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/