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Introduction/ Briefing
During our first class of the week, we were first briefed about the module by Mr. Asrizal, Ms. Jinchi, Mr. Vinod, as well as Ms. Anis. We were then introduced to project 1 of the module which is a group project with the general theme of "purpose". Not restricted with what type of culture to choose, the students are free to study cultures that range from national, regional, and gender-related cultures. Not only that but cultures of various levels such as generation, social class, and corporate level.
Lecture by Dr. Charles
After we were briefed on the MIB, we proceeded with the lecture with Dr. Charles where we learned about 'Netography'.
The below list is my summary from the lecture:
Ethnography VS Netography
Ethnography consists of:-
- First-hand experience
- Participatory
- Fce-to-face
- On-site
- Obeservational
However, Netography is a specific type of qualitative social media research. Basically an ethnography study but from the internet.
Fig. 1.1 Research Process, Week 1 (3/1/22)
The research process of a Netography begins with a research/ study which then we can create a hypothesis (usually retrieved online), this hypothesis then leads to an outcome, in this case, our Intercultural Design outcome that we want to represent the findings of what we have done. This validates/ supports our hypothesis.
Fig. 1.2 Netogrpahic approach, Week 1 (3/1/22)
It adopts the methods of ethnography (understanding social interaction in contemporary digital communications contexts). It is a way to systematically arrange your assumptions, perspective, and findings
Fig. 1.3 Methodolody, Week 1 (3/1/22)
Inductive: An assumption made then it gets proven by collecting information.
Deductive: Work from ground up, with no initial understanding, discover and confirm theory by collecting data then only confirm the assumption made
Fig. 1.4 Data Collection, Week 1 (3/1/22)
Types of data (Archive, Elicited, Fieldnotes)
Archive: Other researcher's information
Elicited: Worked with researchers for the information
Fieldnotes: Self-research and notes
Ethical Netogrpahy
Fig. 1.5 Ethical Netography, Week 1 (3/1/22)
In order to be ethical:
Identify: explain who we are and why we are doing this
Permission: ask for permission if we want to do certain things
Consult: talk to lecturers to get second opinion
Consent: ask for consent from the people
Citation: credit and cite the source we get online
Lecture by Dr. Jinchi
Fig. 1.6 Visible and unseen culture, Week 1 (10/1/22)
- The external, or conscious part of the culture is what we can see and is the tip of the iceberg, it includes behaviors and some beliefs
- The internal, or subconscious part of culture is below the surface of a society and includes some beliefs and values, and thought patterns that underlies behaviors (Hall, 1976)
- Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, value, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, the notion of time, roles, the concept of the universe, and material objects and possession acquired by a group of people in the course of generation through individual and group striving.
Fig. 1.7 Visible signs of Cultures, Week 1 (10/1/22)
Symbols, heroes, and rituals are practices that reflect value in a culture.
Fig. 1.8 Layers of Culture, Week 1 (10/1/22)
There are many layers to a culture, national, regional, gender, generational, social class, and corporate level
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Week 1 (Grouping)
Grouping SessionAfter the lecture, we were tasked to form our group using the excel sheet provided. At the end of the grouping session, our group ended up with members :
1) Diane Lim (group leader)
2) Adeline Wong
3) Adena Tan
4) Alicia Teng
5) Min Feng
First group discussion
Slowly after that, we had our first group meeting on Wednesday, 05 January. In this meeting, we set the necessary ground rules which are to be kept and fulfilled by all group members.
Rules and Consequences
- Be respectful of everyone’s opinions.
- Reply within two days.
- Be more voluntary in giving ideas.
- Be responsible and follow the deadlines set.
- Come for meetings unless you have a valid excuse. If you’re missing a maximum of three meetings, the lecturers will be notified.
- If you don’t accomplish your deadlines, you will get smaller deadlines.
Below is our first week's meeting minutes:
Choosing a culture
We then proceeded to discuss project 1. Individually, we all took a few minutes to think about our preferred cultures and share them with the group where we will then vote and choose from.
After our discussion, we've come to a few options of culture to choose from:
1) Gaming Culture
2) Japanese/Harajuku Culture
3) Collecting Culture
4) Animation Culture
5) TikTok Culture
After voting, we have decided that we will study the gaming culture with the majority of 4 votes from the members.
Fig. 2.1 Gaming Culture
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Research and Findings:
After deciding on our topic, we shared our own findings to our Discord group like so:
Fig. 2.2 Capitalism in Gaming Culture, Week 1 (9/1/22)
This is a compilation of each of our own findings
After much discussion with the group members and advice from Ms. Anis, we have decided that we will focus on the "Safe Haven" sub-culture in the gaming culture, while still connecting it to our own chosen research topic.
The safe-haven gaming culture provides, produces the different mindsets
-The thrill of not doing it in real life, the thrill of speedrunning, beating high scores, the thrill of ‘hacking’ tho not the same thing.
-No fear of failure as you can always restart, etc. Exploration, gaming gives that safe haven of not needing to go outside
-The capitalism within the industry, how they can get away with certain things due to this safe haven concept, e.g terra, the young character in skimpy outfits. Microtransactions etc.
-The concept of being toxic in-game because these people are online and they won't beat you up irl etc.
-Safe haven provides an outlet, e.g Kenshin, gambling, or CSGO gambling. Buying rare items in game, etc. Collecting
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The Content:
Proposal
After each of us have completed our own research, we compiled them into a slide for our proposal presentation later on.
The 200 Words Write Up
A person playing video games should not be something that we as a society consider to be out of the ordinary anymore. The boom in the gaming industry, the rise in demand for new games every day, have been observed by the public. What isn’t so in the public eye, however, is one of the largest concepts within the gaming culture, and that is ‘safe haven’. Players may play video games to cope, others may just do it for fun. This culture provides players with a means to enjoy thrills within the comfort of their own home, others may decide to be crooked due to the nature of anonymity on the internet. Personas are a common thing of which players develop, this is due to the freedom of expression found online. Things you can do/be online, the words you can say, there will always be that sense of safety, because it’s the internet. Tying into the ‘safe haven’ concept, being able to freely express yourself, actions having (most times) little to no consequences, is something most of the general public that does not indulge in the culture do not understand, but should.
Research outcome
After our research, we have come down to these 3 research questions and objectives to know where is our research direction headed
1) How can we immerse the viewer?
2) How does the safe haven in gaming make players feel the ability to express themselves?
3) What is the purpose of a safe haven in gaming?
Research Purpose
Through this project, we would want the outcome to bring awareness to the consequences of the safe haven in gaming, we would want to understand the behaviors and personality of players, and lastly, to understand if there are more personal or otherwise deeper reasons that motivate people to immerse themselves in the ‘safe havens’ in gaming
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Preliminary ideas for our outcome
Ideas and their rationale
Ideas 01:
Poster
A few information details can be present from a poster, it provides a summary of the story by a picture. As the poster illustrated a gaming culture about ”Safe Haven”, which provides multiple chances to experience failure and improve from the experiments. There is also have more information inside the poster like collecting, the thrill and etc.
Fig. 3.1 Gaming Culture poster idea, Week 2 (12/1/22)
A video will be able to provide an understanding to the general public about Gaming’s Safe Haven by answering some questions people might have. “What is the Safe Haven of gaming?”, “Is it safe/dangerous?”, “What is the point of it?”.
It could be a video, diving into the culture of gaming. By recording gameplay, filming experiences & sharing our findings. A video will allow people to absorb the information and bring awareness to this mostly-virtual culture from the comforts of their home, and be available for reference for years to come.
Fig. 3.2 Gaming Culture video idea, Week 2 (12/1/22)
Ideas 03:
Mental Canvas
Provides the ability to dive into a mainly digital culture, by utilizing a tool called ‘MentalCanvas.’ A tool in which you are able to zoom into the ‘layers’ of a picture. Example in the GIF. Where as you zoom in, each layer is a different aspect, with all of the aspects put together, it forms the ‘Safe haven’ that Gaming culture thrives off of. That, or we create this illusion by using After Effects.
Fig. 3.3 Gaming Culture mental canvas idea, Week 2 (12/1/22)
Ideas 04:
Interactive Digital Art Exhibit
To create an interactive experience for the viewers instead of simply watching/reading the information posted. By using high spec projectors and speakers to create unique projections all over the room to illustrate our points. For example, one wall is something warm and comforting about the safe haven of gaming, while another can be dark and scary which talks about the consequences of the gaming haven. Basically, it will be both a visual, aesthetic representation and informational presentation to create both an educational and, immersive experience for the viewers.
It would tie in well with our research question 1: How can we immerse the viewers?
Fig. 3.4 Gaming Culture Interactive Digital Art Exhibit idea, Week 2 (12/1/22)
A comprehensive art book consisting of different original characters, created by each of the group members. The main goal and purpose of the book are being able to put across the point of the freedom of expression in this ‘safe haven.’
Fig. 3.5 Gaming Culture Game Art Book idea, Week 2 (12/1/22)
Fig. 3.6 Group 13 Proposal: Gaming Culture - PDF slides, Week 3 (21/1/2022)
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FEEDBACK
Week 2
Specific feedback:
- Generalise questions, combine four and five together.
- Ask a combination of while gaming provides a safe haven to consumers, what is the best way to capture the essence of the idea of safe haven in the artwork.
- Ask questions in relation to how we’re connecting safe haven to gaming culture to our output.
- What is the reason we are trying to express with our project output? Are we creating awareness or warning people about potentially harmful safe havens, that’s why we must have a rationale.
- Have a big idea, but not going somewhere.
-Avoid social experiments unless you want to use them under your short film. Don’t think too big, think of a smaller niche project that we can do.
- Maybe an infographic or webcomic for ideas under gaming culture. With different topics. Keep the project output that we can do within five weeks.
- Create a game book or art book capturing a game persona, which captures our own game personas. For a safe haven to express ourselves. View at a subjective way of how people exercise their rights with gaming.
- Re-imagine if we were game characters, what form would I take? Jumanji as a study. General feedback: All good ideas, will be hard to pick, however, some need more thought put into it.
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