HA11 Task 1 - Analysis

The Greatest Game Genre Ever

My chosen game star wars battlefront is an action, first and third person shooter.
A first person shooter is a genre that allows the player to see in a first person perspective, this means that the player sees exactly what the eyes of the protagonist would see which is usually centred on a gun or a weapon. An advantage of using first person shooter is that it allows the player to have a realistic feel on what it would be like to be the actual protagonist. This will create a more intimate connection with the characters in the game because they are seeing and feeling exactly what the protagonist is. Another advantage of the game genre is that the players can probably accurately shoot well because they see exactly where they are aiming. For instance in other games which share the same game genre like borderlands, Call of duty or Halo when you aim a gun you are more aware on where you will be aiming, the player can even use crosshairs to make it easier to target the characters on the game.

 First person shooter games are becoming more and more popular, with over 20 million players stating that FPS is one of their favourite game genres as well as third person shooter. Games like battlefield and call of duty have a franchise which has attracted millions of gamers because of the control the player has and how real the genre feels. Although there are disadvantages of using a first person shooter just like there is with any other video game genre. First person shooter can limit the players sight and movement because the player can only see what the protagonist see's. For example In real life to look behind you, you have to turn your head and this is what it’s like in first person shooter games, In the game you have to turn the protagonist in able to see behind the character. This means that the being in first person perspective can limit the player’s field of view and because the player can only see what the protagonist sees the player is almost independent on their vision.

Third person shooter is similar to first person shooter although in third person perspective you get to see the protagonist on screen in a third person view. Third person shooter games usually have the camera just behind the protagonist above their head and slightly facing down towards the protagonist so you are able to see the protagonist as well as have more vision of the game than you do with a first person perspective. My chosen game has both third person and first person because in third person perspective aiming can be difficult so the player is able to switch from third person view to first person view to get a more precise aim. Some examples of video games which have both first person and third person genre are; borderlands, Starwars: battle front, Skyrim and Fall Out.  Third person shooter can emphasize the story in a game by keeping the character constantly in view.  Third person games are also generally character driven and typically suit a story based game like world of war craft and tomb raider.

 The genre’s characteristics

In this selection I am going to explain the code and conventions which usually fall under this genre as well as explaining who the audience is for a typical action video game and a brief explanation on how the genre has developed over a certain period of time.

Firstly, I am going to be explaining the code and conventions which you expect in an action, first and third person shooter genre. The first obvious code and convention which falls under this genre is having violence and gore. In first and third person shooters you obviously expect to see shooting, fighting and just basically a lot of action for example when you play games like battlefield, call of duty or counter-strike you expect the game to include a lot of action like running, jumping, shooting and fighting.
 Games which are an action genre also usually involve having a hero persona and a linear narrative. A Linear Narrative is a story which includes a plot, character, setting and the story is told in a logical manner. This means the story is telling the audience what happens in the story without having to use flash backs etc. This means action games involve having an in-depth story and is usually story driven, the game will be focused on the characters and will tell the story starting at the beginning of the game and will usually tell the story consecutively until the end of the story/game. This is why video games like call of duty which is an action; first person shooter has such a huge campaign and franchise. Hero persona is another common convention that many first person shooter and action games usually have. A hero persona is basically when the player is playing a character who usually finally succeeding in the missions at the end of a game and is someone who has a lot of physical strength.
Other Popular codes and conventions in an action genre include having well versus evil characters in the game for example in action, first person shooters the player usually plays a protagonist which is fighting against the 'bad guys'. Usually In this genre the player also has to collect some sort of collectables like ammo and health to be able to survive in the game a good example of a first person shooter game which involve all of these conventions is battlefield; Battlefield includes having a linear narrative, collectables, hero persona, violence and good VS evil.

The Purpose of a action genre is to involve the player playing a character who is a 'hero' and has some-sort of goal of ambitions that they want to achieve but there character is facing incredible odds to obtain that goal for example the player will have to do a lot of action like chasing the bad guys, fighting and having battles just to help their character achieve their goal.  The game genre usually emphasizes physical challenges including hand/eye coordination and reacting in time, the game purposely involves a lot of physical action to help emphasise the story telling.

The audience who usually play an action first person shooter is mainly males aged 18 and above. In 2015 the audience for an action genre was 75% Male and only 25% Female whilst the audience for a first person shooter is 90% Male and 10% Female. This is because only 43% of females like to play violent video games which involve action and shooting, they simply prefer to play puzzle games occasionally. This is most probably because when Males play video games their brains show a more active region in the brain mesocorticolmbic centre, this region is associated with rewards and addiction. This means video games are more rewarding for men than a woman which makes them more likely on getting hooked on video games which gives them their gratification for a reward. This is probably why males are more likely to play action and first person shooter genres because typically in games which includes these genres normally includes rewarding the player for example on Starwars battlefront or on borderlands it will tell the player that they are doing a good job and will reward them by giving the player more points and new weapons.

A huge turning point for the action genre was in 1978 when space Invaders was first released. Because Space invaders quickly became a mainstream success the games industry quickly started to develop more video games with the action genre and soon enough the genre became the most dominant genre in video arcades and on games consoles even up to the present date (2016). Although the action genre has slightly changed and developed over this period of time, In 1978 there was several rules or 'conventions' which applied to the action genre for instance in the games the score was usually kept, the player had to either destroy or avoid the enemy, the game was real-time and the player only had a certain number of lives so action games required even more of a faster reflex than they do today. As the player completed the levels the difficulty would increase and the video game basically had no or a minimal amount of a narrative.

This means that the game's basically had no story line and eventually the game would become that difficult that the player couldn’t really win. The main objective of action games was to try and achieve the highest score or to at least enter the high score list on the arcade machine or console. Although The action genre has now developed to stop the lack of satisfaction the game genre gave to the players for instance instead of just trying to reach the highest high sore the developers made the action genre more story based by developing action games with a linear narrative which impacted the players massively because the players were able to use the game story to escape from the real world, when they play action games the player now knows the background of the character and has to follow the narrative which makes the player more emotionally attached to the game especially if the game has a subgenre of a first person shooter which emphasise the emotions the player has with the character because they are viewing the game in first person perspective.

Narrative structures

The action, first person shooter genre has developed over the decades and now has more engaging stories than ever before. Each genre has a different narrative structure for example a game with a puzzle or RPG genre will have a different narrative than a first person shooter genre.
This genre offers a range of different story telling technique, each technique has its own flaws and merits. The most common method of showing the narrative in games is through filmic sequences which are normally known as a cut-scene. A cut-scene is basically a video in the game where the player is unable to move or interact with, cut-scenes are usually used to break up the game play, show conversations between characters, setting the mood or when rewarding a player. Cut-scenes basically remove the player from focusing on the game and make the player focuses and relate more on the narrative of the game using cinematic techniques for example both Halo and Borderlands use cut scene to help structure the narrative in the game.
 Although action, first person shooters use different techniques to use as a method to tell the narrative for example the Code and conventions help structure the narrative and makes the player engage in the genre If a video game just used cut-scenes as a way to transmit the narrative than the game will be like more of a movie than an actual game. Some first-person shooter games have their protagonist as a silent protagonist this means the protagonist does not have its own voice. This is a common technique because when the protagonist has no voice other characters in the game will speak to the protagonist directly at the player which makes it easier for the player to imagine they are actually playing the protagonist's role. Having a protagonist on 'mute' is quite common for the first-person shooter genre for example in call of duty the character 'Soap' does not talk. This is mostly because sometimes with a vocal protagonist it can cause a detachment from the player because the events in the game feel like it’s happening to someone else, not the player. Although having a Vocal protagonist is still common throughout the genre.
Action first person shooter genre also use campaigns as a method to tell the narrative story for instance most of the call of duty franchise like Modern warfare uses the campaign as the main method to structure the games narrative. However some games like starwars battlefront does not include a campaign or in fact, any single player game and is mostly focusing on the multiplayer aspects of the game and not focusing on a narrative for the game.  For instance, Modern Warfare 2 has a storyline which has interested millions of players, in fact over 100 million people have played the campaign and 11,422 people have played the game on multiplayer. Battlefront does not have any story line so therefore it doesn’t have any narrative structure.

Representation of characters

In this genre the protagonist is mainly a male protagonist and Most FPS genres don’t even have the option to change the sex of your protagonist. I personally think this is because in first person shooter you don’t exactly see the character unless the genre also has the genre of a third person shooter. Because you don’t see the protagonist I think the developers didn’t think it was that important to give the players the option in what sex they want to play although it could be possible that the lack of female protagonist in this genre is because of the main audience who play the games with the first person shooter are mostly males so they probably thought it would be unnecessary to give the option to let the player choose the sex of their character because firstly they don’t really see the character and secondly it is mostly played by the male sex. I don’t believe most of the modern action shooters actually offer an option for the player to be played as a female. This is because action games which have a female protagonist apparently sell a lot worse than games which only have a male protagonist for example In a article I read that in the first three months, games which had only a male hero sold around 25% better than games which have a female hero.
But there are a few games who are trying to involve females as much as possible in their game. For example Starwars battlefront, Borderlands and mass effect 3 offer a female version of the protagonist to try and make females feel more 'comfortable' whilst playing violent games.

In some genres such as action and adventure the female characters can be dressed inappropriately for example Lara croft is from a game with an action-adventure genre called tomb raider. She is dressed up in tight clothing which is flattering on her body shape such as wearing crop tops which emphasize the size of her breast and wearing shorts. The females are not dressed like this in an action; first person shooter for example in mass effect the female is wearing an amour which is identical to the Male protagonist’s amour.  This means that representation of the female characters is not that different than the male characters in the first person genre and both characters.

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_shooter
http://education.seattlepi.com/linear-narrative-6001.html
https://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2015/11/stats-shows-men-prefer-action-games-women-prefer-puzzle-games/
http://usabilitynews.org/video-games-males-prefer-violence-while-females-prefer-social/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/29/gaming-advocacy-group-the-average-gamer-is-31-and-most-play-on-a-console/
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2008/02/video-games-activate-reward-regions-of-brain-in-men-more-than-women-stanford-study-finds.html
http://www.ana-todor.ro/a-short-history-the-rise-of-video-game-genres/07/06/2012/
http://steamcharts.com/app/10190
http://www.themarysue.com/why-games-with-female-protagonists-dont-sell-and-what-it-says-about-the-industry/

HA10 Task 3 – Responses

In this task I am going to be using the reception theory model to analyse my own personal response to the video game Starwars battlefront.

The reception theory is a theory which makes it easier to understand how the audience receives and interpenetrate a media text. A media text could be newspaper, magazines, films, video games and so on. The reception theory explains how gender, class, age and even ethnicity affects the way they read the message. The video game developers will construct a text encoding a secret message/meaning into the game which they want the player to see and read up on. Although this might not happen and the players might have to be reminded of the message throughout the game like the dialog of how the character speaks, consciences etc. There are three different types of how the audience reads the message; Dominant, negotiated and oppositional.

Dominant reading - Dominant is where the audience wants to hear from people and agreeing with their message but not having a full knowledge on the subject.

Negotiated reading - This is where the audience will agree and disagree or ask questions.

oppositional reading - This is where the audience will recognise the Dominant message but won’t agree to it due to culture or an opinion. These are the sort of audience which won’t understand any messages aimed at them, as they have already got their own opinion and won’t change it.

For instance the gratification theory looked at why the audience uses video games whilst the reception theory helps analyse what the audience sees when they read the message. For instance Starwars battlefront has the desired meaning to make their audience feel like they are playing and are in a Starwars movie. To do this the game uses several code and conventions to help get their message to their audience. Starwars audience is basically a wide demographic of players age 8 -35+, male and mostly lower working class and skilled working class, this means that the code and conventions in this game must be appropriate for all ages for them to read and interpreted the message the way the developers and producers want them too for instance if Starwars battlefront includes clowns, dogs and kittens then they aren’t going to decode the correct message. To avoid this the game make sure there is certain code and conventions in the game like Light sabers, Darth Vader and so on to help the game get its message across. Although the code and conventions does not mean the audience will read or even see the message 100%, the correct code and conventions just make it possible for the audience to read the message more correctly. For instance, if you was going to watch a horror film but there was no scare, blood or gore and the film was actually quite funny then the audience is going to decode the film as a comedy film other than a horror film. No media text has just one single meaning; the audience will define the meaning of the text.

HA10 Task 2 – Effects Debate

Introduction

In this task I will be explain what positive and negative effects the video game Starwars battlefront has on their audience. I have watched the BBC Horizon programme ‘Are Video games really that bad’ and I am going to be using it as my main evidence on how video games are actually affecting the audience.





For several decades video games have been accused of making their audience more violent because it increases their aggressive behaviour and makes them addicted to video games. Because of this video games are often betrayed as a corrupted influence. 

Video games first started to get a negative reputation when the Carmageddon video game which is a graphically violent 3D video game released in 1997. 
The game involved running over pedestrians for bonus points and due to the graphic content and violence it got banned in several contouries. Because of Carmageddon video games now have a negative reputation and apparently make their audience more aggressive and violent for instance kids who play more violent games are more likely to assume things as a threat and to respond as a threat than children who do not play video games. But I don’t believe this is true.

Video games have now adapted for instance video gamers was assumed to be a certain demographic such as being only teenagers and young adults as players but now video games are becoming more diverse, older players and younger players are now becoming involved and female players now in fact make up a bigger population of the audience for video games than male players. Video games are not real and the audience should know this, violent games reward players with bonus points, it is not real so it doesn’t exactly mean anything. 

For example in Starwars battlefront their audience demographic is really divest, the audience involves both young and old players. 
Even though video games have started to include more aggressive scenes and are becoming a lot popular, Starwars battlefront does not include any aggressive scenes or scenes including extreme violence and gore. In fact, Starwars battlefront contents are purposely like this to be more children friendly. Because of the negative reputation for action and first person shooter games, Starwars was developed to basically have minimal violence and gore to help attract the younger players and not get a bad reputation for doing so. 


Although just because Starwars battlefront does not include much violence it does include the players being competitive, this can lead to aggression behaviour. On the BBC Horizon programme ‘are video games really that bad’ they did a test to see if video games make their players more aggressive. To do this they did an experiment where a participant played a game which involved a Competitive competition on which player can click the mouse the fastest, if one of the players lost then a high pitch, horrible noise will be played through their headset. Although the player got to chose how loud the other player’s noise is going to be. 
This tests the player aggression because it shows how confident they are and how aggressive they are to the other player for example if the player decided to put their competitor's volume at high it means they are more aggressive to the player than if they put the noise at a low volume.   

Action and first person shooter games have previously been accused of making their audience more aggressive but in 2003 the violence rate in America had dropped up to 83% over the two decades. If video games are developing their audience to be more aggressive then shouldn’t the violence rate go up and not down? In reality nobody knows what makes a person violent, it could be because of several factors like a violent family member, mental health problems or even poverty. Nobody can put violence down to one simple factor; in fact video games have a little influence on violence with their audience and are only being blamed because the media only mentions the negative side of video games for instance making their audience addicted or socially depriving them. 

This creates biased opinions on the games industry and new violent video games are now being immediately declined by the society because of the negative reputation and the opinion that video games are a main factor in why people are violent but in reality it could be due to several factors like parenting or schools. Society just wants to blame the violence on something, before video games were developed; comic books were being blamed on why some people are violent. Because action and first person shooter games have this bad reputation, that even some video games like Starwars battlefront which actually does not include blood could have the same reputation of having a bad effect on the audience just simply because of the biased opinions on the game genre.  

Star wars battlefront does not involve any gore or blood unlike the film franchise Starwars which involves a lot of gore and violence like limbs such as arms being chopped off by lightsaber’s but surprisingly the films is still rated a 12A. 
This is probably because video games are seen more of a negative influence than films. For example People who play video games need to pay attention to the violence and gore and can’t look away like you can do whilst watching the films because they need to survive in the game, if they look away the character could die. If the player needs to be paying attention to the video game then this should surely be helping the violent rate drop because the game is making the players more occupied, they need to stay inside and play the game so there isn’t much opportunity they can be violent because they will be inside playing a video game instead of being outside where they are most likely going to meet violent factors like peer pressure, ‘gangs’, drugs, alcohol and so on which can all lead to aggression and violence.
95% of video games content is normally family friendly, they are made for anyone to play the game just like Starwars battlefront was made to be played by a wide Variety of audience. And even though video games can lead to aggression, other things like football or politics can too, Aggression can happen anywhere and because of anything, video games should not only be blamed. 

Starwars battlefront can be aggressive because it’s online mode it really competitive so you have to be aggressive towards the other players in order to win although the aggression is normally just temporary. For instance if your character dies in battlefront then you do feel emotions such as aggression but that emotion doesn’t stay, it can easily go. For example when I stop playing the game the aggression feeling goes almost instantly. Just because the game is aggressive it does not make the player necessarily aggressive, it’s only for a temporary amount of time. 

In the BBC programme they did tests on several participants to see if aggression did have an impact on the player after they finished playing the game. To do this, they made half of the participants play the game Tetris and the other half play a identical game to Tetris although this game works out the worse possible piece for the player 70% of the time so it basically lets the player have hope they are going to win and then suddenly make the player loose. Before beginning this test they had to put their hands in freezing cold water for as long as possible and then they did the same after the participant finished the game. 

The participants who were playing a game which triggered aggression were able to hold their hands in the freezing cold water for 7 seconds longer than they originally could. But to also test the aggression FPS games can trigger, they tested some of the participants using a brain machine scanner whilst they were playing the FPS game. Once finished they analysed the responses and there was basically one clear response on what FPS games was doing to the participants. 

The FPS defiantly had an effect on the audience’s brain but not in a negative way, instead of triggering aggression it taught the player on how to regulate their emotions a lot better. This is probably why the participants were able to handle the cold water better because it changed their emotions which helped them cope with the water a bit longer. In a other test the participants were shown violent video’s, the participants who previously played a violent game before watching the violent videos shown less emotion unlike the participants who played a normal, none violent game.

Although because some Games like Starwars battlefront reward a player for being violent for instance earning points or being socially awarded online for killing a enemy could lead to negative behaviour and a internet gaming disorder. An internet gaming disorder is basically when the player is addicted to having immediate rewards like you do in video games. For instance players who have the disorder will rather have something right now even if it means waiting a bit longer for something better. They decided to do a MRI scan of a brain with a player who has this disorder the results came back that players who are addicted to games are most likely going to act before they are supposed to. For instance the MRI scan shown a build up of activity in the area of the brain which values your goals and the more impulse you have in this area of the more active you are. However it’s really rare someone actually does get addicted to a video game which is surprising because video games yet again have a negative reputation on developing addiction and violence in their audience. 

On a different MRI scan where players had to play Mario 64 for 2 months there had brain growth in different areas of their brain for example there were three different areas in the brain that had grown. Their social negation, planning and fine motor area of their brain had grown just simply because the player had to do multitasking such as controlling the player and looking at the map. This means that Starwars battlefront could have a similar effect because the player also has to concentrate on the map as well as the player, in fact students who play fast action games like Starwars battlefront were able to keep track of more objects in the real world for example the average gamer could track 6 different objects which is more than what scientist thought humans were capable to do.

 This proves that video games like Starwars battlefront which does not include any gore or violence could be beneficial to the player and help their brain grow and develop skills. Because of this video games should not have such a negative reputation; they should be used by all age groups to help improve abilities. 
For instance video games are now starting to become more popular with teaching kids in schools for example in primary school I struggled to focus in lessons which resulted in me struggling with maths.  My deputy head teacher came up with a idea to teach students like me with a Nintendo DS with the game ‘brain academy’ which helps you study for maths in a more entertaining way and it praised you when you got your answers right and explained how you can improve in your maths. Because of this game I was able to escape the real world and go onto a game which taught me maths which I was not able to do in lesson.
 I believe this benefited us extremely, all of the students who played brain academy and was struggling with maths did actually pass their Maths Tests. Games like Mine craft are now being played in modern schools to help teach their students on how to be more creative.
 For example even surgeons who had played video games in the past for more than three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, were 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better on laparoscopic surgery and suturing drills than surgeons who never played video games.

" Dr. Rosser’s study found that surgeons who had played video games in the past for more than three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, were 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better on laparoscopic surgery and suturing drills than surgeons who never played video games. Recently, Dr. Rosser and his team showed that surgeons who completed “warm-up” sessions with select video games prior to performing laparoscopic suturing were faster and had fewer errors than surgeons who did not perform the “warm-up.” "

" “It makes sense. You are using an interface, such as a joystick or buttons, when you play games,” says Dr. Jones. “With advanced laparoscopy, robotic surgery, or image-guided procedures, the surgeon is also interacting with an interface to treat the patient, and eye-hand coordination can be honed with practice. The data is compelling — playing video games can make surgeons better. That’s not to say that reading and schoolwork are not important too.” 

Link: http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/Health-Notes/SurgicalInnovations/Advances/VideoGames.aspx

Overall even though Starwars battlefront is an action, FPS which does involve minimal violence it does not include any gore or extreme violence like the Starwars film franchise. I believe it has no negative effect on the audience playing the game apart from making the player a bit more aggressive and competitive whilst playing the game. I believe Video games cannot make players more violent, they might be able to make the player feel a bit more aggressive but most of this emotion is the brain regulating the player’s emotions. 
This means when the player is playing Starwars battlefront and is becoming aggressive online that their brain is learning how to change their situation or emotions. This means they might be less emotional towards violence because their brain is used to regulating their emotions around violent situations, this doesn’t mean the player likes the violent it simply just means they have learnt how to change their emotions due to the violence in the video game. 

This means that the players do not actually copy the video games but can change the way they think. But this does not make video games bad. Especially games like Starwars battlefront which was originally developed to be suited for younger players, all the content in the game was made to make sure it is not to extreme for the younger players. But because of the genuine bad reputation on first person shooters the game was still rated Teens only, although some parents thought the game was suitable for 8+ and 10+ year olds. Starwars battlefront might have some negative effects on the player but these effects are really minimal and are temporary like feeling aggression although most of the effects on video games can be positive like teaching the player how to multi task.

Image Links:
https://houseofgeekery.com/2012/10/18/game-review-carmageddon-for-ipad/



Article links:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews/star-wars-battlefront-0/user-reviews/adult
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/26/halfway-through-2016-homicides-are-up-in-more-than-two-dozen-big-u-s-cities/?utm_term=.d03b71cc3a5c
http://blahg.res0l.net/2009/01/bastet-bastard-tetris/
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x38qzq8
http://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games

HA10 Task 1 – Audience Theory

In this task I will be using the uses & Gratification theory to help analyse the response from my previous assignments for the game star wars battlefront.

The uses and gratification theory is an approach to see how the audience is using media Texts and Why. This theory believes that the audience is attracting to the media which are useful or provide them with gratification. For example, the audience from star wars battlefront probably use the media as a use of gratification because it provides then of pleasure and bit of satisfaction and probably pride when earning achievements and completing missions on the game.  The audience in this theory is usually an active audience which means the audience is actively involved in determining what media they engage with and how. 

Basically, the audience has the power and the producers do not, the audience is not being duped by the media and the audience is free to choose which media and reject the media of their choice. For instance, the audience for Star wars is not being made to play this game, in fact according to the response of the audience they actually play this game because it is what their friends are choosing for their gratification. The gratification and uses theory is the complete opposite of the effect theory which states that the media can affect society and how the society affects the media. 
The gratification theory states that the audience uses the text of the media the way that they want to use it. In fact it even states that the audience even uses the media to help gratify some issues such as using the media for diversion which means the audience is using the media to help escape real life and using the media to relax and pass the time. 
The audience who play star wars battlefront uses the game for diversion because playing video games is a great way to escape from your surroundings and everything that is going on around you. 

Some of the audience uses the media for their own personal relationships with friends and family for instance using the media to find out information so you are able to talk to your friends about it in a conversation. Media also allows the user to identify who they are and have Surveillance, this means the media allows the audience to watch the news and find out what is happening in the world, just by using the media. 

The theory also believes the media also helps the audience with sexual stimulation, learning, emotional satisfaction, relaxation and help with their issues of aggression and violence. For instance the theory suggests that violent images can be helpful than harmful and video games which allow the audience to use violence is less likely to commit violent acts in real life. I think the audience for star wars battlefront uses the game to stratify many needs according to the theory. For instance they probably use the game to have diversion from the real world and be able to relax, using the game to help with issues of aggression and violence which I’ve just mentioned because even though Star wars battlefront does not have extreme violence and gore it has enough violence to stratify the audience. 


All these different needs and wants for different gratification is broke down into different sort of needs for instance there is cognitive needs, effective needs, personal integrative needs, social integrative needs and tension free needs. I am now going to explain each individual need and I am then going to explain which one the audience for Starwars battlefront is.

 Cognitive needs - These people use media for knowledge and information. In order to get this knowledge and information they will watch news to satisfy the need, search questions on Google or the internet, they make use of these to gain more knowledge in basically no time at all.

Effective Needs - These people use the media to satisfy their emotional needs, in order to have satisfaction of this need the audience can watch the news or go on a social media such as Facebook which expresses the moods of other people.

Personal Integrative Needs - These people use the media to build up their self-esteem for instance they might use a social media such as Facebook to help reassure their status and gain credibility by getting 'likes' and 'comments.

Social Integrative needs - These people feel like they need to socialise with family, friends and relations through the media using websites such as Facebook and twitter to communicate and socialise. They do not need to meet up with their friends on the weekend etc. because they use this to satisfy their needs.

Tension free needs- These people use the social media to 'escape' real life problems to help relief their tensions for instance to do this they could watch TV, listen to radio or by reading a social media website like instagram.

Star wars battlefront is for effective needs, personal integrative needs, social integrative need and tension free needs. This is because the audience who play star wars will use the game to satisfy their emotional needs by achieving goals and feeling more satisfied with the media, although the audience also uses the game for their social integrative and tension free needs. 
For example the audience uses the game to  be social and communicate with other plays on the game from online mode although I have also noticed social integrative when the audience is talking to a group of friends about the game.  

The audience also uses the game for diversity, they want to escape real life and go in to the game. From my previous response’s I got feedback which expressed how when you play the game you think you are in Starwars because of the music and how the game is constructed. Being able to escape into the game helps the audience use the game to escape real life problems and to relief stress and tensions. 

I personally use this game to help gratify my social integrative needs and to be tension free simply because I usually play this game on the Xbox one when my friends visit. Starwars battlefront is the game I normally just play with a friend when we want to play a video game because the game is fun and not serious. For example If i wanted to play a serious game I usually play a game with a interesting story line like border lands or tomb raider but starwars simply does not have a story line so its a good game to play with friends simply for entertainment and to be able to escape reality.  

Image Links
https://torajoypatrick.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/uses-and-gratifications-theory/
https://sdsujms408su2011gp4.wikispaces.com/Overview
http://www.ibtimes.com/star-wars-battlefront-has-no-single-player-campaign-thats-shame-2056838

HA8 Task 3 - Conclusion

During my research to define the audience profile for the game star wars: battle front. I have found some interesting information by using both secondary and primary research techniques including quantitative and qualitative methods.

Secondary
I began by starting with my secondary research.
 I used online forums, interviews, and articles so I could analyse each website to find research on the audience demographic. First, I started to research what the game original target audience is. Knowing what the original target audience is makes it much easier to try and defining who the current audience profile is. 

From my research I discovered that the target audience is the same audience that watched the star wars films. The star wars film franchise has been on for generations, resulting in a wide audience. 
The film audience is an audience for all ages; both young and old have watched the star war films. The general demographic which the game targeted included both genders, 12 – 50 year olds. Whilst doing my research I  found an articile which explained how a typical Star Wars fan is likely male, aged 18-44, watches science, history and horror TV shows and works in IT or legal. To attract more females into the video game audience, they created a female storm troopers which was thought to make the game look more gender diverse. Although I knew not every game meets their target audience.

Further into my research I came across how the game actually got a Pegi rating Of T which means that the game is only suitable for young teenagers and up. Having a Pegi Rating of T must have affected their target audience in a huge way. For instance they targeted for the same audience as the star war films however the film was rated a U which means universal – Anyone can watch it. 
The game originally wanted to attract an audience demographic of 12 – 50 year olds although the Pegi Rating is preventing the game getting audience the target age range. For instance the Pegi rating is only suitable for teenagers because it may contain violence. 
To keep the game audience age as young as possible the game was designed to be  ‘arcade Like’ for example there isn’t much violence and has simple, easy controlling which is Perfect for  young, casual gamers. But did this help attract the younger players? Whilst reading through several articles and forums I came across  a few complaints on the star wars: battlefronts audience.

 First I came across forums which  players complaining how the game online is too challenging because hard-core gamers are being too competitive, violent and using a lot of strategy which is ‘scaring’ away the younger audience. 
However I also came across forums where players was also complaining about the game being designed too  casual and is mainly focused on the younger players. Making the game too boring for hard-core players.

The mixed feedback I got back as a result from doing secondary method techniques just made it clear on what questions I should ask whilst doing my own primary research to get the best, effective answers which will define the audience profile. 
Once I finished analysing all the secondary research, I created some notes on how I can improve the information I know on the audience profile. First I knew that my feed back from the secondary research left me with a few questions on the demographic of the audience. For Instance, I wanted to know if the game was suitable for the younger players? what sort of players played the game? Did they achieve their target audience?. 
To answer these Questions I decided to do a online Questionnaire to ask the questions directly to the Game's audience. 

Primary From my primary research, most of my respondents who answered the Questionnaire are male and aged between 14 to 22 years old. Most of the respondents were still in education and used walking as their main transport, this could suggest that the audience is still ‘young’ enough to be in school/college or maybe it could suggest that their income will not be as much as a audience who are mostly employed. Having an audience who is mainly in education could result in less players purchasing from the game. 
In my online Questionnaires I decided to ask if the players noticed the women storm troopers and 60% of the respondents said they did not. Knowing that 60% of players did not notice the women storm troopers, Knowing this percentage makes it easier to estimate that a huge amount of players worldwide did not in fact notice the women storm troopers. I think this affected the amount of females playing this game and that is why males are the main demographic for this audience profile. 

When I analysed all my feedback I also released that the players who played the game were usually casual players who played the game all the time.
 Overall the feedback suggested that the players thought online can be a bit to competitive but it is more interesting than the missions although the participants explained how they thought missions were better for playing with their friends because of the atmosphere you got whilst playing co-op/split screen.  
When Asked if they thought the game was suitable enough for young players, 4 out of 5 respondents thought the game was actually suitable enough for the younger gamers because it does not involve blood/violence in the game and the game is easy enough to control. 

Overall the demographics for the audience are similar to the star wars audience although it did not fully reach the target audience profile. For example whilst doing my research I came up with quite a few theory’s on the demographic for the star wars battlefront audience, Now I have finally come to a conclusion. 
The Target audience profile is a demographic of mostly male players; they are casual players who are aged as young as 14 – 22 years old. Although it can statistically go up to age 35+. 
The audience is mostly a lower/middle working class who statically does not have a strong income. For example if the game audience was mostly players who are in a employment, they are more likely going to spend money on a game. Only 60% of my participants have watched the film so this made me think the demographics of the game audience can be similar to the starwars audience profile. 

Below you can see that I have created a short, simple presentation which explains my conclusion in a brief way.  I Created the presentation so i could use it as a elucidated example. It includes the different notes I found whilst using primary and secondary research and a small, simple conclusion. 

Audience Profile Conclusion

When doing the focus group and the questionnaires in task 2 I found out some vital information about star wars battlefronts audience Profile. I am going to do a brief explanation of who the audience is based on my research.

The audience profile based off my research;

Age? 
The audience profile includes different ages, ranging from teens to adults.

Gender? 
Males make up most of the audience. There are more male players than female players.

Highest education level? 
 Because the audience profile includes players of a various age the highest education level varies as well. In my feedback I had Education levels varying from GCSE to A levels.

Deposit income?
 Because most of the audience has some sort of education, a mass majority of them have a job. I decided to ask them was there deposit income was and the least I got was £80 to £600-700. This means that it is more likely for them to buy 'treats' like video games.
NRS social Grade?
 The Average Class is C2: Skilled workers. This means that the audience profile for star wars battle front has a special skill, training and knowledge. A skilled worker would have of attended a college, university or technical school.

 Geodemographics?
 From my feedback I got back that the mass majority of players who all play star wars battle front are from the same location. In my focus group I also found out that they do not think the location of the player will change what game they play. Most of my feedback came back that most of the audience which I profiled are 67% from Manchester and 33% are from Wigan. I think this means that star wars battlefront is spreading in the same location and is becoming really popular, for instance the players said they found out about the game by their friends, this is probably why a huge percentage of one location is part of the audience for star wars battlefront. 

Psychographics?
 Star wars battlefront audience profile is mostly Mainstream and Explorer.  This means that the audience for the game are independent, domestic, individual that has quite a bit of energy and likes adventure. The traits of being independent, domestic and likes adventure is probably why they play this game. Star wars battle front can be quite a competitive game and it is a FPS online game which quickly went popular.

Links
http://asplor.com/research-services/market-research-solutions/secondary-research
https://www.emaze.com/@ACWOLWQT/BFFC-Age-Ratings
https://www.quantcast.co.uk/blog/the-fans-behind-the-force/
https://prezi.com/ehcfqazavi5p/secondary/#

HA9 Task 3 - Conclusion

Introduction

In this task I am going to compare Task 1 and Task 2 to analyse what I found out about how the game addresses their player. In task 1 I did a deconstruction on star wars battlefront, to do this I structured the deconstruction into several sections; Genre description, Selection of content, Construction of content, Codes and conventions and Modes of address

Firstly I am going to do a brief explanation on what I found out from the deconstruction of the game and then I am going to explain what I found out from task 2 when I got responses of battlefronts audience.

Task 1- Deconstruction

Game genre

The official game genre for star wars battlefront is a first person and third person shooter. Although the game also involves a lot of action and is based around SCI-FI; just like the movie franchise star wars. The FPS genre tries and make the game as realistic as possible, for instance they might include footsteps, breathing as well as additional sounds to make the game sound as real as possible. This means the game itself is addressing the player as if they were the actual character within the game which will help create a personal connection from the player to the game.

Selection of content

The content in the game is extremely detailed and has a sort of 'polished' modern Sci-Fi appearance. And there isn’t much use of bright colours in the game; this is mostly because they wanted a more tensed, modern sci-fi look. Because of this battlefront has captured the same unique star wars feeling you got whilst watching the films. They have added TIE-fighters, thermals and lightsaber's into the content of the game to add more of a fantasy, sci-fi feel.

Construction Of content

The content in star wars battlefront is constructed in a certain way so it can address its wide range of audience. For example star wars battlefront has attracted the usual players who play action and FPS as well as an audience with different ages and the typical audience who watch the star wars movies. To address an audience this big, the game content had to be constructed in an effective way.

Battlefront does not include single player and can only be played in multiplayer either online or in a local co-op (Split screen.). This means there is not really a story line in the game. The game missions consists of having 15 waves in total and in each wave the player has to fight storm troopers, AT-ST's and other enemies. There is also power ups involved in the game contents although the power up can be over-whelming, in fact even the most casual players can use the power up and defeat a wave. Other contents have been constructed to be 'casual' and 'easy'.  For example you don’t have to worry about collecting ammo because the guns have unlimited ammo and only get over heated and there is no penalty for dying. The game is so casual because it is addressing the younger audience and even though you are able to unlock weapons they are extremely easy to unlock and there are not many available. In fact the game is almost thin on its content, it’s lacking in depth and even though it is an entertaining FPS and is in fact trying to addressing a wide range of audience it is not a game that will satisfy hardcore.

Codes and conventions

Some of the codes and conventions for a FPS include good vs evil, collectables, and a strong focus on multiplayer and the genre usually involves guns, violence, and a hero persona.  Star wars battle front actually includes all of these codes and conventions for instance good vs evil is the player verse the storm troopers, the collectables include extra life and charge. Star wars battle front is also strongly focused on multiplayer because there is no single player available. Because the game has a mix of game genres it is still going to match some code and conventions for action and sci-fi. For instance the game also fits into some of the stereotype for the SCI-FI genre. These include; being in another world, having new technology, conflict between good and evil and futuristic elements.

Modes of the address

Battle front uses a formal mode of address and talks to the player as if they are the character and they are all communicating to each other. For instance if a player goes down the game will say "Player is down" to the rest of the players in a formal tone, almost like they are the actual character. It’s almost like the game is addressing the players in a mature way, it expects them to take the game serious. For instance when the game tells the player a wave is coming; it expects the players to prepare for the wave of enemies.

Task 2 - Audience response

In this section I am going to be analysing the response I got off my audience and using the response to deconstruct the game using the audience’s opinion and feedback.

Genre description

The game genres for star wars battle front are action because it’s a shooting game and is Sci-Fi because it’s set in space.

Selection of content

There is a lot in the game like tie fighters, laser cannons, light sabers, walkers, Rebels and different types of blasters. The sound in the game balances out the game by making you feel like you are in the space ship and you are in the actual game. There are different missions like there is different types survival, ones where you and your mate hold up their also co-op missions and fighting against each other. You can play the game in split screen so you can play it with your friends if you haven’t got the game console. Unlike in zombies, there is no penalty for dying or any re-spawn timer instead its straight back in to the battle which is more realistic. There isn’t any ammo because there’s a re-boost on the weapons.

Construction of content

I think it is constructed to be more of a casual game because there is no penalty for death or gore so it’s like it’s aimed at younger players. This is bad though because I understand why star wars wanted to attract a new generation to play star wars and watch star wars but I feel like the game didn’t hit the older generation and didn’t satisfy the older generation who watched star wars. I don’t think the game addresses hard core players because it’s aiming more for the hardcore fans of star wars because there isn’t much to unlock and there is no story line.

Codes and conventions

In a first person shooter you usually get to see more, there’s a lot in the game and the player is usually like a soldier. There is a bit of gore but it isn’t to gory because its child friendly like it’s still a bit gory because you see them and hear them dying. In a first person shooter you usually get to see more, there’s a lot in the game and the player is usually like a soldier. There is a bit of gore but it isn’t to gory because its child friendly like it’s still a bit gory because you see them and hear them dying. Star wars have a lot which we just mentioned its spacey, has different planets, futuristic guns, light sabers, small element of guns and gore but there isn’t no heads blowing off and no blood or anything like that, it is easy to use. I used to watch the films as a kid, my dad brought me up to think star wars was the one. When I play this game I don’t feel like this game is amazing, you feel like you are a part of star wars and apart of what you wanted to do when you were a kid watching the star wars movies.

Modes of address

The game talks to you in a formal way, it almost just gives you order and directions like 'officer we need help', enemies are attacking this and enemy’s attack that' or 'this place has been overrun' or even if a Jedi comes on the screen it alerts you. But it is all in little commands. It is in a formal way but it is weird because it’s stern and soft. You can tell it’s giving you an order but again it is being used in a friendly way almost like it is aiming at little kids. Sometimes you even hear a female and when you thinking of shooting games you think of military and a Sergeant screaming down the microphone but instead it’s more calm and collected.

Comparison

By looking at both of the tasks it’s easy to compare what I found out whilst doing the deconstruction in task one and the audience response in task 2. For instance, both of the information is quite similar.

The game genre, construction, code and conventions and so on from task 1 do match the audience’s response. For example, I mentioned how the game is a First and third person shooter, have action, Sci- Fi and match most of the code and conventions which are in both game genres. For instance first person shooter common code and conventions are good vs evil, Hero persona, collectables, guns, violence and in both tasks it explains how star wars battle front uses these code and conventions in the game.

For example in task 2 the audience explained how there is a bit of gore in the game but it isn’t extremely gory because it’s a child friendly game although it’s gory enough to satisfy them because you see and hear the enemies dying. Star wars has a lot of code and conventions which matches both sci-fi and First person shooter for instance according to the audience response it matches these code and conventions because its spacey, has different planets, futuristic guns, light sabers, has a small element of guns and gore but there isn’t no heads blowing off and no blood or anything like that so it is still suitable for younger players.

Once you understand the games genre, contents and code and convections etc. It is easier to understand how the game addresses its players. For example Star wars battlefront tires and address the player like they are the actual character in the game, First person perspective will allow the player to see what the character sees and feels which connects the player to the game in a more emotional and personal way.

The game also addresses the player in a calm, formal, friendly, stern address for instance if the game is speaking to the player it will speak to the player in a calm, friendly way but it will also talk to the player like they are the character in a mature, collective, stern way. The game addresses younger audiences by making sure the game is not to inappropriate for the younger ages for instance there isn’t much violence or gore and the game does give orders in a calm way and not in a sergeant, screaming tone of voice. Having common code and conventions from the game genres help address the players which are there for that specific genre for instance if a player is playing star wars battlefront for the action then the player is going to expect violence, hero persona, collectables etc so having the most common codes and conventions in the game will help satisfy the players which come for the specific game genre. For instance if the player used to be a star wars fan then they are going to expect lightsaber’s, rebels, storm troopers and more. Which I do think they did because one of the audience from battlefront expressed how much he used to love the movies and how the game is what he wished for when he was younger.

 'I used to watch the films as a kid, my dad brought me up to think star wars was the one. When I play this game I don’t feel like this game is amazing, you feel like you are a part of star wars and apart of what you wanted to do when you were a kid watching the star wars movies. '