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CHAPTER 10
AGENCY IN AND AROUND PLAY
The notion of ‘interactivity’ is often used to explain the appeal of computer
games. During the experience of play, players often come to feel that their
actions are not just orchestrated by the game system, but that they have a
considerable degree of power to determine what takes place. For some
theorists, this is effectively a political issue: games are seen to offer the
player a form of freedom and control that is apparently denied to them by
traditional ‘mass’ media (Aarseth, 2001). Yet to what extent is this merely an
illusion? Players may be engaging in a great deal of activity as they play, but
to what extent do they really possess agency – that is, the power to control
and determine the meanings and pleasures that they experience?
In this chapter, we will be exploring questions of agency and
interactivity through a case study of players’ engagements with a console
action-adventure game. On the face of it, such games present a more
structured mode of play and story-telling than the online games and RPGs we
have considered in earlier chapters – and hence, perhaps, fewer
opportunities for active engagement. Yet it is important to distinguish
between the different kinds of ‘activity’ and ‘agency’ that may be at stake in
different types of game play. Rafaeli (1998), for example, makes a useful
distinction between declarative communication, where a source sets the
agenda and receives no (or only indirect) feedback, and reactive and
interactive modes of communication. Reactive communication involves
bilateral interaction, while interactive communication is an iterative, ongoing
process that leads to jointly produced meaning.
If we apply this to action-adventure games, it would seem that they
are more appropriately seen as ‘reactive’ rather than ‘interactive’: play is a
bilateral process by which one side (either player or game) responds to the
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other. Meaning is not jointly produced, since the choices available to the
player – for example in respect of character development, goals or outcomes
– are, to a greater or lesser extent, already circumscribed. For example, in
console action-adventure games it is frequently the case that character
development occurs within the context of animated cut-scenes. Often used
as rewards for the completion of a level, cut-scenes may not reflect the
manner in which the end-point has been achieved. More broadly, the
essential dynamic of the game is one in which the player follows directions,
and the game system provides a limited set of opportunities for the
production of events. Although the structure of the game allows for different
ways of fulfilling its potential, progress and movement is very much guided,
pre-structured, and moulded by the game’s developers.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether this account really
captures the nature of the player’s experience. In particular, it may fail to
account for the way that the human mind of the player is not just ‘reactive’
but generative, creative, proactive and reflective. As Janet Murray (1997)
argues, it is the subjective experience of ‘agency’ that players seem to desire
from their engagement with game-play: they need to feel that they have
exerted power or control over events. To this extent, we might conceive of
game-play as arising from the interplay between a sense of agency and the
requirements of the game system – an interplay that operates in different
ways at different points in the game.
Focusing on agency, then, implies that the player does more than
simply respond to stimulation, but also explores and manipulates the
environment and seeks to influence it. In this respect, game-play may be no
different from many other areas of human activity. It is a regulated activity,
governed by the boundaries of social and physical environments, but equally
in real life we live in environments that place constraints on our behaviours.
Many human transactions involve ‘inducements’ to behave in particular ways,
but as in games, these do not always succeed in determining what happens.
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Likewise, game-players may seek to accommodate themselves to the game’s
rules and objectives, but they may also seek to exercise control and behave
otherwise.
Albert Bandura (2001) employs a model of agency that extends
conventional understandings of direct personal agency to also account for
proxy agency and collective agency. Proxy agency is a socially mediated form
of agency, in which the individual makes use of the mediating effects of
others with the necessary resources or expertise in order to secure a desired
outcome: one of the most obvious manifestations of this in relation to games
would be the use of ‘walkthroughs’. Meanwhile, collective agency reflects the
fact that certain outcomes are only achievable through socially
interdependent efforts – as, for example, in the creation of a shared ‘fan
culture’ that may extend well beyond the game itself (see Chapter 7).
Applying this model to console gaming allows us to account, not just for the
complex, multi-dimensional nature of some players’ personal engagement
with games, but also for players’ collective participation in the wider fan
community, and their use of games as a basis for creative practices of many
kinds.
Entering the Oddworld
Released by the developers Oddworld Inhabitants in 1997, Abe’s Oddysee
was the first game in what became the ‘Oddworld Quintology’. The main
character/avatar is Abe (see Fig. 1), a Mudokon (Moo-DOCK-un) who begins
the game as an ignorant and happy floor-waxer working in the meat packing
plant ‘RuptureFarms’. However, Abe’s introductory narrative tells us that his
bosses, the Glukkons, have exhausted all the meat reserves in the local
ecosystem for their meat products (‘Meech Mynchies’, ‘Paramite Pies’ and
‘Scrab Cakes’). To his horror, Abe has come to learn that the solution to the
Glukkon’s dilemma is to use their Mudokon workforce as the main ingredient
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in their new range of meat products (‘New and Tasty’). The game’s
introduction ends with Abe fleeing for his life, issuing a plea to higher forces
to ‘get me outta here!’ Before he can free himself, it is Abe’s destiny and the
aim of the game to sabotage ‘RuptureFarms’ and secure the release of as
many of his 99 co-workers as possible.
The popularity and success of Abe’s Oddysee subsequently led to the
release of a bonus game (rather than sequel), Abe’s Exoddus, the following
year. The bonus game allowed its developers to extend many aspects of
game-play found in the first game and also address some of its shortcomings
(introducing a ‘quick save’ feature, and decreasing the need to use screendeath
as a problem solving strategy). Following the saviour of the Mudokon
workers in Abe’s Oddysee, the spirits of dead Mudokons now need Abe’s
help. The spirits reveal that, although altruistic and heroic, his actions in the
first game have had severe repercussions. It is revealed that the Glukkons
were also using Mudokon bones as a key ingredient in their ultra-addictive
beverage SoulStorm brew. However, since the destruction of their sister
company RuptureFarms, the Glukkon’s supply of bones to the SoulStorm
brewery has subsequently dried up. Now the Glukkons are digging up the
bones of the Mudokon dead, disturbing their spirits. The inevitable subversive
acts follow and Abe’s reputation as the former ‘employee of the month’ is
further soiled.
Fig 1 – Abe (right) interacts with a fellow Mudokon.
Oddworld Inhabitants have always possessed a clear vision for the
evolution of their franchise. This was evident from the way they mapped out
their quintology from the outset. Likewise, Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus
were released as ‘2.5D’ games when most others were working in 3D. The
level of technology at that point (PSX, 120MHZ PC) was not considered
sufficient to handle the vision that Oddworld Inhabitants possessed for their
game universe in 3D. Lorne Lanning, co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants,
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stated that: ‘We won’t do real-time 3D and compromise art, animation, or
charm’. Lanning (2002) has also expressed an intention that each Oddysee
game will be accompanied by a major technological leap in gaming
hardware: thus, the second game in the quintology, Munch’s Oddysee,
shifted from Playstation to the superior processing power of the Xbox.
Unusual for a character/avatar in a console action adventure, Abe’s
strength lies in his agility, versatility, humour and ability to interact with
other characters, either directly through ‘gamespeak®’ or through his ability
to possess and embody other characters. Likewise, the Mudokons pass
through a range of collective and individual predicaments (enslaved,
dependent or incapacitated) and emotions (angry, wired or depressed). The
game series also delineates the depth of Oddworld with its ever-expanding
cast of characters (Sligs, Scrabs, Paramites, Fleeches, Slurgs, Slogs,
Greeters and Glukkons) and detailed landscape environments (factories,
temples, forests, vaults and mines). The game has a distinct cinematic feel,
not only in its rich landscapes but also in its mood-sensitive soundtrack and
seamless cut-scenes. Indeed, Abe's Exoddus received the honour of being
the first video game to gain an Oscar Nomination for ‘Best Short Animation.’
In terms of the generic attributes outlined in Chapter Two, the games
reflect a range of influences. In the case of the character of Abe, for
instance, the green colour of his skin can be traced back to the traditions of
comic book and sci-fi iconography. In combination with the bulbous eyes,
gleaming bald skull and skinny body, Abe’s skin colour references a particular
vision of the alien. These features originally signified menace and
strangeness, as in the figure of the Mekon in the Dan Dare cartoons of the
British Eagle in the fifties and sixties (see Fig. 2). However, with growing
familiarity, the image of the ‘little green man’ has arguably become an
affectionate stereotype with almost comic properties. The evocation of this
figure in contemporary popular media thus produces a mixture of strange,
magical qualities and a familiar, almost pet-like appeal, as in Dobby the
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House-Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets or Gollum in the Lord
of the Rings trilogy of films. In both cases, the figure of the hairless, bugeyed
creature is also seen as enslaved, Dobby to the wicked Lucius Malfoy,
Gollum to the power of the Ring. Both are in need of emancipation, at the
hands of Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins respectively. These meanings are
also imported, with the image, into the Abe narrative. Abe also begins life as
a slave, along with the Mudokons in general, and his quest is for
emancipation, albeit through his own agency in this case.
- Insert Figure 2 about here -
However, Abe consists of more than just an image — he is an
animated and interactive character, with sounds as well as visual properties.
His most celebrated sound is a powerful fart. The meaning of this element
may have its origins not in the popular comic-strip but in cult fanzines such
as the US publication Mad Magazine or the UK’s Viz, which includes in its
pantheon of scatological anti-heroes the character Johnny Fartpants.
Though there are potentially many other references in the iconography
of Abe’s world, these two make the point that quite different cultural worlds
are being invoked. The cultural world of Dan Dare, Harry Potter and Frodo
Baggins all have quite sober heroic aspirations, and can be located in
traditions of popular narrative reaching back to the quest-based sagas of
mediaeval Romance literature and folktale. By contrast, the popular culture
of Mad and Viz is essentially anti-heroic. Its social function is directly
oppositional and subversive. Like the Rabelaisian practices of Bakhtin’s
(1968) carnival, it operates to upset the pomposity and arrogance of official
culture, to displace it and substitute its own defiantly grotesque version of
authority, if only for a day. What we get with Abe, then, is a curious mixture
of the two. We have something of the seriousness and heroism of the questsage,
as Abe struggles for the liberation of the Mudokon slaves; but also
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something of the subversive irreverence and grotesque humour of the
carnival anti-hero.
In addition to these artistic dimensions, Oddworld Inhabitants have
also emphasised the strong ethical and moral issues that underline the
game’s narrative and drive its characters. Indeed, Lanning (2002: 2) has
commented that Oddworld’s ‘characters are driven in a way that is fired by
larger issues’. The basic situation and objectives of the game clearly reflect
concerns about the environment (food safety, pollution, unregulated
industrial growth) and, more broadly, about a rapacious and exploitative
form of modern capitalism. Lanning, Oddworld’s creator and designer, has
explicitly expressed his desire to ‘inject’ ecological dilemmas into a package
that players can interact with, and ultimately overcome. Thus, despite its
fantastical setting, the game mobilises broader political motivations that have
a strong contemporary relevance.
Researching player agency
The data presented in this chapter focuses on the contributions that fans of
the games make to the discussion lists, Oddworld Forums
(www.oddworldforums.net). The forums facilitate a variety of discussion
topics that are divided between Zulag 1, 2 and 3 (drawing on the factory
zones found within RuptureFarms). The whole site currently (early 2004) has
2,437 members who have amongst them contributed 9,864 threads and
164,933 posts - numbers that grow every day. Within Zulag 1 there are
three discussion forums, the ‘General Oddworld Discussion’ devoted to
speculation about upcoming games, queries, theory building and general
enhancement of Oddworld knowledge and trivia (51,222 posts). Proxy
agency is achieved by players of the Oddworld games through the remaining
‘Spoiler Forum’ (2,625 posts) that addresses the narrative direction of future
games, and ‘Oddworld Help’ (2,468 posts) in which technical support and
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advice is offered to fans continuing to play the games. Within Zulag 2,
members can also offer feedback on the running of the forum within ‘Forum
Suggestion and Help’ (5,671 posts). Additionally, members may engage in
‘Off-topic Discussion,’ which constitutes the most popular communication
forum (79,733 posts): in this space, friendships are formed and cemented.
Collective agency is particularly apparent in the remaining forums. ‘Oddworld
RPG’ (6,025 posts) represents an ongoing text-based RPG game that
expands upon Oddworld Inhabitants’ original concept and allows fans to
transport themselves into the environments of Oddworld. Finally, there is the
‘Fan Corner’ forum in which those who enjoy writing fan-fiction and making
fan-art converge (15,089 posts).
The collective nature of this overall endeavour is also clearly shown by
the fact that contributors to the forum environment take responsibility for its
governance. Fans are elevated to supervisory positions, maintaining the
etiquette of online communication. They steer discussions and contributions
into acceptable realms, sanctioning those who attempt to violate the ethical
or political ‘values’ of the game; and they encourage participants to
contribute in ways that are mutually supportive rather than destructive.
Analysing some of these thousands of contributions – particularly to
the general discussion board and the fan-corner – provides us with some
concrete instances of the three forms of agency identified in Bandura’s
model, outlined above. In the discussion that follows, we refer to the online
nicknames of the contributors in italics. The postings we discuss were all
made between April 2001 and October 2003, and are reproduced verbatim.
Personal agency
As we have noted, the concept of agency conventionally refers to the ways in
which people make things happen, or influence events, through exercising
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some element of personal control. Agency, then, involves intentionality: it is
not just a matter of expecting or predicting future events, but also of
intervening proactively in order to bring them about. Computer games invite
the player to act in and on the material world, traversing gateways to unseen
territories that set in motion a chain of uncertain events. Such actions are
performed with the intention that they will lead to desired outcomes, but
they also produce outcomes that are neither intended nor wanted.
By not featuring the ‘quick save’ option, that allows the player to
return to an ‘opted for’ point in the game that guarantees that their efforts
up to that point are retained in the event of screen-death, the first Oddworld
game Abe’s Oddysee would often lead to unintentional outcomes. The first
game contains alternate endings, depending upon whether the player follows
one of the key objectives of the game: the rescue of ninety-nine Mudokons
from the RuptureFarms meat-packing factory. When leading Mudokons to
safety it is necessary to prioritise and order how obstacles are cleared,
whether you clear them first (‘stay here’) or take the Mudokon with you
(‘follow me’). This decision can sometimes lead to the loss of the Mudokon to
automated chainsaws, falling objects, bombs or beatings from over-zealous
Sligs. Although screen death enables the player (as Abe) to replay the same
events over and over, it does not bring back perished Mudokons. Despite
best intentions, the player has ostensibly sent the very individuals they are
supposed to be liberating to their deaths.
Yet, as we have noted, games also offer degrees of freedom that give
the player the power to make desired game events materialize and unfold. In
the case of Abe’s Oddysee, the player has the power to originate actions in
order to ‘ensure that all the lost brothers in the corporate grinder are
liberated’ (as Sad Mudokon puts it). However, agency is also adaptable
(Bratman, 1999): as initial intentions are partially met through action, so
they are adjusted, revised or even reconsidered in the face of new
information - including materials embedded within the game text itself. As
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Silversnow comments: ‘It’s not just a regular game … It’s a world, with
possibilities for you and itself.’
The Oddworld fan-forums provide many indications of the ways in
which players monitor their behaviour during game play, and seek to
exercise personal agency. Thus, there are discussions of dormant actions and
capabilities at the disposal of players, in which a different set of
performances can be unearthed that sit alongside the expected standards of
competencies set by the game designers. An example of this can be found in
such acts as ‘Meep flipping’:
… you can make a Meep flip over on its back he he … They sort of
squirm around before they get up. Its kind of weird. You have to
throw or move one to the wall … in order to make them flip
upside down (Paramiteabe)
Pinkgoth is another fan who has used the forums to express this kind of
pleasure in playing with the minor characters that Abe can possess and
control. Many of these creatures are more primitive than Abe and wild in
nature. The ability to possess such creatures allows Abe to reposition them
and avoid attack as he passes through different landscapes. These characters
offer little contribution to the environmental activism driving the game’s
aims. However, Pinkgoth provides this rationale: ‘My favorite creature is the
most savage: the scrab [see Fig. 3]. For me, the scrab is a symbol of
nature’s power, which mirrors itself in my life philosophy, one of the instinct
and the carnal.’ Taking into account the expanse covered by the leading
character’s odyssey, the game offers Pinkgoth very little opportunity to
engage with Oddworld as a scrab, yet this is still identified as a key pleasure
in engaging with the game-world. Similarly, Fazerina argues that the ‘nonimportant
stuff like farting (well, it is VERY important) and your buddies’
[Mudokons] reactions to it are just plain fun. ”
-insert figure 3 about herePlease
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Fans also show a deep appreciation for the space of Oddworld and the
design and movement of its characters. As Xavier states, ‘the games are
incredibly rich. Thousand of details in each screen. Stop and look at the
picture, it’s really beatifull’. Likewise, TyA uses the desire to explore Mudos
(the continent in which Abe’s Oddysee and Munch’s Oddysee are set) as an
explanation, arguing that ‘every screen has a personal beauty to it.’ Lampion,
a Brazilian fan, argues that, ‘the levels of the game are so detailed and
complex in appearance, thus creating an increasing sense of expectancy and
curiosity about what comes next’. And the importance of the communicative
function of ‘space’ is reinforced by Dequibenzo, who states:
Oddworld reminds us of what it takes to make a classic story, no
matter what the medium. You have to create your world, truly
make it real for yourself, then, when you let visitors in, engage
them … A true storyteller creates the universe and uses the story
to explore it, and that is exactly what OWI [Oddworld
Inhabitants] have done.
Fans’ interest and engagement in the game is also sparked by the
storyline, which is essentially a critique of the profiteering of capitalist
industrialists. The potential of games as an opening for debating wider
political issues can be found in Scrubs’ question to the fan-forum: ‘I was just
interested to know how many people on this board started recycling, and
supporting charities such as WWF [World Wildlife Fund] to try and save
animals and their habitats that have been around much longer than we
have?’ Here perhaps we see an extension of the notion of agency beyond the
game itself and the goals defined by its developers, reflecting the potential
role of the game as an incentive for actions in the real world. Other
contributions to this discussion thread highlight this political impact of the
game upon players:
Yes, we're all Khanzumerz really, our lives depend on the
products and services of companies and corporations … I'm
definitely against materialism and commercialisation … it really
sickens me the way holidays are converted into, and even created
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as, selling points … I'm positive that growing up with Oddworld
over the last few impressionable years has helped make me
aware … and for that I'm really grateful. (Max the Mug)
Oddworld totally changed me! I suddenly realized the hell we put
the African Americans through and the Indians through way back
before the Civil War. I had made the connection between
Mudokon slaves and Tainos or African American slaves. (Slig
Hunter 72)
Other players’ comments on the forums reflect this sense of the relevance of
the Oddworld universe to the contemporary world: as Sad Mudokon states,
Oddworld is a ‘universe, akin to our very own, appealing to a sense of
understanding, our grasp of the excessive, merciless theologies behind the
corporate system. The industrialists represent to us what is real.’
As these contributions suggest – and as we have maintained at several
points in earlier chapters – players’ engagement with a game can take many
forms. Despite the strong narrative objective – the salvation of Abe’s fellowworkers
– Abe’s Oddysee can be read on several levels, visually, emotionally
and thematically. The world can be explored at will, and seemingly incidental
details or characters made the subject of play ‘for its own sake’. Although
these choices and potentials are all encoded within the game system and the
visual design of the game, it clearly permits forms of personal agency during
the activity of play that are not confined to the achievement of a singular
objective.
Proxy Agency
As we have noted, games resemble the real world in that individuals do not
always have direct control over the conditions and practices that affect their
actions. Just as in real life, few people possess the time, energy and
resources necessary to master every realm of their activities. Under such
conditions, Bandura (2001) argues that individuals can employ a sociallyPlease
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mediated form of agency, which he calls proxy agency: they try, by one
means or another, to enlist those who have access to resources or expertise
to act at their behest in order to help them secure the outcomes they desire.
We saw some clear examples of this in the previous chapter, where players
collaborated on game play; and this kind of function is also apparent in a
more mediated way through online message boards.
An obvious example of proxy agency can be found in players’
production and use of ‘walkthroughs’. As we saw in Chapter 7, walkthroughs
retrace the successful strategies employed by someone who has successfully
completed a game. Although gaming magazines produce hints and cheats for
players, more instant and comprehensive walkthroughs are produced by
game players online. However, the Oddworld fan-forums also reveal other
less chronicled examples of proxy agency.
One of the most contested debates amongst game players is the role
of non-interactive animated cut-scenes. Within console games like Abe’s
Oddysee, cut-scenes are typically used at the end of a level to introduce
turning points in the narrative. Some feel cut-scenes detract from the game
play experience, enforcing particular versions of the game (from the
developer’s perspective) that may contradict the way the player has
conducted him or herself and engaged with the character up to that point.
Yet, for fans of Oddworld, this does not appear to be the case, as Sad
Mudokon argues:
I played for the cut-scenes, for the elaboration on the world, and
for insights into the personality of the characters. They were and
are a key element of the Oddworld phenomenon.
Likewise, Lampion also articulates the importance of cut-scenes:
the cut scenes of the games are as important as the actual game,
because they create the storyline, and portray the characters in
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such a deep and detailed way that it otherwise couldn’t be
achieved through gameplay.
Here we see the perception of cut-scenes not only as a reward for successful
play, but also a means of accessing the official narrative, as players shift
between parallel storylines.
Within the context of the game, developers avoid accounting for all
objects and artefacts contained within its environment. In creating a complex
and extensive world, Oddworld Inhabitants have included detailed
ecosystems and landscapes distinguishable by their relationship with nature
and the technologies that are utilised. As a Mudokon, Abe is a member of an
ecologically admirable race that lives in respectful balance with the land.
Players enter the story after the point of breakdown in the natural order. The
game thus seeks a route back to a communion with nature and the
acceptance of a philosophy of a new environmental order free from industrial
oppressors. In the process, players witness and experience species that have
been taken out of their natural habitat by the Glukkons and either put to
work, experimented upon or used as ingredients in their food and drink
products. As Abe escapes the confines of the factory grounds, he moves
through lands that offer a glimpse of the past. He passes through vaults,
mines and temples that contain wall paintings, carvings and discarded tools
and technologies that offer players hints of a pre-history. In this way, the
developers present players with historical and cultural ‘gaps’ that they are
able to fill in. As TyA states, ‘the mystery of Oddworld remains, and it’s the
mystery that means most to me.’ One of the functions of the fan-forums,
then, is to provide theoretical explanations and accounts of the various
species’ biological evolution, lifestyle, and traditions.
The discussion thread entitled ‘Vykkers Feet’ is typical of the
theoretical discussions in which fans engage. Here we see The Khanzumer
beginning the thread with a query about the anatomical accuracy of the
Vykkers, given their back-story.
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Vykkers were originally tree dwelling creature right? Well, to me
at least, it doesn’t seem like they have very good means of doing
this (climbing trees) … I think the stitches on their legs are the
result of them amputating their other arms. I think that their
three ‘legs’ used to be their primary limbs for climbing. But they
were terrible for walking on the ground … What do you guys
think?
This thread generated fifty-eight posts by twenty-two fans over a period of
seven days. During the course of the discussion, it is suggested that the
stitches resemble a self-inflicted modification to deal with a change of
environment or that the creatures possess a masochistic nature. Ultimately,
it is established that Vykkers reproduce themselves, ‘similar to stickbugs
from Australia that do the same thing’ (according to Mac the Janitor). What
we see here is a consensual process of establishing a back-story, a history
prior to the current storyline. This practice involves proxy agency, as players
subsequently refer to the outcomes of such discussions as established
knowledge; but it also entails collective agency, as players collectively
construct meanings that go beyond those contained in the game itself. As
TyA demonstrates:
I’ve … read very interesting theories about the moons of
Oddworld, as well as a theory that Oddworld might be a moon
itself. Theories regarding the time before Glukkons [the
industrialists] … theories regarding how the gender of Mudokons
could not be perhaps 100% male but female instead.
Collective agency: fan production
The practice of fan production – fan art and writing – is perhaps the most
obvious example of collective agency, although it also reflects elements of
proxy agency as well. Artwork produced by fans might be regarded by those
with a negative view of the cultural value of games as derivative,
mechanistic, superficial and facile – particularly when compared with the
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traditional view of art as original, individual and based in hard-won craft
skills. Behind the smooth surface of the digital aesthetic, however, all games
contain a design phase rooted in traditional craft skills. Japanese games are
well known for having designs based on the elaborate paintings of their
concept-artists; and Oddworld is no different. The official website is at pains
to emphasise the hundreds of iterations of pencil-sketches of Abe, and
presents some of them on the site (see Fig. 4). Here we see how the old,
individual craft technologies of the hand and pencil sit alongside the digital
modelling of animated characters and interactive worlds. Fans who produce
artwork and submit it to the forums for comment and reaction engage with
these same practices and values in their own tributes.
-Insert figure 4 about here-
Exhibitors of fan-art on the forum explore the aesthetic concepts of
Oddworld through the manipulation of different materials and processes (e.g.
pencil sketches, inked illustrations, puppets, plasticine models, computeredited
montages and original art). In doing so, fans publicly refine and
control their use of art tools and techniques, and evaluate their own and
others’ work, alongside the lessons they learn from Oddworld Inhabitants’
artists and designers. Indeed, the artistic practice engaged in by contributors
to the Oddworld Forums could be compared with the apprenticeship practices
of Renaissance studios, in their admiration of the master-practitioners of
cartoon, manga and digital art, and in their diligent attention to graphic
techniques that are often surprisingly traditional. Consider, for example, this
advice from Paramiteabe about how to do pencil drawings based on a kind of
brass-rubbing technique:
Its not that hard after you know what the type of method is used
its quite easy. Anyone can do it and it involved outlining the
photograph. All you do is get a photograph of anything black and
white. Take a pencil and just scribble on the back of the
photograph. Turn it over and outline the image on the photograph
onto the paper don't press hard. You will altimatically get a line
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because you scribbled on the back of the photograph you will get
a line of the image transfered altimaticallly to the paper. In other
words your traceing it. Then altimatically you have the shape. The
only thing you do now is fill in the tones of darks and lights by
only using small line strokes. That’s it its that simple… and believe
it or not Concept artist are aloud to trace when its the right time.
So trace and that will be great.
Examination of forum members’ responses to submitted work also
reveals the common use of ‘industry standard’ (as indicative of career
potential in the game industry) as the highest form of compliment offered to
exhibitors of artwork. For example, in response to the artwork of Tybie_odd
and Red Muse, Splat declares: ‘Wow those pics are really great! You should
all become desighners for computer characters! You’d make millions a year!’
Similarly, comparisons to Oddworld artists and other artists (for non-
Oddworld art and literature) also characterise a well-received and highly
acclaimed submission to the forum. Again, the approving Splat, this time in a
different thread, is the thirteenth person to respond to the work of Canned
Gabbiar, exclaiming:
WOW! Those were brilliant! I laughed, I cried, I stared in awe at
your pure artistic genius! No exaduration! I’m being solely
truthful when I say that you should take up a job as a character
designer for Oddworld! You’d get the job, no competition.
Honestly, I just applied your fuzzles [game characters] as my
wallpaper! Brilliant!
Here exhibitors are receiving direct and immediate reinforcement from an
audience that is deeply entrenched in the visual design of the game.
Members’ duty to support and encourage both new and experienced artists
and writers submitting work to the forum is illustrated by forum moderator Al
the Vykker, who interrupted a long and exclusive thread communication with
a request that members ‘try to be fair and go and read other peoples’ work
and artwork also, instead of just going to one in here. I suggest that most
people around FC [fan corner] try and be a bit more attentive and give some
other artists … feedback.’
Please seek author’s permission before citing this chapter
When praise turns to advice, thread posts are tender in their approach
to dispensing constructive criticism. In no threads were posts unearthed in
which any member excessively denigrated the contribution of another
member’s art. For example, when Dipstikk submitted work under the title
‘Abe art’ (see Fig. 5) Sligslinger commented: ‘Nice drawings … keep up the
good work, ps: may I suggest u make Abe look less elfish’. Dipstikk
acknowledges this critique, conceding ‘Yeah, the ears were a problem. I
forgot that they were immobile, plastered to the side of the head’.
Meanwhile, after praising Dipstikk, Alector focuses on standards of
presentation and materials for exhibiting art in the thread:
But notice: Drawings look much better when you draw them on
white non-lined paper. The lines disturb the pencil drawings a lot.
The … picture with the yellow background looks good [Fig 6]. It
shows the power of the Shrykull. The havoc and the danger of it.
The poem gives the drawing a mysterious touch.
-insert figures 5 & 6 about here-
In line with the emphasis here on collective agency, an influential
thread on the forum entitled ‘Share Your Artwork Tips’ begins with a
statement by One, Two, Middlesboogie which reads: ‘Among true artists,
there are no secrets. Pooling our knowledge can only make us better, so
share the secrets of your success.’ The thread provides comprehensive tips
on pencil drawing, pastels, inking and computer colouring techniques, a
guide to buying art supplies as well as links to other web-based art tutorials
(e.g. by computer artist Kristen Perry) and texts (e.g. Andy Smith’s 2002
text Drawing Dynamic Comics).
It is also not uncommon for sketches to be re-drawn or altered in line
with feedback. Here the text is regarded as a process, as unfinished
business, rather than a static object, which can be collectively transformed,
adapted and reworked. Thus, it is not uncommon for fans to
employ/commission other fans to illustrate their fan-fiction: input and
Please seek author’s permission before citing this chapter
feedback is expected from the author(s) and the readers of the fan-fiction as
to the appropriateness of the graphical illustrations. Tybie_odd provides a
good example of this in his work, which he posted in the form of four
character pictures titled ‘Work at Rupture Farms’, based on characters
created by other fans in the text-based role play forum. In the case of one
character, a Glukkon named ‘Arnie’ (see Fig. 7), Dripik the creator of that
character comments that despite appreciating the work, there was ‘maybe
one thing: I imagined smaller shoulder pads for Arnie’. In response,
Tybie_odd is happy to oblige and accurately realise the creator’s mental
image of Arnie:
YAY! They like them! Now I am encouraged to do Otto [another
fan-created character] Coming right up, dripik! I changed Arnie’s
shoulder pads smaller, I post the new pic when I get done with
Otto.
-insert figure 7 about here-
In the process of fans’ artistic production, then, we can see elements
of all there types of agency. On one level, the postings show the anxiety,
stress and risks attached to acts of personal agency and the cultivation of
personal competencies. Fans make use of proxy agency by supporting and
learning from each other’s feedback, advice and expertise. And this is clearly
a collective process, in which fans feed off each other’s work (sometimes
across different media), and work together to set standards for their own
production practices. To some degree, of course, all this activity remains
within the terms laid down by the original creators of the Oddworld; yet it
also extends and goes beyond it in several ways.
Conclusion
Please seek author’s permission before citing this chapter
Henry Jenkins’ work on fan communities provides several illustrations of the
tensions and power struggles that may emerge between media producers
and their audiences over the ‘ownership’ of a particular text or symbolic
world (Jenkins, 1992). For example, fans strongly resisted attempts by
Lucasfilm Ltd. to maintain the PG-rated world of Star Wars and censor fanfiction
that engaged its characters in ‘pornography’. By contrast, Oddworld
fans appear to honour their role as representatives of the game brand; they
are rarely critical of — in fact, they often celebrate - the stock Oddworld
universe. Although we do not have evidence to this effect, it is also very
likely that the forums function as a means of market research for the
developers, providing them with insights into the appeal of the games and
possibly even suggesting likely future lines of development.
Of course, it would be a mistake to romanticize this, or to see it as evidence
of a radical democratization of cultural production. By and large, the
producers still define the terms and parameters within which players’ agency
is exercised. Nevertheless, as we have shown, game-play to some extent
depends upon and requires a positive experience of agency on the part of the
player; and the forms this agency takes may be different in several respects
when compared with older media such as television. At the very least, we
can say that a focus on the agency of the player should lead us to reevaluate
popular assumptions about what a game is, who produces it and by
what means.

sorce: http://www.waikato.ac.nz/film/2006pa...ngs/Schott.pdf