants to prove, may be significant, but it’s still doubtful, in what way it is enough to offer the chance of participating in a discourse when no one listens to you. ‘Cause those who speak, want to have an audience which listens to them.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Let's go catch some Pokémon

What happened to be only a child-hood dream became on 6^thof July 2016 reality – to enter into your own real Pokémon world. Created by Niantic for iOS, Android, and Apple Watch devices it is now possible for everyone to catch and play with the animated creatures wherever and whenever they want.

Pokémon GO is not just a game for the youth, no, it is played as well by those who spend hours of catching Pokémon on their Gameboys years ago when they were children themselves.

To have a narrow idea about the game itself here are some explanations:

First of all, there are several ways to enjoy this game. You can either catch some Pokémon by yourself or walk around with your friends and go on a hunt together. The game is using real-world locations, which requires you to explore your surroundings and “find more than a hundred species of Pokémon.”[1]

Many groups or just single players start to gather around so called Pokéstops, which are retrieved from Google Maps. Here a player can insert a so called Lure module that is attracting random Pokémon to the Pokéstop. Everyone in a close proximity can see these Pokémon and of course can try to catch them. Furthermore, there is the possibility to spin the stop to receive certain items, such as Pokéballs, that are used to catch Pokémon. Eventually players are interacting and start to come along, from this perspective it is to say that Pokémon Go can bring people closer, just because of the same interest.

When Pokémon GO players have reached a certain amount of experience points they are allowed to attack a Pokémon gym. These Pokémon gyms are a way for players to train their caught Pokémon or to take over a Pokémon gym. Taking over one of the gyms requires leaving one of your Pokémon behind, which will return after it has been defeated. Taking over gyms makes it possible to collect coins which can be used to purchase Pokéballs.

Due to a high number of incentives and possibilities during the game, a player can get a nearly constant stream of positive reinforcement and progress.

But behind all those adventurous Pokémon hunts lies a significant danger for safety. Pokémon GO stands in the critic due to its permanently distraction from a player’s surroundings. Since the introduction of Pokémon GO several accidents happened because of incautious behaviour of players. Additionally, also thieves got attracted by this game by trying to lure players into dangerous areas.

Niantic has to consider whether it changes the conditions of Pokémon GO to decrease the danger during playing.

The reason for the declining players of Pokémon GO is that it is after all not the same as the nostalgic Pokémon game. Whereas the Pokémon game has a storyline, the thrill of training, fighting other players and to beat the highest league of Pokémon trainers, Pokémon Go is lacking them. Most people were attracted to the hype due to the nostalgic longings and the fun of walking around with other Pokémon GO players.

A future perspective could be combining the virtual reality (VR) glasses with Pokémon GO so that the experience of playing Pokémon GO would feel more realistic. However, the down side of wearing VR glasses is that it makes the user blind to the outside world, not knowing where a simple sidewalk is and therefore being a danger to not only yourself but to the outside world itself.

On November 15, 2012 Niantic released the “augmented-reality, massively multiplayer online game”[2] called “Ingress”. First available for Android devices, later on July 14, 2014 for Apple’s IOS. Ingress is like Pokémon GO a location-based virtual reality game but which is based on a science fiction back story. Unfortunately it didn’t receive the same attention as its successor Pokémon GO.

Before Pokémon GO and Ingress, we lived with restrictions; smartphones and tablets were only about the content we’re watching, playing with. Niantic opened up new opportunities. The creators made it possible to connect our real world with the digital one. Seeing our surroundings in a different way, giving us the chance to go on adventures.

Pokémon GO and Ingress are only a beginning of the upcoming future. Soon we will more and more connect our surroundings with the digital world. But it is to ask where those future prospects lead us to. For sure it will make our world faster, easier and more interesting but as well incautious and vulnerable.

These games showed us what is already possible. We people strive for new, interesting, boundary breaking innovations. We are waiting for the moment that reality talks to us through our screens and actually supports us throughout the day.

Perhaps, we will soon already walk through the streets with digital glasses that show us the right way, lead us to restaurants and desired places, and besides that give us detailed information about the world surrounding us.

“As gaming becomes more ubiquitous and enmeshed in day to day life, we have a chance - and a choice – to advance what gaming can mean for society. Let’s think outside the (Ar)boks.”[3]