SmallWorlds is a Flash video game that you can play in your web browser. As a player, you are represented by an “avatar” – a little person who walks to where you click, smiles or frowns as directed, and says what you type. The playing field is a multitude of “spaces” – rooms which can be moved through and filled with “items” such as furniture, games, radios, pictures, and much more. In general, the goal is to advance your avatar’s levels by gaining experience points in various categories, but SmallWorlds is more than just a never-ending game… SmallWorlds is a “virtual world”.
The item of interest here – what originally inspired this blog – is the Graffiti Board. This simple programmatic construct provides a size-able brush, a palette of colors, and a small canvas for drawing. Probably, the original intention was for characters to write in large green letters “Welcome to Bob’s Space!” and put a small yellow smile beside it. Boy, were they surprised!
The Depth of Graffiti
The real object of any game, though we sometimes forget it, is to have fun playing. By it’s nature, the SmallWorlds environment is very open. Viewed as a game, the playing pieces are more like building blocks, rather than chess pieces. You don’t have to follow the instructions – you can fit the pieces together and build your own creations and, best of all, you can do this in cooperation with other players. Despite the fixed number of items, actions, and options, this basic principle of openness gives SmallWorlds players freedom. It gives us the ability to transcend the game and to somehow put a part of our selves there… to make SmallWorlds something of our own. It makes us “SmallWorlds Citizens”.
Graffiti boards, more than any other single SmallWorlds item, embody this principle of openness. They are the freest, most easily employed vehicle for open expression that you’ll find there. The players who create Graffiti Art are far more than players… they are artists. This is Art. Furthermore, the art we create goes far beyond the SmallWorlds game. It creates an entire subculture within the virtual world – a subculture that has real, almost political power over SmallWorlds management decisions because it generates revenue from SmallWorlds collectors who need in-world gold for art purchases.
Taking it Further
The SmallWorlds Art Scene blog is about Graffiti Boards and the world they exist in. It’s about how we use them, who’s using them (and buying and selling and stealing them), and what using them means to us. More than that, though… it’s about us. It’s about how we relate to the art in SmallWorlds and about how the SmallWorlds Art Scene affects the worlds we live in, both small and real.
Our highest hope for this blog is that it might eventually outgrow this explicit purpose and become a blog about the growth of that openness and freedom that is implicit in SmallWorlds itself. By shifting our focus away from the tools and toward what they represent – openness, freedom of action and creation – we increase our effectiveness and our enjoyment of life in any world. In short, we believe there are more ways to create art in SmallWorlds and we’d like to find them. Remember: the developers will give thee options, but art, o avatar, is thine alone.
Please check this blog for tips, news, and featured artists and galleries in SmallWorlds. If you find something amazing – something created on Graffiti Boards or off – please let us know.
Most important of all….. Enjoy!
