Thursday, 17 October 2013

task 4- Analysis of a game

Simulation Games!!!!!!


Simulation games show that they mimic a process or an action in a way that feels almost natural to the player. Decisions in these games are usually based upon the players instincts such as in the game, the player can either let the character starve of hunger or not shower or not sleep its up to the player which ever feels normal and the gameplay is normally more about the actual player responses or tactics involved.



With racing games and sport simulation games and a lot of Wii games using the use of controller to help make an even more realistic way of playing the games, however nowadays games like The Sims, farm simulator and goat simulator are deteriorating and are barely ever developed as they are not that popular in today’s world as most of today’s games tend to be story line driven. In doing this a game such as the ‘Sims’ was able to create a somewhat interactive story as they put into the game a heavy customisation as well as paths for the character to follow this makes the game have somewhat of s interactive storyline.



Something that near enough every single process simulation games have in common, no matter how old they may be is that they are usually viewed in a top down manner or a omnipresence multiple perspective. This is where the game SimAnt comes into play this game was made in 1991 on the PC and this game was a top down game where you could see pixels and then you can zoom in giving you multiple perspectives of the ants.







On the other hand process simulation games are the most convincing and more long and twisted in the terms of the actual gameplay however to modern games they are more typically mind set on a linear storyline.




Bibliography 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimAnt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_simulation#The_Simulation_Gaming_Process
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sims

Thursday, 10 October 2013

Creating Products for Audiences

Genre

Genre means the style of a certain category such as art, music, or literature. This term applies to video games as it sorts out video games into different categories such as FPS (First Person Shooter), Sports, RPG (Role playing game), or MMO (Massive Multi-player online game). so in the major games such as Fifa and Call of Duty, the term genre puts Call of Duty into a FPS genre and the game Fifa in the sports category. 

Content
Content means that you are satisfied. This term can be applied into video games as it shows how satisfied with the game the person who playing it is like if they are happy with playing the game, this can be judge on how the game looks such as the lighting colouring and the texture to the maps.

Construction
Construction means the structure of how a media based product works, therefore in terms of a video game this will refer mainly to its final build, how the game is set up and most importantly how the game plays.

Narrative conventions
Narrative conventions means the form, plot, time frame and the characterisation. These all make up Narrative conventions as well as other things. Basically it is the basis for the story and how its built up.


Common Codes
Common codes means the components involved in creating the media product and how they interact to each other.



The Last Of Us

Genre: 3D, Action Adventure, Horror

Content: (Font: Broken, worn, lifeless) (Environment: Desolate, lifeless and overgrown) (Story: Likable, involving, deep)

Construction: (User Interface: HUD - Heads Up Display, injury indicator)

Narrative Conventions: Hopelessness, loneliness, desperation, eeriness, post-apocalypse, fungal infection, journey.

Common Codes: Third person, Shooter and Survival

Just Dance

Genre: Rhythm, Party

Content: (Font: Effect, stands out, energetic) (Environment: Up-beat, flashy, over the top and luminous)

Construction: (HUD: Interactive)

Narrative Conventions: Party, good times

Common Codes: Joyful, energetic, upbeat, lively and animated.


Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Task 2- Audience Resources

The hypodermic needle model

the hypodermic needle is also known as the hypodermic syringe and is a form of communication suggesting that an intended message is directly received and fully accepted by the receiver. although this reaction only exist as a short term effect, this is a passive theory not a active theory.

for example within the game 'manhunt' there were various scenes in the game like walking up to a person and putting a plastic bag over their heads to suffocate them or hitting someone over the head with a baseball bat with nails in it. this game got banned in so many countries as people went round actually doing what they have seen in the game.

The inoculation model


This theory shows that the longer an audience gets influenced and exposed to a certain sort of media message, the audience starts to get immune to the media message. In video game, its shows that various forms of violence methods is dealing with an in game enemy over a long period of time becomes less interesting and less shocking towards the player that is playing it.


This theory ‘inoculation theory states that to avoid persuasion it is needed to tighten pre-existing attitudes, beliefs or opinions, firstly the receiver must be warned of an imminent attack. This then inaugurates recognition of vulnerability and starts to make defences to future attacks. This means, the idea is when a weak argument is presented in the inoculation message their process of refutation will prepare for stronger persuasion later. It is critical that the attack is strong enough to keep the receiver defensive, but weak enough to not actually change those pre-existing ideas.




the two-step flow model

This theory asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content. The term ‘personal influence’ was coined to refer to the process intervening between the media’s direct message and the audience’s ultimate reaction to that message. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviours and are quite similar to those they influence. The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass media influence decision making. The theory refined the ability to predict the influence of media messages on audience behavior, and it helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes an behavior. The two-step flow theory gave way to the multi-step flow theory of mass communication or diffusion of innovation theory.

http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Levels%20of%20theories/macro/Two-Step%20Flow%20Theory/


The uses and gratifications

it is known that there is lots of different audiences across the planet and that a persona will seek out information for many different purposes, these can be listed in to 3 things

personal identity
integration and social interaction
entertainment

personal identity
this is when people compare their own values with similar roles and values that have been represented in the media for example buying call of duty because on of your friends have told you to get it and you go get it and you don't like the game so you ave wasted your money.

integration and social interaction

establishing with others and gaining the sense of belonging with others. it also helps to connect with family,friends and other people in the world,so basically having a substitute for real-life companionship. this can be through hearing the radio all day long for company or like a social media like Twitter. 

entertainment

Is basically why you play games do you play games for a sense of fantasy by escaping from the real world being diverted into it. people might play games for relaxation either they had a very stressful day at work or even some people will play games to fill the time gap if hey had spare time to waste they may go and have a couple of games on fifa to pass the time.

The Reception Theory


Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text.  It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models. This is split up into 3 different parts;

Dominant or sometimes called hegemonic reading is where the reader shares the text’s doe and accepts and repeats the preferred reading (a reading which may not have been the result of any conscious intention on the part of the author) in such a great stance the code seems a lot more natural and transparent.

Negotiated reading is where the reader will partly share the text’s code and broadly accept the preferred reading however sometimes resists and modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests however this position involves a lot of contradictions.


Oppositional or sometimes called counter-hegemonic reading this is basically where the readers, whose social circumstances places them in a directly oppositional relation to dominate the code and this makes the reader understand the preferred reading but does not share the texts code and rejects this reading, thus bringing to bear an alternative frame of reference.


Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Task 1 - Defining Audiences

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is when a small company uses survey and questionnaires to help them improve their products and services to their chosen customers by enabling them with their informed decisions. It is mainly about asking people around an area for their opinions in a structured way mainly by questionnaires to produce hard facts and statistics to guide the companies to improve. Small companies ask people in large numbers and mainly in a heavily populated area, this makes the survey unbiased and fair. The reason why companies do market research is to make sure they gather enough data to make their product.

An example of this is from mass effect 2: Mass Effect 2 stats in September

 Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is very opinionated and informal because the people that you are asking can say whatever they want to say and they are not speaking to anyone in a formal way because they are being surveyed, also qualitative research can ask a range of questions and then collects word data from the people that they have asked and then the researcher looks for some similarities and specifies the information in themes and patterns to the certain set of participants.

An example of qualitative research that was produced by a game review company in the gaming industry


‘Dark Souls is an extraordinary role-playing game that transports you to an awesome and menacing world you may never forget. 9.5/10’

 Audience Research

Audience research is conducted by companies to get feedback from the players and this information that they gather will help them improve a game, also they will be able to find ou what the players thought of the game or either what the next game should be like or an add on to the game should be like. Audience research is a great way for developers and publishers of the gaming industry to listen to the players as well as co-operate with them and it will give them a better chance of success with a game or add-on that they make. Some developers and publishers communicate with their fans of their games by setting up pages on Facebook and Twitter, to help get their audience research.
This is a link to audience research http://www.iabuk.net/blog/10-uk-video-game-audience-stats

Target audience is also a way of profiling your audience as it is a written and detailed assessment of your customers’ appearances and behaviour. This information falls into two main categories; demographics and psychographics.

Demographics are statistical data connecting to the population and particular groups within it, this is most commonly used demographic is demographic variables this includes a various amount of information such as; age, gender, occupation, location, income and education level.


Psychographics are the analysis of the consumers’ lifestyle and this helps to create a detailed customer profile. Market researchers carry out psychographic research by asking consumers to agree or disagree with activities, interests, opinions statements. The results of these exercises  are combined with geographic (the place of where the consumer lives or works) and a demographic (the age, education occupation, etc…) characteristics this helps to develop a more lifelike representation of the targeted consumer section.

bibliography:
http://www.destructoid.com/mass-effect-2-player-choice-statistics-are-surprising-188362.phtml
http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/market-research/what-is-quantitative-research- http://jakemissing.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/research-in-the-industry-2-2/
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/psychographics.html 

http://www.iabuk.net/blog/10-uk-video-game-audience-stats