Fan fiction and machinima were simultaneously introduced to me a few years ago through this video. As I briefly mentioned in class, this machinima video was actually created to bring some really horrible and poorly written Half Life fan fiction to life. It eventually became a popular Internet meme, Half-Life: Full Life Consequences.
But the best thing about this whole scenario was that all of the parties involved with this production loved the Half Life video games– so much so that they began creating their own content and distributing it online via FanFiction.net, HalfLife2.net, and Youtube. Within the same day of one user, SquirrelKing, submitting his writing, another user, blind51de, submitted a dramatic reading of the text. As this consumer-generated content floated around the Web, less than a year later, an additional user, Djy1991, merged the fan fiction and the dramatic reading (using a different narrator, Cannon590A) with game play. He created two videos, including the one mentioned above and Half-Life: Full Life Consequences: What Has Tobe Done. Half Life fans loved the fan films, and they requested SquirrelKing (the original author) to write a sequel. So what happened here was a chain of events all starting with the mass produced and mass played video game Half Life. These fans created fan fiction and fan film, and eventually, they gained fans as well; there are even spoofs of the fan-made videos.
This is a perfect example of people building on mainstream media. While Half Life is not in the public domain, users have taken the characters and animation from the game to produce their own versions of Half Life. Though this is definitely a violation of copyright, the video game industry seems to be one of the most lenient industries regarding this issue. They want gamers to be involved with and assume the roles of the characters. They believe it allows the gamers to shape their experiences with the game better. But how far is too far? I personally think when a brand is diluted because of fan fiction or fan film, that’s when it crosses the line (this would just be a matter of judgement). But other than that, I think it’s great for consumers to have deeps relationships with products that they love. That’s the fun in being a fan!
LOL…Half-Life: Full Life Consequences…the whole thing was Hill Larry Us especially Bill Nye randomly popping up and the “axed him for help” scene. I guess the video game industry dgaf…and why should they? Fan fiction and fan film gives more exposure to the brand. “Fans no longer only want to consume media…they want 2 be a part of it and create with it”—-> eye don’t think that fans should be punished for creating fan fiction or films…all they’re doing is have fun and showing love to their favorite brands.
I agree. I say let the gamers do as they please. They are already very involved with the video game, so why not let them have fun with something they love?