Week 1
Introduction to the module.
Deep Fakes:
What is a deep fake?
- Using technology to create artificial images and sounds that resemble reality.
How does it work?
- Using visual effect editing methods to manipulate video footage or create completely new video footage that is not real. Such as a digitally created human, animated to appear real or edited camera footage to manipulate the truth of what you see.
Examples.
- Barack Obama video
- Channel 4 Queens speech
- Black Mirror
Keywords.
- Manipulation. Fake. Artificial. Generated. Edited. Untruthful. Unethical.
The Ethics of Deep Fakes
- Getting the peoples permission of the faces or voices being used.
- Depending on the context the imagery is being used.
- Using peoples faces in Pornography without consent.
- Creating news articles/clips that people may believe is real.
- Creating doubt in more trustworthy traditional media.
- How do we trace what is being used and by who on the internet?
- What are the laws and regulations regarding using deep fakes?
- Whos responsibility is it to patrol this?
The question of, is it ok to replace actors faces with deep fakes depends on quite a few different factors. Firstly, consent. Have the actors given their consent for their face to be used, and if the actor is no longer alive, has the next point of call given consent (family relative, estate owner, person with rights). If the answer is no, consent was not given then surely the laws of identity theft apply.
Another factor, is the context of which the deep fake is being used. For example, changing an actors face in a movie or tv show is understandable as it is a work of fiction, a story being told for entertainment purposes, therefore is expected to have elements of fakery/visual manipulation. However, if the deep fake is being used in main stream news outlets, for instance, this poses a threat to the general public. This context can easily be construed as trying to manipulate peoples political, environmental and personal beliefs as the news they are watching and trusting is untrue.
Unfortunately, the method of combating unethical deep fakes is still unclear. Whos responsibility is it to trace where the deep fakes come from, how they are being used and what punishments, if any, are given out? It could fall under so many different radars that the argument over who should deal with it never gets resolved. It could be the social media platforms, the government or polices issue for example.
For next week:
Plan out a few ideas for your investigative study. Come up with several questions or topics and brief overview of the discussion to be had for each.
Topic:
The differences between hyper-realism and stylized direction in games, and the effect this has on the players immersion.
Notes:
- Realism – making a character that mimics a real person or creature. Making something look as if it belongs in the real world.
- Stylized – able to play around with shapes and colours. Exaggerate or remove details and take the character in a different creative direction. Does not have to fit in with the real world but instead fits in with the creative vision of the game.
- Very creative artists are needed for stylized art with strong understanding of colour, shape, design and form.
- Realism artists have the real world to reference when creating, whereas stylized don’t always have this.
- Stylized can be minimalistic and understated.
- Realism generally has more detail and complexities.
- Stylized engages with predominantly younger audiences depending on the style. Stylized games with more sophisticated design can appeal to older audiences whilst still being under the stylized category.
- Stylized can stand the test of time. Games with hyper-realistic graphics soon become outdated as technology advances.
- Stylized games can stand out by making an artistic statement. FPS games typically realism, however games have been coming out with stylized designs and are proving popular due to being different i.e.. Valorant & Overwatch.
- Realism is more expensive to develop, requiring the most updated software’s and technologies. Stylized doesn’t always need this and can work on most existing technology.
- Realism doesn’t flow seamlessly across devices and console generations. For instance, The Last of Us Part 2 would not be compatible with a mobile device. Stylized commonly can switch between devices and work on old generation consoles.
- Stylized typically is quicker to create as there are less fine details and more general.
- Hyper-realism is more popular especially in AAA games. Bigger budget studios can afford to develop high detail characters that players prefer.
- Stylized needs to be cohesive throughout the game. The characters need to match the overall art direction of the environment which can be tricky to continue.
- Stylized characters are generally considered to be more childish or not as good as realistic ones. This is a perception that needs considered when developing, as if the art style is not at high enough quality it will impacts sales and appeal.
- 3D scanning developments have pushed realistic character design even further.
- Refinements and animations in realistic characters are more apparent and easier to get wrong. Can be drastic to the believability of a character.
- Realism can be more immersive as it resembles real-life. Characters that look like real people tend to make you feel more connected to them.
- Interactivity is more apparent in realism as you can customize your character however you like. Making it look like your self or an alter ego can bring a sense of self into the game play.
- Realism allows the character to have a believable backstory and the player can connect with characters that are represented accurately.
- The more realistic the characters the more believable the story even if set in a paranormal or fantasy story or simply a scenario that hasn’t happened in our world.
- Characters developed in hyper-realism are larger in download size and can be an issue when importing in a game or running on gaming platforms.
- They typically take longer to produce due to high levels of detail and really great references/anatomy studies.
Inclusive Character Creator: An Exploration of Inclusive Design for 3D Character Creators. Ma, Michelle. University of Southern California ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2022. 29064141 – https://www.proquest.com/openview/48e4d81cdeaeaf95969e14c867765344/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Hyperreal Living: The DraxTM Files. Conference Paper presented at: Consumer Culture Theory 2017: {Hyper}Reality
and Cultural Hybridization, Disneyland, CA, 9-12 July. Authors
Dr Tracy Harwood, Dr Tony Garry, Prof Russell Belk, – https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/398a7cd0-ae43-4cc3-ac49-5517897eb40f/content
Remembering to Forget, 1980s Retro Gaming and the Aethetics of Escape. John Misak. From; The ’80s Resurrected: Essays on the Decade in Popular Culture Then and Now edited by Randy Laist, 2023. McFarland and Company Inc. – https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Qy-zEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA57&dq=stylized+vs+hyperrealism+in+game+immersion&ots=ahvGZ7mne5&sig=BCSyuDoEKc6H0TWx-R7ibZ2q2n0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Stylized vs Hyper-realistic Game Art. https://300mind.studio/blog/stylized-vs-hyper-realistic-game-art/ Written by Dhruv Mevada. Technical Head in games with 10+ years experience. Dec 7, 2022.
PLAYER PROFILES: UNDERSTANDING IMMERSION AND PLAYER
EXPERIENCE IN DIGITAL GAMES
by
C JORDAN LYNN
B.A., The University of Georgia, 2007 – https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/lynn_christopher_j_200908_ma.pdf
Ermi, L. & Mayra, F. (2005). Fundamental components of the gameplay experience: Analysing immersion. In Suzanne de Castell and Jennifer Jenson (Eds.), Changing views: Worlds in
play. Selected papers of the 2005 Digital Games Research Association’s second
international conference. https://homepages.tuni.fi/frans.mayra/gameplay_experience.pdf
VIDEO GAME ART STYLES: A GLIMPSE INTO GAMING AESTHETICS. 03 Aug 2023. Game Pack. https://gamepackstudio.com/video-game-art-styles-a-glimpse-into-gaming-aesthetics/
Kenneth Chiu and Peter Shirley. Chiu, K., Shirley, P., 1995. Rendering, Complexity, and Perception. [online]
EUROGRAPHICS, Darmstadt, Germany, 13-15 June 1994. Available
from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.15.4711&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Videogames and Art
Andrew Clarke and Grethe Mitchell (editors)
Publisher: Intellect Books 2006
Proposal Power point:
Essay Proposal
Introduction
The differences between hyper realism and stylised art direction in games and the effect this has on the players immersion. Looking into topics such as, character and environment design, development pros and cons, interactivity and art history in games.
Proposal
Games with a more hyper realistic art direction are more immersive for players as they are more representative of the real world around us. Although stylised games can have a more creative approach and create things that do not resemble reality, this can detract from the overall believability of the game.
Paragraph 1
A brief history of game art. Stylised art has stood the test of time whereas hyper realism is more of a modern style due to the high quality of graphics and technology needed. Stylised art may have started as colourful blocks and pixel games but now has so much more depth. Game genres that were once associated with hyper realism are now being made with stylised graphics such as Valorant and Overwatch, two first person shooter games. The hyper realistic games tend to be created by the big budget studios that can afford this sort of development, The Last of Us being one of the most prolific games in the hyper realism style.
Paragraph 2
Character design has a huge impact on player immersion as if the character is not believable or relatable it can cause the player to feel disconnected. Stylised character tend to be more fun and colourful, using general forms and manipulating them into something new. They are usually customisable and feature unrealistic weapon art and powers that are unique to each character. Whilst the characters may not look like real life people or creatures, they can still be immersive as long as they match and follow the overall art style of the game. If this is disjointed is can ruin the illusion the game is selling. Hyper realistic characters are a lot easier to be immersed in as the resemble real world people. Whilst not all characters in this genre are customisable, a lot more games are making this a feature to enhance player immersion even more, players can now make their characters look like them if they wish. Emotional attachments are easier to make with realistic characters because they feel more like people and therefore make the story relatable.
Paragraph 3
Environment design and interactivity. Any environment that resembles the real world is going to be more immersive, even if it is a world that does not technically exist. If it is made to look and feel real, it can make a fantasy world or foreign planet more believable. Being able to interact with the surroundings in the game is also very important. Having lots of amazing environment design is all well and good, but if the player cannot interact with any of it, it creates a barrier that breaks
Paragraph 5
Stylised games are typically quicker and cheaper to make as they don’t always require the highest quality technologies to make. This is why they are more popular in indie game company’s and individual game developers. Hyper realistic games however, has higher costs, require more modern technologies and large development teams. They also typically take longer to make due to the attention to detail needed for each element of the game. Hyper realistic games also have larger download sizes and therefore are not usually compatible on older generation consoles or mobile games whereas stylised games are.
Conclusion
Game immersion can be influenced by many different factors and the art direction is a main one, there are significant differences between stylised games and hyper realistic games that each have an impact on player immersion. Whilst both stylised and hyper realistic games have individual qualities that make them loved by gamers, hyper realistic games are overall more immersive. They allow more emotional connections to be made through the characters, real world environments make it feel like you are walking through that world and although it may create some limitations for studies, the larger budget spent on these types of games usually means they are more popular.
Week 3
Informal Essay Proposal presentations.
Discussing the impact of the Writers Guild of America strike on the VFX industry.
Since the 1980s, video game graphics have been focused on vibrant colors, pixel art and stylized cartoony themes, however in more recent years hyper-realistic visuals within gaming have taken the industry by storm. The visuals within these games reflect real world surroundings that create a virtual reality for players to be absorbed into, whilst stylized games have stood the test of time, proving to still be popular within the gaming community. This paper aims to determine whether stylized games can be as immersive for players as the hyper-real direction in games of today’s age? Demonstrating the differences between both art directions as well as the factors which can impact player immersion, will help to determine whether stylized or hyper-realistic games create a more immersive experience for players.
The first thing to establish is what stylized and hyper-realism means within the contexts of video games. Hyper-realism correlates to visuals that resemble reality, where the virtual environment would represent that of the real world. Stylized graphics encompass a range of different art styles such as “Pixel Art (Examples: Minecraft and Tetris), Cel-Shaded (Borderlands cartoonish look)” (Game Pack, 2023) and painterly techniques, which are not directly derived from the real world and can manipulate form, shape, color and texture to have more creative freedom. The term hyper-realism, or hyper-reality, is a more accurate term for within games as opposed to the similar term ‘photo-realism’. This is because photo-realism is derived from where the art is a direct copy or imitation of the real world. However, hyper-realism is “more about how we meld the real and unreal to create something ‘more real than real” (The Foundry, 2017) as first described by the French sociologist Jean Baudrillard who describes a dystopian future where people fabricate a false version of reality to consume, instead of the real version. Both Photorealism and Hyperrealism were art styles that first officially emerged out of the United States in the 1970s, and whilst very similar there are some key differences to reference. Photorealism focused on replicating the real world through painting, in response to the previous movement of Abstract Expressionists. A key distinction in photorealistic art is that it replicates ordinary life, using normal subjects and flat, cool tones and colors. Hyperrealism, on the other hand, creates depictions of reality but then takes them to the extreme, elevating the mundane everyday objects in photorealism and creating more of an impact using high levels of attention to detail and extreme scale. The main defining feature of Hyperrealism compared to Photorealism is that it is developed into three-dimensional art, where the lifelike models have exaggerated scale and character traits that make them larger than life, whereas Photorealism is solely associated with 2D art. As games are 3D worlds which can be fantastical versions of reality, it relates closely to the term hyperreal which will be used throughout this paper to describe the high-quality render detail of hyper-realistic games.
The stylized art direction of games stems from the 8-bit era of the 80s, which saw a rise in games with stylized graphics. Detailed gameplay allowed players to fuel their personal nostalgia and experience the moments that contributed to their enjoyment of this era of gameplay. This graphic style that sits in between blocky low resolution and stylized 3D, dubbed ‘Pixel Art’ is instantly recognizable and creates a sense of nostalgia amongst gamers. However, since then game development has reached previously unachievable levels of realism within its engines, allowing designers to move away from the low-poly graphics of previous times. Popular titles such as ‘The Last of Us Part 2’ (Naughty Dog, 2020) showed players a narrative with visuals so realistic that players can believably immerse themselves in it.
Secondly how can we define immersion? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of Flow had the most direct definition where he describes immersion as,
“a state of complete absorption in a task, brought about by the confluence of several simultaneous factors—when each of these pieces falls precisely into place, a person can abandon the sense of self, and become wholly engaged in the current activity” (1997).
The difficulty found within the research of immersion is that it seems to only be accurately described when a person is currently in a state of immersion and is described differently from person to person, this makes defining immersion difficult as it is more akin to a feeling than an actual experience or action. Because of this, Sweetser and Wyeth’s model of Game Flow listed 8 factors that must be affected to calculate a player’s immersion: players should become less aware of their surroundings, players should become less self-aware and less worried about everyday life or self, players should experience an altered sense of time, players should feel emotionally involved in the game and players should feel viscerally involved in the game. C. Jordan Lynn in their paper, Player Profiles: ‘Understanding Immersion and Player Experience in Digital Games’, also looks at the concept of presence within gaming, where immersion is described as the feeling of existing within a given environment without physically needing to be present (2007). The point that immersion consists of multiple interconnecting factors is also confirmed by Ermi, L. & Mayra, F. in ‘Fundamental components of the gameplay experience: Analyzing immersion’ where 3 components, sensory, challenge-based and imaginative immersion are listed as key concepts when measuring a player’s immersion. This can help us when calculating how immersive a game is by correlating the results of the players back to the factors listed for a more conclusive result.
Whilst specific literature relating to immersion in games is limited, there are various literatures relating to the concept of immersion that are applicable to this review. However, the material reviewed has writings from non-gamers gathering field results from gamers or only comes from an academic outlook rather than a player outlook. This leaves a gap in information from a player’s experience which then relates to the findings of previous work.
