Begin With the End in Mind

While considering my final website, I decided to make one of the pages devoted to memes. I think the the Manovichian principle about modularity is most appropriate to discuss with Skyrim memes. Memes are able to take a single element, (most often a picture) and change the text to reflect a new meaning. What is interesting about Skyrim memes, specifically, is that rather than there being a single image that has the text varied Skyrim memes have a variety of pictures and a variety of text. The grander point that these memes make about modularity is that because of computer culture there is no element of a new media object that can not be removed and substituted for something new and ultimately change the original meaning. 

Since it represents a large part of the Skyrim community, my second page will highlight some prominent Mod videos. In this section I want to emphasize Manovich's principle of variability. In a non-digital society paintings, songs, and games are produced in a semi-permanent form. However, because of the non-permanent state of these art forms in the digital age, games can be created and then updated at a later date. Since video games are made from codes that have been programmed those codes can be accessed and changed, which is exactly what happens in the modding process. Mods allow players to safely alter the code of the game to make changes to gameplay and appearance. However, even mods are not permanent. Mod creators can return to their mod and make changes to improve performance or gameplay and then offer the update to the modding community. The larger point I wish to make about variability is that it is both a positive and negative effect of computerization: the positive effect of variability is that games can be produced and distributed quicker because game developers do not have to stress over making sure everything is perfect before it is sent out since the company can offer updates to fix bugs; the negative effect of variability is that nothing ever feels completed and the quality of material is less, more often.

I want the third page of my final website to consist of cosplay/fan videos. With these videos I want to discuss Manovich's principle of numerical representation. Specifically, I want to discuss how the game code and the cosplay/fan videos are more similar than they are different  As it relates to skyrim, the program developers create a code that portrays a fantasy group of people, loosely based on Nordic culture, that never actually existed in the real world. Then, fans of the game recreate the actions and apparel of these fantasy-based characters and create digital videos mimicking the game. Because of numerical representation, neither the game or the fan video is more "real" than the other. As soon as the fan video is recorded in digital format and placed on a computer it is encoded the exact same way as a game: as a system of 1's and 0's. The point that this page will make about numerical representation is that it complicates the idea of what is "real."

The final page of my website will feature Skyrim fan art. On this page I will discuss the idea of art in a digital culture and the medium as the message. Most of the fan art about Skyrim is not cut-and-paste art but it does rely on the work of previous artists. What Skyrim fan art highlights about the idea of art in a digital culture is that digital tools and programs allow artists to create art that uses other art as a base layer. In some fan art, fans grab still shots from the game and recreate them or create new scenes based on characters and creatures in the game. In both cases, however, skyrim art—whether programmer or fan created—stays within the digital realm; neither the original art or the recreation is made in a physical medium. By keeping the art within the medium that it was created in, fans send the message that the art is an experience-based, shared expression of fandom. In other words, the availability of the art is just as important as its content.