The Labor of Colonization:Fan Art and Casual Free-To-Play Games

Alesja Serada BA in Oriental Philology & Undergraduate student of Media & Communication

European Humanities University, 2016

LITERATURE REVIEW“The practice of being a fan does not merely consist of

passive consumption. Rather, fans are also producers…”Mel Stanfill, Megan Condis

Fandom and/as labor. In: Transformative Works and Cultures

Volume 15, 2014

“The pervasiveness of such production questions the legitimacy of a fixed distinction between production and consumption, labor and culture”.

Tiziana Terranova about internet laborFree Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy

In: Social Text, Volume 18, Issue 2-63

Fan work generates value

Jenkins, H. Textual Poachers:

Television Fans and Participatory Culture

Fandom: “Rich and complex participatory culture”

But… aren’t fans of casual free-to-play games passive consumers,

manipulated into the game by developers?

Is There Space For Fan Art In Commercial F2P Games?

Jenkins: fans need ‘gaps' to participate creatively.

OUR QUESTION

Traditional fan art genres are easily found in free-to-play marketing strategies:1. Enchanting visuals of Clash of Clans ads - see

Clash of Clans Comes to Life (fans made a movie out of it)

2. Unnecessary lore of quests in farming games, etc.

Also: How Much Transmedia Are Commercial F2P Games?*

“A transmedia text does not simply disperse information: it provides a set of roles and goals which readers can assume as they enact aspects of the story

through their everyday life”. “Transmedia Storytelling 101”

What color is YOUR Angry Bird

plushie?

*As much as their budget goes.

Case 1. “Happy Street”

“Happy Street” is a casual mobile free-to-play game in a city builder genre (currently in the ‘sunsetting’ stage).

Unlike the majority of mobile free-to-play games, fans of “Happy Street” used to create a lot of fan art.

This fan art was mostly centered around game characters – Billy, his girlfriend Zoe and their friends – and it was mostly romantic and ‘furry’.

The game itself was a typical commercial free-to-play city builder that required extensive grinding, sending out various invitations and requests and daily visits to ‘happy streets’ of players’ Facebook friends.

The game is not developed much further now, even though fans used to love it.

Case 2. OvipetsOvipets is an old school free-to-play browser game in the ‘breeding’ genre (genetics).Developers allow modifications to players’ profile and pets in the game.Active peer-to-peer virtual economy developed around user-generated content in the game. Amateur art is commissioned, sold and even stolen. Interestingly, some of commissioned concept artists of the game are also on DeviantArt, aside with thousands of amateur artists who play the game and try sell their art for in-game money.Also, the game attracted a significant share of active members of various fandoms (MLP, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Tolkien’s universe, a number of anime fandoms etc) and became a stage for role playing.

‘Transfandom’

«Fandom is a form of free labor»

Why developers of commercial casual free-to-play games do not exploit this kind of labor?

(They are professional exploiters, after all...)

Abigail De Kosnik. Fandom as Free Labor.

BACK TO THEORY

From the perspective of producers, fan art is not ‘free labor’……Unlike simply playing the game!

‘The Labor of Colonization’With fan art, fans fill the gaps that developers leave open.Fan art is ‘bleeding’ outside the margins set by game developers

and marketers. Where possible, it crosses the boundaries of media and 'colonizes' new territories.

When fan art moves between media forms, it expands into areas that most likely could not be filled by the original media or traditional forms of marketing.

'Colonization' is not a paid job – it's risky and resource-demanding (who would send a man to the Moon today?). "Digital colonists" take the colonized territories as reward. Marketers may follow them and reclaim their work, as in the case of Ovipets or MLP.

BUT, as long as it is between fans and not between fans and developers, this labor is easily converted into other types of capital.

SUMMARY

“From the perspective of dominant taste, fans appear to be frighteningly out of

control, undisciplined and unrepentant, rogue readers”.

When fan art denies ‘good taste’ in a Bourdiesian

sense, it cannot be easily converted into certain

types of capital.

Fandom rejects capitalist logic?DISCUSSION

Selected Bibliography1. Andrejevic, M. Estrangement 2.0. In: World Picture Journal, Issue 6, 2011. 2. De Kosnik, A. Fandom as Free Labor. In: Digital Labor. The Internet as

Playground and Factory. New York: Routledge, 2013, 272 p. Pp. 98–111.3. De Kosnik, A. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked

Culture. New York: New York University Press. 4. Fiske, J. The Cultural Economy of Fandom. In: The Adoring Audience: Fan

Culture and Popular Media, edited by Lisa A. Lewis, 30–49. New York: Routledge, 1992.

5. Hills, M., Greco, C. Fandom as an Object and the Objects of Fandom. In: Matrizes. Volume 9, issue 1, 2015. P. 147-162.

6. Jenkins, H. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge, 1992.

7. Sandvoss, C. Fans: The Mirror of Consumption, Oxford: Polity, 2005.8. Stanfill M., Condis M. Fandom and/as Labor. In: Transformative Works and

Cultures. Volume 15, 2014. Available Online: 9. Terranova T. Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy. In: Social

Text, Volume 18, Issue 2-63, pp. 33-58.

Supplement 1:Happy Street Fan Art

Happy Street by A3DPhttp://sheyff.deviantart.com/art/going-to-the-happy-street-394298163

going to the happy street by Sheyffhttp://sheyff.deviantart.com/art/going-to-the-happy-street-394298163

Happy Street by ohprocrastinatorhttp://ohprocrastinator.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Street-346622702

Billy! by yurakahttp://yuraka.deviantart.com/art/billy-324299517

Dusk at Happy Street by Kampidhhttp://kampidh.deviantart.com/art/Dusk-at-Happy-Street-367044226

Billy by Asu-chan96http://asu-chan96.deviantart.com/art/Billy-358364310

Dahlia and Zoe by PaulinaChineahttp://paulinachinea.deviantart.com/art/Dahlia-and-Zoe-370640272

Happy Street Fans Of Hunter by lilyracoonhttp://www.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Street-Fans-Of-Hunter-527475726/

Zoe by Bueplubhttp://bueplub.deviantart.com/art/Zoe-393091700

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