http://cinema.usc.edu/programs/imap/projects/darfur-is-dying.htm
I am very clueless when it comes to online and video games; however, I thought this project sounded relevant and interesting as far as digital media, higher education and social activism goes…
I recently learned about this particular narrative online game through a micro-seminar I took from Peter Brinson in the Interactive media department at USC. Susana Ruiz developed the game in 2006 as part of a thesis project. Through funding provided by MtvU, the project serves as an exploration between social activism and the role of more “serious” social gaming. Through techniques such as “multi-player online game activism,” the game focuses on a series of experiences and situations in which the player must hide from armed militants, as well as live within a constant villager struggle. The ultimate goal of the game is to inspire “real world” activism in the sense that the gamer/player through active participation in learning about the crisis in Darfur, takes action through the game’s highlighted resources (supporting relief organizations, etc.). I am interested in this very obvious but important role of outside sponsorship in generating a discussion surrounding the events of Darfur, as well as facilitating an activist space. The idea that the game can be “spread virally” as part of a social agenda also opens up a discourse surrounding the active role and mobility of the user as a consumer and facilitator of information. How do we rearticulate the role of participatory culture through a viral passage? How do we understand the notion of a global citizen and the activist citizen in relation to game’s center of development? How do we articulate the “user” within such a context? Does the user ever achieve a level of participatory experience necessary to the seriousness of genocide?
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