Comparisons between television and the internet tend to emphasize the relative freedom that internet browsing affords users from the locked in programmed output of a televisual broadcast. William Urrichio writes in "The Future of a Medium Once Known as Television" that the three distinct advantages in television's favor arise from its sense of liveness, flow, and uniting of community. In addressing these three aspects (especially the first), Urrichio writes elsewhere that "a new medium... must of necessity refer itself to existing needs, which are usually well covered by existing media, while at the same time demonstrating the condition of its newness." (Harries, 219) In short, and with particular attention to the first point, the internet must engage users in the sense of liveness in new ways via familiar modes. While the internet has gradually achieved an equitable capacity for liveness, sites like Youtube are not identified by that capacity in the way that television is and has been.
Twitch.TV, meanwhile, puts its technical capacity for liveness at the forefront, and as a result it sells itself as the propagator of a very specific brand of programming. Acting as an outlet for videogame fans and Let's Play-ers, Twitch acts as a facilitator for live video streams, allowing anyone to showcase both the game they're playing and the people playing it in real time. This service is particularly useful for major events like professional video-game tournaments, a burgeoning market that builds of the televised professional sports model. Beyond that, though, there's another genre of the live television format that Twitch proves ideal for showcasing: the live telethon.
Twitch.TV, meanwhile, puts its technical capacity for liveness at the forefront, and as a result it sells itself as the propagator of a very specific brand of programming. Acting as an outlet for videogame fans and Let's Play-ers, Twitch acts as a facilitator for live video streams, allowing anyone to showcase both the game they're playing and the people playing it in real time. This service is particularly useful for major events like professional video-game tournaments, a burgeoning market that builds of the televised professional sports model. Beyond that, though, there's another genre of the live television format that Twitch proves ideal for showcasing: the live telethon.
On November 16th, 2013, the internet comedy group Loading Ready Run will begin their 7th annual Desert Bus for Hope charity drive. Desert Bus started out as a novelty video game, available only through bootleg, the concept of which is to drive back and forth between Tuscan and Las Vegas, an 8 hour drive that plays out in real time. When LLR got wind of this “worst game ever made,” they decided to make it the centerpiece for their charity drive, wherein each team member would play through 12 hour shifts of the game to raise money for Child’s Play, an organization that supplies children’s hospitals with toys and games.
Though the live charity drive format of Desert Bus takes many cues from its televisual predecessors, there are a surprising number of ways by which the format is even better suited for experiencing online. Pragmatically, the televised charity drive is a media entity in conflict with itself: the traditionally passive act of watching television forced into cohabitation with the demand for action on the part of the viewer to donate funds. Since the internet is inherently a more active medium, the average Desert Bus viewer is already in a position to donate funds, especially considering that said transaction is carried out with a device the viewer is already using. This speaks to the great televisual ambition, "the desire for immersion, extension and communication, to see and be a part of the world outside our physical reach."(Harris, 221) By allowing viewers the capacity for direct interaction via info graphics, photo galleries, and chat rooms facilitating communication with the LLR crew themselves, Desert Bus actively encourages the sense that one’s donations are actually making a difference, rather than being mere drops in the bucket.
There is an element of relative scale that’s hard to deny when it comes to Desert Bus’s appeal. Unlike the lavish events that major networks can stage over the course of a single evening, Desert Bust for Hope exists within a single room crowded with about a dozen participants at any given time. It’s a highly independent operation that viewers can easily emphasize with, and which speaks to the spirit of the Internet's .nascency; "the remarkable freedom that accompanies a low technological threshold, an absence of determining precedents and no clear institutional consensus regarding medium capacity and form." (Harris, 220) That may seem naive to say of it now, but bear in mind that Desert Bus for Hope first came about in a vastly different, more open digital culture, and everything it's become since is a direct offshoot of that initial starting point.
This also speaks to Desert Bus's distinct "flow," its uncut broadcast and borderline static cinematography flying in direct contradiction of the standards and allowances of television programming. Whereas "Television's recombinatory process plays out... as a structured linear sequence over time," (Uricchio, 33) with Desert Bus there's nothing to recombine or structure (at least not aesthetically; naturally an endeavor of this size would require much preemptive planning and forethought). Apart from its ultimate altruistic goal, the whole point of Desert Bus for Hope is that it be a week long, unceasing process, devoid of the commercial breaks and regulatory mandates that define television (even telethons) as commercial endeavors.
All these elements, the noble intent mixed with humble origins and ambitious aims, work together to make Desert Bus for Hope a classically appealing prospect. Furthermore, with the increasing omnipresence and accessibility of the internet among more demographics, the charity seems poised to conquer Uricchio's third televisual mandate: the "ability to aggregate disperse publics." Initially, this has always been Desert Bus's greatest hurdle: the Loading Ready Run crew are certainly popular among their target demographic (those of and related to gaming culture online), but the ultimate aim of Desert Bus dictates that they reach out even further to as many groups as possible. The Child's Play charity itself seeks to facilitate this too, with the aim of giving toys to children in need serving the duel purpose of arguing against negative gamer stereotypes. While its position online does limit Desert Bus's reach relative to similar television oriented events, the charity itself is culturally ingrained with the internet to the point that their respective growths have run parallel over the years.
All this is to say that Desert Bus for Hope, in support of Child's Play and facilitated by Twitch.TV, has "modulated in response to social needs and available technologies." (Uriccio, 35). With its emphasis on embracing gamer culture towards a greater good, the charity drive is not only emblematic of human kindness, but also embodies the evolution of televisual media going forward into the digital age.
Though the live charity drive format of Desert Bus takes many cues from its televisual predecessors, there are a surprising number of ways by which the format is even better suited for experiencing online. Pragmatically, the televised charity drive is a media entity in conflict with itself: the traditionally passive act of watching television forced into cohabitation with the demand for action on the part of the viewer to donate funds. Since the internet is inherently a more active medium, the average Desert Bus viewer is already in a position to donate funds, especially considering that said transaction is carried out with a device the viewer is already using. This speaks to the great televisual ambition, "the desire for immersion, extension and communication, to see and be a part of the world outside our physical reach."(Harris, 221) By allowing viewers the capacity for direct interaction via info graphics, photo galleries, and chat rooms facilitating communication with the LLR crew themselves, Desert Bus actively encourages the sense that one’s donations are actually making a difference, rather than being mere drops in the bucket.
There is an element of relative scale that’s hard to deny when it comes to Desert Bus’s appeal. Unlike the lavish events that major networks can stage over the course of a single evening, Desert Bust for Hope exists within a single room crowded with about a dozen participants at any given time. It’s a highly independent operation that viewers can easily emphasize with, and which speaks to the spirit of the Internet's .nascency; "the remarkable freedom that accompanies a low technological threshold, an absence of determining precedents and no clear institutional consensus regarding medium capacity and form." (Harris, 220) That may seem naive to say of it now, but bear in mind that Desert Bus for Hope first came about in a vastly different, more open digital culture, and everything it's become since is a direct offshoot of that initial starting point.
This also speaks to Desert Bus's distinct "flow," its uncut broadcast and borderline static cinematography flying in direct contradiction of the standards and allowances of television programming. Whereas "Television's recombinatory process plays out... as a structured linear sequence over time," (Uricchio, 33) with Desert Bus there's nothing to recombine or structure (at least not aesthetically; naturally an endeavor of this size would require much preemptive planning and forethought). Apart from its ultimate altruistic goal, the whole point of Desert Bus for Hope is that it be a week long, unceasing process, devoid of the commercial breaks and regulatory mandates that define television (even telethons) as commercial endeavors.
All these elements, the noble intent mixed with humble origins and ambitious aims, work together to make Desert Bus for Hope a classically appealing prospect. Furthermore, with the increasing omnipresence and accessibility of the internet among more demographics, the charity seems poised to conquer Uricchio's third televisual mandate: the "ability to aggregate disperse publics." Initially, this has always been Desert Bus's greatest hurdle: the Loading Ready Run crew are certainly popular among their target demographic (those of and related to gaming culture online), but the ultimate aim of Desert Bus dictates that they reach out even further to as many groups as possible. The Child's Play charity itself seeks to facilitate this too, with the aim of giving toys to children in need serving the duel purpose of arguing against negative gamer stereotypes. While its position online does limit Desert Bus's reach relative to similar television oriented events, the charity itself is culturally ingrained with the internet to the point that their respective growths have run parallel over the years.
All this is to say that Desert Bus for Hope, in support of Child's Play and facilitated by Twitch.TV, has "modulated in response to social needs and available technologies." (Uriccio, 35). With its emphasis on embracing gamer culture towards a greater good, the charity drive is not only emblematic of human kindness, but also embodies the evolution of televisual media going forward into the digital age.