Machinima: an investigation into the contribution of participatory user-generated machine-cinema to cultural values

该项目以文献中报道的基于性能的媒体的数字创意实践研究为基础，解决了在machinima的大规模增长和吸收中出现的相关问题。它将通过使用传统面对面和在线技术（包括在虚拟环境中）的研究设计，吸引来自创意和文化产业的主要利益相关者，以及machinima实践社区。在这个项目中提出的意见范围是它对理解machinima的影响的一个关键方面，这在以前没有被调查过。因此，这项研究将为未来的研究人员提供一个重要的“最先进的”数据集和参考点，以及对machinima影响我们文化价值观转变的当前和未来方式的洞察，特别是对视觉文化的影响，不能通过单独评估社交媒体来解决。Machinima是使用3D电脑游戏引擎和实时录制的游戏玩法制作的原创内容。Machinima创造者（“machinimators”）现在利用了多种电脑视频游戏，但这种类型的共同创造和参与性内容最初是随着幻想和模拟角色扮演环境的发展而流行起来的，如《魔兽世界》、《光晕》、《侠盗猎车手》和《模拟人生》。它起源于“演示场景”，即计算机“极客”通过演示游戏玩法来提升计算机的技术能力。第一部机械电影于1996年上映，从那时起，在日益复杂的技术和新媒体生态中，机械制作者通过在线论坛创造并分发了成千上万的粉丝视频、模仿、讽刺、重演和原创内容。最近，Machinima.com凭借令人印象深刻的增长记录在美国股市上市——通过其各种在线渠道，用户生成的Machinima.com电影下载量超过25亿次，每月独立用户4500万。现在，世界各地的数字艺术节和画廊都包含了内容：machinima本质上是技术、数字社会实践和文化的融合。重要的是，它被描述为“21世纪的视觉文化现象”（Greenaway, 2010）。它的流行对游戏开发者产生了重大影响，因为它挑战了他们看待自己的知识产权和客户（游戏玩家）在创造商业价值中的角色的方式，有效地测试了作者和所有权之间的界限。反过来，这导致了对最终用户许可协议的格式和框架的思考的转变。最近，作为在线数字创意内容的主要搜索工具，使用Machinima.com的社区的稳定性和增长被认为是YouTube等媒体平台的健康指标（该网站上发布的许多用户生成内容是machinima和电脑游戏玩法记录）。尽管这一令人印象深刻的增长记录，特别是对于英国的数字文化场景，它仍然是一个相对缺乏研究和理解的参与式新媒体类型（lowwood&nitsche, 2011）。例如，在媒体研究中，它被描述为一种融合文化，由“数字原住民”产生，作为一种用户生成内容的形式，在纯粹的在线体验中被肤浅地消费。在电脑游戏研究中，它被认为破坏了对动画艺术家技能的需求，被视为“黑客和建模”内容。这些观点没有认识到新兴的创意和计算技能的作用，也没有认识到创意和文化产业认识到这些技能价值的方式。

This project addresses the pertinent issues that have emerged in the massive growth and uptake of machinima, building on previous research into digital creative practice of performance-based media reported in the literature. It will engage key stakeholders from the breadth of creative and cultural industries, as well as the community of machinima practice, through the research design using traditional face-to-face and online techniques including within virtual environments. The range of opinion proposed for inclusion in this project is a key aspect of its contribution to understanding the impact of machinima, which has not previously been investigated. This research will therefore provide an important 'state of the art' dataset and point of reference for future researchers, as well as insight into the immediate and future ways that machinima is impacting on the shifts in our cultural values, particularly towards a visual culture that cannot be addressed through evaluation of social media alone.Machinima is the making of original content using 3D computer games engines and gameplay recorded in real time. Machinima creators ('machinimators') now draw on a multiplicity of computer video games but this type of co-created and participatory content was originally popularised by the growth in fantasy and simulated role-play environments such as World of Warcraft, Halo, Grand Theft Auto and The Sims. It originates from the 'demoscene' whereby computer 'geeks' promote the technical capabilities of computers through demonstrations of gameplay. The first machinima film was released in 1996 and since then machinimators have created and distributed thousands of fan-vids, parodies, satires, reenactments and original content through online fora in an increasingly complex ecology of technologies and new media. Recently, Machinima.com listed on the US stock market based on an impressive record of growth - more than 2.5 billion downloads of user-generated machinima films through its various online channels and 45 million unique monthly users. Content is now included in digital arts festivals and galleries around the world: machinima is inherently a convergence of technology, digital social practice and culture. Importantly, it has been described as 'the visual cultural phenomenon of the 21st century' (Greenaway, 2010). Its growth in popularity has impacted games developers significantly because it challenges the ways in which they view their intellectual property and the role of their customers (games players) in the creation of commercial value, effectively testing the boundaries between authorship and ownership. In turn, this is resulting in shifts in thinking about the format and framing of end-user license agreements. More recently, as a main search facility for online digital creative content, the stability and growth of the community using Machinima.com is considered to be a health indicator of media platforms such as YouTube (much user-generated content posted to this site is machinima and computer gameplay recordings). Despite this impressive growth record, particularly for the UK's digital cultural scene, it remains a relatively under-researched and poorly understood genre of participatory new media (Lowood & Nitsche, 2011). Within media studies, for example, it is described as a convergence culture, produced by 'digital natives' as a form of user-generated content that is superficially consumed in a purely online experience. Within computer gaming studies, it is considered to undermine the demand for animation artists skills, being seen as 'hacking and modding' content. These views fail to recognise the role of emergent creative and computing skillsets, or the ways in which the creative and cultural industries are recognising their value.