Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Creative Collaboration in Young Digital
Communities
Pilar Lacasa , María Ruth García-Pernía , and Sara Cortés
8.1
Introduction
We recently attended several video game fairs in different European cities. Some
researchers, such as Wortley ( 2013 ), refer to these contexts as a starting point for
exploring creativity and innovation. These fairs are quite similar to fi lm festivals,
even if there are no real actors or celebrities there. Instead, we fi nd large screens,
consoles, new forms of entertainment, and the players (the visitors to the fair) take
precedence. While walking around the different stands, they don't just observe; they
play and discover the novelties created by the industry of these cultural objects.
Wandering around people of all ages, families, and groups of friends (more boys
than girls), the thought came to us that we are witnessing the result of innovation,
the ability to create in contemporary society.
One cannot help but get the impression that we are experiencing something new,
a different type of culture where a new form of entertainment is shared. While we
were looking at the large posters advertising games and observing people while they
played, we thought that creation has now become a collective activity. The great
creators of classical art we learned about at school were individuals. They were
individually named together with their masterpieces, for example, Michelangelo's
David or Picasso's Guernica. Video games are quite different. In the case of video
games, the environment from which specifi c distributors and freelance designers
have emerged or the saga they have participated in is of greater importance. When
people mention The Sims, fans are well aware, for instance, that the distributor is
Electronic Arts and that its designer came from Will Wright's team. We are there-
fore faced with a different form of creation here.
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