VIDEO GAMES

COMPONENT 1, SECTION B 

HETEROSEXUAL MALE AUDIENCE
NOTHING TARGETED TOWARDS WOMEN
INNUENDOS ASSUME THE AUDIENCE WILL BE OLD ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND
ASSUMES WOMEN DON'T WANT TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES
DISTRACTION/HOBBY

WHAT IS A VIDEO GAME?

• require a console
• target a core/niche audience
• interactive
• typically played by younger audience
• much more complicated narratives
• faced with many problems (disequilibrium)
• often an online component
• much higher RRP
• significantly longer length

The assumption that if you play too many video games you will become violent is an example of the hypodermic needle model.

THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES

• first game - 1962, Space War, developed in USA, experiment, simulator 
• in 1962 computers were huge, made them impractical, only in labs 
• Space Invaders - 1979, Japanese, developed by Taito, arcade game, extremely popular, technology still didn't allow to play video games at home
• American arcade boom - Atari and Nintendo began creating games, centipede in full colour
• Micros in Uk - micro computers, bedroom coding, video games becoming more affordable at home
• huge amount of genres - people making them up as they made them at home (typically teenage boys)
• video game crash - 1980's, Atari buried millions of E.T. video games in landfill to get rid of them
• Japanese imports - Dragon Quest, role-play game
• Japanese console boom - 1986, SuperMario Bros, NES console, most successful video game ever made, marketing specifically towards kids, sound effects
• Street Fighter - 1991, very popular in arcades, female character that became popular
• Sony Playstation 1 - 1994, interesting marketing technique, uses reverse psychology, satire, makes fun of idea that video games make you stupid
• indie games - made by small development teams, cheap
• AAA game (major games) - takes thousands of people to make
• controversies surrounding representation and production methods - exploitation and 'male gaze'
• digital distribution - downloads

SPECIALISED INDUSTRY (POSSIBLY THE MOST SPECIALISED)

ASSASSINS CREED 3 - LIBERATION

• published by Ubisoft in 2012 for Playstation Vita 
• 2 years later it was HD re-released for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360

Trailer

https://youtu.be/q5RxYUw4DFY

How does this trailer target a specialised and a generalised audience?

• black, female protagonist/ avatar - subverts the expectation that the target for video games in young heterosexual males
• "new missions" - appealing to audience that have already played the game, spend more money, 'double-dipping'
• re-released on more popular consoles - gives more people access to it, originally didn't sell very well on PS Vita, multi-platform release, mass audience
• tackles big ideological issues about race, slavery and colonialism - pushes boundaries, increases word of mouth sales
• intertextual reference to Django Unchained (2012) - cult film, slavery in antebellum America
• high quality animation, graphics, soundtrack, locations - has high production values
• shares conventions of high budget Hollywood film - non-diegetic voiceover/narration, lots of action and proairetic codes, orchestral soundtrack connotes high quality
• all games have similar iconography and themes - creates recognisable brand image, know it will make money

The sales for Assassins Creed 3 Liberation did not meet the expectations, therefore, it was re-released.

The story was criticised, and only got average reviews.

It is going to be re-released a second time as it is an easy way to make money. 

600,000 copies sold on PS Vita, underperformed. 

REGULATION - PEGI

Pan European Game Information

Ages range from 3-18

Don't refer to the level of difficulty 

It is legal for someone under the age of 18 to buy a PEGI 18

Advisory classification system

The regulation of video games has never been effective 

PROMOTION

Within my research i noticed that there is a very specific iconography presented within all of the promotional materials.

It's really hard to differentiate between the different games and the franchise. One of the criticisms of the franchise - It's  oversaturated. All of the games are very similar and not that distinguishable

There are certain items of merch that will only appeal to a niche audience (e.g. assassins creed backpack)

AUDIENCE THEORIES - FANDOM - HENRY JENKINS

What happens when you play too many video games?

• your attitude and opinions change
• you become stupid
• lose out on social interaction - becoming anti social

HYPERDERMIC NEEDLE MODEL - AUDIENCE IS PASSIVE - ASSUMES AUDIENCE IS MINDLESS - NEGATIVE THEORY. 

Video games are universally violent and violence is presented as the only way of solving things.  CULTIVATION THEORY - GEORGE GERBNER   

MORAL PANIC  an event is over exaggerated to create fear within the public

If we see violence over and over again we become desensitised to it

preferred - violence is acceptable, binary opposition between good and evil (simplified world), women are just as able as men, anti-slavery
negotiated - agree with anti-slavery message, but don't agree with violence and find it boring
oppositional - violence shouldn't be used to solve problems

LORE  the story behind video games, story lines that are not apparent 

The Silver Case - how is it atypical?

• mostly narrative
• intertextual reference to Pokemon 
• lack of structure and gameplay - argument that it's not even a videogame
• no continuity 
• sound effects criticised but not taken off - don' care about audience
• excessive strong language  

CLAY SHIRKY
END OF AUDIENCE THEORY

• audiences are no longer passive
• we interact with producers and media products
• we are part of the marketing/product

Death Stranding (unreleased)

No release date
His games often break the rules - eccentric 
Kojima Productions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QyElGLGrn0

• he is creating an audience 
• intentionally weird iconography lacks genre conventions 
• many invitations for active audiences to create 'fan theories'
• however, this can be disappointing for audiences do not get what they expect
• famous Hollywood actors, high production values
• Sony funded means extremely expensive and likely to fail, in exchange for exclusivity 
• Immersive array of shot types, audience positioned directly with players, single take is exceptionally hard to achieve in film, made possible with CG
• audience doesn't understand what is going on, have to go onto the internet to discuss