Game for Change

GAME FOR CHANGE

Twine Game - http://philome.la/JaredRi23990996/undercover-anti-human-trafficking

A few of my research sources:

-http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/child-exploitation-how-old-or-how-high

-http://www.equalitynow.org/campaigns/trafficking-survivor-stories

-www.humantraffickinghotline.org/what-human-trafficking/recognizing-signs

-www.state.gov/j/tip/id/help/

Artist's Statement:

Ever since I learned about how rampant sex slavery is in the world (and particularly the U.S.), I’ve been adamant about raising awareness. It’s not exactly the type of issue that can be solved in a day or perhaps even a century, but I strongly believe that the more people are aware of it, the more opportunities there will be to make efforts—big and small—to preventing it.

I’ve researched the topic before, but because this project was about a video game, I decided to read through stories of victims’ perspectives. I will freely admit that it wasn’t a pleasant experience. The things people have done to take advantage of people, and particularly small children, is haunting. I knew it wouldn’t be hard conveying the disgust I felt if I were to create a game from a victim’s perspective (a la Depression Quest). However, despite knowing that the project would work well enough this way, I wanted to try something different. I decided to look and see if I could find positive stories—that is to say, not positive stories of human trafficking, but of people being rescued or delivered from it. One in particular stood out to me: A story of an undercover agent posing as a pedophile to infiltrate a children sex-slave group (please see top source above). The account was still shocking in some aspects, but had a happier ending than most. I decided to base my Twine game on this account.

There’s real value to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s adage of how there’s “danger in a single story.” Our views on things are skewed so much based on how we become acquainted with such stories. In order to become less biased, we need to see every side of an issue. I personally feel that video games are a great means of doing this. One such that does this is called “A Dark Room,” an online text-based game where all you do (at first) is continually stoke a fire to keep warm. Eventually this game gives the player more and more choices until the player either becomes an explorer or a dictator or both, as they are continually met with moral dilemmas, all the while trying to keep track of precious resources. The story is minimal, sure, but because the player assumes the role and determines the ending, it becomes all the more meaningful.

And that’s what I feel the strength of my game is—the decisions you make. While I regret that their aren’t more choices than what’s available, and that the endings aren’t too varied, I’m glad that I can give players a chance to live through a true-life story and feel as though they themselves were the ones taking physical efforts to stop one of the cruelest things that currently exists. In this way, I have accomplished my goal of making players more aware of the issue, and perhaps develop a desire to contribute to the cause. Now I just need to find a way to make more people try out the game!

World Building

Group Members: Jared Richardson, Ryan Romanovitch, Daniel Taylor, Sidney Unga

FINISHED PRODUCTS:

Radio News Broadcast Clip: https://soundcloud.com/jared-richardson-3/leafite-news

Propaganda Posters:

Dirt Pyramid

Garden of Eden Video:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B02kXVCUAhNhYVpsMWZJZHRENjQ

GROUP ARTIST STATEMENT:

Julian Bleecker said, “Design [helps] tell stories that provoke and raise questions. Like props that help focus the imagination and speculate about possible near future worlds — whether profound change or simple, even mundane social practices.” We hoped to capitalize on this idea with artifacts that both directly and subtly tell stories about the fictional world we created—one in which plants and animals can speak, and where humans are torn on whether or not they should treat these things as food. This simple premise gave us lots of ideas of things we could make, as such a politically charged environment would definitely be cause for not only propaganda but normal, every-day aspects of citizens.

What would you do if you couldn’t eat plants or animals? That is the big question raised by the world we created. We imagined that it would break people up into different groups, those who truly do not want to eat anything living, those who feel okay eating plants but not animals and those who love meat and don’t care about the plants or animals. The two most radical groups are the Leafites who eat only dirt and do all in their power to protect the plants and animals from the anti-Leafites, who are at the opposite end of the spectrum. We tried to create artifacts that would represent the conflicts of such a world. The radio broadcast gives a little insight into the trouble brought about by the anti-Leafites while the two propaganda posters give a clear idea of the ideals of these two groups. The dirt pyramid gives an even better idea of the extremes the Leafites go to in order to protect life. We also wanted to create an artifact that would tell a little bit of the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, if not only the serpent, but also the apple could speak. We put together a small clip that would tell the story of Adam and Eve as it would be in our world, where both plants and animals could speak.

In our world, humans still exist as the beings with the highest intelligence, but one of the questions asked is whether or not you would eat something that you can have a relationship with. We don’t eat our pets because we come to love them and create a bond with them. If an apple could talk to us, would we want to “kill” it by eating it? In his blog post entitled, “How Do You Vegans Justify Killing Plants When They’re Living Things, Too?” Bobby Rock says the following, “In other words, if we’re all destined to be murderers anyway, what difference does it make who or what we’re murdering, be it plant or animal?” This shows the complicated nature of our current world and the rhetoric surrounding the ethics of what we eat, in our world such divisions and arguments would be much more exaggerated and extreme.

Webspinna Battle

BUSINESS MEN VS. MOUNTAIN MEN!

Business Men youtube playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK9QQqb30Wal3Ndsrj6nE7PVwGjQrQV_Z

Artist Statement (for Jared Richardson and Billy Knowles):

Doing a “webspinna battle” was one of the most different things we’ve ever been assigned to do. The concept of using audio to illustrate a fight between two opponents was a foreign concept at first, but over time we grew to love it and let it guide our brainstorming process. Perhaps the hardest part was deciding what characters we would be. After much conversation and debate, we settled on two types of people we viewed as polar opposites: Mountain Men and Business Men.

We had our characters, but now we needed a good story/conflict to put them in. Billy came up with the great idea of having the mountain man enjoying the serenity of nature, only to be interrupted by the business man’s industrial agenda. This became our framing device for our performance, and it really influenced what clips we selected for it. The beginning segments, for example, were more introductory, with Jared looping movie quotes that use the word “business,” while Billy cranked up the Paul Bunyion and Monty Python lumberjack songs. Later on, though, we became more hostile, such as when Jared played the videos of someone explaining why “camping sucks” and brandishing wads of dollar bills. The ending was a little chaotic, but overall we were pleased with our illustration of our two opposing forces.

This assignment was a great exercise in sampling—using a wide range of unique sources to create a new type of performance. When you pause to think about it, though, sampling is something we do on a regular basis in more subtle ways. As Lethem suggests, we all draw on art that we’re familiar with when we try to make something original, effectively remixing or reorganizing it into something new. This can be subtle, such as when you incorporate the “Hero’s Journey” into a story you write, based on works you’ve experienced (such as Star Wars). In the case of the webspinna battle, this principle was much more literal, as we were taking direct clips and sounds and mashing them together to create new contexts. In this way, we created something different than the sum of our parts, and we consider it to be just as “original” as any other creation.

Textual Poaching

“Lunch atop a Skyscraper” is one of the most famous American black-and-white photos ever. Taken in 1932, it depicts eleven men eating their lunch on a steel girder that’s over 800 feet above the ground in Manhattan. There’s a lot of meaning behind this photo: for one, it represents the industrial revolution. It also shows how working conditions were—not a safety precaution in sight! But it also represents an archetype that has existed for centuries: the working man.

I chose to doctor this photo because of how familiar the concept is; after all, working men are ubiquitous. It’s a gender role we all generally accept, for without work there is no pay, and “money makes the world go ‘round”. But even though I accept that males are expected to assume this function, I feel that it doesn’t directly coincide with how I identify with my gender. I view my role as a male to be, yes, a worker, but also a provider and nurturer. I don’t get a job to sustain myself alone; I get one to provide a foundation for my family and future family. Even now, I constantly spend time with my siblings to make sure they’re well taken care of, and that’s exactly how it will be when I have my own kids. Being a man means working, but also serving other people.

At a glance, it’s pretty obvious what I did with the photo: each man is seen in the same physical position as before, but now interacting with a new object I photoshopped in. Lunch boxes have been replaced with colorful bags of diapers, drinks have been replaced with baby bottles, and some men even find themselves cradling children while others point out how precious they look.  This was meant to change how an observer perceives their facial expressions—rather than talking about work and lunch, the men now look like they’re talking about their families. I recognize that people might view this and think that I’m ironically reinforcing the stereotype that fathers are neglectful (since they’re willing to bring their children to such a dangerous environment), but I’m really trying to accomplish the opposite here. These men used to be hard workers taking a break from their labors for a bite of lunch. Now, they are fathers and family members thinking and talking about those they care about. In the end, I hope my alterations show the two sides what I identify as a man: a worker and a provider. There should be a balance between the two.