I remember playing this game back from my elementary games. I picked up the game at a shop just because its box cover was quirky and colourful. This game was very unusual and very weird. You played the tiny prince of the cosmos out to return all the destroyed heavenly bodies. How you say? The king of the cosmos has given you a ball, a super sticky ball. You will roll and roll the ball from the most insignificant of things until finally you can roll up the largest of ridiculous things. If you know this game you are awesome (like me) but if not it is titled “Katamari Damacy”.
You might think I chose to write about a favorite old game of mine and try to link it to the public sphere just because it involved a “sphere”. Of course I won’t be simplistic as that. It just so happened that the game did involve a sphere.
This game was only a low budget game and did not hold much hype prior to its release unlike other Bandai Namco game productions. You see….this game was inspired by two things. It was inspired mainly from a submitted school project sponsored by Namco. Next it tried to invoke an issue still being overlooked… the idea of littering. At first people were very reluctant to buy the game upon its release but over the weeks after its release sales increased exponentially until it became a top grossing game of its time.
The talk it generated amongst the public was more than enough for people to notice the problem of littering. Forums, talks, advertisements, it was everywhere. The Japanese people became more aware of the littering around public areas just because of a game representing a thought of some individuals. This for me was a prime example of the public sphere with a twist of new age media of course. From a few individuals who wanted to speak up but were left unnoticed to a whole mass of people looking and giving importance to what was once unseen. The once unnoticed issue of littering has now been put under the spotlight for all to see as the game slowly pulled in more and more people. First the ones who championed the idea, next are the people who share the similar idea, now once there are enough people came the masses seeing that it was of a pressing issue. Welcome to the world of the public sphere where no idea is overlooked.
I actually didn't see the public sphere in this angle until I read your post. Good insight! It's really interesting how one game could bring about chains of discussions, just like what you mentioned. And what's even good about it is that it became an avenue for the people to talk about an important social issue.
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