Media Living: Convergence and whodunnit
Sep. 25th, 2008 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wordwhackerGah! I am at the mercy of technology here. It's been over a week since I did the reading that I want to talk about, and my browser died when I tried to re-open it. And one thing led to another and I found myself uninstalling and deleting old programs to make more space on my hard drive. But that's okay, because it kind of leads into what I want to talk about, and maybe while I'm rambling I'll get that reading open again.
Something that bugged me about the Jenkins reading (if I'm remembering correctly - will know soon, anyhow, browser-permitting) is that it seemed to imply that "convergence" was mostly happening in one direction - big media companies merging making technology that allows users to do more with a single piece of technology, for instance. Sure, that's definitely happening - but what MAKES it a good business move? Might it be user demand? Not that it's ALL originating with the users, but there's definitely a kind of feed-back loop happening where people are coming up with new uses for technology and companies are responding to this. Argh, the browser's not cooperating tonight. Anyway, Jenkins may have hinted at this but it seems to me that he suggested that the source of convergence was mostly ORIGINATING in the big media company mergers and then trickling down. And that bugged me.
I had a brief discussion in the comments of the last entry with my friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eternalism, and a bunch of interesting stuff came up, including a bit of thought about convergence. You can take a peek if you're in the mood.
Lately I've been (re)watching the Zero Punctuation Game Reviews over at The Escapist, and catching up a bit on The Angry Video Game Nerd. I've been an AVGN fan for about a year now, but ever since I found out about Zero Punctuation it has definitely taken over as my favourite. This is for a variety of reasons, but I can narrow it down to three key ones:
1) Yahtzee (who does ZP) is verbose. Yes, he talks a LOT in each review, and he does it very, very fast. But his writing is great and makes for four and a half minutes of blissful hilarity.
2) The ZP drawing and still-frame video style is really cool. Rather than being a straight-up video it's almost more like an audio review with a slideshow commentary.
3) While both the AVGN and ZP videos involve copious swearing, lewd and grotesque imagery, and are generally irreverant as hell, ZP does it (in my opinion) MUCH more effectively. (I won't say that it's exactly CLASSIER, but instead of just going for the straight-up gross out ZP is more inventive and is used for better effect and punctuation.
I have to say, it's kind of cool that I am sitting here, commenting on which dialect and style of curse words I prefer. If I was talking about television, I... wouldn't be talking about television. Swearing is still super-taboo. But swearing is de-rigeur in a lot of content online. A couple of webcomics that I frequent (namely, Questionable Content and xkcd) are definitely more mild than AVGN or ZP, but they still aren't afraid to throw the F-bomb around. Again, I like these particular comics because they don't DEPEND on swearing for laughs, but because they DO use it when it feels right.
Because let's face it, lots of we internet users swear. I'm quite the potty-mouth on my own time. (I've just gotten really good at turning it off for school, work, etc.) It makes sense that this kind of thing would start coming out of a participatory, user-created-content kind of environment.
TV has definitley lightened up a lot over the years, though. Here, go watch the late great George Carlin's "Words you can't say on TV" routine. (In case you're wondering, they are (or were): Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits.) Obviously, people have been talking and thinking about the ways we're allowed and generally not allowed to use media for quite some time. Obviously not everybody exactly LOVES having their programmes peppered with swear words, but they have lots and lots of content which is catered to them already. A lot of which is on the internet (it isn't a COMPLETE cesspool, after all.)
I've been playing "The Bully" lately (basically an RPG-ish first person interactive kind of game which takes place in the seediest, crappiest school EVER). This is a game that I NEVER thought I would like, but I am really enjoying it. What can I say? There's something cathartic about getting to run around and get in trouble and make out with random girls (and this one guy - your character is male. Apparently this REALLY bugged some people when the game came out. And they had no problem with the REST of the content?!) It's a generally well constructed game, with just enough going on at any given time (little quests, errands, jobs, classes) to keep you addicted. I've been playing for a couple of hours here and there over the past week or so.
Oh yes, and my kick pedal for Rock Band BROKE! Finally. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did (then again, I WAS in Australia for five and a half months...) I ordered a new one the other day which is made out of metal and gets pretty good reviews on Amazon and in some peoples' YouTube reviews. It's nice to be able to hear other actual people talking about it instead of just commercials. (It's the "Roadie" pedal, if that interests you for some reason.) Should arrive in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I've been working on drum rolls and other hand work in practice mode, while just miming the kick pedal hits with my foot.
I'm EXTREMELY happy with the drums for Rock Band, apart from the whole foot pedal issue. Remember that "digital guilt" I was talking about last time? Well, I don't get it when I practice the drums on Rock Band. Maybe it's because I've actually developped skills that could conceivably be translated to REAL drums. I definitely have a new appreciation for drummers and generally "get" the construction of drum rhythms that I didn't before.
What I REALLY love is that this game lets me - an actual musician, if a relatively amateurish one - "play music" in a sense with my non-musical-instrument-oriented friends. There is something really fun about this kind of collaborative rhythm-based gameplay. Something that I really appreciate is the way that the game uses visual elements to heighten the "team-players" atmosphere. The best example is when everybody does a passage correctly and gets "Overdrive" at the same time, which causes each user's screen to flash yellow. The song "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" is probably the best example - it seriously makes me giddy with glee to play it with friends. This is basically translating that "oh man, we are SO TIGHT" feeling - which is a very authentic musical experience - into a visual, shared medium. Very cool. (I also love the drum fills, which let me improv a bit and thus build skills on how to do so effectively and without losing the beat.)
This is the kind of game that I wanted to play when I was a kid. We're living in the future! A land of miracle and wonder!
Something that bugged me about the Jenkins reading (if I'm remembering correctly - will know soon, anyhow, browser-permitting) is that it seemed to imply that "convergence" was mostly happening in one direction - big media companies merging making technology that allows users to do more with a single piece of technology, for instance. Sure, that's definitely happening - but what MAKES it a good business move? Might it be user demand? Not that it's ALL originating with the users, but there's definitely a kind of feed-back loop happening where people are coming up with new uses for technology and companies are responding to this. Argh, the browser's not cooperating tonight. Anyway, Jenkins may have hinted at this but it seems to me that he suggested that the source of convergence was mostly ORIGINATING in the big media company mergers and then trickling down. And that bugged me.
I had a brief discussion in the comments of the last entry with my friend
eternalism, and a bunch of interesting stuff came up, including a bit of thought about convergence. You can take a peek if you're in the mood.Lately I've been (re)watching the Zero Punctuation Game Reviews over at The Escapist, and catching up a bit on The Angry Video Game Nerd. I've been an AVGN fan for about a year now, but ever since I found out about Zero Punctuation it has definitely taken over as my favourite. This is for a variety of reasons, but I can narrow it down to three key ones:
1) Yahtzee (who does ZP) is verbose. Yes, he talks a LOT in each review, and he does it very, very fast. But his writing is great and makes for four and a half minutes of blissful hilarity.
2) The ZP drawing and still-frame video style is really cool. Rather than being a straight-up video it's almost more like an audio review with a slideshow commentary.
3) While both the AVGN and ZP videos involve copious swearing, lewd and grotesque imagery, and are generally irreverant as hell, ZP does it (in my opinion) MUCH more effectively. (I won't say that it's exactly CLASSIER, but instead of just going for the straight-up gross out ZP is more inventive and is used for better effect and punctuation.
I have to say, it's kind of cool that I am sitting here, commenting on which dialect and style of curse words I prefer. If I was talking about television, I... wouldn't be talking about television. Swearing is still super-taboo. But swearing is de-rigeur in a lot of content online. A couple of webcomics that I frequent (namely, Questionable Content and xkcd) are definitely more mild than AVGN or ZP, but they still aren't afraid to throw the F-bomb around. Again, I like these particular comics because they don't DEPEND on swearing for laughs, but because they DO use it when it feels right.
Because let's face it, lots of we internet users swear. I'm quite the potty-mouth on my own time. (I've just gotten really good at turning it off for school, work, etc.) It makes sense that this kind of thing would start coming out of a participatory, user-created-content kind of environment.
TV has definitley lightened up a lot over the years, though. Here, go watch the late great George Carlin's "Words you can't say on TV" routine. (In case you're wondering, they are (or were): Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits.) Obviously, people have been talking and thinking about the ways we're allowed and generally not allowed to use media for quite some time. Obviously not everybody exactly LOVES having their programmes peppered with swear words, but they have lots and lots of content which is catered to them already. A lot of which is on the internet (it isn't a COMPLETE cesspool, after all.)
I've been playing "The Bully" lately (basically an RPG-ish first person interactive kind of game which takes place in the seediest, crappiest school EVER). This is a game that I NEVER thought I would like, but I am really enjoying it. What can I say? There's something cathartic about getting to run around and get in trouble and make out with random girls (and this one guy - your character is male. Apparently this REALLY bugged some people when the game came out. And they had no problem with the REST of the content?!) It's a generally well constructed game, with just enough going on at any given time (little quests, errands, jobs, classes) to keep you addicted. I've been playing for a couple of hours here and there over the past week or so.
Oh yes, and my kick pedal for Rock Band BROKE! Finally. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did (then again, I WAS in Australia for five and a half months...) I ordered a new one the other day which is made out of metal and gets pretty good reviews on Amazon and in some peoples' YouTube reviews. It's nice to be able to hear other actual people talking about it instead of just commercials. (It's the "Roadie" pedal, if that interests you for some reason.) Should arrive in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I've been working on drum rolls and other hand work in practice mode, while just miming the kick pedal hits with my foot.
I'm EXTREMELY happy with the drums for Rock Band, apart from the whole foot pedal issue. Remember that "digital guilt" I was talking about last time? Well, I don't get it when I practice the drums on Rock Band. Maybe it's because I've actually developped skills that could conceivably be translated to REAL drums. I definitely have a new appreciation for drummers and generally "get" the construction of drum rhythms that I didn't before.
What I REALLY love is that this game lets me - an actual musician, if a relatively amateurish one - "play music" in a sense with my non-musical-instrument-oriented friends. There is something really fun about this kind of collaborative rhythm-based gameplay. Something that I really appreciate is the way that the game uses visual elements to heighten the "team-players" atmosphere. The best example is when everybody does a passage correctly and gets "Overdrive" at the same time, which causes each user's screen to flash yellow. The song "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" is probably the best example - it seriously makes me giddy with glee to play it with friends. This is basically translating that "oh man, we are SO TIGHT" feeling - which is a very authentic musical experience - into a visual, shared medium. Very cool. (I also love the drum fills, which let me improv a bit and thus build skills on how to do so effectively and without losing the beat.)
This is the kind of game that I wanted to play when I was a kid. We're living in the future! A land of miracle and wonder!
