ANTHMETHGRP4-24-25-RORY-CLARKE

[Last modified: December, 11 2024 06:38 PM]

Research focus: Technological failure in video games

Core question: How are instances of ‘technological failure’ (i.e. crashes, bugs, glitches) understood and processed by the individuals playing the games in which they take part?

 

Fieldsite 

In-person and online communities centred around notoriously glitchy games or games which have had an notable bug, such as Deadly Premonition and World of Warcraft. In-person fieldsites will be built from my relationship with a friend and interlocutor, whilst my online fieldsites will be built from joining public forums and interacting with interlocutors I meet through these websites.

 

Why is it interesting?

Technology of various forms is becoming further integrated into our everyday lives. From smart fridges and robot wait-staff, the futuristic world of ‘Ghost in the Machine’ (The X-Files, Season 1 Episode 7, 1993) is no longer a fantasy story but rather becoming reality. One of the most quotidian forms of technology is the videogame. Since the 1970s, videogames have grown and grown in popularity and accessibility. In 1997, N64 games were costing consumers upwards of $55 (accounting for inflation, this would now be around $105) – now, there are free and open source videogames available to anyone who can access a public computer. As such, an exploration of technological failure in videogames offers an exciting foundation to begin exploring the everyday human-technology relationship, offering insights not only into how glitches, crashes, and bugs work within the game setting, but also potential beginnings for research into the technological failures of more integrated technology. 

 

Methods

• semi-formal interviews
  • perhaps more accurately called discussions – talking with interlocutors of their thoughts relating to technological failure whilst not playing the game
• watching and listening as these videogames are played
  • offers an opportunity for insights/interactions/relations which don’t come up in discussion with interlocutors 
• auto-ethnography through either playing these games or through watching runthroughs

 

Potential findings

• insights into what leads to a technological failure becoming integrated into the unofficial sense of the game world (e.g. WoW blood plague) and what leads to it remaining a moment of frustration
  • … if they are considered to be either of these
• a sense of how players interact with these technological failures – are they repurposed, ignored, adapted to, etc?

[Last modified: December, 11 2024 06:13 PM]

«Indigenous identities and disempowerment

The student aims (1) to explore how the challenges faced by indigenous migrants to the favelas of Sao Paolo, Brazil—including displacement from their homelands, poverty, and exposure to gang and police violence in their new urban communities—are  addressed by the indigenous struggle for territorial rights; (2) to investigate how these migrants perceive their relationship to the state, and specifically the Bolsonaro government’s anti-human rights stance. Methods include collecting life histories, reconstructing processes of migration from indigenous areas to the city, and collecting personal opinions about the political situation of urban indigenous communities and indigenous peoples’ hopes.  The project will also involve interviews with activists, and participation in meetings of indigenous associations.»

 

Whilst the research focus of this project is undeniably important, there is a significant risk of causing emotional distress (of potentially dangerous levels) to the interlocutors, particularly through the reconstruction of migration processes and reflections upon experiences of violence and displacement. If I were advising this student, I would encourage them to reflect upon this and explore alternative methodologies to engage with the experiences of their interlocutors. 

There are also concerns here about power dynamics and consent. It would be worth the student’s time to explore, perhaps with their supervisor or another senior academic who has past experience working with indigenous communities in Brazil, the likelihood that their interlocutors can freely and safely give consent for their involvement in the project. Furthermore, given the “anti-human rights stance” of the Bolsonaro government, the student should consider whether their interlocutors can freely express their opinion of the government – even more so when working with activists. Questions which come to mind are: are these activists already in the public eye? Would this research expose them to potential retribution from the authorities in Brazil? Would their activism be compromised by their involvement in this research? 

Whilst I cannot proclaim to know anything at all about concepts of indigeneity within indigenous communities in South American countries such as Brazil, I would be interested to see a literature review from the student on the concept of indigeneity in Brazil as discussed and understood by indigenous peoples. Oftentimes, this concept has fluid, changeable definitions, depending on community, and I wonder how the student would sensitively navigate this? Furthermore, I wonder about the student’s positionality in relation to the indigenous community they wish to work with, and how this would impact their desire to partake in indigenous association meetings.

[Last modified: December, 5 2024 02:20 PM]

There is perhaps one standard expectation of the crowd found at a techno event – to move in time with the music. Beatmatching – the first skill learned by the DJs who curate the tempo and energy over the night, pumping out vibrations through sound systems, creating an all-encompassing hum – takes on a different meaning for us here in the moving mass, as we dance in alignment with the regular thumping of the track. I find myself working as a puzzle piece, my movements taking up space where it is left by another, leaving space where another needs to take it. The reliable push-pull of people leaving to buy a drink at our makeshift bar, or to explore the other rooms of this once-industrial warehouse, reshapes the crowd, soon resulting in my friends and I finding ourselves nudged to the front. Here, stood mere centimetres away from the speakers pulsing out their full-body vibrations, my earplugs feel futile. The rhythmic pushing of 100 or more bodies behind me, the smell of smoke and perfumes and factory, the heat of heavy breathing on my neck, and the sleep-deprivation-induced dizziness start to become overwhelming, and I am relieved when my waving hand is grabbed by my friend. “Come meet my friend!” I half-hear, half-lipread, before being dragged against the grain of the bodies packed into this room. Our violation of the unspoken agreement to move in time with the music, peacefully accommodating the bodies surrounding us, becomes clear as I feel my body squeezes through tight spaces and loops around clusters of people in order to reach the door. Here, the pressure drops, literally – there is no longer the weight of others surrounding me, toeing the line between comforting and uncomfortable, and the vibrations are far less noticeable. The edges of my body feel almost blurry now, with no outside forces pushing me into an awareness of where my corporeal form ends and the exterior world begins.