Category Archives: Digital

“I Ship It”

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 29, 2014
Primary Language: English

Informant’s self-description: “Both my parents were born in Canada but both my parents on either my mom or my dads side were born in China or in Wales so I identify pretty equally with both of those cultural backgrounds. Even though I didn’t really get a chance to get to know any of my grandparents because they died when I was very little. So I don’t really know that much of the cultural background from those sides but I would like to explore it sometime. Mostly just Canadian though. Born and raised. Very Canadian. Obnoxiously so.

“I do a lot of sports. I grew up playing – my mom wouldn’t let me. I tried to play hockey but she wouldn’t let me. She told me my brain hadn’t finished growing and I would damage it by falling down skating on the ice. And I could start playing when I was twelve. But the thing is is that by the time you’re twelve, you’re already so far behind on the skating skills that catching up then becomes a mess and its not even worth starting, which she probably knew. So I never played hockey. I played soccer and softball and volleyball growing up and I did gymnastics for a while until my mom made me pick between that and soccer. I chose soccer. I’m also into fandom culture and general nerdiness. I’m in the cinema fraternity at USC. Also a social sorority somehow. I don’t know how that happened. ”

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Aside from sports, you said – fandom, let’s talk about fandom. What fandoms are you a part of?

Harry potter, Lord of the Rings, those are the two that are omnipresent. Except Lord of the Rings is picking up because of The Hobbit stuff. And then Marvel, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, definitely kind of the BBC – actors, whole sort of BBC-ness. Oh and the Hunger Games.

How do you participate in fandom?

I’m definitely more of an observer than an active participator. I’m not one of the people that writes fanfic, or does fanart. It depends how much time – usually I just scroll past it on Tumblr and absorb it. But there’s a couple fandom-specific blogs that I’ll follow. Like for certain ships.

What are ships?

When one watches a show, and one feels an intense investment in a couple of characters – sometimes friendship but more often romantic possibilities – it’s called a “ship,” it’s short for relationship. So when someone says “I ship that,” what they’re meaning to say is “I want them to be together forever and have beautiful babies.”

And the term for someone who ships two characters is a “shipper.” I can go all into the different kinds of ships.

There’s called a “one true pairing” or an OTP is what it’s referred to on the internet, which is someone’s main hardcore “I will ship these two characters ‘til the end of the days” or “I will go down with this ship” – it’s kind of like one of the things that is often heard and thrown around on the internet. For me it’s Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff from the Marvel universe – Black Widow and Hawkeye. I love them, I think they’re fantastic. They are also somewhat canon depending on the universe and timeline, but that’s a whole other story. They would be my OTP.

There’s also a broTP, so that’s two characters that you really appreciate their friendship but you don’t want romantic things for them. For me- Capt. America and Black Widow or Steve and Natasha – they’re a brotp because I think their friendship is fantastic but I don’t want them to get together romantically.

There’s also multishipping, when someone wants a character to be with whoever, and there’s also the noTP – two characters for which you hate the mention of that ship. That’s some of the lingo.

Some blogs on Tumblr are devoted to particular ships. It’s an archive of fanfic, fanart, fanmixes and playlists, or headcanons – which is something that could happen between the characters that isn’t clarified in canon – so it’s also not counteracted by the canon of the story. So it’s going beyond the material but not creating an alternative universe to make it something that could be true.

Let’s go back to shipping – 

Is your fandom activity all online or do you talk to people about it in person? Have you ever used the phrase “I ship that” in a standard conversation?

Not necessarily in a standard — I do, but it’s with friend who I know who are also a part of that community.  So people like Thalia, because we talked about TV shows, and that turned into talking about Marvel, and that turned into talking about Clint and Natasha, and then that turned into – we both are obsessed with anything relating to Avengers Tower, and love hearing about headcanons of what shenanigans may go on at Avengers Tower. [lists examples] It’s generally something that’s more so online unless I already know the person is interested in that kind of thing. If I know they’re interested in that kind of thing it becomes a very large part of our friendship.

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Informant neglected to mention the term “OT3,” which is also a very popular shipping term, and means what you probably think it does.

“Camping”

Nationality: “Half Japanese, half Korean, so I am Asian.”
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, but born in Fresno and lived there until starting college
Performance Date: April 30, 2014
Primary Language: English

Informant’s self-description: “I am a large melting pot of everyone that I have ever met. Even if I did not really know who they were. And that makes me me! And different from everyone, ‘cause we all have different experiences. I am a video game person that loves a video game, and I love things that aren’t actually real life. But I also like real life! But sometimes fiction more so because the boundaries of what can be done are expanded. And that’s really cool to me. I like food – a lot. And I am a person that just wants to do a lot of things all the time. Forever.”

 

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Is there gamer culture that you take part in, or is it more of a solitary thing?

I’d like to be part of some sort of gaming culture – I’d really enjoy going to some video game convention and get to see what’s up-and-coming, and be able to talk to people who are within that community and get to make friends. I’ve only recently begun trying to engage with that side of my life – before it was very solitary. It was just me at home, planting my butt in the chair and playing Mario Kart or the Sims for ages on end. And then I got an X-Box, which was like communication with other people that were playing, and that sorta kinda kicked me in the right direction, which is fun, also scary but fun.

Do you talk to people online?

The game I mostly play is Mass Effect, and there’s a Mass Effect multiplayer. You just do missions with other people. You can talk to them if you like, I usually only play with friends that I know in real life, because there’s a tendency for – especially if you’re like a gal and you’re playing online and if they know, they don’t treat you with respect or it’s kind of really weird and they don’t treat you like a fellow gamer? It’s like “Oh, it’s a girl.” I’ve experienced before where they just kind of leave me be to the really small side missions. And I’m not down with that. So I usually just play with friends that I know in real life. And we destroy things together.

Is there any particular lingo that you guys use in the game and not outside of it?

I guess the terms for the things that we’re trying to do. With the monsters or the enemies that we’re trying to go up against, or I think – like a certain term would be “camping.” Which is when a certain player is lying in wait. And hidden from the rest of the players just so they can score, or kill someone, so they can destroy something, they can achieve the objective without really having to go through the process of avoiding other people on the go. They just kinda lie in wait. That’s generally frowned upon.

How often does it happen?

Depends on the game and whether or not you’re able to. I know in Call of Duty, if you camp a lot of people will gang up on you.  After they’ll be like “CAMPER! HE’S A CAMPER!” And then you wind up dying a lot because if you get found out, you’re the camper, and no one likes you. In other games, maybe not so much because you can’t really camp? And if you do you’re kind of just like a coward and people will ignore you.

Have you ever camped?

Yes in Call of Duty, because I am not very good at Call of Duty. And the only time I played it, I played Black Ops, and I was about to die and I was like “NO!” So I just hid for the rest of the game. I let other people just kind of kill each other, and once in a while I would shoot someone if they were passing by.

It was more of a defensive camping than an offensive camping.

Yeah, yes, much yes. Lots of defense, no offense whatsoever. I mean, occasionally try to shoot someone, and then maybe get them, and they’d come back and find me, and I’d just lie in wait again.

Have you ever ganged up on a camper when they were found out?

Only on my friends, really. I mean I kind of feel bad when it’s someone that I don’t know, unless – it’s been very rarely that I talk to other people via the voice chat, in a party – it’s just so quick sometimes, especially with Mass Effect, but um… Yeah sometimes, my friends and I – friends I know in real life – if we see someone that’s camping, then we go and gang up on them and destroy all of their kills – if they’re about to kill something and we see that the enemy’s health is low, we kill them before they do, so when they kill them it doesn’t count for them, and it’s ours. And that makes them angry, and it’s funny.

 

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By playing this multiplayer game, informant engages in the gamer culture maybe more than they realize, to the point where they can explain a specific communally-recognized term and the behaviors surrounding that action the term refers to in the game.

Rule 34 (of the Internet)

Nationality: American – Parents Western European, German on mother's side; German on fathers side as well, but an Irish-German mix
Age: 19
Occupation: Licensed Cleric - JK, Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 30, 2014
Primary Language: English

The informant is a USC student, an artist, an anthro major, LGBT-identified, and was born in 1994.

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Rule 34.

Rule 34 is when – have I got a story for you.

Rule 34 refers to ‘Rule 34 of the internet.’ I don’t know when the rules were decided. They were probably written by some guy in his basement like 10 years ago.

Do you know if it was written by one person?

Probably written by several people.

Because there are so many rules and people keep coming up with more rules.

Rule 34: “If it exists, there’s porn of it.” Which is true most of the time. Because usually if something exists and somebody has seen it, they probably have a fetish for it. It comes from that idea that the internet is a place where anyone can submit anything really, and Rule 34 refers to anything that’s – “Oh look, it’s Winnie the Pooh and Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. They really like each other. They like each other sooo much, that I drew porn of it.” That’s like “I ship it.” You can find anything. I think it’s tough to say how to measure Rule 34 as a medium but it’s become kind of like a category. You don’t remember any of the other categories, really, there’s like one other rule – well I can’t remember what it is, it’s like Rule 52 or something.

The genderswap category. That’s the other popular one. But those are the only two really that are famous because basically they’re like art categories now. If you draw Rule 34 – there are people who are like “Yeah, I’m a professional Rule 34 artist.” People commission you to make porn of your favorite things. It’s really fucked up, but it happens, you know. I think that there are website where you can look it up. Tumblr is a great place for finding it. I would know.

Have you looked up many Rule 34?

I can’t say I’ve looked it up, rather, I’ve stumbled across it quite frequently. I’m on my way down my feed, and y’know. One thing about it is that artists who are starting out are trying to make a living on commissions, one thing that they do is that if they’re good at drawing characters they will draw – porn is easy money actually, because people will actually pay for it. Unlike other types. Any they will – most artists go into porn because it’s easier for them to draw, and then they can just draw it. And they can just crank it out. And people will be like “Oh, your art is so good. I will buy 20.” And that’s why people make it – there’s an audience for it.

Talk about your feelings about Rule 34

My feelings about Rule 34 – I’m indifferent to it, honestly. I’m a very easygoing person. I think that people should enjoy whatever they want to enjoy. I mean like – as an artist?

Have you ever drawn Rule 34?

I guess like – I once drew a dragon dick, and that’s probably as far as I went. I don’t think I’ve actively drawn – I’ve never contributed to the Rule 34 society, the community as a whole. I have not given back. But I will say this – y’know. It does – it definitely does have an audience. So if you need to get somewhere…

There’s a reason it’s a rule on the internet. When did you first learn about it?

Damn. I would say when I started using the internet pretty actively – so I think around twelve. I don’t think I saw it then, I just happened to know what it was then. I’d say I was familiar with the concept of Rule 34 at that point in my life.

 

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While by no means exclusive to younger folk, this is probably a concept more familiar to the generation who grew up with the internet as a standard part of their life. It’s a very internet-originated thing and the whole list of rules is pretty meta, given that it’s a list of rules about the internet, on the internet, generated by internet users. This particular rule highlights the relative freedom that the internet allows and calls boundaries into question.

SCP: Containment Breach

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: March 28, 2014
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

SCP: Containment Breach is a horror computer game that is based on user-generated stories on the wiki/website SCP Foundation. SCP stands for “Secure, Contain, Protect”. The game takes place in a facility that hunts, tracks down, and categorizes supernatural objects, or SCPs, that are either safe, euclid, or keter. You can come into contact with safe SCPs without getting harmed. SCPs that are euclid are unpredictable, and keter SCPs will kill you.

The main types of characters in the game are scientists with code names, the SCPs, and finally the D-class personnel. There is a seemingly infinite amount of D-class personnel, and you play as one of them. They are prisoners sent to the facility for experimentation purposes, and they die off very easily because they’re always dealing with the SCPs.

The first SCP you meet is this giant baby that’s facing the wall. You have a blink meter, and every time you are forced to blink, the baby moves closer to you. When it’s right in front of you, it kills you. [Informant’s] favorite is the butler. It can do anything you want it to do, as long as it is reasonable. He would ask,” What can I do for you?” in a very butler-like manner. You can ask him to kill a D-class personnel in the neighboring room, and he would point at a surveillance camera, saying, “Is that camera on? I can’t do it if it’s on.” And once you turn it off, he would disappear and then come back, having accomplished the goal. If you ask him to get a bar of gold of, say, 99.99% purity, he would say no, but ask if a a lower purity were okay. There are also inanimate SCPs like a train ticket SCP, which would affect the train that the ticket-holder takes.

Anyone who passes the test to be a writer on the website can create an SCP. The SCP Foundation website is a wiki that is open for comment. If people see a bad SCP, they’ll mark it down, and if enough people dislike it, they’ll remove it. There are rules, like no using clichés, and no SCPs that can be described in two words (like “basically Wolverine”). The game developers then take these user-created SCPs and put them into the game.

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I found it very innovative for a video game to be based on user-generated content. It throws into question the idea of authorship but it is also somewhat reminiscent of the way folklore was spread / the way people told stories before the institutionalization of writing/publishing/etc.

Flopped Atari Game Buried in New Mexico

Nationality: Italian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 30, 2014
Primary Language: Italian
Language: English

There was an urban legend where Atari had made this game called E.T. in like the ’80s, based on Steven Spielberg’s movie, but it was very bad and no one wanted to buy it, and that was when Atari was very successful for all their other games. Rumor was that Atari decided to take back all the E.T. cartridges in the market and even the ones they didn’t sell, and then they buried it somewhere in the desert in New Mexico. People would go there just to look for the cartridges, but they couldn’t find anything.

But very recently people did find something, and after a long excavation, they uncovered the cartridges!

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Informant frequents Reddit, a very up-to-date “social network”, from where he first heard the rumor of the buried cartridges. This is one of the less common instances in which an urban legend is later revealed to be true. It in a way reflects the question of how urban legends arise—perhaps first with leaked but vague information, later growing due to exaggerations and variations in telling.