NM Gameworks #21: What is Creativity?

Hey all! It's time for another deep dive! Sorry it's been a while since the last one, but ideas for these were running low, and I wanted to commit to one properly. But this one should be interesting, as we look at the meaning of "creativity"! Well, at least in my eyes.

Unlike most of my deep dives, this was spurred by nothing in particular, just the fact that I really wanted to look at what I think this word means. First, I want to go into the official meaning of creativity:

Creativity: noun, The use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.

I can mostly support this definition, as it is the basis for most pieces of art, games and music. But what about when something takes inspiration from something else? What about things like fan art and fan games?

I guess you could say that it does count for a few reasons; fan art bulids on ideas that are set within the universe the characters are in, and based upon that, they can be placed in different situations. It can also be used to tell the artists interpretation of that story. A good example of this is shipping. While ships are a very controversial thing, it really depends on the way a person views the story. For example, I personally ship Sora and Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. Some people will ship Sora and Riku, but I see Riku as a lone wolf who wants to be there for his friends. 

Stories can have many different interpretations depending on what the player is feeling and experiencing at that time. One of my general RE teachers, who is very interested in the study of Philosophy(it comes under the same course at my school), told us about his life experiences, and always talks about how he relates his study of Philosophy to his life, which got me thinking: Don't we relate games and other creative mediums to our own lives? Can't we relate to certain characters experiences, even though the circumstances may be very different? We all want to fall in love, have close friends, go on adventures. I know I'm going off topic here, but think about it. We play games to experience these experiences.

And then some of us want to create these experiences for others. These can be experiences of our own lives, of a trama that we don't people to live through, or experiences of an entirely new world, where you fight a demon overlord in order to save the world. The problem for many creators of these experences comes in the word "Originality". What is the meaning of this word?

Originality: noun

1. the ability to think independently and creatively, or the quality of being novel or unusual

And that is where I believe every creator gets stuck. What I have learned is that no idea is completely original, there is always a basis for something that has been done before, and no idea is going to be more or less original that the other in my eyes. This is why I do not believe that creativity is the use of just original ideas and imaginations to create, but it can also be buliding upon what has already established, and putting your own personal spin on it. YOUR idea. YOUR viewpoint. How YOU see a certain world or character.

For people with OC, it becomes even greater. It's about how you can fit your chatrater in certain sitculations. Can your fight with your friend? Can you save everyone? How do you interact with others? It's about taking the rules that are given to you and breaking them, but still making it believable.

For example, look at the image above. This was texture mod of an already existing Kairi model, that I coloured the hair and eyes to fit more with my friend PrincessRose. I have a lot of ideas on how she would fit into the world of Kingdom Hearts.

Another example is this interaction between Lightning Farron and Sarah from Terra Wars, using the Final Fantasy XV model for Sarah. I thought about how the 2 would be like to each other if they interacted.

I don't think there should be any limits to creativity(besides obscene things such as chlid rape), because that lets ideas shine, and can give us some amazing stories to tell. One of the reasons that I love Japanese media so much is because they are able to take the stupidest ideas and make them into moving stories(such as Kamen Rider Gaim) or just make it funny and charming(such as Aho Girl). And I hope going into the next decade, Japanese creators and other creators do not lose sight of this limitless creativity.

Thanks to everyone that read this! On the week this goes up, I am going to do the last 5 hours of my 15 hour exam(it's graphics, don't worry, it's normal), so I don't think there will be a blog post next week.

But for now, thanks for reading, and I will catch you guys next time.

Written By Nana Marfo
All Images used are made by Nana Marfo, character models and certain environments were taken from DeviantArt