The production of machinima: A dialogue between ethnography, culture and space

Abstract

Irrespective of the growing call for the legitimization and commercialization of machinima, as a mode of digital filmmaking using videogame hardware and software, this paper upholds an interest in the emergent play practices of gamers, rather than filmmakers, that embraces not only the curiosity and discovery exhibited within the fluid peripheries of the virtual worlds they inhabit, but also extends to delving into open-source 3D engines of games such as Half Life (Valve). It is this kind of playful exploration that was responsible for the initial emergence of machinima but also, we argue, for its continued and increasingly popular application as a key mode of articulating game fandom and the pleasures of play. Machinima is therefore examined here for its novel contribution to the existing multiple media channels adopted and utilized by participatory cultures that form around specific texts. Communities that are characterised not only by a shared practice (game playing) and heightened levels of appreciation, but also by the execution of creative practices that enunciate and define their specific ‘tastes’ whilst also transforming game texts to serve their alternative interests. Such practices are indicative of a contemporary fan-base that is no longer content with singular media experiences.