Machinima discussion

Yeah, I'm going to say Machinima should be merged into other media. A fan film made with Halo doesn't stop being a fan film any more than a webcomic made with screencaps from Garry's Mod stops being a webcomic. And frankly this wiki is the only place I've ever actually seen the term used.

Edited by StarSword on Aug 23rd 2022 at 8:06:50 AM

I've always thought of it as a type of "Web Animation", so I decided to go and do some hunting to see how it's categorised away from TVTropes.

It seems to be regarded as a way to create cheaper animated productions without having to create the animation from scratch. This is where the "fanfic" element comes in — the setting, characters, assets, etc., have already been created. While that provides a lot of benefits, it also comes with downsides (as the production is going beyond what those creations were originally intended for). However, the fact that many of the work creators are effectively just taking someone else's tools to do something only loosely based on the original or even completely different takes it in a very different direction to fanfiction — even AU or crossover fanfiction.

Ultimately, it seems to be regarded as "real-time" use of existing video game engines to produce new kinds of animated works. Referring to it as a type of animation is definitely a thing. Referring to many of the works produced as a "web series" is also a thing. While the latter may lend itself more to the Web Videos namespace, that seems to be more a colloquial reference to the most common types of machinima that exist. The fact that machinima is more broadly referred in variations of "real-time 3-D computer animation" suggests to me that Web Animation may be the better option. It's not that Web Video is inappropriate, it's just that Web Animation seems to be the more useful general term to use.

tl;dr I support it going under Web Animation.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Aug 23rd 2022 at 5:18:09 AM

I think there's been enough discussion and enough time has passed for us to make a crowner. The decision is uncontroversial, but it's a change big enough that one is required regardless.

• Deprecate Machinima/ namespace and move pages to Web Animation/.

And yes, Machinima the company is now long-defunct, and what's left of the channel doesn't even use that logo anymore.

Since I've taken a look at the list, I did see Machinima.Yogscast Minecraft Series, which given its nature as partially an LP and involves various narrative devices, would be an exception to my advocating Machinima -> Web Animation. So that would be Web Video afaik.

Case by case basis is worth considering, but I believe the vast majority is best served under Web Animation.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Aug 23rd 2022 at 10:14:45 AM

Ascension Academy is also half Machinima and half LARP of all things. Where do we put it?

LARP/ does have it's own namespace (for now). However, I think we can slot it under Roleplay/

At least until Roleplay also meets its demise.

It probably won't happen unless someone bothers to reignite the discussion, but still.

We will cross that path if we get there I guess, haha.

Anyways, I hooked the crowner as requested.

And now we wait.

Remember to advertise on ATT as well, if you haven't already.

I just bumped and edited the machinima query Amonimus made yesterday.

Edited by MacronNotes on Aug 23rd 2022 at 2:51:31 PM

I guess as a disclaimer if any page would fit elsewhere better they don't have to go to Web Animation.

I edited the option to note Web Video as another destination.

I do agree that some works won't fit under Web Animation, and perhaps may not even fit under Web Videos; by their very nature, some machinima works are going to cross several namespaces, or may fall into an "unusual" one. Having that "case-by-case" flexibility option on standby is a good idea.

Should be ending relatively soon if I count right.

Edited by Amonimus on Aug 29th 2022 at 9:44:20 PM

It's only been five-and-a-half days and the rules dictate it run for at least seven (though, in this case, it's fairly evident it's not gonna run for more), but I also see the benefit of calling this one early because this is practically superconsensus, even if I doubt that concept applies to this kind of crowner.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Aug 29th 2022 at 4:16:13 PM

I've inteded to say that the timestamps on the crowner and the mod post about hooking it don't match up, so to me it looked like over 6 days. And instead decided to bump in case someone hasn't voted yet.

Should we call this now? Consensus has been pretty solid and it's now the 30th.

So?

There's four more on WebOriginal/: Bash Bots, Stalker2k 7, Dream Shorts (an easy move to WebAnimation/) and the aforementioned Ascension Academy.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Aug 31st 2022 at 1:23:41 PM

e: nvm.

These aren't in Machinima/ but perhaps they could be moved as well.

Also Dream Shorts doesn't look like animations to me.

Edited by Amonimus on Aug 31st 2022 at 7:29:08 PM

WebVideo/, then?