Sound Studies

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Avatars Against Trump

Avatars against Trump, unite! This group is open to users of Minecraft, Blocksworld, The Sims, Second Life, High Fidelity, IMVU, Tilt Brush, and any other game/online world/VR platform who want to express their opposition to Trump and his policies in screenshots and machinima. Get creative, get angry, get ridiculous with in-game signs, sculptures, satire, and more! Post pics and video to the group, and if you like, tell your real life story for opposing Trump in the comments section.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kbgnwa/second-life-users-are-protesting-with-their-avatars

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Justicia (Justice) is an installation conformed by an Atari 2600 and 19 TV sets, displaying the word justice in Spanish. It was made by Yucef Merhi in 2003.

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https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/59p7qd/this-man-has-survived-by-hacking-mmo-online-games

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The year is 4021 and there is a shortage of precious minerals. You are captain of an advanced mining team that is sent to the desert to retrieve fuel. Using a “smart mole” you mine different areas with of what was once the rich oil fields of southwestern united states.  

As you mine deep into the earth you start to receive a strong signal from your acoustic pulses, (similar to echolocation) you start to mine in that direction.

The image above is a drawing of what is called the mole miner scenario, a speculative fiction about an advanced mining tool that unknowingly intrudes into the WIPP site (waste isolation pilot plant), releasing radioactivity into the atmosphere that was buried in the late 20th and 21st century. 

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Digital Folk Personal (authored) Gaming. Can there be both?   In the examples above these artist use cultural stories, symbols and situations to create games that speak to meaningful issues in both abstract and direct styles.  

 In game “Borders” ‘players attempt to cross the border while avoiding La Migra (border patrol) and staying hydrated. The place where every player dies is permanently recorded into the video game's world, represented by a skeleton. This universal symbol communicates where players should be careful as well as simulates the large death toll claimed by Mexico's deserts.’ What’s interesting for me is how he takes a heavy situation and makes it into a game where anyone can play, without any knowledge of the games concept. The colors, 8-bit look and gameplay lighten the darkness of the story...kinda. Interesting dichotomy; pop aesthetic/crisis 

 Post Commodity’s game is much different but speaks to similar issues. “Utilizing a ceremonial conceptual framework, PC worked with local community collaborators to co-determine a set of values and protocols to guide the logic and interactivity of the game toward a shared vision of community agency and engagement. The game transforms local collaborators into musicians engaged in an instrument of self-determination with the ability to abstract the social, political, and economic characteristics of their locality, and collectively imagine and sonify a more desirable future.” Not  playing against but playing with and creating an audio visual experience  http://musagetes.ca/news/game-remains/