BCM215 : Game Media – Assessment 1, Part 3. Digital Artefact Beta
My Beta Pitch Video captures my progress with my Digital Artefact which granted the opportunity to reassess my progress and consider further objectives and goals, and what needed improvement. As discussed I am doing 4 blog posts in relation to The Power Roles in Online Video Gaming – focusing on the concept of exploring the influence and the role of power what this brings to a players satisfaction in reality.
I will be continuing on with blogging for my DA, I currently have my 3rd underway in the topic of Online vs reality, power satisfaction in an unreal world, Do players of Fortnite seek or wish to obtain the roles they have during the game in reality? All blog posts as discussed in the Beta Video are in a timeframe throughout the semester. This blog is due to go up by the end of next week, to sustain a consistent flow for my audience.
Throughout this entire process I am gaining an immense amount of knowledge in relation to my topic of power and the gaming community and industry. My perception on Game Media in the beginning was next to nothing however since has to evolved. Something that has helped with this was part of Week Threes lecture. When preparing for my own Game Analysis and being a non-gamer I took note in considering how using the techniques discussed would help in my Fortnite case study for my Digital Artefact. A game overview was outlined to gain knowledge about a game entirely : Map the basic features, summarise the aesthetic, technical and design elements, consider the players of the game and any contrasts and affordances. Before researching into the game to begin with I took into consideration these analysis tactics in order to improve how I could discuss and elaborate like gamer in my blog posts.
In continuing my research for my Digital Artefact I have looked at various popular media sources, and academic and scholars texts, to further the development and validity entirely.
A current media source I looked into was a really helpful source suggested by a fellow peer who commented on my pitch. In suggesting that this article related to a topic I was going to cover in one of my blogs, as he linked my discussion of power and addiction to my Digital Artefacts case study, Fortnite. The article from Bloomberg investigates the issues of the game facing parents to send there children to video-game rehab as there gaming addiction and roles of power become far to controlling. The article uncovered statistics from a Californian counselling centre which revealed that of one councillor who had 120 children visit him over a summer, 60% were playing Fortnite excessively and found once a battle in the game had commenced they were unable to stop until gaining power.
An academic source I looked into uncovered the physical components of a game like a controller and its responsiveness effects the power a gamer is satisfied with from playing. A study from the University of California in 2017 found gaming controllers evidently affect the game experience. The feelings of power they suggest are increased with the uses of traditional controllers like those used in Fortnite, with the features that add to the experience i.e.. Vibrations. This source provided initial evidence in associating how the feelings of power stem from the entire elements of the experience – the combination of the physical control and its features along with the game itself are the reasoning behind increased enjoyment and presence a player has in the game whilst obtaining power.
References:
Feeley & Palmeri, JF & CP, 2018 Fortnite Addiction is Forcing Kids into Video-Game Rehab Bloomberg Article. Published 27th of November 2018 – Viewed 20th of September 2019 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-27/fortnite-addiction-prompts-parents-to-turn-to-video-game-rehab
Peña, J & Chen, M 2017, ‘Playing with power: Power poses affect enjoyment, presence, controller responsiveness, and arousal when playing natural motion-controlled video games’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 71, pp. 428–435, viewed 20 September 2019, <https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=122010019&site=eds-live>.
Steph's Blog 
Reblogged this on Game Cultures.
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Hi Steph,
Wow, you have certainly picked a heavy-hitting topic to be exploring through the lens of video games; the subject of power has consumed mankind for millennia and will arguably continue to do so long into the future!
I think that you have a fantastic Digital Artefact topic and approach that permits an analysis from several angles; addiction to video gaming or the feelings of power they supposedly elicit, the rise of combat-centric competition-based games and even the inclusion of various moves or gestures to be able to ‘taunt’ the enemy. You have clearly given your analytical framework a considerable amount of thought and it is fantastic to see that you have developed a posting schedule for your DA.
I agree that WordPress is the most suitable platform for you to continue to develop your DA, however, it probably would have assisted your audience if you had have included link(s) to your Digital Artefact itself in your contextual information accompanying your Beta Pitch so that your viewers can conveniently access your project. Moving forward, I’d encourage you to make use of hyperlinks, particularly within your DA Blog Posts as they provide a richer and more stimulating reading experience and ultimately engage your viewer through a multimodal analysis. I can see that you’ve included some pictures and gifs in your DA posts, so I would suggest that you continue doing so as it creates interest and helps to break up what would otherwise be slabs of text. Good job!
Another suggestion that you may want to consider implementing is using a third-party application such as ‘Hootsuite’ or ‘Buffer’ to automatically upload pre-prepared Tweets advertising your DA posts at scheduled times to create audience funnels to capture traffic. This is a potential solution to the problem you indicated you were experiencing as you were “falling behind with sharing your new DA posts to Twitter”.
After doing some additional research into the concept of power and aspects of power in Fortnite, I came across the following academic sources that I feel may help to enhance your DA:
Geher, G. (2018). Video Games and Emotional States: Why your kid is addicted to Fortnite. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201809/video-games-and-emotional-states
Kinder, M. (1993). Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. Available at: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=raDNu1lThHQC&lpg=PR9&ots=G_Nr9IWmjJ&dq=power%20in%20video%20games&lr&pg=PR9#v=onepage&q=power%20in%20video%20games&f=false
Overall, you are doing well with your DA and I look forward to seeing it continue to develop in the future.
Josh 🙂
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I like the concept for your digital artefact and that your explanation is clear. Your organisation and that you have developed a plan for the weeks of your blog posts and exactly what you will be talking about, is really great and something I wish that I had done to keep myself on track.
I think that posting your blogs to WordPress is a great idea because that medium works best for the audience that you are trying to reach. In terms of engagement with an audience, I personally found that reddit works best as you can receive fast responses from a variety of people. However, I would try to look at subreddits like /R/FORTnITE for your fortnite questions as you will be able to receive more in depth answers that are specific to the game.
I found an article in the New York Times which relates to your topic because, it explains how Fortnite works and how the game makes players feel like they always win and leaves them feeling powerful and wanting more, therefore making the game more compelling. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/well/family/parenting-the-fortnite-addict.html)
I would also recommend the academic source by psychology today, which I have been using for my digital artefact. (which I just noticed another peer has suggested) The source explains the elements that keep individuals glued to their screens and wanting more. I think this source would work well as you can relate it to the roles of power and how the game makes individuals feel.
(https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201809/video-games-and-emotional-states)
Overall, I really like your digital artefact and think it has a lot of potential.
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Hi Steph,
First up, it’s great to see that you’ve already made some headway with your Digital Artefact, and your concept seems like a great one, especially considering that you don’t consider yourself a gamer. So, I’ll start with the one thing that didn’t seem obvious from your pitch – have you actually played Fortnite? If not, why? The game is free-to-play and available on just about ever modern smart device save the smart fridge, and having some first-hand experience with the game would provide some serious depth to your analysis, especially as a non-gamer and admitted outsider. How might you find stepping into an online system with a clear (or, not-so-clear) social hierarchy? Do you enjoy feelings of power? There’s a whole raft of questions here, plus it gives you an excuse to try something new for uni!
Your definition of “power” seems to be a bit nebulous – I’m approaching this from a political perspective (I’m a politics/digital media double degree student, so forgive me if I’m getting bogged down in power dynamics). The development or creation of a hierarchy within the player base might be something you could consider – you talk about power without relating the concept to a subject. Over what are players having power? The game? Other players? I had a flick through your blog posts and this doesn’t seem to be clear. Is there some kind of an internal strata of haves and have-nots within Fortnite? What about holders of older Battle Pass items? What is great to see is that you’ve got a theoretical framework in place, combining analysis of affect, technical strata and the notion of power itself. Build this last one into something about political economy, if you can – talking about power without talking about ownership and agency doesn’t make sense to me, and it feels like something is missing. I’d also advise attempting to decouple the issue of feeling powerful from notions of moral panic – you frame this in terms of gaming addiction, without addressing any medical basis for this. Either delve deeper into academic literature on the subject (which is absolutely around and will bring your research into a more psychoanalytic frame) or scale it back altogether – relying on popular sources like the Bloomberg piece has its limits and can come across quite alarmist. The journal Frontiers in Psychiatry has a few great pieces on the subject – try Lopez-Fernandez et al., ‘Female Faming, Gaming Addiction, and the Role of Women Within Gaming Culture: A Narrative Literature Review’, Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 10, no. 454, July 2019. I also found this piece – it might also help you consider ideas about ownership and corporate power as well as power on an individual level (https://mashable.com/2018/06/13/fortnite-e3-2018-playstation-nintendo/).
Finally, regarding your feedback loop, I’d advise that you move beyond Twitter polls. If you’re developing some argumentative work, why not reach out to a writer or editor at an online gaming website like Gizmodo.com or Kotaku.com.au? There’s also Reddit or other online messageboards – because the market is pretty saturated here, try a smaller subreddit like r/patientgamers (https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/). There’s real scope to be creative with how you seek feedback, and the sky’s the limit here – don’t feel too shackled to your personal Twitter account.
All the best – I’m really looking forward to seeing the final product!
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Really intresting idea looking at power dynamics something recent that may be relevent is looking at how fortnite has recently added bots to the game whether this is because of the game falling in popularity or that it makes people feel that they are better at the game makinng them want to play more. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49807062
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Hi Steph, forgive me as I am unfamilar with your DA, but from what I’ve read/seen, this looks promising. Not only is this a really expansive topic that can be covered in multiple different ways in relation to a variety of different sources/examples, but the blog format is one I was yet to encounter til now. I believe that the personalised nature of blogs allows you to critically take into account the power relation that games have over gamers with your own style and flair. In addition to this, it’s indicative that with this format that a post-structuralist framework will be woven into your blog posts.
I agree with all the previous and current feedback about the encouragement of hyperlinks, gifs, pictures etc, its all pretty self-explanatory stuff that I can already see you’re improving on in this blog post. I think what might elevate your blog to the next level is to incorporate video examples via YouTube of other people’s work, linking to examples of gameplay, reviews, and other sources that may prove or add to your points. What could be even that one step further is to upload your own short clips that can’t be expressed in video form. I think this would be a neat idea that would add to your points effectively, as well as create a very user-engaged aesthetic. Just an idea.
I know a friend who still gets on Fortnite every day, even months after everyone in his friend circle stopped playing, so I know how addicting that “Victory Royale” can be.
‘Is Fortnite Ruining Your Life?’ by Jessica Brown (2018) is a good starter for that covers the basic power relationship between Fortnite and kids, delving into the Battle Pass and its effectiveness in gripping kids into what is essentially a gambling addiction. However, The Conversation contrasts this point by claiming that Fortnite gamers are ‘motivated’ and not addicted. It can be found at http://theconversation.com/fortnite-gamers-are-motivated-not-addicted-98718 and I think it could be a conversation starter for just how much Fortnite has transformed since the conception of that article, and how people are still playing the game day in, day out.
Overall, good stuff, looking forward to seeing how the blog posts go!
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