Author: Ann Wu

You’re just in time!

Posted on by Ann Wu

Dear SCRAM,

This letter was harder to write than I imagined it would be. How do I write a love letter to you? How do I succinctly and affectively communicate what you mean to me and why you mean so much to me? How do I translate into words what is it that we DO? How do I ensure I do what we do justice with this letter? How do I ensure that the love I feel for you manifest materially along these lines? I am spiraling. I am anxious. I am letting external measuring criteria confine us. I am judging instead of loving. I am deviating from us. Let me try again.

This is a love letter to you. You, SCRAM, are a place to me. A place made up by familiar faces, warm bodies, affective energies, chill screens, visiting pets, connected signals, visual cues, shared locations, broken interfaces, generous intellects, cold drinks, vivacious laughter, confused looks, intimidating circumstances, horrifying stories, caring words, and time spent. You are a place in time, where I spent a lot of time, and a place where I want to spend more time. Time, and time again.

Like those times. I am reminded to think and speak primarily to you, and you alone. Like those times, when you showed me that it is each other and the people we hold and carry by extension that makes our work matter. Like those times, when you taught me how to make the disembodied structures work for our survival instead of the other way around. Like those times, when I joined our scheduled meeting late because of other obligations and I was feeling completely annoyed at myself for not meeting the expectations of time keeping I have internalized and held for myself, I was not met with contempt but instead smiles. Like those times, when you told me, “you’re just in time!”

What does it mean to be just in time? What happens when we’re not in time? Time is a commodity. Time is measured to calculate our outputs. Time is managed to maximize production. Time is used to evaluate our worth. Time is a technology that is used to organize us and that we use to organize ourselves. We use this technology to project scripts for how we ought to or should orient ourselves from one moment to the next. It is a narrative we write to bridge past, present, and future. When combined with other technologies that prescribe priorities for capital accumulation and circulation, time is most often an internalized parameter for disciplining our bodies to serve. But the question is, serving what and whom?

I admit, I didn’t and don’t always use time to serve you, me, or us. I have come to realize how much I am bounded by time, or perhaps the lack thereof. I am scared, a lot of the times. I am scared of standing out when I interrupt the room full of people for arriving late. I am scared that my brother will wither away there while I am lost trying to find my way here. I am scared that I am doing this wrong. I am scared that one semester is not enough to convince my students that representation in games does matter. I am scared that I am a traitor for spending time over here instead of over there. I am scared of that tenure clock that keeps ticking while I can’t get words out onto pieces of paper. I am scared that I am not working hard enough and fast enough to stop harm from happening. I am scared that I am working too hard and too fast that harms. Most importantly, I am scared that I am not using enough time to serve those I love and believe in, like yourself.  

What does it mean to be just in time? More importantly, what does it mean to be told that you’re just in time when other markers of time indicate otherwise? It provides validation for one’s presence and that presence alone. It disregards other preconceived notions about time to emphasize the present. It stops time in the sense that it disentangles time from other technologies that we devise to serve an ambiguous end. It recenters time to serve the bodies that are present. It calls our attention to recognize that we made it to share this moment in time and this time is not a given. Instead, it is a present. It is a present we keep on giving each other. It demands us to forgo previous expectations, disciplined responses, and internalized critiques about time to consider what we want to and could do with this found time. We made it! Yes, and?

Love,
Ann

Note: Written while thinking about you and Wajcman, J. (2015). Pressed for time: The acceleration of life in digital capitalism. University of Chicago Press.

“Playing” Minecraft

Posted on by Ann Wu

Module Description

This Minecraft module focuses on dissecting and reimagining the popular video Minecraft. Through prompting players to look closer at the design and mechanisms of the game, the aim of this module is to render the game designers’ assumptions and intentions visible. In doing so, players and participants of this module are encouraged to critique the inherent ideological message of the game and imagine modifications to the original game that could provide alternative gaming trajectories to occur.

Module Objective

  • Students will understand how to play Minecraft.
  • Students will critique the assumptions about players embedded in the design of Minecraft and the exclusive practices that results from this design.
  • Students will modify Minecraft through reimagining the game content that creates alternative gameplay possibilities.

Multimedia Component (podcast, game download, map, etc)

Related Readings

  • Bulut, E. (2013). Seeing and playing as labor: Toward a visual materialist pedagogy of video games through Walter Benjamin. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 35(5), 408-425.
  • Wu, H. (2016). Video game prosumers: Case study of a Minecraft affinity space. Visual Arts Research. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Discussion Questions

 

  • Playing to Understand

 

    • What are the ways that you can interact with the game environment? What kind of controls/commands were you able to discover? And how did you figure out these different ways of interacting with the game? After watching the video, what did you discover in terms of interacting with the game that you did not know/figure out before?
    • What do you think are the goal of Minecraft? If you were the designer of this game, what do you think your intentions were when you created this game? What items, characters, and landscape did you discover? Based on these discovery, what would you say is the “theme” of Minecraft?
    • What did you notice about your emotional and intellectual state during this exploratory play? Were you upset, frustrated, challenged, or curious? And what were the specific in-game situations that led up to these particular responses?

 

  • Playing for Critique

 

    • Were there any differences between you and your co-researchers in learning to play Minecraft? If so, what were those differences? And what are some imaginable causes to those different approaches?
    • What would you say are the prerequisites to being able play Minecraft and play it well? What are some player qualities that would enable a more enjoyable and smooth Minecraft play experience? Who do you think are the intended audience for Minecraft?
    • On the flip side, who do you think Minecraft was NOT designed for? What are some player qualities that may have hindered the process of playing Minecraft? Can you identify any specific instances in Minecraft that proves exclusivity and inaccessibility to a particular demographic population?

 

  • Playing as Modifying

 

    • What kinds of players are perceived to be discouraged or excluded from Minecraft?
    • How does the original intended Minecraft gameplay exclude this kind of player?
    • What are the suggested changes that could remedy this exclusive practice?
    • What have you done to implement these changes? (Optional)

Assignment/Activity

 

  • Playing to Understand

 

First, we will play Minecraft! Go ahead and download Minecraft, log in using our account or use your own if you have one, and play for 30 minutes in both Survival and Creative Mode. Please watch this video DURING or AFTER your exploratory play in Minecraft, especially if you’ve never played Minecraft or any other video games before. The video provides a bit more context for your play, but please try to explore first on your own as your initial reaction is critical in this module for further dissection. In each of the game modes, please interact with the environment to the best of your ability; explore in whichever direction that intrigue you and take notes about any observations you’ve had during this initial interaction.

After an hour of play, please consider the following questions:

  • What are the ways that you can interact with the game environment? What kind of controls/commands were you able to discover? And how did you figure out these different ways of interacting with the game? After watching the video, what did you discover in terms of interacting with the game that you did not know/figure out before?
  • What do you think are the goal of Minecraft? If you were the designer of this game, what do you think your intentions were when you created this game? What items, characters, and landscape did you discover? Based on these discovery, what would you say is the “theme” of Minecraft?
  • What did you notice about your emotional and intellectual state during this exploratory play? Were you upset, frustrated, challenged, or curious? And what were the specific in-game situations that led up to these particular responses?

 

  • Playing for Critique

 

For this activity, you will need to identify 2 co-researchers, may it be friends or family members, that share one or more demographic attributes, such as gender, race, age, class, and national etc., that are different from you and ask them to spend an hour playing and critiquing Minecraft with you. After you’ve identified your co-researchers, provide them with the prompt that was given to you during the first activity. During their play, you may discuss with your co-researchers about any questions or concerns that may have arisen, and you should take notes about any differences that you’ve noticed about their play approach that differed from your own.

After your co-researchers are done with their play exploration, discuss the following questions:

  • Were there any differences between you and your co-researchers in learning to play Minecraft? If so, what were those differences? And what are some imaginable causes to those different approaches?
  • What are some assumptions about the player that Minecraft designers presumed? What would you say are the prerequisites to being able play Minecraft and play it well? What are some player qualities that would enable a more enjoyable and smooth Minecraft play experience? Who do you think are the intended audience for Minecraft?
  • On the flip side, who do you think Minecraft was NOT designed for? What are some player qualities that may have hindered the process of playing Minecraft? Can you identify any specific instances in Minecraft that proves exclusivity and inaccessibility to a particular demographic population?

 

  • Playing as Modifying

 

In this last activity, we will try to embody play through the act of modifying that extends beyond the Minecraft program itself. Given the conclusion that you’ve reached in the last activity, you now should have a concrete critique about the ways that original Minecraft play could exclude or discourage players with certain qualities. Your task now is to imagine and maybe implement some modifications to Minecraft that could make Minecraft play more friendly and hospitable for these specific player populations, and share these modifications with others.

To do so, first identify the specific game content that you would like to reimagine, which includes in-game graphical representations, rules, player reward system, controls and commands etc.. Next, brainstorm what elements about these game content that could be changed to create an alternative play experience that would better support the excluded or discourage player you have identified. Create a list of suggestions that details the critique of the original game in correspondence to your reimagined game content based on this brainstorming session; try to answer these following question in this list of suggestions:

  • What kinds of players are perceived to be discouraged or excluded from Minecraft?
  • How does the original intended Minecraft gameplay exclude this kind of player?
  • What are the suggested changes that could remedy such problem?

Next, proceed to implementing these changes should you have the means to do so. Specifically for those whose critique lies in the graphical representational realm, please consider utilizing Skindex or Nova Skin Resource Pack Editor to create customized avatar skins or edit the texture of every single item seen in the game. However, this step is optional as not all participants of this module would have the time or technological capabilities to execute the imagined changes.

Last, please share your list of suggestions and the optional execution of these suggestions with others. You can consider posting it to r/Minecraft on Reddit, sharing on Facebook, editing the Wikipedia entry on Minecraft, or mailing it to Microsoft, who develops and owns Minecraft nowadays. The purpose of this last step is to share your modification ideas with others in ways that could possibly lead to change in the Minecraft status quo.