Papers by Martin van de Weyer
While the world of casual gaming currently revolves largely around smart phones and social networ... more While the world of casual gaming currently revolves largely around smart phones and social networks the marked start of this phenomenon is often perceived to have been signaled with Nintendo’s introduction of its motion controlled Wii console. Indeed, this new casual direction is considered to have emerged quite suddenly with the system’s sharp movement away from typical industry conventions and expected player demographics.
However, by looking more specifically at the marketing and product design direction taken in Japan for some of Nintendo’s preceding systems this sense of abruptness becomes less pronounced, and a more natural progression towards family focused interactions and social play becomes apparent. Such an analysis reveals that the feeling sudden conversion is more so due to the rapid change which occurred in the Western marketing, an alteration which was forced due to a long followed and largely static brand personality being incompatible with the new Wii system.
In this rapid conversion to a casual focus the Western marketing can be seen to have borrowed heavily from the frameworks already established in Japan in its own creation and cultivation of a casual market. Due to this core influence it is revealing to look at the impetus behind Nintendo’s focus towards the casual within Japan. Through observing the surrounding social situation, it becomes possible to perceive that this direction towards simple fun and social interactions was influenced by, and acted as a reaction to, the sense of societal malaise which arose within Japan in the 1990s due to a variety of events and influences. As a result, it is possible to perceive that Nintendo, in its search to appeal to its Japanese customers and satiate their needs in regards these feelings of anxiety, moved in a design direction that resulted in what is now referred to as the casual.
The following draws from the marketing surrounding a range of Nintendo’s systems in both Japan and the West and recent history of Japan to illustrate how the origins and the impetus behind the casual turn can be seen to be shaped more by Japanese sensibilities than is often acknowledged.
Retrogaming, the practice of collecting and playing games from previous generations, has become a... more Retrogaming, the practice of collecting and playing games from previous generations, has become a distinct part of videogame culture. While such a focus can be seen as driven by a desire to understand the medium, through the search for genre classics or overlooked gems, it also provides players with the opportunity to reengage with warmly remembered game experiences from their past. This valorisation of digital history has given rise to ‘Demaking’, a practice wherein creative game fans take recent games and produce box art, screenshots or even fully playable works that reimagine these current titles as existing on older, less sophisticated hardware.
Such creations provide a platform for playful commentary on modern games but also illustrate a great deal about player desires and longings. These reimagingings create an instant feeling of nostalgia for new and advanced game titles, but also the particular games which are chosen to be reimagined, and the specific stylistic means selected for their reinterpretation, emphasise a range of valued qualities possessed by past games. Such a ready mixing of new and old reveals how the sentiment of nostalgia is capable of being swiftly manipulated within the digital realm.
Utilising an analysis of a variety of different examples and drawing on Jenkins’ ideas on ‘textual poaching’, Campbell’s concept of consumer crafting and Davis’ investigations into the yearning for the past, the following paper uses Demaking as a case study to demonstrate how, through the manipulation of fan creators, nostalgia exists as a highly flexible, yet still potent, concept.
Books by Martin van de Weyer
Unlike other designed artefacts, video games are not commonly considered in relation to the cultu... more Unlike other designed artefacts, video games are not commonly considered in relation to the cultural context of their creation. This lack of attention means that the impacts of these games, as embodiments of particular cultural ideas on the people who play them outside their country of origin, have not been investigated. Responding to this absence of scholarship, the following thesis uses a design history based analysis of Japanese video game producer Nintendo to illustrate the depth and degree to which games can embody and communicate cultural ideas.
From this perspective, a number of Nintendo’s games can be seen as responding to their cultural surroundings as they are informed by, and provide a means to compensate for, several different forms of Japanese longing. Firstly, the Super Mario games respond to a desire to engage with the childlike, providing a means to satisfy a yearning for a playful and light-hearted encounter, made largely unavailable in Japan due to the pressures of education and adulthood. Secondly, the Legend of Zelda games build upon a longing to connect to a pre-modern environment, using a tactile connection with nature and a sense of community to enable a feeling of closeness to a past world separate from stressful contemporary urban Japanese lifestyles. Thirdly, the MOTHER/Earthbound games respond to a desire for authenticity, creating an unconventional reality to stimulate a genuine emotional connection that is more fulfilling than those typically experienced in contemporary Japan, where mediated and artificial relationships abound. Finally, the Metroid games satisfy a longing to connect with a stable and understandable future, in response to a number of fears uniquely pertinent to modern Japan.
The impact of these embedded Japanese needs on the people who play them cross-culturally can be recognised by looking at the nostalgic culture which surrounds these games in the West. With the development of this sentimental retrospective view, a link has been created to the games’ inherent Japanese cultural qualities, causing these aspects to shape individuals’ nostalgic interactions. As the culture of video game nostalgia has been formed around the practice of crafting artefacts that borrow from the past but reconfigure it as part of a creative design process, through analysing the form and character of the objects which result, it is possible to see the way that they
have been informed by the sentiments of Japanese longing central to the games. Through this examination it becomes clear that these Japanese cultural ideas have been internalised and then subsequently utilised by individuals in the West to fulfill their own desires.
Combining case studies of Nintendo’s four most significant game series, an examination of Nintendo’s historical development, and an investigation into fan-created nostalgic works, this thesis uses a design history based analysis to illustrate how video games can exist as a reaction to their cultural surroundings and how this nature has an enduring impact on the people who play them.
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Papers by Martin van de Weyer
However, by looking more specifically at the marketing and product design direction taken in Japan for some of Nintendo’s preceding systems this sense of abruptness becomes less pronounced, and a more natural progression towards family focused interactions and social play becomes apparent. Such an analysis reveals that the feeling sudden conversion is more so due to the rapid change which occurred in the Western marketing, an alteration which was forced due to a long followed and largely static brand personality being incompatible with the new Wii system.
In this rapid conversion to a casual focus the Western marketing can be seen to have borrowed heavily from the frameworks already established in Japan in its own creation and cultivation of a casual market. Due to this core influence it is revealing to look at the impetus behind Nintendo’s focus towards the casual within Japan. Through observing the surrounding social situation, it becomes possible to perceive that this direction towards simple fun and social interactions was influenced by, and acted as a reaction to, the sense of societal malaise which arose within Japan in the 1990s due to a variety of events and influences. As a result, it is possible to perceive that Nintendo, in its search to appeal to its Japanese customers and satiate their needs in regards these feelings of anxiety, moved in a design direction that resulted in what is now referred to as the casual.
The following draws from the marketing surrounding a range of Nintendo’s systems in both Japan and the West and recent history of Japan to illustrate how the origins and the impetus behind the casual turn can be seen to be shaped more by Japanese sensibilities than is often acknowledged.
Such creations provide a platform for playful commentary on modern games but also illustrate a great deal about player desires and longings. These reimagingings create an instant feeling of nostalgia for new and advanced game titles, but also the particular games which are chosen to be reimagined, and the specific stylistic means selected for their reinterpretation, emphasise a range of valued qualities possessed by past games. Such a ready mixing of new and old reveals how the sentiment of nostalgia is capable of being swiftly manipulated within the digital realm.
Utilising an analysis of a variety of different examples and drawing on Jenkins’ ideas on ‘textual poaching’, Campbell’s concept of consumer crafting and Davis’ investigations into the yearning for the past, the following paper uses Demaking as a case study to demonstrate how, through the manipulation of fan creators, nostalgia exists as a highly flexible, yet still potent, concept.
Books by Martin van de Weyer
From this perspective, a number of Nintendo’s games can be seen as responding to their cultural surroundings as they are informed by, and provide a means to compensate for, several different forms of Japanese longing. Firstly, the Super Mario games respond to a desire to engage with the childlike, providing a means to satisfy a yearning for a playful and light-hearted encounter, made largely unavailable in Japan due to the pressures of education and adulthood. Secondly, the Legend of Zelda games build upon a longing to connect to a pre-modern environment, using a tactile connection with nature and a sense of community to enable a feeling of closeness to a past world separate from stressful contemporary urban Japanese lifestyles. Thirdly, the MOTHER/Earthbound games respond to a desire for authenticity, creating an unconventional reality to stimulate a genuine emotional connection that is more fulfilling than those typically experienced in contemporary Japan, where mediated and artificial relationships abound. Finally, the Metroid games satisfy a longing to connect with a stable and understandable future, in response to a number of fears uniquely pertinent to modern Japan.
The impact of these embedded Japanese needs on the people who play them cross-culturally can be recognised by looking at the nostalgic culture which surrounds these games in the West. With the development of this sentimental retrospective view, a link has been created to the games’ inherent Japanese cultural qualities, causing these aspects to shape individuals’ nostalgic interactions. As the culture of video game nostalgia has been formed around the practice of crafting artefacts that borrow from the past but reconfigure it as part of a creative design process, through analysing the form and character of the objects which result, it is possible to see the way that they
have been informed by the sentiments of Japanese longing central to the games. Through this examination it becomes clear that these Japanese cultural ideas have been internalised and then subsequently utilised by individuals in the West to fulfill their own desires.
Combining case studies of Nintendo’s four most significant game series, an examination of Nintendo’s historical development, and an investigation into fan-created nostalgic works, this thesis uses a design history based analysis to illustrate how video games can exist as a reaction to their cultural surroundings and how this nature has an enduring impact on the people who play them.
However, by looking more specifically at the marketing and product design direction taken in Japan for some of Nintendo’s preceding systems this sense of abruptness becomes less pronounced, and a more natural progression towards family focused interactions and social play becomes apparent. Such an analysis reveals that the feeling sudden conversion is more so due to the rapid change which occurred in the Western marketing, an alteration which was forced due to a long followed and largely static brand personality being incompatible with the new Wii system.
In this rapid conversion to a casual focus the Western marketing can be seen to have borrowed heavily from the frameworks already established in Japan in its own creation and cultivation of a casual market. Due to this core influence it is revealing to look at the impetus behind Nintendo’s focus towards the casual within Japan. Through observing the surrounding social situation, it becomes possible to perceive that this direction towards simple fun and social interactions was influenced by, and acted as a reaction to, the sense of societal malaise which arose within Japan in the 1990s due to a variety of events and influences. As a result, it is possible to perceive that Nintendo, in its search to appeal to its Japanese customers and satiate their needs in regards these feelings of anxiety, moved in a design direction that resulted in what is now referred to as the casual.
The following draws from the marketing surrounding a range of Nintendo’s systems in both Japan and the West and recent history of Japan to illustrate how the origins and the impetus behind the casual turn can be seen to be shaped more by Japanese sensibilities than is often acknowledged.
Such creations provide a platform for playful commentary on modern games but also illustrate a great deal about player desires and longings. These reimagingings create an instant feeling of nostalgia for new and advanced game titles, but also the particular games which are chosen to be reimagined, and the specific stylistic means selected for their reinterpretation, emphasise a range of valued qualities possessed by past games. Such a ready mixing of new and old reveals how the sentiment of nostalgia is capable of being swiftly manipulated within the digital realm.
Utilising an analysis of a variety of different examples and drawing on Jenkins’ ideas on ‘textual poaching’, Campbell’s concept of consumer crafting and Davis’ investigations into the yearning for the past, the following paper uses Demaking as a case study to demonstrate how, through the manipulation of fan creators, nostalgia exists as a highly flexible, yet still potent, concept.
From this perspective, a number of Nintendo’s games can be seen as responding to their cultural surroundings as they are informed by, and provide a means to compensate for, several different forms of Japanese longing. Firstly, the Super Mario games respond to a desire to engage with the childlike, providing a means to satisfy a yearning for a playful and light-hearted encounter, made largely unavailable in Japan due to the pressures of education and adulthood. Secondly, the Legend of Zelda games build upon a longing to connect to a pre-modern environment, using a tactile connection with nature and a sense of community to enable a feeling of closeness to a past world separate from stressful contemporary urban Japanese lifestyles. Thirdly, the MOTHER/Earthbound games respond to a desire for authenticity, creating an unconventional reality to stimulate a genuine emotional connection that is more fulfilling than those typically experienced in contemporary Japan, where mediated and artificial relationships abound. Finally, the Metroid games satisfy a longing to connect with a stable and understandable future, in response to a number of fears uniquely pertinent to modern Japan.
The impact of these embedded Japanese needs on the people who play them cross-culturally can be recognised by looking at the nostalgic culture which surrounds these games in the West. With the development of this sentimental retrospective view, a link has been created to the games’ inherent Japanese cultural qualities, causing these aspects to shape individuals’ nostalgic interactions. As the culture of video game nostalgia has been formed around the practice of crafting artefacts that borrow from the past but reconfigure it as part of a creative design process, through analysing the form and character of the objects which result, it is possible to see the way that they
have been informed by the sentiments of Japanese longing central to the games. Through this examination it becomes clear that these Japanese cultural ideas have been internalised and then subsequently utilised by individuals in the West to fulfill their own desires.
Combining case studies of Nintendo’s four most significant game series, an examination of Nintendo’s historical development, and an investigation into fan-created nostalgic works, this thesis uses a design history based analysis to illustrate how video games can exist as a reaction to their cultural surroundings and how this nature has an enduring impact on the people who play them.