I’d have hoped my first post would have concerned something grander than the misappropriation of features in video games. But hey.

When I was at university (all those…weeks, ago), and trawling the very depths of YouTube as any self respecting student should, I would occasionally stumble across videos mysteriously tagged: ‘machinima’. These videos would typically involve awkward animations of computer game characters in 3D environments, in sequences involving the kind of esoteric references and in-jokes that I imagined I would understand if I only spent more time playing video games (and don’t think I didn’t want to).

At the time I dismissed them and altered my search terms so that I could find, well, anything else. However, having worked at Online for a few months now and had a couple of dips in the new media ocean, I started thinking about it again.

For a better grasp of what exactly machinima involves, I turned to Wikipedia: ‘As a production technique, the term concerns the rendering of computer-generated imagery (CGI) using real-time, interactive (game) 3D engines, as opposed to high-end and complex 3D animation software used by professionals.’ That is to say, the manipulation of 3-D characters in a digital environment to create animated videos. It is far less costly than the high-end CGI of the kind that Disney Pixar have made their speciality, but it also affords a film-maker greater control over what happens, and often gives them higher production values, than can normally be achieved using basic hand-held video cameras.

Machinima represents quite a curious development in computer gaming culture; beginning in the early nineties when first person shooter games like Doom allowed players to record their gameplay in realtime. These demo files could be shared between and viewed by players. To paraphrase Wikipedia – it turned the player into a performer, with gamers comparing their runs on various levels and tasks.

Whilst games with 3D graphics became more numerous and sophisticated (the Grand Theft Auto series being perhaps the most controversial) the greater emphasis of the creation of these sequences was gradually placed on making engaging pieces of film, rather than demonstrating any kind of gaming prowess - hence the name of the movement; a combination of machine and cinema.

Because of the way in which it developed, machinima began as an inherently subversive movement; the videos I found at university mostly consisted of taking established characters and making them do things they weren’t supposed to do. I think I’m right in saying that there’s nothing quite like seeing a bunch of World of Warcraft characters dancing the Macarena – which is not, of course, to say that it’s a good thing.

But machinima has now evolved into quite a sophisticated and well-established medium. Just reading the Wiki article we hear that Roger Ebert has described it as an ‘extraordinary’ new art form; that it is such a recognized aspect of popular culture that it’s used in an episode of South Park. An Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences has been set up, and holds Machinima Film festivals. Entire computer games like The Movies have been developed which allow players to manipulate 3D characters in order to make films. Machinima dramas with runs outlasting most television sitcoms have appeared on, and are still on, YouTube.

Why is this important? Machinima’s redefinition of the notion of computer game authorship represents another manifestation of that ever-cited change in the way that people perceive media and communications: the move towards user-driven content, Web 2.0, interactivity…all of the usual buzzwords. Machinima provides people with a very easy way of telling a story or making a film or expressing themselves without the need for even a video camera.

It also keys into that odd fascination with easily manipulating our environment that you see in model railway enthusiasts and strategy gamers alike. The ability to represent yourself in a world over which you have more control than in physical reality holds great appeal – the success of Second Life and the excitement generated by the Playstation 3’s Home feature have shown us as much. How long before people are making sophisticated films, with elaborate stunts and lavish settings, starring themselves? There are programs which allow 3D characters to automatically lip synch any piece of spoken text; how long before people are making presentations in custom built virtual offices, via their avatars?

The effects these kinds of development have on how young people use the internet, and their learning, can only be guessed at. Although it hasn’t been too long since I was at school, it’s been a while. If, back then, my teacher had allowed me to make a presentation in class on the Battle of Hastings using animated 3D characters, I’d have loved it. Academic institutions worldwide have established themselves in Second Life to allow students’ avatars to attend online lectures. Why not animate an entire lecture, allowing your avatar to call up video and imagery with the mere gesture of a digitally rendered hand, to thousands all over the world?

Whether these ideas end up being practicable or not, they remain very exciting possibilities.

This post was written by John Lau