Invasion

Machinima, World of Warcraft Models, ue4 Game Engine

15 min. 41 sec.

2021

Invasion is based on the 2007~2011 Chinese World of Warcraft (WoW) netizens (players) invasion, starting with Chinese players taking refuge in Taiwanese servers. Using character models that symbolize China’s censorship, the game engine and simulation cluster motion algorithm create a large number of aggregated character models that unconsciously twitch, representing the influx of people into digital servers, attempting to raise discussion regarding what is meant by digital ruins, abandoned areas of cyberspace, and unmanned servers. The incident stemmed from a dispute over Chinese server agency rights and Chinese censorship of elements in the game, resulting in a large number of Chinese players to migrate to the Taiwanese server with similar language settings and consistent updates, which in turn caused delays and players queueing to log into Taiwanese servers. The game play experience in Taiwanese servers took a quick plummet: “Chinese gold farming studios” also entered the server, public channels became full of noisy dialogues in simplified characters, and political disputes took place between Chinese and Taiwanese players. When players from different regions game in the same cyberspace, their interactions within the game space can be reflected in reality. Players can also engage in dialogue in the game regarding China’s threats toward Taiwan, recent exchanges, and misunderstandings and conflicts between the two parties.