Tag Archives: videogames

Capstone Project – #Gamergate controversy

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The #Gamergate movement, in August of 2014, started off as a movement by gamers demanding more transparency within video game journalism. The movement however, soon turned into a full blown cyber war with anonymous members of the movement resorting to using harassment methods such as doxing, threats of rape and death threats against members of the video game community who spoke out against the movement.  The gamergate movement has become a manifestation of a culture war over gaming culture diversification, artistic recognition, social criticism of video grams, and the gamer social identity.  Observers of the movement have described it as a movement that was started with a valid discussion regarding ethics in journalism that was hijacked and turned into a far right-wing, anti-feminist harassment group, who targeted mostly female figures in the gaming industry and of people who are socially critical of video games.Traditionally the video gaming community has been known to be a heavily male dominated community. Gamergate is reflective of concerns regarding sexism and progressivism in the video game culture.

The first approach to this project is to create an infographic image that will be used a timeline of sorts that will help visitors of the site understand how the movement started and what were some of the major events that resulted from the movements. The next part is to create an animated infographic video that will talk about what exactly is the gamergate movement and what are some of the major implications that resulted from the movement.’

https://twitter.com/TheSynDicate63/status/662092898163232768

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Ryan Schafte Capstone Blog Post

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To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.

— Roger Ebert

 

When defining “art,” it is usually accepted that it has to be creatively made, and has some aesthetic beauty or emotional power behind it. Some, however, consider something “art” solely because it’s on a canvas, or on display. As such, sentiments like the one above are sadly prevalent. That is why for my project I will once more touch upon the topic of video-games as an art form, and challenge the bias which drives the notion that they are not.

This will be challenging, as I’ll have to find an approach different from what I’ve done previously. The plan thus far is to first create an infographic which lists various games and their contributions to the industry, or to storytelling as a whole. After coming up with the infographic, I will create a “mashup” using video capture software to obtain highlights from the games listed that have made an emotional impact on players, or were praised for their beauty and the level of skill required to develop them, so as to properly illustrate the concept of video-games as “art.”

https://twitter.com/RyanSchafte/status/662014282444357632

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