Final Report

Links:

https://vimeo.com/69769131

https://vimeo.com/50775463

Paper:

Samantha Spreitzer

13 December 2016

ART 346

Professor DeLappe

Final Paper

Games with a Focus

            Video games have been around for decades now; their purpose, however, has for the most part remained the same. More than anything, video games seek to provide entertainment that makes money for the companies that produce them. And yet, that is not always the case. Xuan “Sean” Li and Benjamin Poynter are two video game artists who have taken the medium of games and given them a focus outside the realm of their normal entertainment. Li’s work is focused on mental and physical health through simple concepts, while Poynter’s work is narrative-based and tells powerful stories. Both artists make effective use of games to get their respective points across and show deep thought behind them.

            Xuan “Sean” Li is an artist whose work is found often as either 3D animations or video games. He received his BA in Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts from the University of California, San Diego, his MFA in Interactive Media from the University of Southern California, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Personal Health Informatics from Northeastern University (“Xuan “Sean” Li”). Perhaps his most important project is a video game titled Blowing Blues, developed as part of his MFA thesis at USC. The game consists of three simple “levels”, so to speak, that allow users to physically blow away their negative emotions in-game (“Interview: Xuan “Sean” Li). To do this, it uses just a microphone found in just about any laptop or mobile device in order to sense breath. It is also VR enabled, allowing users to truly immerse themselves in the experience. Players can even enter words that describe their negative emotions, which the game turns into targets to be blown away. The aesthetics of the game, too, are meant to be calming by design, using calming imagery and color. The first “level” is that of simply blowing a feather across a pond, giving the player the serenity of being at a park on a nice day. The second is where words can be entered and blown away. The third is the most complicated, where guided breathing is the most important, where abstract designs fill the screen and entered words are ‘enemies’ destroyed just by breathing. All of this supports the idea that we have power over ourselves and our emotions in a powerful way. One of the major influences on the game was the simple reflexive sigh people tend to do when thinking of something unpleasant. Mindful meditation and controlled breathing were some of the other main inspirations for the game as well. Li feels that his use of what he calls creative coding platforms (specifically cinder, openFrameworks, and Processing) is important, as they are tools that allow visual artists to create coded projects. The game won Top Software Demo at the Entertainment Software and Cognitive Neurotherapeutics Society and was also exhibited at the Games for Health and MeaningfulPlay conferences. It has received recognition for this partly for one simple reason: that it works. After only thirty guided breaths, people have shown to calm both their bodies and minds with it (Blowing Blues). A game like this is obviously has important implications. It is a unique game compared to the vast majority on the market, meant to help the body and mind through a simple, user-friendly interface. That idea could easily be extended, and likely already people are doing so, to other ways of helping improve one’s health.

            Benjamin Poynter is somewhat more of an interdisciplinary artist whose works focus on narratives. He received his BFA from the University of Oklahoma and his MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno; he is currently a part-time professor at the the New York Institute of Technology focusing on 3D modeling and computer animation (“About the Artist”). His most significant piece is a simple but powerful game called In a Permanent Save State. A serious game, In a Permanent Save State explores the imagined afterlives of seven workers from a Foxconn factory making Apple products in China who committed suicide (“Interview: Benjamin Poynter). By doing this, Poynter shows what they went through in life that led them to kill themselves. One man, for example, did it for the insurance money, giving his family more than he might have made his entire life; to represent this, the game shows him chasing a dollar bill. This is a very interesting concept and perhaps a more effective way to get the audience to pay attention than showing their lives on Earth. If that were the case, people might get bored, or even scared. This method, though, is figurative and metaphorical while still sending a strong message. Not surprisingly, despite getting prior approval, the game was quickly removed from Apple’s App Store (though it is still available on Android) with no explanation, highlighting Apple’s control over that which is not kind to them. This also helps highlight the important, intentional irony of the game, in that it is played on devices being produced by these workers in conditions that led to their deaths and how we often take things like our phones for granted without thinking about what it took to make them. Originally inspired by a news article about the deaths, Poynter wanted to, in his own words, point out and draw attention to the human rights violations committed by Foxconn and Apple ("In a Permanent Save State”). This game shows, in part, that video games have the power to send serious and important messages to the people who play them. The visual of the game, more of a sort of sketchy, drawing style, highlight that, in the end, a story is told and the simplicity of the controls, simply tapping the screen, help to progress it. All of the elements of the game combine to make that strong message carried by the game and show the possibilities for more of its kind.

            In the end, these artists are really more similar than they are different. Both of them use video games in nontraditional ways, though Li’s focus is more mental health-focused and Poynter’s is more of a powerful narrative. They both also send their own messages, Li’s that you can beat your feelings and Poynter’s that you need to look at what’s really happening in the world. Likewise, with all that considered, it is clear that these games also have different purposes, again more health focused versus calling attention to a problem in the world. Regardless, they both aim to make a difference in the world in the ways mentioned above. They also both serve to show that video games and video game artists have that possibility, and not only that, but that they should use that power, for it could be used for such good. Poynter’s game, for example, has between ten and fifty thousand downloads from the Android app store, as well as three-and-a-half-star rating, with reviews pointing to people being open to this type of game (Poynter). As we know, video games have an impact on who is playing them and, much as I love story-driven RPGs, these games can be their own force for good in the world, making that impact a good one, while often still giving gamers the entertainment value they are looking for.

Works Cited

"About the Artist." Benjamin Poynter. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.

Poynter, Benjamin. "In a Permanent Save State - Android Apps on Google Play." In a

Permanent Save State - Android Apps on Google Play. N.p., 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Blowing Blues. Dir. Xuan "Sean" Li. Vimeo, 5 July 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

"In a Permanent Save State." Benjamin Poynter. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.

"Interview: Benjamin Poynter, Between Magical Dreams And Nightmarish Realities." Interview

by Matteo Bittanti. GameScenes. N.p., 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2016.

"Interview: Xuan "Sean" Li And The Aestheticization Of Health Games." Interview by Matteo

Bittanti. GameScenes. N.p., 7 July 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.

"Xuan "Sean" Li." LinkedIn. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.