Creating the Utopia Powerpoint (23/4/2013)

For this session our group of five split in order to put our presentation together. Jim, James and I focused on the presentation whilst Adam and Bonnie drew some of the concept art.

We were able to complete all of the above very quickly thanks to last's weeks preparations and overall I look forward to presenting it next week and listening to the other group's ideas, especially since the discussion about utopias is always hotly debated.  

Analysing Tomas More's 'Utopia', further research into utopias and how I imagine a utopia can work (20/4/2013)

Analysing Tomas More's 'Utopia':

Since I have been learning about many different utopias within this module I deciding to do some further research into Tomas More's ideals of a utopia which he wrote about in a book under the same name and published in 1516.  

Originally I loved the idea of multiple islands that elected leaders to represent each one as that made each one of the outer islands independent whilst allowing for the middle one to make the big decisions that could have an affect on all of them. However, my research has revealed that the utopia was in fact only one island with multiple cities (54 in number) surrounding a main city. This is a shame, as even though this still works I personally felt that having people live separately from one another would help each island to live in harmony and keep their ideals because of the phyical distance between each one. I imagined this would prevent them from being swayed or contracted by the other islands' ways of living. Also thus allowing numerous beliefs to exist without one definite yes or no approach to things. Instead, now it appears that More's ideas were for separate cities, this doesn't present any fresh ideas in my view.

Although I was a fan of the original location and setting for More's utopia, I do not accept that some of the standards for this utopia are utopian e.g. that every household were to be allowed two slaves and the women had to confess their sins to their husbands and could themselves be enslaved if they were ever unfaithful to them.

Things such as private ownership also seems not to exist in this setting which is interesting as the citizens merely ask for what they need at store houses. This reminds me in a way of Star Trek as the Federation allows its citizens free access to food in a similar way and therefore may have taken that idea from Tomas More's book. Free healthcare also seems to exist in More's utopia (Interestingly the NHS was introduced in England in 1948) and wealth is quickly taught at a young age to be worthless since gold is used for the chains worn by criminals in order to make it look less appealing. Children are even given jewels to wear that they then get rid of when they reach maturity.   

Multiple religions also seem to feature and are tolerated which is interesting considering the wars that have been raged in the name of religion since. This is especially fascinating considering when the book was written as there was then considerable conflict between Catholics and Protestants. 

Looking over the ideals of the island I find myself more and more interested in them and can see it working if it were to resurface, even if I do understand that even the best intentions (especially for utopias) can fall apart easily. Now obviously the idea of the cities electing people to represent them is a direct parallel to our modern government in the UK and how we elect officials to represent us. However, I feel the utopian idea works better as it isn't the ideas of multiple political parties trying to gain control, instead it's the individuals elected because they appear to want what is best for their city and it is through discussions in the central capital city that allow everyone to thrive. However, I personally feel that the idea would work better if it were with the islands as explained above. If the meeting area wasn't a central city, but rather a convenient central location of importance and significance then all the cities would feel equal and still respect the overall decisions made by the chosen representatives wherever they made them.   

To change More's utopia to modern day such things as slavery would have to be illegal and women's rights would need to exist so as to fit into modern widely accepted ideals, but this is of course would be for the better. Otherwise, if one citizen is not equal to another then how can the ideals of a utopia exist (e.g. peaceful and working with one another in order to benefit everyone's needs and maintain the sustainability of their chosen lives)?

Further research into utopias:

I also decided to do some further research into utopias and found an interesting fictional example that no one else in my group spoke of, Neverland from Peter Pan which was written by J.M Barrie. Sure it has pirates, but if you think about it its a world of magic and puts forward the idea of never aging. Therefore, it is pure escapism for the children who can travel there since they are more open to those ideas and beliefs. Many children at such a young age are innocent and therefore this makes for an interesting example as the children can play games and do whatever they want forever. However, this also stops the children from growing up and without responsible older role models, or more importantly loving parents, I find it hard to see this kind of utopia working forever as all I can imagine happening is the events seen in the Lord of the Flies by William Golding in which the children turn on one another and become 'savages'.

How I imagine a utopia can work (The Sim Project):

Overall I feel strongly that the islands would have made for a great utopian setting if done correctly, however I also feel that they is only one true way of creating a utopia. I believe the only way to make a utopia work is through a controlled environment. If you think about it, both our nature and nurture are represented by our upbringing and as a result our personalities. Therefore in order to co-exist in a world where everyone's ideals are the same and people do not just fight one another I believe that everyone's free will would have to be altered/controlled in some way or another. Yes, this means that the people living there wouldn't have a true sense of freedom which is horrible, but you would make them think it was their ideal life style and therefore stimulate bliss through ignorance. Granted everyone has their own opinions on what a utopia should be, but if you based it on the original ideals of peace and tranquility then perhaps it would work. You could even make the controlling more natural through having the right body chemicals released/stimulated in order to deter the citizens of the utopia from fighting one another or thinking purely selfishly, thus avoiding the common problem of utopia's greed. As for the role of leader which can be corrupted you could give control to machines which  each monitor the citizens and control the environment around them in order to continue the utopia's permanent goal of peace. If this was the case then I feel humans could still live their everyday lives as they could still watch TV, go out to places and socialise to an extent that doesn't threaten themselves, others or the utopia itself. Similar to Asimovs's 'Three Laws of Robotics' that are considered in science fiction, which could perhaps be edited to accommodate humans and a utopian setting as I have done so below.

1. A human may not injure another human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A human must obey the orders given to it by the machines, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A human must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

This could also be done in a way similar to the mechanics seen in the game 'The Sims' as each Sim has bars representing their needs. Therefore the machines could monitor a human's 'bars' as it were and make sure they are happy whilst not being just a couch potato. After all, too much of anything isn't good for anyone.

I understand that the thoughts above are rather extreme and that overall it sounds as if I'm suggesting humans all become Sims and be controlled by the machines instead of the usual other way round. But, I feel that this would sadly be one of the only ways of creating a utopia without full dictatorship or human control. At least this option would still allow a human to be mostly what they were and if managed correctly could still allow a human to live alone, a feature that is harder to pull off in the actual Sims game due to the game's programming.   

Harvard Referencing:

I used the following websites in order to help my research.

• Frost, J. (2010) Neverland [Online image]. Available at: http://thedisneyblog.com/2010/11/14/michael-jacksons-unbuilt-neverland-theme-park/ (Accessed: 20/4/2013).
• Ortelius. (1595) Vtopiae Map [Online image]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Utopia.ortelius.jpg (Accessed: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (2009) Why can't Utopian societies work? - Yahoo Answers. Available at: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090710103840AAh33Ee (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (2010) 'The Sims 3' Screen shot [Online image]. Available at: http://thelifeyouwant.wordpress.com/tag/thesims/ (Accessed: 20/4/2013). 
• Unknown. (2011) "In a Perfect World"-Utopia - Mibba. Available at: http://www.mibba.com/Articles/people/3539/in-a-perfect-world-utopia/ (Accessed on: 20/4/2013). 
• Unknown. (Unknown) Utopia (book) - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_%28book%29 (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (Unknown) Neverland - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverland (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (Unknown) National Health Service - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Service (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).

Creating a Utopia (16/4/2013)

In today's session we looked at the learning outcomes for this module that can be found on Moodle alongside the grading matrix.

In relation to the above I took the following notes:

• Make sure I back up my answers/opinions with quotes so as to show my understanding of the module and the contents we have talked about. Referencing is really important, therefore should be included. 
• Do more of my own research and add it my blog otherwise I'm just forwarding what the lecturer has told me. Therefore I need to show my own skills at producing my own research, otherwise I risk a low mark. 
• Perhaps look back over my previous work and see if I still agree with what I wrote. If I do or don't then say why. That way I demonstrate an ability to analyse and develop/improve my work. I can also use previous written work to back up my future posts, therefore showing an increasing understanding and personal opinions. 
• Maybe look over my blog and see where I am in the grading matrix. Thus I can improve it if need be.

We then reminded ourselves of what we talked about last week before discussing the choices we had made on the Utopia and Dystopia.

• Is a utopia in a dystopian setting a utopia or not? For example, a fortified building in a zombie genre or the vaults in the 'Fallout' series may not be ideal looking locations, but I believe they would be considered utopias given the circumstances of the dangers outside.  

• 'Minecraft' and 'Little Big Planet' may be considered utopias since you can make your own creations within them (thus being your own utopia). Sport games and musical games may also count as utopias as since the only goal in them is to perhaps participate in some of your favorite pastimes. 

• Maybe look up the old vector game 'The Sentinel' as in that the player must try and create their world. However, the tower in the middle on a hill known as the sentinel will shoot the player if it sees them. Therefore its the idea of trying to build a utopia, but with an outside force trying to stop the player.  

After talking about the above we then worked in a group of five (myself, Adam, Bonnie, Jim and James). We were asked to create a game idea. The genre and game play could be what ever we wanted it to be, but for us it had to be set in a utopia whereas some other groups had dystopians.
We shared ideas and came up with the following.

• Before we came up with any ideas we thought about examples of gameplay we would want in our game. Therefore we used 'Journey' and 'Flower' as examples for the type of gameplay we wanted e.g. beautiful worlds and music with a sense of freedom accompanying them.  
• First of all we messed around with the idea of tribes that lived together in harmony, but needed certain items. Therefore it is up to the player to be a good neighbor as it were and provide the tribes with basic items such as materials and fish. 
• Another idea that I shared was of a young child's imagination in which their dreams are their kind of utopia as they want to roam free and don't know the concept of death. Therefore the child would explore, discover and collect objects in beautiful areas that included a vast ocean, forest, desert and snowy mountain.  
• We then wanted to introduce game concepts that included 'laps' / tasks that would need to be repeated on a regular basis, such as maintaining somewhere or something. 
• We then thought that since it tends to be the difference in each human's ideology and control that led to the collapse of all the other utopias we had researched in the previous session we decided to remove them and governments from our ideas. Instead we messed around with the concept of either aliens or animals. 
• We played around with the idea of animals and then animals with powers before finally deciding on elementals. This last option we felt was best as that way we could link each element to a different controller trigger and bumper, thus allowing for quick swapping between them and easy combining of powers by pressing two of these buttons at once. Granted the Xbox remote, which was the controller we were referring to has coloured buttons on the front, but we felt that these needed to be reserved for jumping and other such abilities since they are more easily accessed than the back ones referred to previously.
• We decided that it should be kept to only one planet and not a universe so as to clearly identify the world as a utopia and one that has a mix of environments. If we had introduced other planets with only one type of environment then it would be debatable which ones were truly utopias, for example a lush forest is more likely to be a utopia than an arctic environment.
• We were originally going to make the game multiplayer since they would be four playable elementals. However, we decided against this since we thought some players may try and mess around with other player's experiences and as a result the utopian atmosphere wouldn't work. 
• Even though it will be a single player game, all the elementals must be on the screen at the same time, otherwise it would be far too easy a game. For example, if the fire elemental came across a river and just simply changed to the water elemental the player would be able to cross with no problems. Therefore no challenge is presented to the player and they would breeze through the game. Having the elementals work together to get past obstacles would help further demonstrate the game's utopian ideals of working with one another. 

Our final idea will need to be ready in two weeks time when we will present our idea to the group through a power point presentation.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Long, N. (2013) 'Minecraft' Screen shot [Online image]. Available at: http://www.edge-online.com/news/minecraft-xbox-360-edition-headed-to-retail/ (Accessed: 16/4/2013).
• Unknown. (2007) 'Fallout 3' Vault 101 Screen shot [Online image]. Available at: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/File:Vault_101.jpg (Accessed: 16/4/2013).
• Unknown. (2010) 'The Sentinel' Screen shot [Online image]. Available at: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/51340-the-sentinel-game-mode-or-creature/ (Accessed: 16/4/2013). 
• Unknown. (Unknown) 'Little Big Planet' Picture [Online image]. Available at: http://uk.playstation.com/littlebigplanetpsv/ (Accessed: 16/4/2013).

My Chosen Utopia and Dystopia Examples (15/4/2013)

For this task we were asked to bring in an example of an Utopia and a Dystopia. You can find my choices below. 

Utopia - The Prisoner:

Set on an island, merely known as ‘The Island’ which is home to all the secret agents that have left or retired from the business for one reason or another. They are now forced to live in a community so they can’t betray their organisations. Outwardly the island looks ideal as everyone is provided with their own home, regular events occur and they can participate in a number of activities to live out the rest of their days in apparent harmony. However, the island hides darker secrets as agents who won’t divulge why they left their organisation are interrogated drugged and put under physical and mental challenges to try and break them. Some accept this new existence whilst those who try and escape the island are met with force either by security or a mysterious gigantic floating ball named ‘Rover’ which seems unstoppable and deadly.

Dystopia - The Walking Dead:

Set in a world where the dead walk the Earth, this follows the trails of a group of survivors who must find a way to live in a world which is no longer what they remember and have come accustomed too. This is a dystopian world where the humans can turn on one another, food is scarce, the power is down and danger lurks around every corner. The characters try to keep their humanity throughout, but it becomes obvious over time who feels the pressure more than others as the characters become fear stricken and full of grief. When the characters find locations that seem to be perfect for them (thus a Utopia) there always seems to be something dark hidden within its otherwise idyllic appearance. Whether that be ‘Woodbury’, where the evil mad man ‘The Governor’ rules with an iron fist over a community of people who either believe his lies or are too scared to stand up to him.

Harvard Referencing:  

• Donahue T. A (2013) The Walking Dead Screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://www.bite.ca/bitedaily/2013/04/10-things-i-learned-from-the-walking-dead/ (Accessed: 15/4/2013). 
• Gerber, J (2010) The Prisoner Screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/02/rock-history-101-iron-maiden-the-prisoner/ (Accessed: 15/4/2013).

Utopia and Dystopia (9/4/2013)

For this session we discussed the difference between a utopia and a dystopia.

First we made a list of the words we associated with these two worlds.

Utopia:

• Joined society. 
• Perfect.
• Paradise. 
• Easy.

Dystopia:

• Broken society.
• Horrible. 
• Chaos. 
• Difficult. 

I then made the following notes for the background and development of Utopian ideals.

• Utopia is a Greek meaning that is a pun on words as it stands for 'no place' and 'good place'.
• Looked at Fred T's picture 'Street Lights' as it was a 1894 representation of the year 2000. This was rather cool and interesting, especially since it looked rather steampunk and was made before the trend existed. 
• Looked at Plato's republic (c.380BC) and Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516).
• You may need a power structure of some sort to keep a Utopian government together. After all, human greed and lust for power is what kills such societies. For example, in an ideal world where everything is free one man may ask for one car and another ten! Therefore the two may fight and that ideal may grow out of control. 
• Surprisingly, even in the oldest adaptions of Utopia it appears that slaves were still used and in one such example wives who betrayed their husbands were made slaves. This is interesting as perhaps the recent game to be released 'Bioshock Infinite' took these examples of  Utopian society for their city floating in the sky. The city is based on older morals since it was launched in 1901 and therefore even when the players visits it in 1912 it still uses black workers as waiters and cleaners.
• Utilitarianism = 'Seeking happiness in the form of pleasure'. This includes phyical and intellectual.
• Looked at John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873). Just because we want something doesn't make it good. 
• And Rubens, The Garden of Eden, C.1600. 
• Adam and Eve - The idea of Utopia before man was cast out. 
• Utopias are built on ideals, therefore others will disagree with them and will want to do what they believe is right.
• Looked at the painting by Hieronymus Bosch named 'Garden of Earthly Delights' (1510). This is described as an incredibly important piece of art.

• Utopian designs for houses have also been designed in the belief that everyone would like the design. Such a design was created by De Stiji Manifesto in 1980. However these 'everyday houses' never got built as ironically the artists spent too long trying to design them to be bigger for themselves. 
• Looked at artwork by Piet Mondrain as it appeared simple in design and therefore was meant to appeal to everyone.
• We also looked at one of the first attempts at building a Utopia in the form of an American town called 'Levittown' which was built by a man named Levit in 1948. Everyone owned identical houses and furniture and came from a similar background in order to make sure they had no complaints and fitted in. However, this idea fell apart when the families started a riot when the first black family tried to move in.  
• We then looked at video game examples under the name Sim-Utopias. In 'The Sims' you are able to create Sims with the personalities and ideals you want. Therefore you could in theory create your idea of a perfect world. However, this doesn't always work due to the game's programming. For example, Sims need to socialise otherwise they get unhappy and can become depressed. Therefore, having a happy Sim that lives on his own isn't always possible as your Sims may have to get married to fulfill their needs. 
• Nowadays the word Utopia is refereed to as 'falls to dystopia' since it always seems to fail in one way or another.

After discussing Utopian ideals we then moved onto Dystopian ideals. See my notes below.

• A Dystopia always seems worse when it is hidden under the good intentions or ideals of a Utopia.
• Looked at the opening to the movie 'Blue Velvet' in which it plays cheery music and shows an idealistic American town before a man has an accident and loses his ear which is then covered by crawling insects. 
• Looked at the themes presented in Aldous Huxley's 1962 book 'Island'. 
• We then made a note on all the Utopia/Dystopia ideas that existed including The Truman Show, The Matrix, The Prisoner, The Island, Bioshock etc. 
• After the above we then made notes on purely dystopian ones which include Fallout, Mad Max, Children of Men, The Road, Terminator etc.  

Personal tasks I have set for myself include the following:

• Look up the 'Venus project' as I remembered someone talking about it in relation to today's subject and it sounded interesting.
• Look up the game 'Second Life' as it has received a bad reputation in the news. This is because it was first created to be a virtual utopia and a place everyone would go to before the existence of Facebook. However, with the ability to create their own worlds and avatars the players ended up ruining the Utopian ideals of this 'perfect world' game as they started to abuse the resources and do things you couldn't do in real life. Thus perversion has also spread into the game.

Overall I look forward to the next couple of weeks as we should hopefully be getting into groups in order to come up with the ideas for a Utopia of our own creation. This should prove interesting as it doesn't seem to have been successfully done before.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Bosch, H (1510) Garden of Earthly Delights Painting [Online image]. Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution_2.jpg (Accessed: 9/4/2013).