THE FUTURE OF
VIDEOGAMING IS
CO-CREATION


> Proposal Book, 2023


My MA proposal is about videogaming branding, which contains two books: (1) Major Project Proposal + (2) Visual Summary. I played with the 8-bit artstyle to design them. 








Today, players become a part of
the video game’s world not only
because they played it but also
because they construct it.



(Banks, 2015)



Players design patterns in Animal Crossing, build cities in Minecraft, create solutions in The Legend of Zelda, and produce fan art in Genshin Impact. They create happiness for ourselves and generate profits for the games, extending their lifespan and attracting new players.

The future of videogaming is co-creation. This industry went from a world where creators had to push their way into a game, to a world where people are building platforms hoping that creators will come.(Enrico D’Angelo, 2022) However, while game companies enjoy increasing profits generated by user creations, players are subjected to inequality, as their contributions remains unpaid, unrecognized and undervalued.

Co-creation requires a democratic gaming environment where players are treated as equal co-creators. From a branding standpoint, I believe that game brands need to be more social responsible and show respect for user creation in their brand communication. As a ten-year gamer and a former game developer, I frequently contemplate co-creation from both perspectives and feel a responsibility to balance the relationship between players and developers.

Therefore, I am going to design a democratic game brand with co-creation as its main business model. This brand will invite players to co-design the brand image using participatory design methodology, thereby celebrating a culture of co-creation that brings great value to the video gaming industry.





© Hazel (Hanzhi) Wang