The fight is the dance : modding Chinese martial arts and culture into Beat Saber

Journal article

Ong, Yunyu, Loban, Rhett David and Parrila, Rauno. (2022). The fight is the dance : modding Chinese martial arts and culture into Beat Saber. Journal of Games Criticism. 5(A), pp. 1-20.
AuthorsOng, Yunyu, Loban, Rhett David and Parrila, Rauno
Abstract

The article explores the design process of a Beat Saber mod called Good Bag. In the Good Bag mod level, players perform saber-sword Wushu martial art moves to the rhythm of contemporary Wuxia-influenced (Chinese martial arts fantasy) music. The vocals version of the mod is also commentary on contemporary racism as well as on historical race-relations. The Good Bag project drew upon two expert cultural practitioners, a martial arts Grandmaster and a musician, from the Chinese diaspora community to strongly shape the mod design and output. The article also discusses the limitations of modding martial arts into Beat Saber. The article outlines the project team’s planned approach to further improve the mod via a dual expert and player design approach using both expert opinion and player feedback. In the next stages of the project, the mod project teams plan to access how effective the mod has been in teaching martial arts, as well as how this might influence attitudes in historical and contemporary race relations.

KeywordsVideo games; game modifications; culturally-centred; virtual reality; dance game; Beat Saber; Wuxia; Wushu
Year01 Jan 2022
JournalJournal of Games Criticism
Journal citation5 (A), pp. 1-20
PublisherJournal of Games Criticism
ISSN2374-202X
Web address (URL)https://gamescriticism.org/
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range1-20
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print2022
Publication process dates
Accepted2022
Deposited05 Aug 2024
Additional information

© 2022 by the Journal of Games Criticism, http://www.gamescriticism.org

Place of publicationUnited States
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90w6y/the-fight-is-the-dance-modding-chinese-martial-arts-and-culture-into-beat-saber

Log in to edit

Download files

Publisher's version
OA_Loban_2022_The_fight_is_the_dance_modding.pdf
License: All rights reserved
File access level: Open

  • 9
    total views
  • 14
    total downloads
  • 5
    views this month
  • 12
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

One Culture
Loban, Rhett David. (2024). One Culture. In In Faulkner, Samantha (Ed.). Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia: A Groundbreaking Collection of Torres Strait Islander Voices, Past and Present pp. 53 Black Inc.
Torres Strait Virtual Reality : A Reflection on the Intersection between Culture, Game Design and Research
Loban, Rhett David. (2022). Torres Strait Virtual Reality : A Reflection on the Intersection between Culture, Game Design and Research. Games and Culture: a journal of interactive media. 17(3), pp. 311-327. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211020383
“I never asked for it, but I got it and now I feel that my knowledge about history is even greater!” : Play, Encounter and Research in Europa Universalis IV
Loban, Rhett David. (2022). “I never asked for it, but I got it and now I feel that my knowledge about history is even greater!” : Play, Encounter and Research in Europa Universalis IV. Journal of Games Criticism. 5(1), pp. 1-30.
Modding Europa Universalis IV : An informal gaming practice transposed into a formal learning setting
Loban, Rhett David. (2021). Modding Europa Universalis IV : An informal gaming practice transposed into a formal learning setting. E-Learning and Digital Media. 18(6), pp. 530-556. https://doi.org/10.1177/20427530211022964
Europa Universalis IV and deep learning : Historical accuracy, counterfactuals and historical themes
Loban, Rhett. (2021). Europa Universalis IV and deep learning : Historical accuracy, counterfactuals and historical themes. The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association. 14(24), pp. 26-47.
The transformation from physical wargames to grand strategy video games, and the opportunities for deep and efficient historical wargaming experiences
Loban, Rhett David. (2021). The transformation from physical wargames to grand strategy video games, and the opportunities for deep and efficient historical wargaming experiences. Digital Culture and Education. 13(1), pp. 81-107.
Eurocentric values at play : Modding the colonial from the Indigenous perspective
Loban, Rhett and Apperley, Thomas. (2019). Eurocentric values at play : Modding the colonial from the Indigenous perspective. In In Penix-Tadsen, Phillip (Ed.). Video Games and the Global South pp. 87 - 99 ETC Press. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/8148680
Torres Strait Virtual Reality, Rhett Loban (Virtual Reality)
Loban, Rhett David. (2018). Torres Strait Virtual Reality, Rhett Loban (Virtual Reality). In In Harle, Josh, Abdilla, Angie and Newman, Andrew (Ed.). Decolonising the digital pp. 158 Tactical Space lab.
WC3 : Wikipedia category consistency checker based on DBPedia
Yoshioka, Masaharu and Loban, Rhett. (2015). WC3 : Wikipedia category consistency checker based on DBPedia. 2015 11th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology & Internet-Based Systems (SITIS). Bangkok Thailand 23 - 27 Nov 2015 Thailand: IEEE Computer Society. pp. 712 - 718