The rise of digital technologies and participatory culture

Moving on from the 1990 arcade game, the Simpsons franchise has expanded across other mediums, strengthening the Simpsons universe as a whole. Come 2012, The Simpsons: Tapped Out was released as a mobile app for Androids and IOS users. The mobile game is a prime example of how technology has advanced to offer media across new mediums. The availability of media accessed across different mediums has led to fans becoming the ‘participants’ (Jenkins, 2012). Participatory culture is the term used to describe the complex and intertwining relationship between the producer and consumer. Jenkins (2012, pg. 22) adds on “media industries have had to embrace participatory strategies in order to court and maintain relations with their fans at a time when logic of ‘engagement’ shapes many of their policies and promotions”. This interpretation of participatory culture can be applied to Tapped Out since it allows its users to create and ‘engage’ with their own unique Simpsons world. This was the first medium in the Simpsons world where fans could become ‘participators’ of the product in order to greatly intensify their relations with the Simpsons world. Messinger et al (2009, pg. 205) argued, “members participate in virtual worlds through their avatars which are graphical representations of themselves”. Although this is true when looking at The Sims or Second Life as users can personalize their avatars to carry certain traits and characteristics, Tapped Out, doesn’t allow users to choose which avatar represents them – they can only initially play Homer. The game allows users to re-build, create and control their virtual Springfield after Homer (protagonist) has an accident at the Springfield nuclear power plant and destroys Springfield. The mobile app is a ‘freenium’, a term coined by Jarid Lukin (2006) which describes apps that are initially free to download however certain elements cost within the gameplay. As the game progresses and levels are unlocked, users do have the choice of picking certain characters for certain parts of the game. For example, once Springfield elementary school has been purchased and built in the virtual world, the user will be rewarded in $255 in virtual money if Bart goes to school for 6 hours. This links in with transmedia storytelling as there is an ongoing narrative in the TV series behind Bart and his ‘disobeying’ attitude towards school. The game runs on virtual currency where the user can play to be rewarded or the user can buy virtual money with real currency. It could be argued that realism is injected to virtual worlds due to the freedom the user has over the game and how aspects of the real world (i.e real currency) are used within the game. Supporting this sense of realism, the Simpsons universe allows users to inject their own storyline and bond with the Simpsons characters on a more personal level. Every virtual world that users creates will be different and unique from one to another. Furthermore, Messinger et al (2009) argued that there is an ‘injection of realism’ through the progression of daily time in a 1 second to 1 minute ratio, and this supported by expansion settings and freedom of movement create an immersive environment. Through participatory culture, the mediums become real as the users take control. Jenkins (2012, pg. 53) supports this idea and argues “such intense interaction eventually leads many fans toward the creation of new texts, the writing of original stories.” Tapped Out encourages its fans to build a world of their own and thus a story of their own.

The game is a reward to the super fans as transmedia storytelling plays a big part behind the writing and script of Tapped Out. The game is constantly being updated with new additions and this constant push of new material keeps the user constantly engaged with the Simpsons Universe. Writer of the series and game Steward Burns explained the game offers to add backstory and content in light of the upcoming episodes. “Small updates tied into new episodes of the show. It seemed like a nice back-and-forth promotion: The game promotes the show, and the show is essentially promoting the game, because people are getting the game because they know and love the show and want to build their little Springfields” (Burns, 2014) This supports Jenkins (2012) idea that engagement shapes many industries promotions. Furthermore, Trapped Out also uses iconographies from The Simpsons Arcade Game, therefore fully immersing superfans between three different mediums during three different time periods – TV series, 1989, the arcade game, 1991 and the mobile game, 2012. It is worth noting that transmedia story telling at this level only rewards superfans as mentioned before,  “with the game, we have more freedom to make jokes we think are going to be really funny for a couple of people that are super fans.” (Burns 2014) Not every player would recognize certain jokes or references made between the game and TV show anchoring Jenkins (2011) idea ‘the extension’ transmedia storytelling “may add a greater sense of realism to the fiction as a whole.”