Co-creative meaning and Resident Evil Outbreak : Re-writing Representations in online game play, gamer made videos and beyond

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: Co-creative meaning and Resident Evil Outbreak: Re-writing Representations in online game play, gamer made videos and beyond Popular Culture Forum – March 2, 2007 Joanna Robinson MA Candidate in Popular Culture Brock University www.JoannaSRobinson.com
2. Slide 2: Overview • Research drawn from my MA study in progress, ‘Gender Representations and Interaction in Resident Evil Online’ • What is Co-creative media? • Resident Evil Outbreak/Online (REO) and its characters • Ways in which gender representations in REO are co- created • Examples (some video examples not seen on slideshare, see my youtube account, username sassyshh) • Implications for existing and future research
3. Slide 3: What is Co-creative media? • Morris (2004) describes online FPS games as co-creative media. • “neither developers nor players can be solely responsible for production of the final assemblage regarded as the game, it requires the input of both” (Morris, 2004, 1) • Performances of players in online game play that does not pursue game objectives has been referred to as “creative player actions” and “emergent” play (Wright et al, 2002) • Examples include humour, parody and critique of all elements of the game
4. Slide 4: Shannon & Weaver's Communication Model (1947)
5. Slide 5: A possible model for Co-creative media Online gamers are not fans in the traditional sense but rather participants because “their devotion to the game is as players, not spectators” (Morris: 2004)
6. Slide 6: • It is important to remember that meaning is created in socio-cultural contexts (Hall) and audiences are capable of forming dominant, oppositional and alternative meanings. • This presentation discusses how some of those meanings are formed co-creatively by an audience that participates and makes meaning, rather than in by audience that receives and interprets
7. Slide 7: Co-created representations? • Online gaming is a performative activity (Morris, 2004) • Game representations gain meaning through play (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003) • Audiences possess a high degree of agency, as players learn how to deploy the signs and symbols given them as resources for constructing their own social discourses to others (Burn & Carr, 2003, 14) • Layers of meaning are added to online gaming characters through their representation in images in buddy icons and personal banners in forums (Taylor, 2006, Sommerfeldt, 2005)
8. Slide 8: Research Questions RQ1: In what ways might gendered meanings in REO’s characters be co-created by players? RQ2: In online game play, how might players ability to perform characters modify character representations? RQ3: Do co-created character representations observed in REO subvert or challenge or perpetuate gendered character constructs? RQ4: What does this case study contribute to our understanding of new media audiences as participants?
9. Slide 9: Methodological Approach (for my MA thesis research in progress ‘Gender, Representations and Interaction in Resident Evil Online’) • Feminist textual analysis (of characters ‘as written’) • Autoethnography (telling my story) • E-interviews (by email correspondence) • Participant observation (showing and sharing of characters ‘as performed’) Some limitations: • Small amount of participants (to date) n=11 and mostly male respondents n=7. Game released in 2004, 2005. • Many participants balked at having to print, sign and fax/post/scan the ethics form • The very specific context of the REO gaming community may mean that findings may not be transferable to other games
10. Slide 12: Resident Evil: Outbreak and its characters ‘as written’ • Players may choose character, outfit and may only communicate in game using primate voice actions (for example Yes, No, Follow me, wait and character specific “adlibs” written by game producers) • Players creatively deploy these with other forms of nonverbal communication including pointing, shouldering, stomping and various instances of visual humour • Five male and three female characters are available for players to choose from in REO, and in the Resident Evil tradition, one of the women is tough, assertive and competent. • Traditional representation of men as strong, women in support roles, with very few exceptions. • All participants indicated that they found at least one or more of the REO characters ‘as written’ stereotypical.
11. Slide 14: Default Character – Kevin the police officer
12. Slide 15: Kevin Ryman - Police Officer, Raccoon City Police Department Vit alit y: 2300 points Viral Infection Rate: 1.19% per minute, 84 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - ‘Superior athletic abilities’ - Fastest of all characters - Powerful custom 45 Auto - Pot shot -Kicking ability -Default character
13. Slide 16: Mark Wilkins – Security Guard, Vietnam Veteran Vit alit y: 3000 points Viral Infection Rate: 1.31% per minute, 76 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - Highest vitality points - Strongest character in the game - Can move heavy objects that would usually require two players to move - Slowest character in the game - Cannot hide in confined spaces - Blocking special move -Custom handgun
14. Slide 17: David King - Plumber Vit alit y: 2200 points Viral Infection Rate: 1.04% per minute, 96 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - ‘A man of few words’ - Talented and swift with knives, comes with a folding knife - Able to combine items to create new ones. - 12 Monkey wrenches that can be thrown, with knockdown capability as special move
15. Slide 18: George Hamilton - Doctor Vit alit y: 2100 points Viral In fect ion Rat e: 1.04% per minute, 96 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - Possesses a ‘cooperative spirit’ - ‘Easily gains the trust of others’ - Medicine creating skills, able to create pills from herbs and shoot them at team mates with capsule shooter - Tackle attack special move -Tackle attack can be charged like the pot shot for extra strength
16. Slide 19: Strongest Female character – Alyssa the Reporter
17. Slide 20: Alyssa Ashcroft - Journalist Vit alit y: 2000 points Viral Infection Rate: 0.89% per minute, 112 minutes to 100% Ch ar act er is t ics: - ‘Strong personality’ - Strongest female character in terms of attack damage - Pot shot - Dodging - Tazer -Lock picking ability
18. Slide 21: Jim Chapman – Subway Employee Vit alit y: 1800 points Viral Infection Rate: 1.43% per minute, 70 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - ‘Skillful at solving puzzles’ - ‘Talks too much and bothers people around him’ - Avoids attacks by pretending to be dead - ‘Fearful coward’ - Runs quickly -Coin tossing ability for luck
19. Slide 22: Cindy Lennox - Waitress Vit alit y: 1500 points Viral In fect ion Rat e: 0.89% per minute, 112 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - Helpful, ‘service oriented’ person - ‘Always thinks of other people first’ - Stars scenarios in possession of healing herbs in her herb kit - Ability to heal others - Bandage for curing bleeding on herself or team mates - Suffers status reduction easily - Good movement speed -Ducking ability
20. Slide 23: Yoko Suzuki – University Student Vit alit y: 1300 points Viral Infection Rate: 0.78% per minute, 128 minutes to 100% Ch aract eris t ics : - ‘Extremely knowledgeable about computers’ - Lowest vitality of all characters - But low viral infection rate - Can carry four more items than others, using her backpack - Drop and crawl away special move -Positive outlook, thinking she will be able to figure out things
21. Slide 24: RQ1: In what ways might gendered meanings in REO’s characters be co-created by players?
22. Slide 25: Ways in which representations are co-creative in Resident Evil Online • Conference calling/skype during game play • Pre and post game chatroom discussions on the server • Online forum discussions, buddy icons • Performances and Parody during Live Gameplay • Player made game play videos (machinima) • Beyond gaming – online/offline social relationships • These work to subvert and challenge gender ideologies in characters as well as perpetuate them.
23. Slide 26: Conference calling/skype during game play • Online social relationships formed between players and maintained through playing together, as well as chatting or sending messages over the internet also added layers of meaning to characters as player identity was tied to their “main” character. • Players reported taking part in telephone conference calling and audio chatting on the computer using programs such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Skype to communicate with one another during game play, in order to overcome the obstacles to communicating in game (no headset capability and limited voice commands available). • During these voice chats, among other conversations, critical comments were made about the representation of characters as constructed, as well as the way in which players were enacting them. • Players also roleplayed their own emergent or co-created narratives!
24. Slide 27: Online forum discussions, buddy icons • Gamers discussed their favourite characters as well as critiquing them, as well as talking about what they would like to see in the future online versions of Resident Evil they would like to see produced. • Players told stories of their favourite moments playing REO and fan fiction was also created by some members of these forums, telling stories about the characters that they created, based on the game but adding their own themes and narratives. • Many players also shared their favourite character pictures as their buddy icon to represent themselves on the forums and modified these images in various ways. Interestingly, attitudes toward certain characters may foster and grow in such spaces, such as discussions of “Kevins” (the default police officer character) as more likely to be newbies or team killers. • Importantly, these messageboards can function very differently from that of a television program or even an offline game, since much of the activity on them is ongoing discussions which are often shaped by the play of the day or week. So instead of commenting on a static text that they are separate from, the shaping of the textual experience and future textual experiences takes place on messageboards as well.
25. Slide 28: Buddy Icons
26. Slide 30: Forum banners – linking characters to player identity
27. Slide 31: Fan Art
28. Slide 34: RQ2: In online game play, how might players ability to perform characters modify character representations?
29. Slide 35: Playing with gender: Performances and Parody in Live Gameplay 1. Character Parody • Players critiquing representations in game E.g. Voice command jokes, visual jokes foregrounding construction 2. Performances of Power • Depicting their own representations / revisions to existing representations • In doing so, challenging stereotypical female game characters AND stereotypes about unskilled female gamers E.g. Playing female characters in ways that show them to be powerful and capable
30. Slide 36: • Video examples of these concepts on my Youtube, search for user named “sassyshh”
31. Slide 37: Player made game play videos • YouTube.com, Google Video and others • Demonstrations of skill and mastery • Parody, humour and other performances • Videos were also cut and edited by some players, music, player conversations and additional text added • REO characters also represented through other games such as the Sims
32. Slide 38: • The videos shown are in my YouTube.com favourites. See user “sassyshh” to see: • Resident Evil Outbreak Bad Boys (COPS parody) • Cindy Bunny “I found it!” video • Umbrella’s child (REO parody using the Sims)
33. Slide 39: And beyond… • Players who share online and offline social relationships with other players further complicate notions of a closed text • Since some players link their “real” identity closely with their character, characters may continue to be co-created over time
34. Slide 40: Ties to identity, Cosplay
35. Slide 42: And beyond that! • New environments, same old (horror) story – Resident Evil in Second Life
36. Slide 43: Implications… Co-creative media: • contain the possibility of Ideological Resistance / Alternative discourses • still requires and necessarily contains producer encoded world views Co-created Representations and identity: • can result in subverison of gender stereotypes in characters • can result in reproducing dominant gender (and other) ideologies • can be a source of empowerment for women • can be used in identity play
37. Slide 44: Implications… Audience and player-type research: • Players display different amounts of investment of their personal identity in their REO characters • REO players made character choices based on both appearance and notions of identity as well as ludic properties • Audiences who grow up co-creating their media experiences may have different demands of the media to come • Audiences form both dominant and oppositional meanings in this example of co-creation Narratology vs Ludology: • Debates over online games as play or a narrative based cultural text more like a film are complicated by this community’s diverse modes of interpretation of their activity as well as of the text itself. • Participants reported making character choices based on ludic principles as well as notions of representing their identity within the REO story world
38. Slide 45: Implications… • REO is both cultural artefact and site of (ongoing) culture and is an important case study of one of the first online games for PS2. • See also my paper from Women in Games 2006 “Playing With Gender” and my forthcoming MA thesis. • As REO is co-created by the audience it seeks to entertain, we see the beginning of what may be an exciting era in media history - the controller in the hands of the audience.
39. Slide 46: Thankyou for participating! Contact info: Joanna S. Robinson MA Candidate in Popular Culture Brock University jrobinson@brocku.ca www.JoannaSRobinson.com