Stranger 109

I enjoy bashing Microsoft as much as the next technophile, but I think it’s important to point out that they played a rather significant role in the history of machinima. I’m not saying without Bill Gates we’d have no machinima; if we should give that honor to anyone it would have to be John Carmack. But so much of machinima’s notoriety in the mainstream media owes a great deal to the guys over at Roost Teeth for Red vs. Blue. You can ask a handful of gamers if they know what machinima is and still have quite a few shake their heads no, but ask if they know Red vs. Blue and they will quote their favorite episode. As an extension of fan-based creation, machinima was always a part of subculture within the larger gaming culture. When Burnie Burns and his buddies started to use their filmmaking skills to play with HALO in an entirely different way, they were just having fun and never imagined that making machinima would allow for them to quit their day jobs. But three successful series (Red vs. Blue, P.A.N.I.C.S., and The Strangerhood) later and several commissioned promotional films for the upcoming HALO 3, and the team has become the success story of machinimators making good on what used to be merely a hobby.

Now I don’t want to give Microsoft too much credit here, but they certainly could have been a prohibitive force and stopped the Red vs. Blue phenomenon once it started to prove commercially successful with the sales of its DVDs. Perhaps they understood the viral marketing potential of fan-produced content or simply did not see much harm in what Rooster Teeth was doing. Regardless, they entered into an agreement (the specifics of the legal relationship have never been disclosed) that allows them to keep making money off the franchise. Bungie even changed a game design element inspired by Burns’ crew, to allow for the gun to be lowered so as to create an unobstructed camera shot for better machinima making in the second installment of the game. This trend continues forward into the upcoming release of HALO 3, which will implement a record feature in the game, making it easy for any player to record his/her own machinima. Bungie’s instinct here clearly suggests that machinima has taken hold as part of the gaming experience, extending what a game is or can be, which only furthers the longevity of the franchise.

But as so many supporters of machinima, like Fred Von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have feared the increased popularity and thus potential commercial success of machinima as an art form has lead to increased restrictions on the use of intellectual properties like game engines. Microsoft’s recent release of Game Content Usages Rules marks one of the more definitive steps in the direction of locking down what users can and cannot do with an engine or the characters of a game. Clearly this is a preemptive move, knowing that the added feature of recording gameplay in HALO 3 will result in an explosion of machinima online. During a presentation at last year’s Machinima Film Fesltival, Von Lohmann suggested that machinima has likely passed its heyday of freedom from intellectual property rights litigation due to its increased popularity. Previously, you could do what you wanted and distribute it online without the fear of cease and desist letters. Either fortunately or unfortunately, machinima has grown up and proven itself as a potential earner. Therefore, it is no wonder that Microsoft has been the first to really draw the line in the sand for what is OK and what is not. The days of free reign are likely at an end, so you better get out there and make all the WOW porn you have always wanted to make before Blizzard follows suit with Microsoft.