Game for Change - Socialism

Make a Free Flash Game

Lately we have been studying the relationship between media and society. So here's a video game. Why a video game? These texts have a very unique aspect that other mediums cannot match. In a video game, unlike any other medium, you are in control of the character. You might not be able to control obstacles or consequences, but you can move him/her around and feel much more connected to his/her goals. In fact, when the character looses, you loose. When the character wins, you win. No other medium has that power. If Ender wins the battle against the buggers, that doesn't mean you win too. If he dies, that doesn't mean you die. But in video games, your loss is your own to bear. In order to share a viewpoint on the currently arising social issue of socialism, i've created this video game.

The first level is simple. You walk to the right. You win $1000. It's easier than eating ice cream. This level represents those in society who reap the temporal benefits from socialism without having to do much at all. These are those who don't work hard to get an education and don't spend time developing marketable skills outside of college. 

The second level is not so simple. There are obstacles. You might fall a couple times, there's a lot at stake here. You might fall and die, but you'll work at it. Learn the things you need to do in order to survive, and in the end make $1000 dollars. It will take you much longer, and require much more work. This level represents those who work to pay for themselves and those who don't work. Of course, the payments are exactly equal and exaggerated in order to prove a point.

As a missionary, having lived for 2 years in a socialist foreign country, I saw this happen with my own eyes. The poor weren't determined to get out of poverty because they had nothing to fight for. Everything was paid for. Food. A brand new home. Health care. It's all there at the doorstep just waiting for you. You can even spend the money the government gives you on more drugs if you want. I noticed that these people were handed loads of things but didn't even take care of it. The brand new houses the government built for these people were barely maintained. You can't give a lazy man a hard working man's increase, and expect the lazy man to turn into a working man.

After a couple years of socialism, high schools began to fail. Only 50% of students completed high school. Probably because they knew that they could either:

1. Work hard. Go to college. Get a solid job. Get a nice house. But then give a bunch of that money to the other half of their classmates who didn't finish school and sustain their living.

2. Drop out. Still have money. Still have health care. Still have a nice house.

Working on this video game helped me realize that both society has influenced my use of media and that the media I create can influence society.

Webspinna Battle

NACHoooOOOooooOO!!!!

When Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre get together, you better bring some toast and tots because it's going to be a good time. Especially when they summon their eagle powers, learn some sick dance moves, and yes, even wrestle in tights.

Nick Ritter and I put together a little webspinna battle, as we like to call it, in which we collected and mixed sounds from various internet sites, dressed up like our characters, and performed a scripted battle of both sounds, music, dancing, and acting. When we started searching for sounds to use in our performance, we found that we could use music to reflect character's intentions, goals, and voices. Personally, I was surprised to hear so many songs at the webspinna battle. I was sure that people would use more dialogue and movie quotes. Soundboards that quote movies and put a collection of a certain group of songs can be found for a lot of different topics, stereotypes and movies, but music is definitely the most present sound medium on the internet, so it makes sense.

The performance itself was a performance like I've never experienced. I've sang on stage, acted, danced, played sports, all in front of groups, but this was completely different! It was like I had to use my internet navigation skills (which I use way too much every single day already) to present entertainment. Just like anything else, I guess the more you practice, prepare, rehearse, and perfect your performance the more flawless it will end up.

Throughout the semester I have noticed a commonality in my own projects as well as others. When we are given an assignment, I tend to naturally lean on a comfortable medium, genre, text, or interest that correlates with my personal interests. Nacho Libre is one of my favorite movies and I quote it everyday. Neal Butler is a huge sports guy and his character was a jock. Neil was a woman. He likes girls. It's easy math guys. We have voices and when we are given the opportunity to express them through art, we seize them and awesomeness happens.

Rythym Science Webtake shares an interesting perspective:

"Future generations won't have a 'dependence' on technology. They will have technology as a core aspect of their existence - as much as the languages we speak, the air we breath and the food that we eat are all aspects of technology"

I wonder how art will be influenced. I wonder how competitions will be influenced. Will new sports be invented with the rise of technology? Will new art mediums be invented? I think it's inevitable.

The Hunger Games is definitely an extreme politically radical example, but that's a huge technology-driven competitive sport that reflects one author's idea.

Webspinna just made me think about how there can be different forms of media and entertainment and how a lot could change the more society and technology changes.

World Building

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5ruPBem1Vg

I find it fascinating how intertwined our culture is with our media. Like we discussed last week, culture can influence media, and media can influence culture. What makes this all so fascinating to me is that as an art major, I can, in some tiny way or maybe even in a very widespread way influence culture. How cool is that?!

Julian Bleecker said in Design Fiction, "Design fictions help tell stories that provoke and raise questions, like props that help focus the imagination and speculate about possible near future worlds - whether profound change or simple, even mundane social practices."

This assignment was enlightening because these design fictions came close to home on this assignment, and we had a lot of fun with it. LIke Julian said "When something is designed, it suggests that there is some thoughtful exploration going on." When Mike announced his pitch for the alternate world of digitally recorded smells, the first thing that I couldn't help but think of was what if somebody posted a fart on my Facebook wall. Well there that little idea was, just a little thoughtful exploration, but when we got together and started with an empty canvas, it turned into a design.

The slideshow, announcer style we ended up with came from the Apple Keynote presentations. I always get excited about those, and so I thought turning it into something similar to that would be helpful to share that excitement in our fiction design. Unfortunately, shooting on a stage and finding a projector wasn’t feasible in our time constraints, but that’s how I imagined it. I am very pleased with our final product though. There are some really creative things going on. It’s cool to see how it would affect different things like advertising, social media, legislature, etc.

Textual Poaching

The Last Supper is an iconic piece of art that marked a generation and a people. It’s really interesting to me to see pictures of our modern day disciples all together on the stand at general conference in suits and ties and compare it to the rags and sandals that the primitive apostles used to wear. When I thought about what defined me, my religious beliefs was definitely the first thought to come to mind. My religious belief’s shape me more than anything else does. Another huge part of the way I live my life is through technology, and specifically Apple products.

We have had Sunday school and primary lessons for years that have asked “what would you bring on an island if you could only bring 3 things. And of course there is always a massive expectation to say “my scriptures, my patriarchal blessing, my temple recommend, etc.” Would saying “I would bring my iPhone” be a materialistic or worldly answer? I don’t think so at all! The scriptures are on my iPhone. My journal is on my iPhone. I can connect with my family, give coordinates, take pictures, look up survival skills, the list is endless. Something I love about modern day LDS leadership is that we are seizing every opportunity to utilize technology and media to further the purposes of the gospel. That’s why the disciples are using tablets at the table of the last supper.

Along with my love for technology, I also have opinions about different things within that category. If you look closely, Judas Iscariot has a Microsoft Surface at his spot at the table. Why Judas? And why a Surface? Judas betrayed Jesus and is therefore known for the rest of forever as the worst apostle. He couldn’t fulfill his purpose. He didn’t work out the way we all hoped. He was cast out, and ended up hanging himself. The surface, in my opinion, is the worst tablet out there. They have had absolutely no success in comparison to Apple’s iPad, which is a very reliable and functional device. That mirrors the rest of the apostle’s reliability and dedication to the Lord. (in the most non-sac religious way possible.)

There are hundreds of parodies on The Last Supper, this one was one of my favorites. As a kid, I loved doing Legos and The Lego Movie just rekindled those memories. This piece was probably the result of a similar experience as mine. The artist found 2 things they loved and combined them into something that meant something unique to him/her.

We might wonder how Da Vinci would feel about all these parodies. Would he be outraged? Would we be able to convince him that his art was worth kind of ruining for our own artistic motives to be expressed? Jenkin’s How Texts Become Real explores a similar idea while talking about a toy that was used and ‘vandalized.’ “Seen from the perspective of the toymaker, who has an interest in preserving the stuffed animal just as it was made, the loose joints and missing eyes represent vandalism, the signs of misuse and rough treatment, yet for the boy, there are traces of fondly remembered experiences…in short, of it’s loving use.”