Essay, Matt
From Mod Mania
Hello Scott I have made a few changes since your last read. It would be great if you or anyone else could read through again and give me some thoughts. There may be a few spelling mistakes etc but i'm still working on them. Thanks Matt
Essay...
P1 In my essay I wish to cover the modification process in our community. I aim to look at the usual questions of whom, how and why as well as talk about the personal satisfaction or gain from partaking in such a hobby. Modify means ‘to change somewhat the form or qualities of; alter partially; amend: to modify a contract’ (Dictionary.com 2007). I will explore all of these factors and show how they fit in to today’s society.
P2 People modify all the time, whether they know it or not. It is a part of every day society in all cultures around the world. This may happen because an individual wants a particular item to work in a certain way that might no come as a standard. They may also just want to improve upon what is already there, therefore explaining the majority of the definition. There is a very vast range of reasons to drive people to do this. As the majority of the people involved in modification rarely ever get paid for their work, it is safe to say that the modding done could come into the category of a hobby. There is a small sample of instances where a mod may be constructed out of a persons needs rather then wants.
‘Hobby: leisure time-activity pursued for pleasure’ (Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 1996).
P3 As modification can be classified as a hobby, it is easy to understand why people may put a large amount of time and effort into a project they partake in ‘…crafting is a form of play’ (Hobby Princess, 2005). As modification is a form of play it is something that happens in a person’s leisure time. As they obviously enjoy doing this, they may be extremely driven to excel. When a person reaches a particular level they may gain a particular level of personal satisfaction out of what they have created. ‘People get satisfaction for being able to create/craft things because they can see themselves in the objects they make. This is not purchasable in products’ (Hobby Princess, 2005). This satisfaction then drives the person to continue in there hobby. The world of computer gaming is a prime example of where modification meets a hobby. ‘From now on in computer gaming, there were to be no real barriers between creator and audience, or producer and consumer. They would be collaborators in the same imaginative space, and working as equals, they'd create a new medium, together’ (Salon, 2002). In modern times gamers play as bigger part in the gaming world as the companies who make them. When a gamer gets tired of an already existing computer game they apply modifications to it. These mods may then be shared with other users and then the game is left forever expanding. Quite often a game may see an equal amount of added consumer modification as the original. Examples of this include Quake, Soldier of Fortune and Halo. This is not because the “modders” are trying to deliberately spite the companies who produce these games but more because they enjoy building and creating such modifications. As a reward they will get to enjoy their mod, and possibly share it with a larger community in the near future.
P4 Modification happens to achieve a desired outcome or level of satisfaction. But what drives a person to purse this outcome? Why do they choose to modify what they do? Modding initially happens for many reasons. These may include fun, an individuals needs, desire, improvement, personal gain, personal satisfaction and to help a friend or family member etc. The reasons for modding can be clearly distinguished into two individual groups, needs and wants. The “needs” group includes any type of modification that is not undertaken for enjoyment. The mod may be created because the user had a particular job the needed to be done. The only way to do this was to create something that could be an aid. The maker only chose to do this mod out of need, not because he enjoyed this and especially not because it satisfied him. This group may be associated with a professional practice. The “wants” group is the opposite. They chose their mod based on the level of enjoyment they receive and the level of satisfaction on completion. The wants group can be associated with the definition of hobby.
P5 Though all these reasons to modify are largely different the same outcomes will nearly occur. An example of this was the “Episode1.1 - The Phantom Edit” created in 2001 as an alternative to the much more famous "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace." This movie was created as an alternative by an anonymous individual. The edit was created because a community of Star Wars fanatics didn’t like the original movie. This movie was then illegally distributed all over the world. A range of various re-edits of the edit then begin to appear. As a result to this edit the individual who created this obviously created this because he was unhappy with the original. As Star Wars was his/hers hobby he was clearly driven to peruse his interests to achieve his desired outcome. ‘These faceless "fan-toms" simply want to get their beloved Phantom Edits seen’ (Salon 2001). As part of his achievement he then shared the movie with people who had similar interests, therefore giving him some level of personal satisfaction.
P6 As a mod is complete an individual may aim to seek recognition of there mod. By finding recognition of what they have done they are able to gauge the quality and the standard of there project but also be involved with others with similar interests. This recognition may drive an individual to work harder or just give them inspiration for some future mods ‘Work inspires work…’ (Hobby Princess, 2005). This recognition may come from friends or family but more often then not it is found with people who have similar interests or who do the similar mods. These groups of people can be so much as a group of mates all doing a similar thing, clubs, online forums or magazines. Which ever an individual chooses they will gain some form of recognition one way or another. For project one I choose to modify my dam jumper. Previously to doing this I had built the ramp. After constructing this ramp I was able to enjoy it with a large range of people, my friends and my family. Being able to have a great time and enjoy what I hade achieved was a great form of recognition. At the time I had several other friends who were building similar things, we were able to compare builds and to feed off each other. For the project I was able to find several online communities of people within Australia who had done similar things. These included you tube (www.youtube.com) as well as an FMX online forum (http://www.fmxaustralia.com/forum/archive/index.php/f-44.html). By discovering these communities I was able to understand how import recognition of a mod was.
P7 As part of class discussion we shared thoughts about the concept of getting paid for your hobby as the ultimate recognition. In modern times it appears that a fair majority of people associate good work with being a professional. To be a professional you therefore need to be paid for what you do, this then becomes work. In society people are cautious of items that may be produced in a person private garage, but as soon as they are a paid for their work or involved with a business they become professional. This status then equates to this person being specialized in this field and a trust is formed. To an individual who has no prior knowledge or experience with a person’s field of modification, they may need to see this person in a professional environment to be satisfied with there item. This level of professionalism helps these people to understand and trust a mod. By being a professional in a field it links them with the needs group of modders. By being a professional an individual may no longer be doing their work out of “want” but more so out of “need”. This may be the need to make money or because a client has told them to. This is no longer enjoyment, but work. This ultimate recognition may be true for this small selection of people, but when we are talking about ‘ultimate recognition’ as a satisfaction for the maker, this can clearly only be found through the different array of peer groups discussed earlier. Hobby areas such as craft and modding obviously question this assumption.
P8 The field of craft has a very large network of people with similar interest and people who share these interests. Craft is not a professional field, but yet with the amount of people interested in this area it has been able to construct small societies of people who enjoy partaking in this hobby. Places such as bush markets in country regions, markets, online forums, magazines and private groups allow these people to recognize and share there interests. These groups are where the real satisfaction occurs. Within these groups people who know and understand a particular area of interest give an individual the greatest recognition. Craft forum Australia (www.craftforum.com.au) is Australia biggest online craft community. This forum allows users to meet others, share projects, give ideas and help others where necessary. ‘Craft – Oriented people to seek opportunities to discover interesting things and meet there makers…’ (Hobby Princess, 2005).
P9 The final stage of a modification process is the level personal satisfaction a person experiences from the completion of a project and the recognition gained from there chosen peer group. This has been mentioned several times throughout this essay and it begins to help us understand that this may be why a person may choose to partake in a modification of some sort. A level of satisfaction is gain on completion to a mod. This satisfaction is no different to anything we may excel at in life. As we have discussed a majority of people may see there mod as a hobby. As they have great passion for there work the satisfaction experienced on completion is great. This feeling is a strong reason to push a person to excel at what they enjoy. By gain recognition from a chosen peer group a person is able to share, learn and gain feedback on what they have created. This will help to increase a satisfaction level and once again give a person more reason to excel at what they love.
P10 In conclusion we can see that the mod process is very dependant on an individual’s interest in the chosen area of modification. As we can define a mod as a hobby we are able to see how a person may be motivated to excel and why they may want to participate in a mod project. They may gain a level of enjoyment from there work or be able to reap some reward as a result. Personal satisfaction is why a mod may be completed, this satisfaction comes in many forms. Though it may be an achievement to get paid for your hobby we can conclude that this is not the ultimate satisfaction. The ultimate satisfaction may be found through peer groups and/or on completion of a mod. These peer groups can range from anything to any one. They may be friends or family, who may or may not have any idea about a mod but have an interests in the person themselves, right trough to a group of people who have similar interests or share similar things. Peer groups may be found in person, in books or even online.
References:
Dictionary.com 2007, Dictionary, retrieved 12 April 2007, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/modify>
Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, (1996), Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Hobby Princess 2005, Draft Craft Manifesto, retrieved 11 April 2007, <http://ullamaarie.typepad.com/hobbyprincess/2005/03/draft_craft_man.html>
Salon 2002, Triumph of the mod, retrieved 11 April 2007, <http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/04/16/modding/index.html>
Salon 2001, The Phantom Edit, retrieved 11 April 2007, <http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/11/05/phantom_edit/>
