HA12 – The Greatest Genre Ever!

To me the best genre is action adventure. Action adventure not only combines with nearly all genres making it ideal for the majority of players, most of them have a hugely immersive storyline and world for the players to engross themselves in.






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Crackdown 2 is a great example of action adventure. Its highly intriguing storyline and gam world keep the player on their toes with many different activities for the player to participate in when not contributing to the main storyline. 

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The Fable trilogy is a highly addicting and captivating storyline. Its world contains many different locations which require the player to spend time away from the main objectives and explore the world. Like a lot of action adventure games there are many different methods to customise the playable character allowing the play to delve deeper into the game world.

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There are a massive number of action adventure games which are combined with the fantasy genre, Skyrim is one of the many which I find most immersive. Its minimalistic HUD allows me to concentrate less on stats and more on the world which is what this genre is all about. 

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Every action adventure game has its differences. For the players who love a challenge equally as much as they like the immersion into a game Dark Souls is a brilliant choice. Like all action adventure games its backed up with a detailed law and world, not to mention the vast amount of freedom the player is given. This game like a selection of others only allows players to explore the world based on their progress through the story and their own ability to play. 

With this I conclude that the key features to any action adventure game is the immersion into that the world which the player is able to achieve, the law and storyline, this is great for variation with the fact the genre combines with nearly any other.

HA11 Pavlov's Dogs Task 2 - Effects Debate

Effects Debate

There have been many different studies and experiments to find out whether violence in video games can lead towards higher aggressive tendencies in young game players. The media focus solely of the face that simply having violence in a game can cause these aggressive behaviors, and not the reasons for the violence to be used in the game e.g. defeating aliens. This causes more people to simply accept that this as a fact. 

In my opinion violence in video games can cause higher aggressive tendencies but only to a certain extent. As a frequent player of violent games I find myself constantly immersed into the game world whatever game it is, this allows me to feel more part of the world and depending on how violent the game is I must make choices and decisions which have highly violent outcomes. It is also human nature to have a violent side which is covered and hidden away by society so its hard;y surprising that we can have aggressive acts. Violent video games allows us to stream all of this as well as providing a place for us to take out our anger whenever we need to instead of hurting others, we are able to hurt non exiting individuals generated by code. 

It seems a puzzle to me why people hate video games for containing violence when they are much happier to watch a film containing violence such as Rambo. The fact that the player is able to behave violently themselves is the reason for this even though the rating system is much more restricted than films not to mention the fact that it is not always the player of the game whom has purchased it. Parents of children and teenagers often buy the game for their child only to turn around and say that it is highly innapropriate for the companies to add violence; sex and drug usage. 

A large amount of  people exposed to games with lots of sex; drug and violence appeal are desencitised to them, meaning that they are not as bothered by seeing actual acts of violence. I personally am decensitised by violence and some of the most gruesome things in films such as the Saw franchise and the video game trilogy Dead space do not bother me compared to people who haven't had the free will to commit to acts of violence in a virtual world even though those same levels of violence are not achievable in the vast majority of video games. 

On the other hand, granted violence in video games has its negative effects, but it is a much more serious issue when it relates to young children. although there is violence in games such as Mario and Sonic which is a highly simplified level of violence such as jumping on the head of an enemy and they vanish. It is the parents whom can buy children games such as Splinter cell for their young child. This allows children to access all sorts of violent games which can be unhealthy for their young developing minds. The issue with this is that the parent is of suitable age to purchase the game and so there is no evidence or authority for the seller to forbid the buying parent or adult from purchasing it, before giving it to the child.

leading to my conclusion that the debate pin whether violence in video games is bad for players is unable to be concluded as there will always be so many different factors that will change as well as new factors springing up such as the player's background and what mental health issues they may or may not have, not to mention the fact that different people are more susceptible to what they see in games and TV to others.    

HA11 Pavlov's Dogs Task 1 - Glossary

Glossary

The Hypodermic Needle Model

The hypodermic needle theory is that we are all susceptible to mass media propaganda. It suggests that as a passive audience, we all surpass to what we see and hear from media products like the radio and the TV. It is a theory devised in the 1920s but is dismissed by the majority of people however it doesn't stop parents e.t.c from worrying about the influence their children will receive from certain shows and especially video games.

This video gives a brief insight to the theory.

The Inoculation Model

The inoculation model is the theory that people's ideas and beliefs can change over time and why they do so. It also explains about how people's ideas can be stopped from changing when faced with persuasion. Another name for this is brain washing. This theory was first devised at the end of the Korean war when a group of captured American soldiers did not want to return when the chance was there for them.  

The Two-Step Flow Model

The two step flow model was introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld; Bernard Barelson and Hazel Gaudet. It is the theory of how information from a single source is changed depending on who has spread it. For example, the media releases a news article which is read by a small number of people. Those people would then pass on their interpretation to their family members and the cycle continues. This leads to the fact that a simple piece of information can be interpreted differently by different people which is then passed on to people they know.

The Uses & Gratifications Theory

This theory suggests that media audiences are not passively viewing contents, and in fact use it to fulfill their needs. This applies highly towards advertisements. Not every advertisement works on every viewer. A product such as lipstick would not apply to a man whereas aftershave would. This is due to the manufactures making the adverts to apply to a specific audience. Put simply if you don't find the advertised product enticing, the product isn't aimed at you.

The Reception Theory   

The reception theory is the theory that hidden messages placed into a film or similar product can be picked up by the viewing audience. This can be done via character dialogue or specific actions within the product however the viewers must constantly bee reminded of this hidden message.                                                                                                                                                    

HA10 Tailor Made Task 4 - Conclusion

Conclusion

HA10 Tailor Made Task 3 - Questionnaire

Questionnaire

HA10 Tailor Made Task 2 - Deconstruction

Deconstrution

HA10 Tailor Made Task 1 - Glossary

Glossary

Media Text

A media text is any product which can be looked at and discussed like a film or a TV series. They can be discussed in the ways it is different from other forms of media text such as a book or a song but also how they are similar to these different text types. 

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of meanings and the making of the meanings. Semiotics os a tying that is used for communication as they can be used as signs. These range from facial expressions and music to clothes to gestures.

Genre

Genre is the categorisation of any media product such as a film; TV show and even video games. It is used to separate the products by their content. an example of this in films is Western to Horror. THese two are separated by the fact that their contents is completely different from one another however multiple genres can be used to categorise a single product such as Sci-fi and horror. 

Selection of content

The internet content selection platform is a group that creates rating systems to rate the information of web based content. This gives parents and teachers the assistance to decide what their children and students are able to access on the internet. 

Construction of content

The media – television, the press and online – play a central role in communicating to the public what happens in the world. In those cases in which audiences do not possess direct knowledge or experience of what is happening, they become particularly reliant upon the media to inform them. That is not to say that the media simply tell us what to think – people do not absorb media messages uncritically (Philo, 2008; Philo, Miller, & Happer, in press). But they are key to the setting of agendas and focusing public interest on particular subjects, which operates to limit the range of arguments and perspectives that inform public debate.

http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/96/37

Codes and conventions

Codes and conventions are used in every media product. there are two types of codes, technical and symbolic. Codes are a system of signs that are used to create meaning within the media text. Technical codes are the ways that equipment is used to tell the story of a media text such as the camera work in a film or TV show. Symbolic codes show what is under the surface of what can be seen, such as the feeling of a character in a film when they perform a certain action.

Modes of address

Modes of address is the way that the media gets the attention if the audience, how magazines are shown to the audience for example. There are formal and informal modes an example of a formal mode would be a classical music or theatre magazine, and an informal mode would be a sports magazine.