When Is Too Much, Too Much?

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the usage of MODs in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 

The act of changing a game to make it another, or add features previously unavailable, old, or previously nonexistant. It is commonly done in PC games. If you, like many other players, wish to have a sexy elf companion or simply wish to improve the texture pack of the game to make it seem more realistic, then you probably want to mod your game.

Simple mods can be found on steam or other sources like nexusmods?. A

mod can be as simple as a texture update or as complex as DLC (Downloadable Content) with side story and new locations. Or they can be simple sound file changes to make you laugh, like in the Thomas the Train Dragon MOD.

Modding a game can be taken as a form of Textual Poaching, a term coined by Henry Jenkins. Some mods with story content are similar to fanfiction, which uses the characters and environment of another source but writes its own separate story. Rather than being text on a page the physical model and sound creates the story.

Some players say it improves the quality of the game and adds more interesting elements. While others say it takes away from the experience of the game by including elements that do not fit with the given environment.

For example; your companion may be pretty now that you’ve downloaded that mod, but no one else in that world will have armor like hers, its simply unrealistic and unfitting for the time period and setting.

Overall modding is just another way to get players more deeply involved in the game and can make it more fun. It is up to you to decide when too much modding is too much. But as long as you keep enjoy the game it doesn’t really matter how many mods you add. 

Fan Fiction and Art

Textual Poachers, by Henry Jenkins, discusses the alternative world of media fandom. People who identify with a fandom tend to create fiction, artwork, and other forms of expression. "Jenkins addresses a number of fannish phenomena, including fan fiction and fan-produced music videos."(Textual Poachers) We tend to stereotype members of fandom as out of touch obsessive nerds, but in reality they are proactive members of this underground culture. 

A popular gathering for fan based artwork and fiction is held on Tumblr. There fans can upload SHIP and cannon artwork depicting their favorite characters, sometimes even two or more characters from different shows. "He offers the most plausible academic explanation yet for the popularity of homoerotic fan fiction. Unlike earlier theorists who viewed this fiction as pornography, he analyzes it as a holistic narrative structure which includes--but is not limited to--depictions of sexual activity." (Textual Poachers) Many popular fanfictions written within the culture are erotic, and they come in all forms; straight, gay, lesbian, beast, if you can think of it, it exists. 

Fan fiction is one of the few traditional forms of fan creativity that allows fans to use the copyrighted characters and universe without the fear of receiving a Cease and Desist letter. FanFiction.com is a safe place for fans to post their literature that contains the use of preexisting characters.

One subculture that can be found within any fandom and is recently highly popular on Tumblr is the Yaoi fandom. Recently there has been an increase in Yaoi/friendship themed anime that has been highly popular with the female fans. As a result the internet has been flooded with more Yaoi themed artwork and fanfiction. There has even been a large increase in genderbend cosplay, dressing as the character but as the opposite sex, and transgender cosplay, dressing up as the character even though they are the opposite sex.

The Booth Babe

Booth babes have been a part of gaming conventions since sexuality has been an attraction factor. Conventions from Comic Con to E3 are loaded with beautiful women to indulge the gaming audience.

A booth babe’s job is to attract the games target audience, mostly men, to the booth of a particular hosted game. Once the babe has captured the attention of a person the babe leads them over to the booth. This is where the gamer can get an in detail look into the game or product that is featured at the booth. Attracting the audience to the game booth increases awareness and in small cases the likability of a game. 

Booth babes come in all shapes and sizes. They can be scantily dressed models to professional cosplayers in full life-like costume. Depending on the rating of the game, the image the company or the particular game is trying to maintain a hired booth babe can be conservatively covered or grotesquely underdressed. What the babes wear is carefully calculated to grasp the attention of the target audience.

An article from Digital Creativity states “The presence of highly sexualized women ensures for the male attendees that their heterosexual desire is firmly secured and on display: even more so, given that these women are ‘available’ to take pictures of/with. Their presence and the kinds of agency required of them, helps facilitate attendees’ spectatorial engagements with typically masculinized technologies in ways that affirm, rather than threaten, an ideological link between heteronormative masculinity and technological competence.”

From my experience as a booth babe I have learned many things. You must always smile, even if you really don’t want that sweaty person to hug you. You must always be nice, even if someone is getting a little too close for comfort. And most importantly you must be confident, even if the booth babe next to you is in a bikini and has triple D breast and a 22 inch waist. You are there to sell a product and represent the image of a company/game, so you must keep that in mind and remember to always have that particular company/games best interest at heart.

To many booth babes are a necessary evil to the gaming convention circuit, but there is no denying the boost in product awareness and sales these babes bring. 

Taylor,Nicholas, Jenson, Jen and de Castell, Suzanne(2009) ‘Cheerleaders/boothbases/Halo hoes: pro-gaming, gender and jobs for the boys’, Digital Creativity, 20:4, 239- 252  http://www.tarleton.edu/faculty/sword/video%20games%20and%20gender.pdf

Six Sources of Scholarly Game Design Related to Language Arts

Using theatre games to enhance language arts learning focuses on improving social skills like confidence, concentration, and cooperation. It is believed that utilizing theatrical games develop fluency in language an nonverbal communication skills. By improving concentration through theatrical games the student will be able to improve their comprehension both in verbal and written communication.  
Fennessey, S. (2006). Using theater games to enhance language arts learning. Reading Teacher, 59(7), 688-691. doi:10.1598/RT.59.7.7

This resource focuses on the many diverse ways children learn and primary education. Children are able to construct understandings, express themselves and their knowledge through drawing, sculpture, paint, play, counting, speaking, reading, and writing. By actively involving the children they are able to better understand and comprehend new information. 
Collins, K. M., Griess, C. J., Carithers, K., & Castillo, D. (2011). It's All in the Game. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 12-19.

Encouraging creativity and critical thinking through the use of virtual worlds and advanced social media can increase a students ability to effectively understand and solve problems. Utilizing virtual games such as 'Minecraft' can help students become excited about learning and engage them in real world problem skills and behavior. using virtual reality will bridge the gap between their study subjects and their own experiences. 
Trekles, A. M. (2012). Creative Writing, Problem-Based Learning, and Game-Based Learning Principles. Online Submission,

This text explains what makes the arcade so compelling for children. It addresses the physical design of the arcade and the environment then describes how the classroom should be mirrored to engage language art learning. This has been tested with 5th grade classrooms and has shown results leading to believe there are three learning principles: clustering and collaborating, inverting traditional structures of power, and reconstituting access and ownership. 
Whitmore, K. F., & Laurich, L. (2010). What Happens in the Arcade Shouldn't Stay in the Arcade: Lessons for Classroom Design.Language Arts, 88(1), 21-31.

According to ALTEC Learning Games 93 percent of the United States K-12 students play video games. They have discovered a way to engage students through the excitement of online games, both single player and competitive, to reinforce language arts skills. Reading and comprehension is a necessity for some games like 'Animal Crossing', a game that on the box states a specific reading and comprehension level is required to pay. This is because there is no comprehensible speaking language within the game and the player must be able to read in order to complete tasks in the game. Bacon, M. A., & Ault, M. M. (2009). ALTEC Learning Games: Successful Integration of Learning and Gaming. Online Submission,

There are a variety of game types and designs that can enhance a child's learning abilities. The text states that games can be used in place of test and lectures to teach children the objective material. The text also states "games may be designed for behavioral objectives which have many broad purposes relating to teaching communication, theatre, and the language arts."
Parks, A. (1975). Developing Educational Games for Use in Speech Communication, Language Arts, and Theatre Courses.

First Draft of 'I've Gotta Sew' Lyrics

This is what I have been working on throughout the week. It is my first draft lyrics for my parody 'I've Gotta Sew' of 'Domino'. I also discovered that I am not that good of a singer and am now searching for a vocalist who can perform my parody for me. The video is the instrumental version of the song with lyrics to parallel the lyrics I've written.

I look sexy and kawaii
everyone’s attention on me
flash of camera everywhere
Cat ears in my hair

Dressing up around conventions like there’s nobody there
Taking pictures of otaku, making everyone stare
Do you sew? That costume’s out of control

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
we can cosplay all night
Damn this costume is tight
sewin’ it on
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
I'm starting to feel numb
keep ricking my thumb                                     
Otaku, come on!
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

There’s no time for sleeping tonight
costume’s not ready to be shown
nothing seems to be going right
with this cosplay, now I’ve gotta sew

Every hem needs to be sew tight
When I’m done I will let you know
there will be no sleeping tonight
Can’t stop now because I’ve gotta sew

Fabric spread everywhere
I’m in need of a prayer
Why won’t this piece just stay
costume’s in total dismay

Styling my wig, its not working, I think I need hairspray
new anime distracting me from my own cosplay
I should sew, procrastination

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh (Its out of control)
We can cosplay all night
Damn this costume is tight
Sewing it on
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
I'm starting to feel numb
keep pricking my thumb                                     
Otaku, come on!
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Pre-reg badge pick up is tonight
guess ill wait in the line tomorrow
nothing seems to be going right
with this cosplay, now I've gotta sew

Forget thread, I’m losing this fight
Cant deal with the stitches anymore
Heat the glue gun, this isn't right
We’ll just hope that no one will know

Ooh, got my tickets to the con
Ooh, I’ll be there with my costume on
Ooh, I cant get contacts in right
Ooh, the corset makes my head light
Ooh, body paint is starting to crack
Ooh, times is rushing I’m losing track
Ooh, let’s get dressed up tonight
Ooh-taku-taku

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Let’s get dressed in cosplay tonight
Make this one the best I’ve ever sewn
We’ll be dancing in the rave lights
Make it worth the time I’ve had to sew

Every hem seems to be sewn (glued?)  tight
We wont stop until they make us go
There will be no sleeping tonight
Gotta start new cosplay, I’ve gotta sew

Finding Similarities: Norse Culture and Mythology

Upon start of the game any player will recognize The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim to be reflective of Nordic culture and mythology. From the Norse names and architecture, to the Gods and afterlife, we can see  the definitive influence Norse culture and mythology has had on Skyrim.

In Norse mythology there is a king of gods known as Odin. He grants brave warriors victory in battle, guides the dead, and rules the hall of the dead in Valhalla. We can see the Dragonborn shares many of these traits.

When defeating a dragon the Dragonborn absorbs the soul of the dragon ensuring its death. According to the Nord’s mythology “A dragon cannot be truly defeated by any other than the Dragonborn.” It is believed that even though one may kill the dragon’s physical body the dragon may still return to fight again at a later time. The only way to permanently defeat a dragon is for the Dragonborn to absorb it once it has slain the dragon, because of this the Dragonborn shares a similarity with Odin in that he grants victory in battle.

Throughout the game the Dragonborn travels to ancient barrows where the player can find restless dead. These walking corpses, known as Draugr, were once dragon worshippers. They sentenced their lives to an eternity in servitude to the Dragon Priests, the leaders of the Dragon cults. Like Odin the Dragonborn acts as custodian of the dead by releasing these Draugr from their mindless servitude to the Dragon Priests and granting them everlasting peace and freedom.

According to Norse mythology warriors of noble birth would travel to Valhalla after death in battle. Allowance into Valhalla granted the fallen heroes an afterlife of feasting and fighting. In Skyrim Valhalla is referred to as Sovenguard, inside Sovenguard there is a location known as the Hall of Valour, this is the Hall where only kings and the bravest of all noble warriors live out the rest of their afterlife.

We can see similarities in how one gains entrance to Valhalla and the Hall of Valour. To enter the Hall of Valour the desist must cross a bridge of whale bones, similar to the Bifrost rainbow bridge which is needed to enter Valhalla.

But before the Dragonborn can cross the bridge to the Hall of Valour the player meets Tsun. Tsun is the Nord God of Trials and Advisory, he must challenge all who wish to enter and asses their worthiness. We can see the similarities in roles between Tsun and Heimdall, the gatekeeper of Asgard.

Throughout Skyrim we can see influences of Scandinavian architecture. The visual similarities are undeniable.

From the language to the architecture, the gods to the environment there is no denying the deep influence Nordic culture and mythology has had on The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

Citations:

Warren, Ben. "The Links between the Dragonborn and Odin-An Essay."Verbal Fisticuffs. N.p., 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.

Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1964. Print.

Media Dependency Theory and the Cosplay Culture

The cosplay community and otaku fan culture in America is still considered a relatively new subculture. Japanese anime has only been in the states for about 40 years. The massive social following and created subculture has only been known of in the last 15 years. One theory that ties into my Capstone project is the Media Dependency Theory.

Media Dependency Theory according to communicationtheory.org “An internal link between media, audience and large social system. The audience learning from the real life is limited, so they can use media to get more information to fulfil their needs. An extensive use of media generates dependent relation in audience and also Media can able to creating dependence relationship with target audiences to achieve their goals by using their media power.”

There are three degrees of Media Dependency Theory:

• ·         Individual: An individual will become more dependent on media, if the medium satisfies their needs. An example of this would be an individual who identifies themselves as part of the otaku subculture but does not share that subculture with another person who is physically in their life. They would then turn to the internet for connectivity with the community or education of culture. It is also the internet that is the source of their media fix.

• ·         Social Stability: According to communicationtheory.org “The individual will reconsider their beliefs, practice and behaviors when strong social change, conflicts, riot or election which will force to re-evaluate and make new decisions. During this time the dependency is dramatically increased, because there is a strong need for information, support and advice.” This would occur when the individual has a large enough supporting group of other individuals with the common interest. The group would feed off of other individuals and the social norms within the anime to create their own social norms that are similar to those in the anime. This is typically where cosplay comes into play. The individual seeks for another way to immerse themselves, attending conventions and cosplaying is one way. Because they are comforted by their social group they also now feel the confidence to express such social norms that would otherwise be unacceptable in our culture. The individual re-evaluates how they behave and speak to suit those within the group. Because the individual gets sucked into the subculture they also tend to become more emerged and look for more information on the culture.

• ·         Active Audience: The individual decides the amount of media they depend on. They can come to the decision through factors such as economic conditions, society, and culture. If their need is fulfilled elsewhere then their dependency will decrease. If an individual only received their anime fix through one source, that being the internet, then they join an anime club they may feel fulfilled and chose not to expand into the subculture anymore. If their primary culture conflicts too much with the subculture they feel they should identify with them they will not immerse themselves into the subculture as much as other individuals. They best example of this is the difference between those who enjoy anime and those who live by it or wear it on their sleeve.

The American Otaku subculture gains all of their knowledge from the same source, Anime and manga. There are different genres and with each genre comes a new subculture and set of social norms. Although there may not be two or more people in the sub culture or otaku community physically living within a common area they can still participate online and at conventions. Over all there are similar messages and tropes being transmitted through the anime that has created the giant community. 

Civil War Comparisons

Within the province of Skyrim there is an everlasting civil war between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials.

It began when High King Torygg was slain by the Jarl of Windhelm, Ulfric Stormcloak, who then initiated the Stormcloak Rebellion. Ulfric was displeased with the new laws forced on the Nords via the White-Gold Concordat, which aimed to outlaw all and any worship of Talos, a Nordic god. This is because according to the nine other races of Tamriel there are only Eight Divines (Gods).

The Stormcloaks believe that the Empire betrayed Skyrim by signing the White-Gold Concordat with the Aldmeri Dominion at the end of the Great War. The Concordat, which heavily favors the Aldmeri Dominion (Thalmor), allows for the Thalmor to hunt down Talos worshipers. It is because of this that many Nords feel that the Thalmor hold too much power over the Empire.

The Imperial Legion seeks to eliminate the Stormcloak rebellion threat in Skyrim. With the uprising many Nords have begun to outcast those of the nine different races who are not native to Skyrim. Many times in Skyrim the Dragonborn can see a Dunmer citizen traveling to Solitude, stating "I was born and raised in Skyrim, but the Nords treat us like dirt".  In order to keep Skyrim in the Empire the Legion must strictly enforce the terms of the White-Gold Concordat.  

Ulfric and the Stormcloaks believe that the Emperor has become a puppet of the Thalmor and therefore no longer holds the authority to rule over Skyrim. It is this defiance that caused Ulfric Stormcloak to kill the ruling king of Skyrim; High King Torygg. By right Ulfric should now be king of skyrim, but because of his violent display when killing Torygg some of the Jarls do not accept his reign. Many favor what the empire has done for them and see Ulfric as a power hungry murderer. This is where the province of Skyrim becomes divided into the Stormcloaks and the Imperials and the Civil war ignites.

An argument can be made that the civil war in Skyrim is mirrored to that of the American civil war.

During the American civil war the country was divided into two forces, the North (Imperials)

and the South (Stormcloaks). The North wanted to place new rules of government on the South that would drastically affect the Southerners way of life. The policy changes to remove slavers can be compared to that of the removal of Talos, the Nordic god. The South fought for the country to remain the same as the North fought to implement new rule.

According to Digitalhistory.uh.edu “Planters found it hard to adjust to the end of slavery. Accustomed to absolute control over their labor force, many sought to restore the old discipline, only to meet determined opposition from the freed people, who equated freedom with economic autonomy.”

We can assume the dramatic governmental and life style change made on the South caused them to be more racist. We can clearly see this in Skyrim as the Stormcloaks and Nords begin to shun the different non-native races for living in Skyrim. The Stormcloak capital Windhelm begins to move the Dunmer citizens into the barrows and not allowing them to work in high profiting employment positions.

As the south rebelled in the American civil war so did the Stormcloaks. They felt that to secure their rights, freedoms, and way of life they needed to place their lives on the line in the divided country.