The familiar obtuse and fantasy characters are represented as a pastiche of themselves, hence why we can recognize and gain some form of humor from them. At first the only audience that would have knowledge to seek out and watch this form of production were gamers themselves. I first became aware of this production watching G4′s X-Play where I first became acquainted with the Splinter Cell Co-Op Theatre of Bob and Steve.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bob and Steve

Xavier: Renegade Angel first premiered on Adult Swim on November 4th 2007, created by John Lee and Vernon Chatman, the same men who created the mindlessly entertaining show Wonder Showzen. Having a loose and noncontinuous plot the show is animated in the style of Half Life and the Sims 2. Xavier tends to spout misused words of wisdom drawing from Native American , Hindu, and Eastern philosophy to create a comical circular logic that we might identify with something spouting from Yoda.

this will make you think twice about drug use and animation

and if that series makes you doubt humanity, try reading the interview with the creators of the show… its like watching an episode, but with words.

This series made for a confused debut to its Adult Swim audience. Furthermore leading to its cancellation, and then reinstatement for a second season. Truely you either hate it or love it, or just can’t find the time to watch it.

Besides being extra creepy machinima also allows for the production costs for such elaborate fantasy to hit rock bottom. Since the backgrounds, characters and movements can all be created with general ease and reuse the same characters codes over and over , there are many perks using machinima over live action video to portray a story. While others simply use the chracters that are already at play in the system to play their actors adding only their voices for overlaying dialogue to explain the strange happenings that often occur in machinimas.

The start ups costs to create a decent machinima can be considerable depending on which platform your intend on working on. Working from an Xbox 360, one would need to obtain a decent video capture card. Or if working from something like Second Life, a recorder can be easily downloaded for free. Or if you intend to build your 3D environment and characters from scratch, somthing like iClone, or a cheaper Milkshake 3D would be a reasonable investment. Depending on if you intend to make a machinima from an already existing game or from scratch, do some research, because I am definently no expert on the subject. Once you get some footage, there is the need for editing software, most platforms come with a rather basic form of editing software (iMovie, or Microsoft Movie Maker).

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.

Classical media has evolved to this method as we have adapted Batman from comic series to movie series to animated series to gaming series etc… We can transform the idea over several platforms and transform is to fit sequel after sequel, platform to platform. But through the internet transmedia has blossomed into a seemingly endless variety of branches.

And through this the traditional linear plot development becomes rendered null. Through the use of transmedia, the audience can experience  different plot developments in different direction. ABC’s Lost implements this direction encouraging the fans to upload their video theories of what is happening, and what they think will happen. Which I’m sure is a great tool for the writers since they seem to lack any ambition to create a solid character or plot line. Alos included on the site is a basic run theough of the plot up til now, because no one can keep track of that mess and we need some help to remember the past however many non conclusive episodes.

here, take a look for yourself

An ARG(Alternate Reality Game) acts as an interactive real world platform which allows audience members to actively participate and become directly involved in a the fictional world/narrative created. The viral marketing campaign that The Dark Knight had fans searching for clues on the website and receiving texts and hints for harmless mobbing of public areas to promote the Joker’s side or Harvey Dent’s campaign in the fictionalized world, and scare the crap out of unknowledgable bystanders.

here is a taste of Harevy Marketing in the real world

“Used properly, [Crowdsourcing] can generate new ideas, shorten research and development time, cut developmental costs, and create a direct, emotional connection with the customers.” Jessi Hempei, Business Week <Crowdsourcing: milk for the masses>

Watch Jeff Howe explain the term “Crowdsourcing”

or read more from Jeff Howe at his Blog dedicated to Crowdsourcing here

-Businesses approach us as partners rather than strictly consumers, creating a drive for participation.

Of course there is the easy and very popular example of Crowdsourcing, Wikipedia, where the users create the content, but I would rather give an example less heard of, Herdict. “Herdict uses crowdsourcing to learn about and present a real time view of the experiences of users around the globe”. For example if you come across a site that is blocked or inaccessible you can report the problem to Herdict and see if others users, around the area or the world, are having the same problem with that webpage and what a possible reasosn for the site malfunctioning.

Check out the trailer for the unveiling of Herdict.org

Check out a long and growing list of businesses using crowdsourcing here

This is Bioshock’s original trailer

Here is X-Play’s review of Bioshock

          Garret Hardin describes “Tragedy of the Commons” as a situation where individuals acting in their own self-interest destroy or damage a common resource shared by other individuals, but not with the intended outcome.  The most common example is a group of shepherds with a common resource of a field that they want to maintain usable but at the same time want to achieve the most profitable outcome for the least amount of effort. If one shepherd grazes the field too much then the other shepherds will be inclined to do the same and overgraze the field as well, leaving the field damaged.

            In preparation for this essay I thoroughly researched the topic concerning the internet’s relation to this situation. I found that there are many different opinions to this subject, obviously. Many of these sources mention that the digital commons mirror the physical world’s commons. This comparison was strange to me knowing that the internet is not a physical thing, how can we be running out of something that is not physical or its limits measurable? I found some links complaining about misuse of bandwidth, how some where “hogging” all the bandwidth that was being offered free to them at coffee shops. One of their possible solutions is to charge for amount of bandwidth/ time (http://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2008/04/03/tragedy-of-the-commons-%E2%80%93-part-ii/ ). But lets not revert back to the time when our mailboxes were cluttered with thousands of minutes from AOL, those were dark times. Another arguing that it was unfair to charge more for coffee at a place that offered free internet for people that only came for coffee (http://lawfool.blogspot.com/2006/04/tragedy-of-free-internet-commons.html ). Another complaining that people and businesses spamming and phishing was a misuse of the internet. Another, more intelligent perspective is internet as an informative resource is getting harder to use because of the amount of unorganized low quality information that is being published at thousands of different sites (http://www.forbes.com/asap/2001/0910/061.html ) .

            I believe these people to be idiots, and oh yes, I will tell you why! Firstly, what kind of service to you expect from something that is free? In life, nothing that’s worth having is free. The point that its within a digital realm does not excuse it from this ideology. We pay for the privilege of high speed internet. Expecting that a system can protect or prevent someone intent on stealing internet is like telling someone who is tall to be short. It’s impossible to change the nature of them. And those complaining about spammers and phishers, who obviously did not grow up around the internet, need to learn to use the tools that are available to them… for free no less, and some common sense. I can’t speak for everyone but I have the common sense enough to not give my passwords or personal information away in emails or hyperlinked pages. I believe this is probably more well known enough in my generation than red means stop. 

            The internet has acted as a free source of information for all who are willing to share, exchange, and align to retrieve and produce information and entertainment. Some seem to believe that policing digital commons as we do our physical commons will solve this problem. Yes, I believe that some restriction is necessary for internet to grow, believing that you can’t make progress without a little destruction. But I believe that punishing the people that actually know how to use the internet isn’t the way to police the internet for the greater good of the digital commons. I encourage you to read Cory Doctorow’s presentation to Microsoft on why Digital Rights Management does not work (http://www.changethis.com/4.DRM ). It is impossible to make the internet idiot proof, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have safety features.