As the term moves forward to a close, we see more assignments wrapping up. One of those is all the digital artefacts, hitting the 3rd base on the UOW DA field. It’s Beta time and that also means it is time to conduct peer reviews. Earlier this semester you might have seen my post reviewing my peers BCM215 DA Pitch videos and now I am looking at the same individuals DA so far and checking up on how they are progressing as we are in the home run.
I gave some feedback on 3 of my peers work, and that was in relation to their Beta videos in relation to our feedback criteria. I always find this time really useful because it allows us as students to gather some different feedback from one another and helps you improve in ways you might not.
For myself, I always begin my comments by recognising what is going really well in their digital artefact so far, and even acknowledging their changes is important too because sometimes its nice to know you might have made a decision for the best, or even how you can make it even better! I always aim for positive comments and constructive criticism that I would hope to receive in return!
Beta #1 – Samantha Mae
(https://samanthadorigato.wordpress.com/2021/10/08/dont-be-the-same-be-beta/)
Comment (awaiting moderation – see image)
“Hey Samantha!
It is great to see how your digital artefact has developed since your pitch video! Your DA certainly has changed direction slightly, but I do not think in a bad way at all.
The use of Pinterest to express your DA is really interesting. Pinterest is one of those platforms you may not always consider first when you think about social media, but it is really a great and fantastic platform to share images, and as someone expressing videogame aesthetics, its perfect!
It is great you have done some research into the possibility of increasing your audience! Sometimes an audience is critical in encouraging you to continue the work you have been doing. Doing some research into increasing your audience through Pinterest, I found this webpage https://meetedgar.com/blog/get-more-pinterest-followers/ and they come up with some really great ideas to increase that group. One suggestion is to cross platform your profile with another eg. Pinterest and Instagram and link them together – which might be really interesting to see how individuals interact with the profiles.
Your discussion about nostalgia is quite important also! I believe that to find the aesthetic of the videogame industry, you have to find the part that appeals to people, but from you have discussed, you have already found it. Players want to experience nostalgic feelings while playing these games, they want to feel like they are playing it for the first time, they want to feel comforted by a similar setting, and sometimes I believe that is a really crucial part of an aesthetic – something that can be related too.
Your timeline over the next few weeks is looking good! I worry that you might find 5 posts, 5 days a week a little much at the time – I am guilty of saying I can do something and it’s a different case when the time comes haha! But then again, it is a great goal! Overall I am looking forward to seeing your final presentation of your digital artefact and hope that you enjoy the rest of the journey!”
My comment to Samantha did not contain much in terms of critical comments as I felt she was fairly on track for her DA. Having changed the way she presents her DA, I believe that personally, she will be able to cope a lot easier and keep it to the idea of the videogame industry – just as presented in her pitch, she had slightly erred from the topic of videogames. I gave Samantha some advice and an article with some pointers on increasing your audience on Pinterest as I believe that can be a crucial side of encouragement for a DA. But also the interaction between audience and DA is quite important. Overall, her DA is coming along quite nicely, and I am excited to see her final work on her DA!
Beta #2 – Isabeau Rosa
(https://isabeaurosa.wordpress.com/2021/10/08/215-beta-hows-the-streaming-going/)
Comment (awaiting moderation – see image)
“Hi Isabeau!
Your digital artefact seems to be coming along quite nicely overall! As a side note I am really sorry to hear about the issues that came along such as your mouth pain and the capture card breaking! How tragic it broke! I am glad to hear that you are getting back on track however!
As I mentioned in my comment on your Pitch video, you are looking at a really interesting topic and being a woman myself who plays videogames, its encouraging to have recognised there is still lengths to go in fair representation.
Your idea to use the Bechdel Test for your analytical framework is really fantastic, and even more is using Portal as an example! A source you may find really interesting while exploring the Bechdel Test is https://venturebeat.com/2010/06/11/all-the-missing-ladies-creating-a-bechdel-test-for-video-games/, here they have applied the Bechdel Test to some videogames and female representation already, and they provide some examples of games that you may want to look at even streaming yourself on your Twitch channel! An example that I wouldn’t have particularly thought about until I did my own research is Super Mario and the representation of Princess Peach AKA. The most kidnapped princess and damsel in distress.
Your timeline over the next 2/3 weeks is looking good! I am excited to see how your final digital artefact turns out and am keen to learn somethings that I didn’t know – particularly hearing about the results of the Bechdel Test in your research!”
Isabeau’s beta blog post was really interesting to hear how she is progressing so far. Whilst she has had some bumps, she is still going really well and seems to have been researching very thoroughly into her topic whilst streaming videogames. I was quite interested in Isabeau’s plan to use the Bechdel Test in relation to her research in to the female representation in videogames. This is allowing her to gather her own physical research rather than gathering already done research. With interest in this form of research, I had seen an article/post where another individual conducted the Bechdel Test in relation to females and videogames, and upon hearing mention of it again, I thought this might be useful for Isabeau to look at in terms of her own research and getting some ideas to look at some games in particular! Overall, I am keen to see the results of her DA in a few weeks time and even am planning to come watch a stream!
Beta #3 – Axel Friedrich
(https://axelfriedrich87.wordpress.com/2021/10/08/reinventing-the-farming-sim-a-progress-report/)
Comment (awaiting moderation – see image)
“Hi Axel!
I have been looking forward to your beta update since I commented on your pitch video! As a big fan of the Stardew/Harvest Moon games I was really keen to see how you were going to go! I am glad to see you have planned to make your videos shorter than 30mins, not only in terms of maintaining audience attention, for your own wellbeing of making and editing 30 mins + of videos would be quite timely!
I know in your beta video you discussed looking into the legitimacy and accuracy of real life machinery in Farming Simulator, and this is actually quite important to think about as for audiences, the key part of a simulator, is simulating an actual possibility of a reality, and players want to feel invested and involved in the story and activities. An article written by the Guardian may be useful for you to make notes on as they look into real life farmers that actually play the Farming Simulator videogame and how they feel like about the game, the link is, https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/jul/24/meet-the-real-life-farmers-who-play-farming-simulator .
Looking at your beta video, I would’ve loved to have seen some pictures or video of your progress so far just to give us that visual update as well! However, your entire digital artefact has been quite well planned out and your timeline is looking good in preparation for the final presentation of our digital artefact. Perhaps some reference to your academic articles / research / sources would’ve added abit more depth into your analytical framework.
It also would have been really awesome to see if you have had any audience interaction so far, have you perhaps been interacting with farm-simulation game fans or even chatting to people on reddit boards. I understand you’ve taken a more in-depth analytical way of presenting your DA and that the videos haven’t been posted, but for your final presentation, perhaps think about posting some of your videos on social media, maybe interacting with other people and trying to increase your audience for your DA!
I’ve linked some of the reddit boards that you could maybe start some conversation on below!
https://www.reddit.com/r/farmingsimulator/
https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGamerLounge/
But overall, you look like you are doing an amazing job and I am really looking forward to watching your videos over the next couple of weeks! Keep at it!”
Looking at my level of critical feedback, I believe I gave the most to Axel. His DA is going really well from the sounds of it, but that is it, the sounds of it. I had to say as one of my feedback points, it would’ve been good to receive some photos or videos of his progress so far, because there is actually no part of Axels digital artefact that is currently available to the public to see. Understandably, there is some obvious work being conducted by the way the Axel was able to share with us in his beta, but it should be noted that we aren’t able to see any audience interaction at this point. I gave Axel a few points of feedback and recommendation such as posting his videos publicly and promoting it on other platforms to have another way to increase his audience at the moment. I also made the recommendation to an article released by the Guardian that discusses one of his key games he is examining, and discusses the accuracy of the game with players – which is really when players begin to feel immersed in the game they are playing, a key point about simulators. I am actually really interested for Axel’s YouTube videos to come out and see his final DA released!
Overall, the digital artefacts beta videos that have been released and the handful that I have watched, they are looking really good! I am excited to see how we all go in a few weeks time when we present our final digital artefacts.
So until then,
See you then!
Alex 🙂
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