'I Explored Abandoned Virtual World Games from the Past'
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dg2rDUKRbgM
Note: Seminar Task (today only) The purpose of this first seminar is to get you to explore a number of concepts, which central to both the assignment coursework and lecture series (which will be fully detailed next week). In doing so, the aim is for you to explore these as a type of 'praxis' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_(process) - where such concepts are 'enacted' through practice. And so, the exercise requires that you are initially 'analytical' (to consider the theory, which you have been introduced to) and 'synthetic' - through imaginatively developing possible solutions. Get into your assignment groups to develop the concept for an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game In doing so, note that this is a phenomenon which developed significant interest and excitement (as seemingly the logical direction-of-travel for emerging immersive/cross-platform media around 2010-15) and so is strongly linked to earlier developments in online media. And in this way, now evokes a sense of nostalgia as well as a sense of a 'lost future' - what Colin Davis describes as a 'hauntology' i.e. "Hauntology supplants its near-homonym ontology, replacing the priority of being and presence with the figure of the ghost as that which is neither present nor absent, neither dead nor alive" (Davis, C., 2005). http://newpractices.co.uk/StoryWorlds/#gSvUqhZcbVg And in doing so, I want you to somewhat assume the role of the cyber archaeologist/anthropologist - metaphorically digging through the remains/residue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology of abandoned virtual worlds and analysing cultural practices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology of those inhabitants who have remained. In doing so, drawing inspiration from this: http://newpractices.co.uk/StoryWorlds/#Dg2rDUKRbgM - where a once thriving 'multiverse' has been left all but abandoned - a virtual world of 'link rot' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_rot - a world, which has become all but zombify, which has now woken up and is suddenly 'phoning home'... perhaps in a way similar to the parallel realities of Dorian Gray and his painted likeness in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070533/ https://www.youtube.com/embed/OarqLAchU0E?start=6460&end=6507 or perhaps, the parallel realities of the utopian 'Barbieland' (and patriarchal 'Real World' counterpart) in Barbie (2023) or The Substance (2024) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Substance (as per below) or even The Truman Show (1998) or its namesake illness the 'Truman Show Delusion' (TSD) (as per below). In doing so, consider the following: You're seeking to create a rule-based narrative, which is understood in terms of series of 'webisodes', which are unlocked through successfully solving puzzles/riddles etc. In this sense, the story unfolds non-linearly - like a jigsaw puzzle, which requires that you jump backwards and forwards in the storyline. It is a multiple-player game, which might target a particular group (especially, if the game-play was part of a marketing and promotion campaign). See - the creator of the ARG 'Aurelia: Edge of Darkness' - Lisa England's advice here: http://newpractices.co.uk/StoryWorlds/#ZgrtQpg9KVg The game will be 'event-based' and so, has a definite beginning and definite end date - possibly, tied in with/running parallel with existing events in the calendar. And importantly, the game must involve interaction in both real and virtual spaces - across multiple platforms - where players interact and share media content across for example, Bluesky + TikTok/YouTube + Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp + interactive billboards + BBC Radio 6 Music + cultural institution e.g. Hengistbury Head Visitor Centre. And finally, the game must seek to pique the interest of mainstream media (resulting in newspaper articles and news items) + ideally, leave some sort of lasting record. Quote: 'Truman Show Delusion' (TSD): "We present five patients in whom the ideas of celebrity and exposure take centre stage in the presentation of their psychosis. They developed the delusional belief that they were the 'star' of a reality television show secretly broadcasting their daily life, much like the main character in Peter Weir's film The Truman Show (Gold, J. and I. Gold, 2012, p.456). ... Mr D. was working on a reality television show when he was hospitalised after causing a public disturbance. While working on the production of the show, he came to believe that he was the one who was actually being broadcast:'I thought I was a secret contestant on a reality show. I thought I was being filmed. I was convinced I was a contestant and later the TV show would reveal me.' He believed his thoughts were being controlled by a film crew paid for by his family (Gold, J. and I. Gold, 2012, p.458). ... In 2009, Antony Waterlow, a Sydney man, murdered his father and sister while in a psychotic state. A news report stated that'Mr Waterlow believed his family was behind a‘world wide game' to murder him or force him to commit suicide.' A doctor who interviewed the man is reported to have said that'Mr Waterlow told her in a consultation in February that he believed computers were accessing his brain through brainwaves and satellites. He said his family was screening his life on the Internet for the world to watch, akin to the film The Truman Show'" (Gold, J. and I. Gold, 2012, p.460). Quote: "It's a potent metaphor for the vicissitudes of celebrity, and a smart explanation for Elisabeth's decision to experiment with ‘The Substance': a sinister product that promises a better version of herself (provided it's properly administered, which of course it won't be). Elisabeth is still gorgeous but exhausted by the upkeep involved in maintaining her looks in middle age: little wonder she wants a quick fix. Rather than an Ozempic-style makeover, though, Elisabeth gets Sue (a radiant Margaret Qualley) – a younger, more beautiful incarnation of the actress who rips her way out of a gaping wound in Elisabeth's back and immediately replaces her at work. And as Sue pushes at the limits of the rules governing The Substance's use, Elisabeth begins to age at a horrifying rate" (Wheatley, C., 2024). Bibliography: Matlin, J. (2010, December). '10 things to keep in mind for producing cross-platform media'. NFB Blog. https://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2010/12/01/10-things-to-keep-in-mind-for-producing-cross-platform-media/ Gold, J. and I. Gold (2012). "The 'Truman Show' delusion: psychosis in the global village." Cogn Neuropsychiatry 17(6): 455–472. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22640240/ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13546805.2012.666113?download=true Wheatley, C. (2024). 'Coralie Fargeat on The Substance'. Sight and Sound, 34(8). https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/sight-sound-october-2024-issue
