[-empyre-] Re: games and apathy

Tamiko Thiel <tamiko@alum.mit.edu> · Thu, 12 Jun 2003 10:48:56 +0200

Hi Melinda,
I'm also not a gamer, although put my in front of a console and I'll 
fire away like crazy - it's just that I'm not very good, die quickly and 
have no interest in investing the improving my game.
But my experience showing VR are exactly the opposite of yours. The 
feedback I've gotten is that there is a huge group of people out there 
who are really excited to find 3D games technology being used for other 
purposes - including a lot of girls who are not interested in the 
first-person shooter games but are really attracted to slower, more 
poetic pieces and have to be torn away from the joystick by their 
parents. And these are exactly the people who DON'T like the competitive 
aspect and the porn movie rhythm.
Perhaps the difference is that my work is more "reality-based" and less 
abstract than yours, so it's easier for people who are not used to 
interactive 3D to figure out what they are supposed to do. But it's also 
clear that the computer games industry is training the upcoming 
generations for us, so that we don't have to stand there and tell people 
how to use our work.
I do believe that there is simply a lag time and 3D will enter the 
gallery system at some point, just like video did after being ignored 
for so long. But I think it is also important for us as artists to 
examine the time-based interactive experience and understand what makes 
it compelling for the user.
- tamiko
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 15:52:49 +1000
From: "Melinda Rackham" <melinda@unsw.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] games and apathy
i am preturbed that gaming has put a massive degree of expectation onto
users of and 3d art.. this is above and apart from the seamless, slick
persectival production values that  john poited out wher e netart can't of
course compete. firstly  i must admiit that  im not a net gamer , i got
tired of typing kill kill kiil in moos, and i get bored in first person
shooters after about 5 minutes, and with the myst series id raterh get the
cheats than spend zillions of hours working  it out..,i dont wanna do the
same thing again and again and again,...but i do like those arcade games and
shooters with guns you hold cause they are short.. i guess thats my
generaltional thing slipping)
the critcial issues is i think that the gaming and film industries, which
are becoming increasibngly intertwined, puts an unconscious expectation of
structure  into the minds of users.. there is a rhythm users are looking
for, its the same as a movie rhythm..or a porn movie rhythm would be  a
better example.. bit of talk - bit of sex-bit of talk-sex - talk-- etc.I
noticed this adrenaline type rhythm really strongly the other week when i
saw  xmen2   .. bit of talk -bit of action -bit of talk  etc ( i had the
interresting experience of being  in a session  with  mostly 12 and 13 year
olds who all talked , ran in and out of the theatre and answerd their
mobiles in the non action narrative sequences) .. and that rhythm is really
pronounced in  games..  bit of exploring -bit of killing(or points scoring)-
bit of exploring..killing etc etc
 so when you get to a piece of 3d net art..you feel let down before you even
do anything with it.... this may be your problem tom@nullpointer.. .the
expectation of the adrenaline hit isnt there, the primate body chemisrty
peaks and troughs to hook you in havent happned.. i have had people say to
me about my empyrean work.. "well whats the point" ..what are you supposed
to do when you cant find obvious markers of reality or game play..
"you mean your just supposed to look at it and think about it?? "
"how can avatars communitce if there is no text input?"
jesus christ..art that wants you to meditate on it.. !!
how long are we supposeded to  engage a viewer for ? 30 seconds to 3
minutes, 10 minutes?..what is the average time in front of a painting 20
seconds..? yet we demand so so much from 3d art. its always in realtion to
other media.. never valued by its intrinsic quatlities, never for itself..as
roya was saying the 72dpi aesthetic is beautifull.  so is the lagged,
polygony and uncertainly of 3d worlds.. and i think that only happens when
we stop the comparisions ourselves.. when we stop trying to mimic other
forms.. which is what i was trying to get at earlier in my  post about the
frame...accept the parameters  and work with the subtlies within and without
them..
 maybe as patrick licthy said in his dark night of the soul editorial at
intelligent agent (jk : that scrolly thing had me confused for  while..:) we
are in the place where  net art in general is devalued..  and the community
is the important thing..  but i liek to think that in 20 years it wil have a
rennaissance.. just like video art is having at the moment..initially it
didnt conform to cinematic expectations and when it was new it struggled
then  it died in australia in any rate.. and now it is hot again..  with all
thsoe degreaded chunky video stills being traded in slick galleries..
so i guess we are part of a larger fickle commodities inusdtry that trades
on virtual trends and fashions... do we fit ourselves into that commodity
market or do the epicurian stuff that we want to do. i guess the tricik is
talking enough from both so you dont starve and get to do some of what you
want....personally , and i dont know if its is the whole netart crisis of
the moment or i am just finishing 4 yeras on a phd or i am  having a midlife
crisis,  i just have not made any plans for future work cause i dont want to
write apps because they might get funded.. im starting to think life is too
short to do things i dont really wanna do.. growing vegatables is starting
to look much more fun than art making..
melinda


--
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 Tamiko Thiel       Media Artist
 tamiko@alum.mit.edu
 http://mission.base.com/tamiko/
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