Cosplaying Paraphernalia

“A couple thousand Katsucon attendees sit in line for two hours to guarantee themselves a seat for cosplay, which turns out to be a bunch of skits performed by elaborately costumed anime and manga fans, who were herded into a greenroom and assigned numbers. The Japanese animation scene seems to place the highest priority on participation: Draw it yourself, act it out, become the cartoon.” (Steuver).

The most important word here is participation. Cosplay, shorthand for costume play, is a type of performance in which participants dress up in costume representing their favorite characters from various media, usually video games or anime. Cosplay is not only important to the video game world, but also the performing art world, as not only is it a group activity (Becker), but it also serves as the paraphernalia that supplements the world they are interpreting. Specifically, Cosplayers who are interpreting the Final Fantasy world.

But what exactly is cosplay? The opinions on this vary, but essentially cosplay is the interpretation of a fantasy world in our reality. Much like Picasso looked up into the starry night and interpreted what he saw, cosplayers look into video game worlds and interpret what they see. Sharpe states artists creating game art approach games as tool sets with which they create their own art, rather than a medium unto itself (Sharpe, p.14). Almost all of cosplaying is game art in that sense, participants are using the fantasy worlds as a tool to create their own art.

When you look at the polygon shapes of Cloud from Final Fantasy 7, and compare it to a fantastic cosplay, the difference is as stark as Starry Night compared to your average night sky. This aesthetic interpretation allows us to see more than just nostalgia in the video games we love, it allows us to see something that is real and important to an entire community.

 

In the words of Becker:

“the interaction of all the involved parties produces a shared sense of worth of what they collectively produce. Their mutual appreciation of the conventions they share, and the support they mutually afford one another, convince them that what they are doing is worth doing. They act under the definition of “art,” their interaction convinces them that what they produce are valid works of art.” (Becker).

The community of the cosplay world exists as a group activity, indeed cosplays almost always occur at conventions and gatherings. These communities maintain, and revise aesthetic criteria through which and by which they experience and understand the works they produce (Sharp, p.7). The cosplay community determines what is acceptable, what should be considered part of their universe, and what is important to the cosplay community as it relates to artistic endeavors. Essentially the cosplay community, through judgement and contests, determine what is relevant. This is important because it sets a standard for cosplaying, it gives it definition and relevance in the art community.

The artistic goals might vary from person to person, but the important thing is that these cosplayers are adding to the paraphernalia of the world they love, and thus becoming an important part of it. In her TED speech, Paola Antonelli talked about how she wanted to strip away paraphernalia when putting video games in the MOMA (Antonelli). She wanted to get to the very base of what made video games a design masterpiece, the code. However, when looking at it as a work of art, certainly from the communal perspective of cosplaying, the paraphernalia is the most important part.  Paola mentions that the controllers are part of the experience that cannot be done away with, but this begs the question, where do we draw the line of what is part of the experience and what is not? To say that the base code is the reason one appreciates a  video game, is to say that the reason one appreciates a beautiful painting is because of the brush and oil used. The paraphernalia is essential to our love of art, it is essential to the communities that deem it important, the communities that deem something art to begin with. Cosplaying isn’t simply reviving nostalgia, it is adding to the breadth of the fantasy world from which it is created. The reasons behind why one might cosplay are irrelevant, the important part is that these imaginations and creations are coming to life. They supplement the experience of the video game world, and are equally important in doing so.

Cosplay is important as an art object because it is a community based paraphernalia that enhances the video game world it is based on through aesthetic. If we can conclude from Hegel that aesthetic is both subjective, and dependent on a correlation between content and form, then cosplay is the ultimate form of aesthetic in terms of real world interpretations of games. The amount of work that is put in (the form) is tremendous,  and the end result (the content) is  meaningful in the cosplay/art community. The aesthetic is highly valued in the cosplay community, and while it is heavily subjective, the correlation between content and form is what makes it so important. Cosplayers and their community value fantastical pieces that take many hours of passion and hard work to produce – and their aesthetic can range anywhere from this true to form reproduction,  to something a bit more flattering. The point is, the actual physical look of the cosplay isn’t as important as the content, the form, and most importantly, the passion.

At the end of the day, cosplay holds an important place in the performance art community. Drawing its inspiration in the form of game art, cosplay communities come together to create an art form that they value for a number of different reasons. Whether it is the aesthetic, the paraphernalia that they provide, or the simple interpretation of something they love, cosplayers will continue to play an important role in how we experience video games and art.

References:

Steuver, Hank. “What Would Godzilla Say?” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2000. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/feed/a49427-2000feb14.htm&gt;.

“Transcript of “Why I Brought Pac-Man to MoMA”” Paola Antonelli: Why I Brought Pac-Man to MoMA. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. <https://www.ted.com/talks/paola_antonelli_why_i_brought_pacman_to_moma/transcript?language=en&gt;.

W. E. Hegel. (1998 [1826]). “Philosophy of Fine Art.” In The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology, edited by D. Preziosi. Oxford: Oxford University Press: pp. 80-88.

Sharp, John. Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Howard Becker. (1982). “Art Worlds and Collective Activity” in Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press: pp. 1-39.

Portal is Art and it Belongs in the Museum of Modern Art

Portal is a 2007 first-person puzzle game created and released by Valve Corporation for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It is considered art because it engages players emotionally, gets them invested in the outcome of the game, has a narrative, and is visually appealing. Portal is currently on display at the New York Museum of Modern Art’s Applied Design collection along with 13 other games. It is rightfully in the collection due to its unique game design which involves the use of portals to create new spaces and to solve puzzles.

Opposing views:

For the past couple of decades videogames have been the subject of an ongoing ‘art versus not art’, debate. The continuous pattern of dialect has been whether the sole purpose of video games are to provide entertainment or if they should be taken into serious consideration within the realm of art.

The video game showing at MoMA has been an achievement for Paola Antonelli (senior curator at MoMA), her colleagues, and the world of video games. However, displaying the 14 games in the Applied Design collection has brought a lot of criticism about whether they should be in the museum at all.

Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube

According to Jonathan Jones, art critic for The Guardian, “A work of art is one person’s reaction to life…it has to be an act of personal imagination…[with games] there is no artist, and therefore no work of art.[1] His idea of art and artworks is that they must have one singular artist whose personal views are represented in the work. However, it’s important to realize that it’s possible to have shared authorship, a concept explained by author Howard Becker in Art Worlds and Collective Activity, “All artistic work…involves the joint activity of a number, often a large number, of people”.[2] Sharing the authorship of a game is a common trend within video game design; wherein the persons employed by the game design company share the authorship over the creation of the work because they all played an equally important role in the production of the game. Thus, the game design company would essentially be viewed as the artist of the work.

Portal:

Portal is a first person puzzle game that involves puzzle solving through the use of teleportation via an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, commonly referred to as a portal gun. The main character of the game is Chell, a female test subject in the Aperture Science Laboratories-Computer Aided Enrichment Center, or Aperture Science for short. During the first half of the game Chell is tested in various test courses with minimal instruction from GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) an Artificial Intelligence entity. Chell later realizes that unless she attempts to escape the facility, she will be exterminated by GLaDOS.

Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device

 

Dynamics:

Chell’s primary tool/weapon is a Portal gun that shoots a blue portal; which is used as an entrance; and an orange portal, which is used as an exit to the blue portal. Chell can launch portals towards walls that are made out of specific materials and use them to teleport herself or objects to different regions of a room. The game also uses unique physics that allow Chell to gain momentum when she jumps directly into a portal from a high platform, ultimately being able to cover longer distances of space.

Some of the puzzles Chell has to solve often involve getting an Aperture Science high energy pellet (or energy ball), which is released from a launcher, onto a catching mechanism to open doors and to raise, lower, and activate platforms in order to advance to further levels. The use of weighted storage cubes and a weighted companion cube are also used to complete test courses by weighing down heavy duty super buttons to open doors, or to climb on to higher platforms. The cubes can also be used against enemies at different levels of the game.

Throughout the game GLaDOS continuously challenges Chell to complete all the test courses with an end reward of cake and counseling.

Storyline:

The game’s storyline is ambiguous and humorous throughout the first half of the game as it is difficult to understand what GLaDOS’ true intentions are. However, at level 16 of 19 it becomes apparent that GLaDOS plans to kill Chell when she is led to a test course filled with Turrets, small android robots armed with laser machine guns and an apparent endless

Turret

supply of ammunition. The game then becomes more sinister, as Chell begins to notice writings on the walls that are cries for help and passages denouncing the credibility of GLaDOS.

During the second part of the game, Chell is able to escape the test rooms and go into lab offices and back rooms, eventually reaching GLaDOS at which point she must attempt to disintegrate her.

Why it is Art:

Art has been defined as the “application of human creative skills and imagination, typically in a visual form…producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty and emotional power”. [3] By this definition Portal can be considered art since it’s presented in visual form and is the product of the creative skills and imagination of the game designers at Valve Corporation. The uniqueness of its dynamics and visual appeal of its graphics are appreciated by players, creating emotional experiences within them.

Even when analyzing the definition of a game, specifically Jesper Juul’s Classic Game Model the importance a game’s effect on its audience is clear.

1.Rules: The rules of the game have to be sufficiently well defined…that    players do not have to argue about them every time they play.

2.Variable, quantifiable outcome: the rules of the game must provide different possible outcomes.

3.Valorization of outcome: Some of the possible outcomes of the game are better than others.

4.Player effort: The players’ actions can influence the state of the game and the game’s outcome.

5.Player attached to outcome: The emotional attachment of the player to the outcome.

6.Negotiable consequences: A game is characterized by the fact that it can optionally be assigned real life consequences. [4]

More specifically, the player’s valorization of certain outcomes within the game lead them to consider the game more thoroughly and to select the outcome that is best for their game play experience. For example, this can be the player choosing where to place portals throughout the game. Closely tied is the player’s efforts to advance to the next test course of the game and how much time and effort the player is willing to invest in order to ultimately pass the game. And also, how the player becomes emotionally attached to the outcome; what the game play experience will ultimately represent to them.

Another way Portal is art is in considering the aesthetics of the game in accordance to Simon Niedenthal’s definition of what game aesthetics refer to:

• The sensory phenomena that the player encounters in the game.

• Those aspects of digital games that are shared with other art forms.

• An expression of the game experienced as pleasure, emotion, sociability, formgiving, etc. [5]

The visual and aural sensory information that players get from Portal, for

GLaDOS

example, where the story takes place. The mostly white rooms that are representative of a lab setting where every now and then the player will run into eerie notes written in red liquid, calling for help. Or the malevolent feedback they get from GLaDOS as Chell continues to defy her expectations and successfully solves each puzzle, are all part of the game aesthetics that make Portal art.

writings on the walls

 

The similarities that Portal has with other art forms is another reason it is art. Like art, Portal was also made through the creative skills of people, with a narrative, for audiences to ponder.

And lastly, the pleasure that Portal brings to audiences that engage in it and the form that is given to the game by the players is another reason it is art.

Why it belongs in the MoMA:

Portal is on exhibition in the Applied Design collection of MoMA which is distinct from its fine arts collection. The reason for this is the role that video games play in interaction design. Paola Antonelli and her colleagues aimed to show various qualities of the games such as the aesthetic experience, the code that forms the games, and the dynamics of the game which determine the behavior of the player within the game and overall the quality of the interaction design of the games.

More specifically, Antonelli used 4 elements of interaction design to assess and present the collection which are; Behavior, Aesthetics, Space, and Time:

Behavior
“The scenarios, rules, stimuli, incentives, and narratives envisioned by the designers come alive in the behaviors they encourage and elicit from the players…A purposefully designed video game can be used…to induce emotions, to test new experiences…”. [6]

Essentially the element of behavior can be extracted from the dynamics and mechanics of the game. The attributes that the game possesses; solving puzzles, avoiding death, and escaping Aperture Science through the use of the Portal gun and weighted cubes. As well as, the ways that all of these actions are able to be completed such as the code, controllers, and platform; Windows, Xbox 360, and PS3. Although, Antonelli has made it a clear point that the exhibition aims to present the games in the clearest form possible, thus eliminating any paraphernalia which may cause nostalgia; such as the consoles and physical game copies. In the end displaying the game against a blank background with, the controller; which is essential to experiencing the game; and the code, which is what the game is made out of.

In Portal, the game designers’ most unique added characteristic was the use of teleportation using the Portal gun. This was an important factor for Antonelli and her colleagues in deciding to add it to their collection because not only was it uncommon and original, but it allowed them to bring in a game which is arguably centered around a gun, that is not used for killing; it does not contribute to gratuitous violence. Equally important to understand, according to Antonelli is that, “…when you see a gun, it’s an instrument for killing in the design collection. If it’s in the art collection, it might be a critique of the killing instrument”,[7] thus providing another reason Portal is art.

Aesthetics
“Visual intention is an important consideration, especially when it comes to the selection of design for an art museum collection. As in other forms of design, formal elegance has different manifestations that vary according to the technology available. The dry and pixilated grace of early games like M.U.L.E. and Tempest can thus be compared to the fluid seamlessness of flOw and vib-ribbon. Just like in the real world, particularly inventive and innovative designers have excelled at using technology’s limitations to enhance a game’s identity—for instance in Yars’ Revenge.”[8]

According to Antonelli’s criteria of aesthetics, the overall visual quality of Portal was analyzed when being admitted to the video game collection. This would be the graphics for its time, the use of colors to relay ideas; for example, the vast use of white to indicate a lab setting or a neutral area, whereas red and darker colors were used in the game to indicate danger and frightening behavior of the A.I. and her army of robots.

Aperture Science Enrichment Center

Space
“The space in which the game exists and evolves—built with code rather than brick and mortar—is an architecture that is planned, designed, and constructed according to a precise program, sometimes pushing technology to its limits in order to create brand new degrees of expressive and spatial freedom…Unlike physical constructs, however, video games can defy spatial logic and gravity, and provide brand new experiences like teleportation and ubiquity.”[9]

The most extraordinary use of space within Portal is teleportation. The use of portals to teleport the character from one space to another, regardless of where the portals are placed is what the game is most known for. The game allows the player to even place portals next to each other on the floor, from which Chell would then be falling in and out of in a continuous loop. The uniqueness of the game due this dynamic is undoubtedly a reason Portal is in MoMA and why it is art.

Time
“Interaction design is quintessentially dynamic, and the way in which the dimension of time is expressed and incorporated into the game—through linear or multi-level progressions, burning time crushing obstacles and seeking rewards and goals, or simply wasting it—is a crucial design choice.”[10]

In the essence of time, Portal is primarily a linear game which the player progresses through as they successfully complete each test. However, it can also be considered a mutli-level game as the beginning of the game is spent going through the test courses in the Enrichment Center, while during the latter part of the game the player spends their time finding an exit from the building; and in the final level of the game, the player must defeat GLaDOS.

What’s unique too, is that although the game is relatively short and can be passed within one day with practice, a new comer may take days or even weeks to solve the puzzles, depending on their effort and how invested they are on the outcome.

In conclusion:

Portal is a unique game that possesses qualities from both the video game and art worlds. It attracts audiences with its composition of graphics; its narrative—its characters, their roles and their significance to the player. The dynamics and the ability to create new spaces and contemplate new ideas. The requirement to solve often challenging puzzles. And overall the emotional response that it evokes from its audience is what defines Portal as art.

 

Notes

[1] Jonathan Jones, “Sorry MoMA, video games are not art,” The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/nov/30/moma-video-games-art

[2] Howard Becker. (1982). “Art Worlds and Collective Activity” in Art Worlds. Berkeley:University of California Press: p. 1.

[3] Art, ­Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=art+define&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[4] Jesper Juul. (2005). “Video Games and the Classic Game Model” in Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press: pp. 37-44.

[5] Simon Niedenthal. (2009). “What We Talk About When We Talk About Game Aesthetics.” In DiGRA 2009: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/09287.17350.pdf

[6] Paola Antonelli. (2015). “Video games: 14 in the collection, for starters.” In MoMA. http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

[7] Paola Antonelli. (2015). “Video games: 14 in the collection, for starters.” In MoMA. http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

[8] Paola Antonelli. (2015). “Video games: 14 in the collection, for starters.” In MoMA. http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

[9] Paola Antonelli. (2015). “Video games: 14 in the collection, for starters.” In MoMA. http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

[10] Paola Antonelli. (2015). “Video games: 14 in the collection, for starters.” In MoMA. http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

 

Flappy Birds in the MOMA

Have you ever played a game that was so simple, yet very difficult at the same time? Flappy Bird is that type of game that will challenge your skills and patience. The game was created in 2013 by a Vietnamese developer and published by Gears Studios. It became the most downloaded free game in the Apple ITunes store and Google Play, in early 2014. The object of the game was to fly a bird between two cylinders by tapping the screen. The bird would sink if you did not tap the screen to make it fly, so the player has to have really good timing and control to precisely fly the bird between the pipes. Passing through each pipe would give you a point and hitting any object would end the game immediately. If your score was lower than ten, you would get no medals. But if your score was between ten and twenty then you would get a bronze medal. Silver medals were given if you scored between twenty through thirty, gold medals were giving from thirty to forty, and platinum for scores above forty. There is no variation to the game, the pipes remain the same distance throughout the game play and no end besides achieving the highest score. The game is simple, but it is very  difficult at the same time like the developer intended it to be. It is a day and age where video games are becoming more and more complex. According to Jesper Juul, Flappy Birds would fit right into his model of classic games because it includes rules, variable outcome, player effort, etc. Flappy Birds is very simplistic and easy to play therefore I believe it should be in the Museum of Modern Arts(MOMA).

Flap Flap Flap

The Museum of Modern Arts has acquired a selection of fourteen video games to add to its’ Applied Design collection. The exhibition includes video games like Pac-Man, Flow, Tetris, and The Sims that features its original version of the code, but some people believe that video games should not be next to Picasso and Van Gogh. These people are wrong because including video games in the MOMA collection will be best thing to happen in the exhibit. An artist uses the oil paintbrush to create the artwork on a canvas just like video games are played on mediums, which is not important. But what is important is the code itself and how it was created internally. “What we want, what we aspire to, is the code. It’s very hard to get, of course, but that’s what would enable us to preserve the video games for a really long time, and that’s what museums do. They also preserve artifacts for prosperity.” So the code and design of the game is important and video games should be able to co-exist alongside incredible artwork like Picasso and Van Gogh. In the next few years, the Museum of Modern Arts is hoping to expand their Applied Design collection and I believe Flappy Bird would make a great fit because of its originality and design.

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Aesthetics
“Aesthetics are really important…So the kind of interferences that you see here that look like beautiful barriers in the game are actually a consequence of the processor’s limitedness, which is fantastic. So aesthetics is always important.”

Flappy Birds uses a similar background like the ones you see in Super Mario Brothers. The blue sky, clouds and green pipes gives players a sense of familiarity because of the visual similarity to games that we are familiar with.  The aesthetics are very simple with bold colors to make important figures pop, so it does not blend into the background. So you can focus on the Flappy Bird and flap in-between the green pipes. The aesthetics are so simple that it is reproducible like the many that were recreated after Flappy Bird’s eventual removal, but none could imitate the original version.

Super Mario Brothers

Time
“The way we experience time in video games, as in other forms of interaction design, is really quite amazing. It can be real time or it can be the time within the game, as is in Animal Crossing, where seasons follow each other at their own pace.”

In the game, the seasons do not change nor does the time. So the time in the game is not relative, but what is relative is the time it takes to play one session of Flappy Birds. This game was intended for players who are always on the go and wants to enjoy a quick game to pass by time. One session can take anywhere from one second to a minute at most, unless you are really good at flying a bird through green pipes then it can take a few minutes. The game was invented for those who are too busy to play games like Angry Birds or Clash of Clans throughout the day. So to kill time, they can play Flappy Birds for a few seconds, which can turn into minutes after a few tries. This game is also great to kill time when they are waiting in the doctor’s office or in-between schedules because it is so simple and quick. I believe that is what makes the game enjoyable, from its simplicity and time it takes to play one session.

Space
“So is space, the spatial aspect of games. You know, I feel that the best video games are the ones that have really savvy architects that are behind them, and if they’re not architects, bona fide trained in architecture, they have that feeling. But the spatial evolution in video games is extremely important The real core issue of interaction design is behavior. Designers that deal with interaction design behaviors that go to influence the rest of our lives. They’re not just limited to the interaction with the screen.”

Pass the green pipes to score

The game is a 2-Dimensional space where you can tap the screen to move upwards to avoid the green pipes. In the game the space is limited, but the interaction you use with the space you have is crucial. Players have to maneuver in-between two long green pipes without touching them or else the game is over.

Behavior
“The real core issue of interaction design is behavior. Designers that deal with interaction design behaviors that go to influence the rest of our lives. They’re not just limited to our interaction with the screen. In this case, I’m showing you Marble Madness, which is a beautiful game in which the controller is a big sphere that vibrates with you, so you have a sphere that’s moving with this landscape, and the sphere, the controller itself, gives you a sense of the movement. In a way, you can see how video games are the purest aspect of interaction design and are very useful to explain what interaction is.”

Flappy Birds has a specific sound or tune when you tap the screen of your smart phone. There is another tune when you score by maneuvering through the pipes. These two tunes are uniquely different sound that you are able to distinguish between flying upward and when you score. The sounds and visual effects helps you get into a rhythm with the game. Personally, the rhythm has not been in my favor because my scores are all low. But for others, it is very helpful for them to hear and see the effects so players become involved in the game and try to achieve a high score.

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Early 2014, the developer decided to remove the game from the ITunes app store and Google Play, due to the rise in legal tensions with Nintendo with Flappy Birds being too visually similar to Super Mario Brothers. The removal of the game caused a huge outbreak of people selling their personal smart phones with the original game on it to be sold for a thousand dollars or more. People who did not download the game could not get the original copy anymore and that led to a high demand for the video game.

The removal also cause a huge spawn of remakes and copycats of the original game. Games like Sesame Street’s Flappy Bert, Flappy Birds Family, and my very own creation Happy Flappy Turtle. The game was removed at the pinnacle of its success and many developers, like myself, tried to recreate that magical game. My version, Happy Flappy Turtle, was aesthetically better and has great sound effects that keeps your mind engaged on the game, in my opinion. Sadly, like all remakes, it failed to do one thing, which was to capture players with it’s familiarity and difficulty that tested the skill of many players. The coding behind game is incomparable, but it made the game very simplistic and very hard to fly upward through the green pipes at the same time. Remakes of Flappy Birds did not succeed like the original. The copycats of the game failed to appeal to players who demanded the game and flopped compared to Flappy Birds. People still want the original version of Flappy Birds, not the counterfeit. In conclusion, I believe Flappy Birds should be in the Museum of Modern Arts Applied Design exhibition, due to the popularity, design, simplicity, and unique form of its coding where no other developer could duplicate.

 

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References

• http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/
• Antonelli, Poala. “Transcript of “Why I Brought Pac-Man to MoMA”” Paola Antonelli: Why I Brought Pac-Man to MoMA.
  https://www.ted.com/talks/paola_antonelli_why_i_brought_pacman_to_moma/transcript?language=en
• Jesper Juul. (2005). “Video Games and the Classic Game Model” in Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press: pp. 37-44. https://catcourses.ucmerced.edu/courses/3484/files/folder/Resources?preview=96044
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flappy_Bird

Lets Get Things Straight

Art is a hard thing to define, there are people that believe that art is a beautiful and elegant piece that makes you reflect, and then there are others that believe that art is something that is made out of imagination and skill. Art is very much up to opinion, if you ask me. What others consider art, may not be something I would consider art.  Regardless, museums and art exhibits are places where many people come to agree to a fluid definition of art. The MoMA is a good example of the varying definitions of art, as it has many critiques on what the museum exhibits.

What is the MoMA? The MoMA is the Museum of Modern Arts and it is located in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1929 and it was an educational institution at the time.  Now it is a museum that strives to be the most dedicated museum of modern art in the world.

“The Museum of Modern Art manifests this commitment by establishing, preserving, and documenting a permanent collection of the highest order that reflects the vitality, complexity and unfolding patterns of modern and contemporary art; by presenting exhibitions and educational programs of unparalleled significance; by sustaining a library, archives, and conservation laboratory that are recognized as international centers of research”(Antonelli, 2012)

The MoMA focuses on artistic traditions beginning in the late nineteenth century to present day. It has been remodeled and expanded. Unlike other museums, the MoMA is more modern about what it exhibits, it embraces the new and misunderstood traditions. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before videogames became part of their many collections.

Their Architecture and Design section in the Applied Design exhibition is where they exhibit video games. The MoMA has around twenty two videogames in its collection, with forty in its wish list. The original collection included:

• Pac-Man (1980)
• Tetris (1984)
• Another World (1991)
• Myst (1993)
• SimCity 2000 (1994)
• vib-ribbon (1999)
• The Sims (2000)
• Katamari Damacy (2004)
• EVE Online (2003)
• Dwarf Fortress (2006)
• Portal (2007)
• flOw (2006)
• Passage (2008)
• Canabalt (2009)

Since then, they have added a couple of more games, one of which is the video game Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition which quite honestly I don’t think belongs in the collection. But first we must talk about the collection,

The video games are located in the Architecture and design galleries in the Applied Design section. Now, as the Museum of Modern Arts, you can expect that stepping into any exhibit you will more than likely find, art. Paola Antonelli the senior curator of the Architecture and Design department is the person responsible for acquiring the original fourteen video games for the museum’s collection. Antonelli very much invites the presence of design into every part of life. In her Ted Talk, Why I brought Pac-Man to MoMA, she explains her embrace to interaction design, not only video games but all interaction design, but mostly video games. She argues that by taking the games as part of the collection she was not making the statement that video games are art, more so that they are design. However, later in her talk she uses an interesting example:

“The New Republic, so pretentious, by Liel Leibovitz, and it said, “MoMA has mistaken video games for art.” Again. “The museum is putting Pac-Man alongside Picasso.” Again. “That misses the point.” Excuse me. You’re missing the point. And here, look, the above question is put bluntly: “Are video games art? No. Video games aren’t art because they are quite thoroughly something else: code.” Oh, so Picasso is not art because it’s oil paint. Right?”(Paola Antonelli, 2013)

She claims she’s isn’t trying to call them art, but her comparison/argument seems to point in the direction that it is.  In fact, the fact that they are in the Museum of Modern ARTS, points to the notion that they are being considered art. Finally, she clears it up, yes video games can be art, but her focus is the design of them. Nonetheless, whether they are art or not is not my argument. Then she goes on to what makes certain video games so special and worthy of being in the collection.

“You know, video games can be truly deep even when they’re completely mindless.”(Antonelli, 2013)

“It’s so difficult to show people that it’s not about decoration, it’s not about superfluity — it’s about real life” (Antonelli, The Verge, 2014).

She talks about the four traits that must be considered when choosing the video games that would take part of the collection.

1. Behavior- The scenarios, rules, stimuli, incentives, and narratives.
2. Aesthetics- Design and using the technology to enhance the game.
3. Space- Where the game exists and evolves.
4. Time- All aspects, how long is the game, in the period of time it is expressed in.

Interestingly enough you begin to realize that each individual game must fit one of these, but not all necessarily. Antonelli also points out that Street Fighter is part of the collection because “martial art are good” (2013) She has convincing arguments for why other games are in the collection but her small comment on Street Fighter II, is ridicules.

My first question is, why out of all the Street Fighter games, is the Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition, the chosen one for the MoMA? Why isn’t it the original Street Fighter (1989), or the first Street Fighter II (1991) edition?

 

The Hyper Street Fighter 2: Anniversary Edition is a fighting game by Capcom that was initially released in 2003 (2004 in North America). It was released to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the street fighter series. It’s a modified version of the Super Street Fighter II: Turbo edition, in which the player can play any of the other five previous Street Fighter II games released.

1. The World Warrior
2. Special Champion edition
3. Turbo
4. New Challengers
5. HD Remix

The main objective was to beat your opponent by engaging with them until their health was gone. The reason for this specific version being chosen is unclear. The only real reason would be because Street fighter was such a popular game and this specific version commemorates many of the games. The fact that Street Fighter is in the collection isn’t at question, but their chosen version is. I think Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition should not be in the MoMA collection.

First, it praises violence, not martial arts, because the quality of the games allow little to no real martial art technique. Antonelli argues that GTA cannot be included in the collection because it is solely about violence, there is no deeper meaning outside of beating people up, sex and drugs. But all street fighter is, is fighting. And the female characters design is very particular.  So it can’t be the behavior of the game because we begin to see some correlation between Street Fighter and GTA.

 

Now we question Aesthetics, “As in other forms of design, formal elegance has different manifestations that vary according to the technology available.”(Antonelli, 2012) Because the game is composed of different versions, there are different qualities of visual manifestations throughout the game, but as stated in their website, the quality should be dependent on the available technology. Although Street Fighter goes back, the Hyper Street Fighter 2: Anniversary Edition was released in 2003, by then quality was much better than some of the representation in the game.

Space, for the most part the game remains two dimensional, with the occasional interaction with the background in some versions. Nothing really special. There is not much that this game does to explore new experiences of space, like teleportation, and the little there is, it’s not really under the players control. Your interaction with the game is not causing it.

Time is linear in the game; the game has very short rounds. I would assume that the time aspect in the design choice was purposefully to have quick rounds, considering the game was originally an arcade game. The design in time and its purpose was very good choice. And in some of the versions there is more flexibility with the time limit and rounds than in others.

The design of the game is hard to judge because it is composed of other games, therefore judging it alone is hard, because each playing option is a little different. So it can’t be a completely new design. Yeah some things are different that perhaps haven’t been seen before but not really. Yes the four games are great on their own but putting them all together doesn’t build something too impressive. What makes the anniversary version so great is the nostalgia that may be come when playing these games. Which, Antonelli has made very clear that she wants to stay away from. Even one of MoMA’s artist’s agrees that the collection choices may not be the right ones, “I wouldn’t be surprised if MoMA’s initial videogames acquisitions aren’t the right ones”(Maeda, 2012)

I believe the proper choice should have been Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991).  This game was originally released as an arcade game and made many break-throughs.  It’s the sequel to the original Street Fighter (1989) and it’s a much more improved version. It includes the command-based special moves and the six button configuration. Some of the more important improvements were the multiple character options with their own fighting style and the competitive multiplayer combat between two players. It was this version that was credited for starting the fighting game “boom” during the 1990s.(Wikia) This game inspired other game developers to produce fighting games.

In The Hegemony of Play the authors discuss how games are a part of culture and have changed throughout the years, but those games that have a huge influence are the ones that go down in history. Street Fighter II: The Word Warrior had huge success and although the anniversary version includes this as one of their options and they have a reference to 1991 game, it is not the one that they have in their museum. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior should have been the one displayed, video games are part of our culture now, and Street Fighter II contributed to what video games are today. Hyper Street Fighter 2: Anniversary Edition did not have the same effect and thus should not be in the MoMA.

Works Cited

Antonelli, Paola. “VIDEO GAMES: 14 IN THE COLLECTION, FOR STARTERS.” InsideOut. N.p., 29 Nov. 2012.

“Hyper Street Fighter II.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 12 Dec. 2015. Web.

Janine Fron, Tracy Fullerton, Jacquelyn Ford Morie, and Celia Pearce. (2007). “The Hegemony of Play.” In Digital Gaming Research Association: Situated Play. Tokyo. [http:// http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/the-hegemony-of-play/%5D

Kastrenakes, Jacob. “The Art Arcade: MoMA Collects 40 Years of Innovative Design.” The Verge. Vox Media, 17 Feb. 2014. Web.

Maeda, John. “Videogames Do Belong in the Museum of Modern Art.” Web log post. WIRED. Conde Nast, 04 Dec. 2012. Web.

<a id=”ref6″></a>Paola Antonelli. (2013). “Why I Brought Pac-Man to MoMA.” TEDSalon NY2013. [https:// http://www.ted.com/talks/paola_antonelli_why_i_brought_pacman_to_moma?language=en%5D.

“Street Fighter II.” Wikia. Angela Beesley and Jimmy Wales, n.d. Web.

 

 

The game reproducing a city in the game

Intro

Hello, guys! For the final analysis in this class, I chose the game called “Subarasikikonosekai” means it’s a beautiful world in Japanese. However, there is an English version existing now and it name is “The world end with you.” Both version does not have any differences, only difference is a language, so perhaps there is some difference happened because of the translation and language differences. I have played both Japanese one and English one, and thought there is no difference, so maybe there is no difference in both version. The game Subarasikikonosekai is too long and have some difficulty to read for people who are not familiar in Japanese, so I call this game as “SK” in this blog post.  

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About the game

SK is one of the Japanese action game that is for Nintendo DS. This game was created by the game company Square Enix in 2007, and English version was created in 2008. In Japan, this game was famous for the game which use two screen and function of Nintendo DS very effectively. As you know that the trait of Nintendo DS is having two screen, one screen is a touch screen, you can use mike, and have four keys on the right side that are A,B,X, and Y compare to past Nintendo game hard before Nintendo DS such as gameboy and gameboyadvance.

Wikipedia is a good source for basic information about SK, and also official website is useful too but the site was closed now. Therefore, I can take you to the website of remake version that is for android and iphone. Of course remake version is not for Nintendo DS, so that page is just for understanding the story and characters. If you can read and understand Japanese, here is the link of Japanese version. This website is a page of Nintendo DS original version.

The field of the game is the city called Shibuya which is in Tokyo, Japan. This game is reproducing real city in the game, so we can feel and see the real city Shibuya in the game. In addition, some products which can buy in the game is clothes and food exist in real Shibuya too, so I think the game succeed to reproduce the real city in the game.

The action part, which is one of the trait of this game is very unique. All the characters use psychic when they battle, the main character Neku use variety of psychics. To use psychics, player have to get each badges. The badges are key thing to use psychic. If you set one badge in the deck, Neku can use one psychic, if you set five badges, Neku can use five psychics. The badges have levels, and if the badges grows, the psychic will get stronger. To use psychic in the battle, player will use some functions of Nintendo DS, which means touch, flick, and scroll, Here is the gameplay of battle using the function of the game hard.

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MOMA

MOMA is one of the famous museum in the world which opens in New York. MOMA stands for “The Museum of Modern Art” so that many arts in MOMA is modern art. You can also see Wikipedia page of MOMA for general information.

In MOMA, there are 14 videogames that are thought as modern art. According to Paola Antonelli, videogames in MOMA are described like this: (1)

Are video games art? They sure are, but they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe. The games are selected as outstanding examples of interaction design—a field that MoMA has already explored and collected extensively, and one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity. Our criteria, therefore, emphasize not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the many other aspects—from the elegance of the code to the design of the player’s behavior—that pertain to interaction design.

Video Games in MOMA has characteristic of aesthetic, space, time and behavior. This is know as famous aspects. However, from the quote, we can see that the design is also the important factor of video games in MOMA.

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Should be in MOMA

Aesthetic is one of the key of MOMA video games. According to Simon Niedenthal, game aesthetics are refer as these three: (2)

1. Game aesthetics refers to the sensory phenomena that the player encounters in the game (visual, aural, haptic, embodied).

2. Game aesthetics refers to those aspects of digital games that are shared with other art forms (and thus provides a means of generalizing about art).

3. Game aesthetics is an expression of the game experienced as pleasure, emotion, sociability, formgiving, etc.

From these three, we can see that aesthetic is more like what you see in the game. In SK, you will see the city where is a reproduction of real city, so that I can say you are seeing real city in the game. However, the character design is not realistic, not look like a real human.

Have you ever seen a human like this? Having a very thin arm like a branch and having a hair like this hard? I think you never see in the real world. This is important thing to say that SK have aesthetic. Too feel aesthetic in video game, the thing in the game has to be a design. Too realistic like hyperrealistic, is art, but it is hard to say about the design and beauty in the game because to feel as fiction can help player to think aesthetic. However, SK has realistic when we talk about the city design.

Also, you can go to some shops in the game and buy some product like clothes and food. this is same as real world experience.

For that reason, we can see SK is mixture of variety of art form because this has beauty of real and fiction, so that we can say SK can be in one of the video games in MOMA.

Space is a thing which is a trait of MOMA video games, and according to Paola Antonelli, its meaning is this: (3)

The space in which the game exists and evolves—built with code rather than brick and mortar —is an architecture that is planned, designed, and constructed according to a precise program, sometimes pushing technology to its limits in order to create brand new degrees of expressive and spatial freedom. As in reality, this space can be occupied individually or in groups. Unlike physical constructs, however, video games can defy spatial logic and gravity, and provide brand new experiences like teleportation and ubiquity.

This space, is one of the important trait of SK because as I said, this game is reproducing a real city in the game.

The pictures above are example screenshots of the game, this is he central area of Shibuya. You can see many people are walking in the city, and there is many building on backward.

 

This is the menu of SK, and in the above screen, there is a map of Shibuya you can go. this shape is a city’s shape and it is same as a real city.

Therefore, I can say that this game succeeded to reproduce the real space in one game because all areas are existing still now.  (perhaps some shops are not there, but the main building, main sculpture, and geographic does not change)

 

 

Time is a thing which is a trait of MOMA video games, and according to Paola Antonelli, its meaning is this: (3)

How long is the experience? Is it a quick five minutes, as in Passage? Or will it entail several painstaking years of bliss, as in Dwarf Fortress? And whose time is it anyway, the real world’s or the game’s own, as in Animal Crossing? Interaction design is linear or multi-level progressions, burning time crushing obstacles and seeking rewards and goals, or simply wasting it—is a crucial design choice.

The time is difficult thing to say, but in this game, time is very important factor. The story of this game is unique, that all characters who can use psychics are already dead. However, there is a chance to live again, and to reborn, those characters have to clear some missions in the game which has a time limit. So, generally, characters who are dead seems not have to think about the time; however, they have to because they want to live again.

In other perspective, the time of the game when it created is 2007, so Shibuya in game is 2007. Therefore, we can see and feel Shibuya when it was 2007, this period is somehow important to feel some cultural differences or similarities. We can say that if you play this game, you can feel and see the culture of Shibuya, Japan.

Behavior is a thing which is a trait of MOMA video games, and according to Paola Antonelli, its meaning is this: (3)

The scenarios, rules, stimuli, incentives, and narratives envisioned by the designers come alive in the behaviors they encourage and elicit from the players, whether individual or social. A purposefully designed video game can be used to train and educate, to induce emotions, to test new experiences, or to question the way things are and envision how they might be. Game controllers are extensions and enablers of behaviors, providing in some cases (i.e. Marble Madness) an uncanny level of tactility.

Behavior is the thing that almost all people have. While you play this game, you can feel that you are in Shibuya, period of 2007 because of the reason I wrote in this post, and creators made this game as a reproduction of one city, contains culture, atmosphere, and environment. Of course this is an action game, you can enjoy playing the story and action. SK has unique way of battle and play compare to other Nintendo DS game, you can enjoy by using functions of Nintendo DS.

John Maeda said, (4)

I would argue that in some cases, games edge past being design to being art as well. Because unlike the mechanical function of a car, a narrative replaces the act of physically getting you from point A to point B. A narrative that you, the player, gets to drive and live through until it’s game over. This is where videogames become an art-like act of “personal imagination.”

I think this means that if you start play a video game and have fun till game over, that means you are in game world while you play. This is how player’s behavior is moved and feel fun.  Feeling like this means you are enjoying the game, that behavior is important in both art and game.

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Ending

SK has aesthetics, space, time, and behavior. I think all of them are sufficiently level to be in MOMA video games. So, I want to say that Subarasikikonosekai (The world end with you) should be in MOMA because of the success of reproducing a real city and culture in the game.

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Reference 1

“VIDEO GAMES: 14 IN THE COLLECTION, FOR STARTERS.” InsideOut. Paola Antonelli, 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.[http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/]

Reference 2

Simon Niedenthal. (2009). “What We Talk About When We Talk About Game Aesthetics.” InDiGRA 2009: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. [http://http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/09287.17350.pdf]

Reference 3

Paola Antonelli. (2013). “Why I Brought Pac-Man to MoMA.” TEDSalon NY2013. [https://http://www.ted.com/talks/paola_antonelli_why_i_brought_pacman_to_moma?language=en]

Reference 4

John Maeda. (2012). “Videogames Do Belong in the Museum of Modern Art.” Wired Online.December 4. [http://www.wired.com/2012/12/why-videogames-do-belong-in-the-museum-of-modern-art/]

Reference of links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Ends_with_You

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/subarashiki-solo-remix/en/

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/subarashiki/

http://www.moma.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Modern_Art

 

Revised Syllabus

Attached is the revised syllabus from November 10th until the end of the term.

GASP151_Rev_Syllabus_Fa15

All-out on Fallout

Given my great amount of excitement for the release of Fallout 4 November 9th at 9pm (Pre-order release at Gamestop), I decided to go with Fallout: New Vegas. Fallout: New Vegas is a single player, action role-playing game in the Fallout video game series. The game was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is based in a post-apocalyptic, open world environment around the area of Nevada, California, and Arizona ish. The player controls the character known as the Courier, who is hired by a delivery service to take an unknown package across the Mojave desert to the New Vegas Strip. During the delivery, the courier is shot in the head and left for dead. At the beginning of the game, you wake up in the home of a doctor, and are able to choose the way your character looks, what your attributes will be, your characteristics, etc. You go back into the desert to seek revenge and find the package that was stolen from you. As the courier, you choose one of 4 different paths; fight for caesar (a group of Romanesque slavers), the NCR or New California Republic (an expansionist militia government), Mr. House (the enigmatic de facto ruler of new vegas), or you can do your own thing with the help of a friendly robot named ‘Yes Man’.

Is it a Game?

Well, as I mentioned in one of my previous articles, I agree with Juul 110% on what a game is;

1. Rules: Games are rule-based.
2. Variable, quantifiable outcome: Games have variable, quantifiable outcomes.
3. Valorization of outcome: The different potential outcomes of the game are assigned different values, some positive and some negative
4. Player effort: The player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome.
5. Player attributed outcome: The player is emotionally attached to the outcome of the game in the sense that the player will be a winner and ‘happy’ in case of a positive outcome, but a loser ‘unhappy’ in case of a negative outcome.
6. Negotiable consequences: The same game can be played with or without real-life consequences.

Fallout Karma Levels from bad (left), to good (right)

There are rules, although not very many because you make every single choice for your character, there are things that the game limits you to, such as the map, for example. There is a variable outcome, having control over New Vegas, is an example of that. And there is a quantifiable outcome, whether that be completely fulfilling all of the characters attributes or having a large amount of money to purchase any weapon you desire. There is a valorization of outcome in the sense that you control your karma level (you can have good karma or bad karma based on the things you do throughout the game), and you control who you decide to work with at the end of the game. That could be Mr. house (bad guy), the NCR (good guys), the legion (more bad guys), or yourself (good or bad guy). There is A LOT of player effort that has a large part to do with your outcome. The player is emotionally connected to the outcome because as the player, you could literally kill just about everyone in the entire game if you wanted to. You would be considered a bad guy, but it depends on you as a person. This would roll over into the player attributed outcome. And there are negotiable consequences.

Is it Art? 

Fallout: Titanic (Ha!)

“At first glance, we can identify a number of similarities (between games and art), both are presenting spatiotemporal zones, which are perceived as different from everyday life. Furthermore, art, as well as games, are said to be on the one hand governed by rules and on the other hand related to notions of freedom”

• Clarke and Mitchell, “Videogames and Art” p. 26

Hmm, governed by rules? That sounds familiar (cough, Juul, cough). Oh, notions of freedom? As in using games as an escape from the real world because the real world is fu***d up? Maybe. Do I consider this game as art? Of course I do. Because according to the Oxford English Dictionary, art is “Skill; it’s display, application, or expression.” And with Fallout: New Vegas, it took a major amount of skill to be able to create a game or space where the player is truly engulfed to the point where when the player plays, he/she is taken to a world that separates them from real life. A world that is esthetically pleasing and entertaining, and also gives you the freedom to do as you please.

I honestly can’t say what art is, but if there was a way to truly connect art and game or express art through game, I would without a doubt add Fallout 3, New Vegas, and even Fallout 4 (even though I haven’t played it yet) to that conversation.

The Dream Game

My life took a sharp turn as soon as I was introduced to basketball when I first moved to the United States. I began playing this marvelous sport daily aspiring for only two outcomes; one, becoming a professional basketball player, and two, getting taller. Unfortunately, due to genetics I wasn’t able to grow much taller, but there is still hope for me becoming an NBA star. Aside from the physical sport I’ve also been a big fan of NBA video games for a long period of time such as the most recently released, “NBA 2k16”. Unlike all previously made NBA 2K games this one is as real as it gets.

              For those who don’t know, NBA 2k16 is a simulated basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2k Sports. Throughout the years Visual Concepts have done a marvelous job at enhancing their video game graphics, sounds, dynamics and etc. Consequently, consumers, like me, have more of an incentive to continue playing the game because it is fun! Specifically, NBA 2k16 has exceeded their expectations by allowing the film director and producer, Spike Lee, to direct and write a portion of NBA 2k16. Within the videogame there is a single player option (MyCareer Mode) that allows the player to create his/her own NBA character. More so, this character will get to experience a career of an NBA player who gets to travel, play games, go to practice, talk to the media and etc. Nonetheless, Spike Lee has made this year’s edition more special by altering MyCareer Mode to making it more narrative-oriented. I believe that Spike Lee presented himself as a phenomenal artist because he has elevated the player’s experience greatly by giving a more in depth view of an NBA player’s life.

Though a lot of the videogame’s success came from Spike Lee, this all wouldn’t have been possible without the work of Visual Concepts, 2k sports, and all the people who were involved in creating this artwork. According to the American sociologist, Howard Becker, everyone involved in the creation of NBA 2k16 is considered an artist because they all contributed in some way or another. In his book Art Worlds and Collective Activity he states that:

“participants in the making of art works, and members of society generally, regard some of the activities necessary to the production of a form of art as “artistic,” requiring the special gifts or sensibility of an artist. They further regard those activities as the core activities of art… [and they] define the people who perform other activities as (to borrow a military term) support personnel, reserving the title of “artist” for those who perform the core activities.”

Ultimately, I am very appreciative of everyone involved in the creation of this videogame because if weren’t for them I wouldn’t be able to beat my friends whenever they come and visit me. I personally suggest that everyone who owns a Sony PlayStation or an Xbox should buy NBA 2k16. If you don’t believe me then take look at IGN Entertainment’s review by clicking here.

 

Howard Becker, “Art Worlds and Collective Activity.” In Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press: pp. 1-39.

 

Authors of Despicable Me: Minion Rush

I chose to play Despicable Me: Minion Rush. There was a couple versions of this game for different devices for example Minion Rush was for Android by Gameloft, and for the iPhone and iPad Despicable Me: Minion Mania. In was available to the public in 2013. The games were based off the movie Despicable Me that came out in 2010. Since its release there has been an updated version. With the game there is a short video that you watch that shows another minion getting an award. After the award there is one minion that is disgruntled and attempts to take the award away, then the game starts.

The game is a series obstacles for each level. Once you have achieved the goal for that level you move on the next level. Each level is based off places in the movies such as the lab, the neighborhood where they lived etc. The levels get harder and require more effort to get to the next level. For example I had to slide under ten objects in one minute. Sometimes there was a time limit on it. Nut most of the time it was based on how many times I could do something or how many items I could collect, hit, and miss. There was items like freeze rays, bananas, shield, a rocket and even something that increases your size ten times. While you are running to avoid cars, bombs, robots, and electric rays, you have to collect bananas. Bananas are the currency. You can but other minions, outfits, or get longer distances on items like the shield. So the money bananas you collect the better chance you have of beating a level.

Despicable Me: Minion Rush developer is GameLoft. This game was created after the movie(s) Despicable Me. Since the game is heavily based on the movie. Credit also goes to Mac Guff who did the animation for the films. I think that in many cases as discussed in class there is not one sole person who creates a game, this idea of team work and not having one sole “creator” is much like what Becker said, “the division of labor does not require that all the people involved in producing the art object be in the same roof, like assembly-line workers” (Becker, 13) This means that you can have many people all working on one project and not be together in a room or even in the same country. As long as everyone is one the same page and understand the collective goal than, collective work can be created.

The creators did a great job in incorporating the different characters in the movie it was interesting, fun, and challenging. They had characters in the game that were in the movie. The authors did a great job in creating the game. I have played game that are based on movies and sometimes there it’s the same feel and flow as the movie. This is not the case here, it was following the move but still had its own little twist to the game. Without the original animation of Mac Guff then the movie would not have been brought to life.

Howard Becker, “Art Worlds and Collective Activity.” In Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press: pp. 1-39.