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The fight is the dance : modding Chinese martial arts and culture into Beat Saber
Ong, Yunyu Loban, Rhett David Parrila, Rauno
Ong, Yunyu
Loban, Rhett David
Parrila, Rauno
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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.
Keywords
Video games, game modifications, culturally-centred, virtual reality, dance game, Beat Saber, Wuxia, Wushu
Date
2022
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
5
Issue
A
Page Range
1-20
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Relation URI
DOI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2022 by the Journal of Games Criticism, http://www.gamescriticism.org