Transmedia and Immersive Storytelling

With the evolution of recent media outlets, many have moved into what’s called “transmedia” to execute full

Halo "Fan Fiction" tells the story where the games leave off

storytelling.  This means that to get the full, rich experience of a story, one must experience it on many levels, including video games, books, and film.  Some well know examples are:

Halo (video & board games, movies, comics, books)

The Matrix (Movies, video games)

World of Warcraft (video games, books, trading cards, fan videos)

All these franchises have another thing in common: their immersive nature.  They all have applauded, deep storylines, ones strong enough to contain various outlets.  It takes a special type of story to not only be able to pull off transmedia, but to succeed in it; to get the fans into it.  It begins

The various parts of the Matrix Saga

with a single piece, a game, a book, a movie, that does not only create a linear plot.  It has to be open ended, leave fans wanting more.  It has to not just create one story.  It has to create a universe.  An alternate reality that others will want to live in.  Because the main attraction of any of these media forms, from books to video games, is that they allow the consumer to live a life that is not theirs, maybe even that is not possible in the “real world”.  That’s the nature and attraction of simulation.  Some would say it’s also the danger of it, but as with anything else, self-control is the key.  Everything should be taken in moderation.

I think that what these immersive universes do for us, so long as we don’t allow them to consume us, is important.  People today are more stressed than ever before, with the Job Market down, the economy in questionable shape, and an altogether uncertain future.  These transmedia juggernauts allow an escape.  used properly, they can keep us sane.

A little fun is good for everyone.

On Cyber Bullying…

Although my thoughts on this apply to all cyber bullying, I’m going to attach it here to a specific, recent event, namely the suicide of a gay teen who was outed in a very public way by a so-called “friend”.  If you haven’t heard about it, first of all, where have you been?  But here’s the full story.

Basically, a college student loaned his dorm room to this teen, who was closeted, and then broadcasted his friend having a same-sex sexual encounter live via iChat.  Upon discovering this, said closeted teen went on to commit suicide.

First off, let me just say how sickening I find this whole situation.  This guy was in the closet, which obviously meant he

The original post, DARING people to watch the feed.

wasn’t ready to be openly gay yet, and it was his business, and his alone.  The fact that he was betrayed by someone he thought was a friend makes it even worse.  And how does the friend, Dharun Ravi, react to the fact that he essentially drove someone to suicide?  Not how he should have, being regretful, disgusted, and horrified as what he did, if those words are even strong enough.  Instead he reacts by trying to protect himself from any harmful consequences, by deleting his twitter post(shown to the side) and replacing it with a different one (below the original).  Little psychology for you: this behavior displays, according to Lawrence Kohlberg, stage 2 morality, usually exhibited in young children (the self-interest stage).  Shows how much of a grown up this college student is.  Also shows how smart he is, since most internet users know that anything deleted can be found again, and they found his old posts.  Now he’s being charged in criminal court, and I think he should be.

I have never bought the line of thinking that says that suicide is an act of selfishness.  People don’t get to the edge, with no where but down to go by themselves.  They get pushed there, whether

The altered post

by other people or situations.  No one can remain strong forever under such pressure.  The point is, I believe that whether he meant to hurt his friend or not, he is one of two kinds of people: an idiot or a sadist.  On no level is this ok, and there is nothing that can make him not responsible.  Even if the thus far unnamed teen was depressed before, it is still Dharun’s fault, for pushing him when he was already in that state.  It’s his fault and he needs to be held responsible.

Not to mention that events like this demonize modern media outlets, things that should be used to maintain contact with friends, get to know others, or to learn.

If you read this today (Oct. 19) or even tomorrow, there’s a Facebook based movement to wear purple in remembrance on the 20th.  If you get a chance, please take part.  They deserve it.

YouTubers Series: sxephil [Phillip DeFranco]

We’ll kick off the YouTubers posts with one of my favorites: Philip DeFranco, a.k.a. sxephil.   Boasting over 1.3 million subscribers and the no. 9 spot on the website’s Most Subscribed Users list, he wields a lot of clout in the online

DeFranco, doing the Show

community, which is growing by the day.  DeFranco has 3 separate channels, the primary being where he posts his Philip DeFranco Show, in which he offers his sarcastic and often humorous take on the news of the day.  The show posts a new Mon-Thursday every night.  To date, DeFranco has posted over 500 videos.  He makes his living off of these videos in part, and loves doing it, which is more than a lot of people in todays world can say about their jobs.  And I think that’s an important thing.

DeFranco’s news show is a format somewhat similar to that of The Colbert Report or The Daily Show, being a satirical news show.  But it has value, as do its TV counterparts, because it reports on real events, while keeping viewers interested with the humor that is the core of the show.  I know that I’ve learned about current events I may not have heard of yet through it.  As the online community grows, more and more people will watch.  DeFranco, along with all the top users, is a part of the YouTube Partnership Program.  Essentially, he is paid by Google based on how many views his videos get.

 

the PDS Tagline, as seen on one of DeFranco's T-Shirts, available for purchase online

 

So, with it now possible for people like “PhillyD” to make a living off of YouTube success, will the website create a new breed of superstar?  It already has. Do I think this is a good thing?  Yes, I do!  The difference is that these are real people, and ANYONE can make it.  That’s why they are so popular in part, I think; because the viewer can sense that the person in the video is just that: a real person, not some unfamiliar character that seems unreal.  It’s almost a less corrupted version of Hollywood, and it keeps growing.  Not to mention that all the top Tubers have strong connections to their followers, usually thanking them profusely in their videos.  It’s a kind of emotional connection that keeps people watching, something that Hollywood has never done.  Could the YouTube celebrities overtake the popularity of major stars? Maybe.  As said before, the best thing about it is that if you have a good idea, a strong spark, and a little creativity, you can succeed, just as DeFranco has.

For more on my take on Satirical News and how important is, see another of my posts.

To check out the Philip DeFranco Show, visit his channel here .

YouTube: Home to a New Generation of Superstars

We all know that there’s no discussion on current social media complete without at least some mention of video sharing mammoth YouTube.  Home to millions of videos and worth a $1.65 Million buyout by Google back in 2006, the website is a juggernaut of profits, information, and entertainment in today’s world.  So, what’s one of, if not the, biggest products of YouTube?  The users, or “YouTubers”.    This post is my introduction to a series of messages I will post about some of the biggest, and some of my favorite, Tubers out there.  With followings in the hundreds of thousands (or even breaking a million) and plenty of videos with thousands upon thousands of views (or once again, millions), are these people the new generation of public figures, of “stars”?  Is YouTube the new Hollywood, where anyone can truly make it with a good idea?  You be the judge!  First post is tomorrow (10/8/10), and others will follow!

Keep A Breast Foundation

Hey,

To anyone who reads this, now and future, I’m just gonna take a second to talk to you about the charity mentioned in the widget on my page: Keep A Breast.  It’s a relatively new charity for breast cancer awareness and research.  They sell some funny merchandise to raise money, like my wristband here:

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So do me, and everyone else (because you can get breast cancer too, guys) a favor, and go to their website here.  Check out their merch, most of it is pretty cool, and funny, so you’ll get some cool stuff as well as adding money to their charity fund!  It’s a good cause, and one that I wholeheartedly endorse.  Click the widget, donate, buy, or just go and read up on Breast Cancer.  Together, we can put an end to this, and I’m proud to do my part!

-CC14

Satire: The True Forum of Opinion?

We all know that there are just some things that no one wants to talk about.  Those tricky topics that mean the instant

Jon Stewart (left) & Stephen Colbert (right)

awkward-izing of any conversation.  The taboo subjects.   Lately though, there is a tactic used heavily by such programs as The Colbert Report, the Daily Show with John Stewart, and South Park.

Satire.

It’s almost magical, what happens when jokes enter the equation.  Suddenly, the heavy, no-no topics are easier to discuss.  Stewart, Colbert, and South Park are allowed to comment on subjects and people in ways that would mean suicide for any News network.  Why?  Because it’s funny!  Only by bringing an entertainment factor in can Colbert. Stewart, and SP speak on touchy subjects.  So is the use of Satire the only way that public figures can firmly voice an opinion.

So are satirical shows the future of news?  No, but they will always exist.  And they should.  They actually may deserve to be taken more seriously than they are.  Take, for example, the reception that Jon Stewart received on The O’Reilly Factor here.  They do, after all, report and satirize real news and events.  The “true” news and the comedy news need each other.  The news can have their formal reporting, and the satirical news and shows can take care of all the stuff that networks like CNN, FOX, and MSNBC won’t touch with a 10-ft pole.

The point is, like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin going where no man had gone before, so satire allows Stewart, Colbert, and Eric Cartman to go where no newscaster would dare.  And in today’s troubled world, and the fearful reservations of many programs on television , we need those satirical programs.

Now more than ever.

Halo: 9 Years of Gaming

So, one of the most talked about games out now is Halo: Reach.  It’s met with critical acclaim, as well as a great

Halo: Reach

response from general gamers as well as fans of the series.  After 9 years, Bungie, the company behind all the major Halo releases thus far, it ending it here.  More than one of them are on Critic’s “Best Of” lists for their respective release years, and even for all time.  So, at the end of a decade spanned by these award winning games, how have they impacted gamers and our culture in general?

Take a minute here, and if you haven’t already, watch the Reach collective trailer, linked at the bottom of my page (it’s 7 minutes long).  You’ll get the emotional tone of the games from it.

Back in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved was released.  It quickly became a success, garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews and selling more than 5 million copies (as of Nov. 9, 2005).  It was a release title and exclusive game for the newest game console on the market, produced by a

The "Combat Evolved" Cover

company that was making its first foray into console gaming: Microsoft’s Xbox.  This game also helped bring the new system into the limelight, becoming the most well known title for the original Xbox.  It wasn’t the first First Person Shooter (FPS), but it’s the best known by most of my generation.

Following HCE‘s success, Halo 2 was released in 2004 , for the same system.   HCE was big, but this one was bigger.  Featuring online multiplayer modes, and continuing an already strong story, the game became a juggernaut never before seen by the still-young console gaming community.  It’s multiplayer was of note in particular, because of its havily variant nature based on an already strong engine.  It made everything that was good in HCE better, and defied the “sophomore slump”

Then, in 2007, it got huge.  Record-breaking, in fact.  Halo 3 was released, to (again) critical acclaim, as well as a $300 million dollar grossing opening day.  During the first 20 release hours, it was played online by over a million people.  It completed the story arc of all the games.  As of January 3, 2008, it has sold over 8 million copies (probably far more by now).  People camped out, pre-ordered, and went to incredible lengths to acquire this game as soon as possible.  The Halo franchise’s following has been compared to that of Star Wars.  H3 finished one of the greatest narratives told in games, breaking the stereotype for weak stories in action games.  So what effect has this series, which has grossed (including merchandising) over $1.7 billion, had on games?

It redefined action/shooter games.  Told one of the greatest stories told by a game (one that many find compelling even in any format), a quality seldom found outside of Role Playing Games.  It broke sales records. Every one had the best graphics seen in a game yet.  It set a new gold standard for, well, everything in video gaming.

What about the effect on the real world?  It spawned a new kind of internet cinema: “machinima”, or movies using voice overs on actions performed by game characters.  Most notably, the successful Rooster Teeth series Red vs. Blue.  It put

Promo for Season 5 of Red vs. Blue. New seasons are still being made, and the brand has produced DVD sets and other types of merch, as well as tributes in competing games (like a Gears of War 2 achievement)

Microsoft on the map for console gaming, and eventually put them on top with the Xbox 360.  It spawned a series of books, providing background and side stories (I’ve read most of them, and I think they’re very interesting and well written, and one can read them with no knowledge of the games, as their stories operate independently).  It gave rise to a line of action figures as well as comic books and countless other types of merchandise, from real world replicas of in-game objects to clothing.  It also demonstrated that games, even action based ones, can be works of art, through exceptional design, graphics, and storytelling.  It kept teens and many adults enthralled for almost a decade.

And now it’s coming to an end, with a prequel.  The telling of the birth of the fight that the originals finished, the story of humanity’s most desperate moment.  On a deeper level, the characters demonstrate for us many qualities.  Courage, honor, and prevailing hope.

Reach "Remember" Promo

I only touched on the primary games, but there are two others, that provide more peripheral and back story, ODST and Halo Wars.  This series is something we will know for years, or decades, to come.  It’s an independent, totally immersive universe.

It is a true legacy of modern media, and the gaming phenomenon of a generation.

The spirit of the games, and their general story, also personifies one of my favorite quotes:

“Even against the greatest of  odds, there is something in the human spirit-a magic blend of skill, faith, and valor-that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory”.

And that’s something to believe in.

Introduction

To whomever cares to read:

The Media Awareness Network defines Media Literacy as “the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day. It’s the ability to bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media— from music videos and Web environments to product placement in films and virtual displays on NHL hockey boards.”

Media Literacy Defined

"Media Literacy"

Being media literate means a few things: for one, the actual ability to use current outlets, such as the internet.  It also means something more intellectual though; which is the ability to critically view what we see more and more of every day, to assess its relevance, uses, achievements, and downfalls.  Lastly, it means having the ability to create new media (such as a blog).  As technology advances further in this Informational Age, media literacy means one more thing.

Moving Forward.

And that’s what this blog is about.  The impact of various forms of media on the real world, looking at what’s bad and what’s good, from video games to various websites that occasionally come under fire (such as YouTube) to ones that are constantly under fire (Wikipedia).

So read on! In today’s world, there should be something for everyone here eventually.

Wikipedia: This Generation’s Britannica (kind of)

Just one of Wiki's millions of articles

Today in my Media Literacy class, we discussed Wikipedia after viewing this video of Jimmy Wales, the founder of the website.

You can watch the 20 minute TED Talk video here.  It’s worth watching, believe me.

On to the discussion.  In the video, he describes the idea behind Wikipedia and the culture that now surrounds it, as well as debunking some myths about the website.  The idea is to give anyone free access to all that humans know.

The most famous attribute of Wikipedia is the ability of anyone to edit a page.  You’d think this would cause major issues, right?  Wrong.  According to Wales, there are a collection of regular contributors, a volunteer staff, who track changes and check on them.  He even mentions one user in particular, calling him a “famous Wikipedian”.  So, if the great majority of the information is in fact accurate (and it’s easy to tell when it’s not, i.e. a page that just sounds ridiculous, or one with no citations at all), what does that make Wikipedia?

The new and improved Encyclopedia, that’s what.  It makes use of an idea called “collective intellect”, or the ability to pool knowledge with others to achieve a common goal, which in this instance is to gather the intellect of the world in one free, easy to access place, creating a constantly up-to-date source of information collected into one location.  A major idea behind collective intellect and Wikipedia is that together we can achieve what none of us can alone, and that is something I believe.

Very little vandalism is perpetrated on the website, and all of it is quickly rectified by Wikipedia’s “staff”.  As more and more of the world gains access to the internet, and so to Wikipedia, it’s collection of information will grow until it becomes the one site to find truly anything you want to learn about.  The world’s skrinking, to a place where you have to go shorter and shorter distances still to find the ideas of, and learn from, others.  While it has its shortcomings, which are also shortcomings of the democratic system it’s based upon, not the site alone, Wikipedia has endless possibilities.

We’ve achieved so much in history, all the way from totally to slightly separated from each other.  What about when the barriers are gone rather than smaller?  How much could any and every human achieve with the intellectual wealth of the world at his/her fingertips?

The possibilities are endless.