GE 4102 Video Game: History, Industry, Society, and Creativity. Modding, cheating, and creative play

Transcription

1 GE 4102 Video Game: History, Industry, Society, and Creativity Modding, cheating, and creative play

2

3

4

5

6 Just as there is no formal difference between play and ritual, so the consecrated spot cannot be formally distinguished from the play-ground. The arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice, etc., are all in form and function play-grounds, i.e. forbidden spots, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain. All are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart. Huizinga, 1938 For Huizinga, who first suggested the term magic circle, Play does not simply predate culture, play is constitutive of culture.

7 The term magic circle was appropriated by game researchers The magic circle bounded a space and set it apart from normal life. Inside the magic circle, different rules apply, and it is a space where we can experience things not normally sanctioned or allowed in regular space or life. Mia Consalvo, 2009 An important part of human development

8 A commonly given example of human intellect development: The hunt

9 A commonly given example: The hunt, mediated by tools, and division of labor, rules, and community An expression of higher intelligence

10 According to Consalvo (2007), a cheater is an accepted part of play and gaming cultures Not to confused with a spoilsport, who rejects the rules entirely (e.g., sweeping the chess pieces onto the ground) and thus denounced the magic circle

11 Different ways of cheating in a video game?

12 Video games Too varied to classify Each genre of video games has a subculture of its own

13 According to Consalvo, every subculture contains distinct sets of gaming capital Borrowed from Bordieu s cultural capital, or a distinctive set of preferences and dispositions that separate people into social classes In games, access to methods of cheating is a form of gaming capital which players could accumulate and demonstrate expertise Easter eggs Zerg rush

14 We need to know what is ahead in the story/game/etc Games provide a social context in which we can accumulate gaming capital Game developers also rely on players interests in gaming capital to extend their interests in games Paratext as a legal concept (Burk, 2009) Texts that modify or enhance the reader s interaction with a primary text For example, preface, index, dust jacket summaries, reviews, and so forth Paratext offers new meanings, interpretations, or ways which the original text could engage new audiences

15 Paratexts in games as forms of cheating?

16

17 World of Warcraft Players complete quests and advance from level 1 to 85 More collaborative play required at higher levels Play against computer controlled opponents or other players Collaborative play against computer controlled opponents Most play require fighting some enemies, but may also include trading, hanging out, chatting, and traveling Buying and selling items Collaborative play against 17 other players

18 Modding in World of Warcraft Modding the practice of end user alteration of commercial hardware and software. Default User Interface In World of Warcraft, mods are scripted programming files that specify user interface elements. Most mods are distributed for free. Modders sometimes solicit donations in one of the mod s window. Modified UI minimalist We can t make hundreds of options, but you can, Blizzard employee speaking to modders at a gaming convention.

19 Are mods cheating? Banned mods

20 Cheating is a part of everyday life education, finance, social relationships the difference between cheating and creativity in any forms of established rule and order has always been contentious Those in power and privilege positions use rules to maintain status quo and inequality Cheaters are usually those in weaker positions The powerful could change the rules if they like, so that do not need to cheat However, the society may learn from cheaters to identify innovations (e.g., from hacking to modding)

21 The game developer s dilemma: How to encourage development of paratexts in a fashion that will enhance the desirability of the game, making play attractive, but discouraging development detrimental to the business plan for the game? (Burk, 2009) Cheating may enrich the game environment But cheating may also reveal secrets and allows innocuous activities by players

22 Before World of Wacraft was released Closed beta, March 2004 October 2004 There was no modding in WoW A group of hackers are modifying and replacing game files to modify the game AnduinLothar, a modder of the earliest WoW modding team CosmosUI: This was before actually, there was actually an addon system. You had to modify the game files and put them in the [Interface] folder to replace them.

23 FrameXML hacks Modders had to replace the Blizzard Lua and XML files inside the /Interface/FrameXML folder so that their files would be loaded instead of the standard game files If several modders tried the replace the same files, they ended up overwriting each other Cosmos Team's mission was to ensure that all mods worked together seamlessly Distributed a single.exe installer file, cosmos.exe, as a compilation mod (actually contributed by many modders)

24 A Blizzard developer, Sam Slouken Lantinga noticed the effort He proposed to his Lead Developer to develop a mod system Modders could place their mods in the /Interface/Addons folder without overwriting each other All of Cosmos mods turn into individual mods Slouken remained as a bridge to help resolve technical issues of modding, even though modding was supported by Blizzard, the effort is unofficial : There is no official support for modifying the WoW interface. If you break it, you get to keep both pieces. :)

25 Modding is a collaborative effort between players and companies But who owns the mod? Burk, 2009: Game developers, like other publishers, are keenly interested in the control of separate paratexts that spring up around their games, but must be additionally concerned over paratexts such as software and hardware devices

26 Copyright allows the holder to exclude others from making copies of the work, including exclusive rights of distribution, public display, and public performances What about paratext? paratext as a form of derivative work including include translations, sequels, and adaptations stories to screenplay of Since paratext requires some degree of copying from the original text, paratext would likely considered an infringement Burk, 2009

27 Blizzard WoW EULA

28 Why does company require the EULA, if their software is already protected by copyright? Burk, 2010: In the case of modding, one might argue that a mod that disables or evades restrictive components of the WoW API would not constitute a DMCA violation if the interaction were authorized. One might infer such authorization from the game proprietor supplying the technical information for the interaction, or encouraging modding that included mods of this type, or even failing to object to such mods for a long period of time, especially if such mods were brought to the proprietor s attention. Therefore, the EULA is acting as a take it or leave it contract as a notice against implied authorization for access

29 Modding and Creativity An ethnographic study into cultures of collaborative work in the U.S. and China s modding communities Field observations China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Xinjiang, Liaoning) California and BlizzCon Forums Chatrooms (IRC, MSN, QQ) Interviews Face to face (25) 19 in China, 6 in the U.S. Dinner with 50 U.S. modders BlizzCon outing with 10 U.S. modders Chatrooms (IRC, MSN, QQ) Internet messaging s The Chinese modders WoW U.S. modders chatroom: the IRC channel

30 Modding the practice of end user alteration of commercial hardware and software. Default User Interface In World of Warcraft, mods are scripted programming files that specify user interface elements. Most mods are distributed for free. Modders sometimes solicit donations in one of the mod s window. Modified UI minimalist We can t make hundreds of options, but you can, Blizzard employee speaking to modders at a gaming convention.

31 Field observations California and BlizzCon Forums Chatrooms (IRC) Interviews 6 Face to face 9 through chatrooms (IRC, MSN, AOL), Internet messaging, and s Dinner with 50 U.S. modders BlizzCon outing with 10 U.S. modders WoW modders WoW U.S. modders chatroom: the IRC channel

32 Contradiction in the U.S. Modding Community: Ownership We studied a case of WoW modders in the U.S. who fought against Blizzard Entertainment over two addon (synonym of mod in WoW) policies: Policy 1 Add-ons must be free of charge. All add-ons must be distributed free of charge. Developers may not create "premium" versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on. Policy 5 Add-ons may not solicit donations. Add-ons may not include requests for donations. We recognize the immense amount of effort and resources that go into developing an add-on; however, such requests should be limited to the add-on website or distribution site and should not appear in the game.

33 Blizzard wanted to alter the terms of ownership to maintain the quality of its product : On March 20, we released the new add-on development policy to the public as an ongoing effort to help ensure add-on integrity, safety, and quality for the community. Nethaera, Blizzard Poster Modders wanted the freedom to determine distribution of their mods : This policy completely disregards our ownership of the code as Intellectual Property. Blizzard should have no say in how we distribute and get compensation for OUR work. Portman, WoW modder The disagreement on ownership led to a messy ethical debate. Thousands of forum posts ensued.

34 Modders Fight Blizzard

35 Blizzard Strikes Back

36 But some modders were practically affected: I have always had donation links on my home page [but made almost no money]. In the week and a half since I made that change [added the in-game request], nui switched from being something that made $20 a week into something I thought I could count on to put food on my table when I get laid off again in June. Erranthor, 2009 The policy changes Erranthor s equation. He can no longer mod fulltime. nui developed by Erranthor

37 But fulltime modding is not just about making a living. Fulltime modders like Erranthor develop excellent mods. For example, QuestHelper developed by Smariot clocked a massive 23 million downloads. QuestHelper helping players find their way in the game (wikia.com/) Fulltime modders have potential to develop into a sub-industry. But this dream dissipated with the policies.

38 The contradiction arises because Mods have different values to both users and corporate developers. From the user community s perspective, Ito (2010) has argued that this value is expressed as a form of reputation. From the company s perspective, this value is expressed as the ability to maximize profit (Kow & Nardi, 2010). If both values are aligned, e.g., by expressing reputation in a monetary form, then perhaps the user and corporate communities can make better decisions when arbitrating issues like ownership.

39 Curse.com, a commercial company that targets online gamers, sell premium versions of its mod downloading tool to players. They suggested a relative solution to reward modders base on their download counts a form of reputation. 20% of our revenue from [Curse premium subscription] is going to the authors, which is split up based on popularity and authors will be able to redeem [reward points] for various items such as Amazon Gift Cards. CKKnight, WoW modder and Curse employee

40 We found other micropayment systems similar to the Curse Reward Program that exist in the Internet, e.g., Flattr. Flattr can also be used to collect donations for other digital contents.

41 Conflicts such as the disagreement between the U.S. WoW modders and the game developer Blizzard over the new addon policies are fought over the issue of ownership. In the end, Curse.com found a mediating link in the Curse Reward Program. Mediating links like Curse Reward Program and Flattr require further research to determine their feasibility and issues of implementation and operation.