Diary of a Camper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diary of a Camper
A scene from Diary of a Camper
Engines	Quake engine
Genre	Action
Running time	100 seconds
Directed by	Matthew Van Sickler
Written by	Heath Brown
Voices	None
Actor control	Heath Brown Eric Fowler Chris Birke Pyoveli
Edited by	Eric Fowler
Production company	United Ranger Films
Releases	October 26, 1996
Formats	Quake demo recording

Diary of a Camper is a short 1996 American film created by United Ranger Films, then a subdivision of a popular group of players, or clan, known as the Rangers. Made using id Software's 1996 first-person shooter computer game Quake and released over the Internet as a non-interactive game demo file, the video is considered^[1] the first example of machinima—the art of using real-time, virtual 3-D environments, often game engines, to create animated films. The story centers on a lone camper, a pejorative for a player who waits in a strategic location instead of seeking active battle, who faces five members of the Rangers clan in a deathmatch, a type of multiplayer game whose goal is to kill as many opponents as possible.

Although players had previously recorded segments of gameplay, these were usually deathmatches or speedruns, attempts to complete a map as quickly as possible. Diary of a Camper was the first demo to contain a narrative with (text-based) dialogue, instead of merely showing gameplay. Commentators agree that the work itself is primitive, but acknowledge its importance in establishing video games as a medium for filmmaking.

1 Synopsis
2 Precedent and new ground
3 Reception
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The film occurs entirely within the Quake map DM6 ("The Dark Zone"). After exploring some of the area, the Rangers gather and decide to send two members, Sphinx and Pyoveli, to scout a room above. Shortly after they teleport into the room, the camper waiting there kills them both, as confirmed by in-game text messages that appear on the screen. The remaining three Rangers—ColdSun, ArchV, and an unidentified member—realize their comrades' fate and return fire from a distance, killing the camper. Examining the remains, they identify their foe as John Romero.^[2]

[edit] Precedent and new ground

Diary of a Camper built on the ability to record gameplay, which first appeared in id Software's 1993 computer game Doom. Using this feature, players could efficiently record game events, rather than the rendered video itself, and later replay them in real-time through the game engine.^[3] Doom's successor, Quake, offered new opportunities for both gameplay and customization,^[4] while preserving the demo recording ability.^[5] In the book Machinima, Kelland, Morris, and Lloyd stated that multiplayer games became popular, almost a sport, and demo files of matches were recorded and studied.^[6] Paul Marino, executive director of the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS), used a different analogy: "Players began to record deathmatches with a more cinematic flare.… [T]he viewpoint of the player became the viewpoint of a director."^[7]

When the Rangers released Diary of a Camper on October 26, 1996,^[8] they were already well-known for their playing skill and their ability to program game modifications. The group's new demo surprised the Quake community by exploiting the game differently. It contained the action and gore of previous gameplay demos, but in the context of a simple story^[9] instead of the usual deathmatch.^[6] Like many of its predecessors, the demo was recorded in Quake's networked multiplayer deathmatch mode, but "it marked the transition from sports footage to moviemaking. The players were choreographed like actors, … delivering their lines as plain text…."^[6] Henry Lowood of Stanford University stated that "Diary of a Camper breaks with the demo movie as documented gameplay" because the spectator's perspective is independent "from that of any player/actor; the movie is not 'shot' from the first-person perspective of the shooter."^[10] Lowood called the film a "transformation of competitive play to … minimal theatrical play", emphasized through the inclusion of references to gameplay, such as the camper.^[11]

Before Diary of a Camper's release, Uwe Girlich, a German doctoral candidate,^[12] had documented the Quake demo file format, in which "the player coordinates and camera positions may be different".^[10] He added that "for people with too much spare-time Quake can replace a full 3D modelling system".^[10] However, the Rangers developed Diary of a Camper before any demo-editing software tools had been publicly released; clan member Eric "ArchV" Fowler instead created his own tools to reposition the camera and to splice recorded footage.^[13] As with all of United Ranger Films' productions, Heath "ColdSun" Brown wrote the story, and Matt "Unknown Soldier" Van Sickler was the director.^[14] In the release notes, Brown credits clan members Chris "Sphinx" Birke^[15] and Mute with helping Fowler with "movie packaging".^[2]

Diary of a Camper and the films that it inspired were initially called "Quake movies"; the term machinima was not coined until 1998,^[16] in response to the increasing use of other game engines.^[17] Therefore, there was initial hesitance to retroactively label Diary of a Camper the first machinima piece; a Machinima.com article from January 2000 opened, "It's kinda hard to pin down the first Machinima: things like the Doom speedruns, the Stunt Island stuff and the Demo Scene all compete for the title. However, it's a lot easier to pin down the first piece of film made in a 3D game engine: Diary Of A Camper".^[18] However, after the AMAS later defined machinima as "animated filmmaking within a real-time virtual 3-D environment",^[16] commentators, such as Marino^[19] and Lowood,^[9] unambiguously called the film the first machinima work.

[edit] Reception

Despite Diary of a Camper's importance in establishing machinima, commentators have criticized the film's actual content. Marino called the plot "simple";^[19] likewise, Kelland, Morris, and Lloyd believed that "it wasn't much of a story",^[6] and Lowood wrote that "the plot offers little more than a brief sequence of inside jokes".^[10] Roger Matthews of the Quake Movie Library called the film "not much more than a deathmatch with a camera".^[20] On Psyk's Popcorn Jungle, Paul Coates bluntly wrote, "This movie is dull. It is not very interesting."^[21] Stephen Lum of The Cineplex said that the film contained "weird humour".^[22]

Although Quake movie critics found shortcomings in Diary of a Camper, they mentioned positive aspects, including the work's novelty; however, their final ratings varied. Matthews wrote that "the camera work was very nice and never once screwed up",^[20] and Lum gave the film "a perfect 10 for Innovation/Originality because [it] started the Quake Movie craze".^[22] Of the major Quake movie review sites,^[23] only The Cineplex gave Diary a good rating overall, 7.5 out of 10.^[22] Matthews and Coates rated the film 20% out of 100%^[20] and 2 out of 10,^[24] respectively. Later, Coates updated his review, saying, "I feel I overreacted at the fact that DoaC was old. It's the first ever Quake movie. I have to give the Rangers massive credit for that.… But, by today's standards, the rating seems to fit."^[21]

Because of its significance, Diary of a Camper continues to be featured in machinima presentations. In a 2005 event at Stanford University, the film was presented with later machinima works, such as Red vs. Blue.^[25] Likewise, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image included it in a machinima exhibit that ended on July 16, 2006.^[26]