Understand How media Audiences Respond To Media Products

Understand How Media Audiences Respond To Media Products

Audience Response and Behaviour



https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XYXMR62

(My Survey)

Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York took many tests to determine whether or not video games effect people’s behaviour. The researchers tested dozens of 18- to 25-year-olds who were not ordinarily video-gamers, splitting them into two groups. This is so that they can get a look how different people react to playing two different types of games, the first group were told to play adrenalin-packed action games such as Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament, in which participant’s dash around online arenas shooting each other. The second group were given The Sims 2, a more sedate, strategy-based game that mimics the pace of everyday life, this will allow to see if there a positives from playing two different genres and if they have a positive or negative effect on the player. "Scientists discovered that those who had trained on the action games made decisions 25 per cent faster than their counterparts. They also answered just as many questions correctly as their strategy game-playing peers." this proves that the people playing action shoot em' up games actually make better quick decisions.

So far the results are showing that many people enjoy violent games and also no one said they don't like violent games which suggests that it is a popular game genre, there have been many people who have had an experience where the game they were playing or watched was shocking or was a surprise in a bad way. This goes to show that even if people have a bad experience they will still play the genre or game because there is something about it that they enjoy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, had a mission called ‘No Russians’. This is an airport mission where CIA Agent Allen, under an alias called Alexei Borodin, is undercover and has to massacre civilians in an airport. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NMnnMRWJ-0 this was a very controversial part of the game and even made it onto the news around the world despite this the Call Of Duty makers kept it in the game but put in a message which would allow the player to play or not play the mission in the game which I believe was a good decision as this adds to the story in the game and this explains why the war started/ how it started.

Has a violent scene in a game ever surprised you? If so what game? "Occasionally, to give an example I would have to say the implied sex scene between Big Boss and Paz in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. She also gets raped in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes which is played on a cassette tape which I wasn't expecting." I found this a really good answer because not only did it go into good detail but it also gives a more personal feel to it and it allows you to understand what impact it may have on someone. "Tell-tale the walking dead season 3 episode 5 I think? A man called "carver" is beaten to death with a crowbar to the head, although I didn't play the game myself I watched a YouTube video."  This again shows the person has experienced something that genuinely surprised them and lets you imagine how they might have felt. "I have never been surprised or shocked with any scenes within a video game.” "No. Violence does not bother me in games" some people do not get effected by games and this shows in this answer which shows that people may be exposed to be used to different things. "Yes the scene in Bioshock where Andrew Ryan is killed with a golf club is quite sudden and disturbing." "Yes, it was the torture scene in GTA V" "A little, COD 5 world at war. opening scene the Japanese soldiers torture a us soldier in front of you." this does tell us that it is quite common that people are surprised by some parts in games and if it happens to a main character then it may effect people more. 

Effects Debate

This is something that has been going on for a long time and this is debating whether or not violence effects people in video games, there has been apparent evidence to support and to disprove this so it is a topic that is locked in a non-moving debate. A key point that has been raised with gaming is that it makes people more violent which has no proof that it does or doesn't so it's an ongoing battle to find out if it does or doesn't. There will always be people who see games as being bad for you and there will always be people who see games as harmless and just there for fun and the anger stays in the game not effecting you once you leave the gaming zone.

Passive or Active Consumption
A passive consumption is when the audience doesn’t engage or question the games message/story but just accepts it. This can sometimes lead to games being poor or not being corrected in the sequel so it is highly important to speak you mind and let the developers know what's wrong with the game.

An active consumption is when the audience will engage and discuss what the game portrays to them and sometimes question the messages portrayed to the audience/player. This is a better way of letting the developers know what's wrong with the game and sometimes solution offers are useful and are considered more helpful than just criticising the game


Responses

This will let people know what their audience wants and would expect to be in the game. This lets the people get a gauge of how old there audience is and what they are most likely to be into at that age. This will give an indication of who and what type of people will buy or play the game and so this allows the people who make the games more aware of what is available and so this will be able to let people explore new games. In one of my questions where I asked if you had ever been shocked or surprised by a violent scene in a video game and I currently have 13 responses with 7 of them saying they have never experienced something that has shocked them or surprised them and so this leaves 6 people which have been shocked or surprised by something to some extent this shows that these six people may be more sensitive to violence in games where the other 7 might find it harder to be shocked which could suggest they have been open to more terms of violence than others.

This could suggest that many of the players who aren't scared could have anger at games but in my survey I only got 1 person who said they often rage at games where as 4 people said they don't but 8 people said they do sometimes so this tells me that people are still the same where it takes a certain situation to make them get a certain temper so this can suggest that anger is not effected during gaming. Although this could suggest that I also had a question which asked if people preferred violent games and my responses where 6 said that they did and 7 people said sometimes with a big 0 saying no so this could counter argument saying people that play violent games and are not going to change overnight but over a long process which has not been proven wrong or true so it again would only be used a speculation.

Concerning peoples favourite game the most two common mentioned games were Battlefield and Bioshock and so this could give a small indication that people are playing games that are violent but definitely not the most violent which to many could be seen as a positive. The two games have a few titles to their franchise but it is important to make sure that people don't get the wrong impression but as well as making sure the games are entertaining which I think happens with most games. This then allowed me to see how old people are who took my survey and it showed that most people were 18 or younger but still played 18+ games which shows that most of them have not been effected by the content, only two people who took my test were 19+ and again this shows that even though they have been open  to the content it has not effected them that much but even they have been surprised by the content or scene in one game and that can cause people above the age to be shocked which could suggest that the age should maybe raised for certain games that contain scenes that can affect people of the correct age. One of the closer questions was has a game ever influenced you and it had 6 people say yes and 7 people say no so this could be seen as a problem for people playing high certificated games which could lead them to doing something or behaving in a way they wouldn't normally behave but again there is no proof of this and sometimes it can be seen as just pretending which is normally seen in kids and so sometimes it can be meant in a playful way and would not cause distress to others. So even though people are influenced by games I see it as more as a fan way and is not under the influence they are in the game or perceive life as a video game.