About Bliargho

My focus has found its way to the realms of new media, virtuality and ludology, currently culminated in my film-making. My involvement in media exploration began in the virtual worlds of my childhood. I have immersed myself constantly in video games, films, and music of all types since I can remember. Those with particularly intriguing narrative and immersive elements informed to a large part who I am today. My ideals, my view of reality was molded largely by my imaginative and engaged mind, being fed by the media materials at my disposal. Massively multiplayer online games (MMO's) posed a completely new realm of reality to me. At age 11, I began virtually inhabiting these worlds (games such as Meridian 59 and Ultima Online). Through my avatar, I was given the opportunity to explore elements of reality and my own identity previously inaccessible to me.

My most recent avatar and two of his fellow ethnographers and friends in World of Warcraft

Fast forward to the beginning of my now long-term involvement with community radio. During the re-formatting makeover that Trinity University's KRTU, a completely inexperienced die-hard fan of any and all kinds of music was given the golden opportunity of DJ'ing a prime-time slot in the programming schedule. My broadcast presence would propel me toward the other major interests that came to the fore soon afterward. I began creating short films of varying format and subject. Since grade school I had been involved in sound synthesis and editing, and my newfound access to studio facilities on-campus propelled me further into that rabbit hole. Video and Audio production and post-production became a form of work that brought out an obsessive part of me that I had not known before. Toiling into ridiculous hours of the night for stretches previously unimaginable to me, I had found a new passion.

It wasn't long after that I was introduced to ludology, studying the experience in video games, the impact of virtual worlds on their inhabitants. This was familiar territory. I was returning to MMO's now as a researcher, no longer an inhabitant. Through my ethnographic investigation into these incredibly multi-faceted realms, I was able to separate myself somewhat from ultimately inescapable immersion in order to begin to ask questions regarding the impact of these worlds on their inhabitants. Attempting with difficulty to objectively analyze a way of life that I had been a staple of my life since early childhood, the blinders slowly receded, and in the periphery lay startling realizations. The tools that I had so naturally wielded for so long were impacting peoples' lives world-wide, in ways I could never have imagined. I sank into literature regarding human-computer interfaces, mediated socialization, game design, as well as subjects that are so naturally tied to the dynamics of these worlds: psychology, sociology, political science, economics, design aesthetics, existentialism, phenomenology and a myriad of highly tangential, yet highly applicable material.

From 'Somna:' 3 shards of the same identity in 3 separate realms

The rhizome continues to expand before my eyes. Through these newly-equipped eyes, I continue to learn new things from the virtual worlds that I have been inextricably linked to for so long. My work has now culminated in a highly organic mixture of my passions: film-making, digital art, and ludology. The first milestone was marked by my final capstone project: a 30-minute short film entitled Somna. On a technical level, it was a 5-month-long experimentation of various visual aesthetics (namely Machinima, Rotoscope Animation, and Film), a constantly-changing canvas of visual motifs. On a conceptual and academic level, it is an investigation into concepts of fragmented identity, socialization, and agency in the realms of dream, reality, and virtual reality. The writing, production, post-production, and accompanying academic paper was an immsense learning experience on many levels, and has made clear the direction that I wish to take my work. I plan on further investigation into the implications of virtual worlds, through a series of short films, each focusing specifically on one particular dynamic of those worlds. Supplemented by my grasp on various aesthetics (i.e. Machinima, Rotoscoping, etc.), in-game level design (for the creation of virtual sets), and ludological investigation, I hope to both improve general awareness of the increasingly intense and visceral nature of virtual life, and its impact on our every-day waking, corporeal lives. Thus far, Somna has apparently aroused new questions and reflections in the small audiences I have showcased it to. I'm anticipating the future of these films.