What is 'produsage'?

Ok so the title of this blog might have also gotten you asking “What is 'produsage'?”. Produsage is a term used to describe the effect or event of an individual or group reusing an idea in a new way to make it seem like a new product. This is done often in modern society, especially with the internet being such a large source of free media. One example of could be the popular new game 'Heroes of Newerth or HoN'. This game is newly released and is an rpg where players control one hero (or in some cases one hero and a few creatures) to do battle with other heroes and a few npc creatures in the attempt to destroy the opposing teams base. This game is based off of the original map called 'Defenders of the Ancients or DotA' which was a player created map from Blizzard's Warcraft 3 map editor. The original DotA was created by players for a fun new game for people to enjoy. This HoN version was created by other players (with the permission of the original creators), by using similar heroes with new names, looks, and improved graphics and gameplay, yet in its essence it is the same game with new pixels and string commands.
Another example of produsage is the video clip from the original movie 'Downfall', which has been edited numerous times by viewers by changing the subtitles into other humorous things. An example of this re-made video is shown in this blog, which shows Hitler talking about the Pokémon known as Mudkip. These produsage videos featuring Hitler with altered subtitles, are only effective to audiences who do not understand German which is the language being spoken during that part of the film. If they were to understand it, then they would become confused by the differing subtitles thus making the produsage video less effective.
If you are interested in a more researched version of what produsage is I can also help you there. According to Bruns (2008) “There is an absence of producers, distributors, or consumers, and the presence of a seemingly endless string of users acting incrementally as content producers by gradually extending and improving the information present in the information commons, the value chain begins and ends (but only temporarily, ready for further development) with content.”. This comment refers to the fact that many people are refusing to produce new ideas as it is seen as easier to use produsage to reuse old ideas, as almost anyone can do so, and that even if they did create new ideas they would eventually just become produsage ideas like everything else.