Unit 6 Assignment 3 Document

In this assignment, I will be talking about the audience theory and wording it in relation to
my video I produced back in Units 72 and 78, which was an extension to the Super Mario
Bros games series, Super Mario Cousins. In the second section of this assignment, the
Effects Debates is where I will choosing a First Person Shooter (FPS) video games and
covering all the headings in the Effects Debate section in relation to the FPS game I will be
choosing. The First person shooter game I will be writing about in the section of this
assignment is Counterstrike Global Offensive, (CSGO).
Audience Theory

Hypodermic Needle Model:

The Hypodermic Need Model theory is a model of communications suggesting that an
intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model was
originally rooted in 1930s behaviourism and largely considered obsolete for a long time,
while big data analytics based mass customization has led to a modern revival of the basic
idea.
When talking about the Hypodermic needle theory in relation to my video game I created
back in units 72 and 78 I believe that there is no Hypodermic needle theory integrated into
the characters of my video game or in the storyline of the game. Also the video game as a
whole and in general I do not believe there is any aspect of the Hypodermic needle theory in
it at all.
I think this because the video game I created was targeted at quite a young audience but
since that, the Super Mario games are such a classic game they have quite a large teenage /
adult audience too. Therefore, it is extremely obvious that the Hypodermic needle theory
simply just wouldnt word in the this game it has such a wide aged target audience and
focus group that of course all of the audience are not going to be level headed and see /
think the same thing about the game. For example a 7 year old will have a lot more different
thoughts when playing this game in comparison to a people who are between the ages of
20-50 who has also played all the past Super Mario Bros series.
 Uses and Gratifications Theory Passive or Active Consumption:
Uses and gratifications theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively
seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-cantered approach to
understanding mass communication. It assumes that audience members are not passive
consumers of media. Rather, the audience has power over their media consumption and
assumes an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. Unlike
other theoretical perspectives, UGT holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media
to meet their desires and needs to achieve gratification .
The Gratification Theory start to being introduce in the early 1940s, researchers began
seeing patterns under the perspective of the uses and gratifications theory in radio listeners.
Early research was concerned with topics such as children's use of comics and the absence
of newspapers during a newspaper strike. An interest in more psychological interpretations
emerged during this time also, which made these type of media theories more popular to
get a message across to the viewers / public.

Active Consumption:
An active consumption is when the audience will engage and discuss media messages that
comes across to them and sometimes question the media messages through life
experiences. Others may see the message in a different way or question it, by doing this the
audience will not be as suggestible to tell them what to think. Shows like Question Time
like to get politicians and journalists on the show to discuss worldwide issues and domestic
issues. The audience who ask the questions are more active due to the deep discussions
they have with the panel than people sitting at home are. However, people at home can
interact with Tweeter with the panellists and create debates, so Home viewers become less
suggestible and more active as they can get involved in debates.
A passive consumption is also when the audience doesn't engage or question the media
message but just accepts it, this what media outlets want to achieve when making a film or
show as they want to view to except and not question.
Passive Consumption:

A passive consumption is when the audience doesnt engage or question the media message
but just accepts it, this what media outlets want to achieve when making a film or show as
they want to view to except and not question. To get the audience into a state the story has
to be believable, it does not need to realistic as that would make it boring and unrealistic
would not look good at all.
When looking into the game I created in units 72 and 78 to see if the audience playing it
would be an Active or a Passive consumption audience, I strongly believe that my game is
and would stay as a Passive consumption video game.
I think this because people only play Super Mario if they are fans of the game and do not
really question any of the story line because this is a game, which they are a big fan of for
many years.

Reception Study:
Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes each
particular reader's reception or interpretation in making meaning from a literary text.
Reception theory is generally referred to as audience reception in the analysis
of communications models. In literary studies, reception theory originated from the work
of Hans-Robert Jauss in the late 1960s, and the most influential work was produced during
the 1970s and early 1980s in Germany and the US, with some notable work done in other
Western European countries.
According to Harold Marcuse, reception history / reception study theory is the history of the
meanings that have been imputed to historical events. It traces the different ways in which
participants, observers, historians and other retrospective interpreters have attempted to
make sense of events both as they unfolded and over time since then, to make those events
meaningful for the present in which they lived and live.
In relation to my video game, I believe that there could be at least a few different
interpretations of my Super Mario Cousins video game because of huge age gap between
the target audience and focus groups of this video game. For example, a child at the age of 7
years old who is a huge fan of Super Mario would be so much more influential compared to
an older teenager or young adult who is a lot more mature and has real life responsibilities
when a 7 year old does not really.
Video games like this with such large target age audience gaps and where the focus groups
is young children but since the game is such a well-known classic game there is also a huge
target audience for adults too. So this is where companies need to be careful because these
games have huge influences on younger children, definitely more influence on the younger
end of the target age in comparison to the higher end of their target age audience.

Effects Debates:
The First Person Shooter, (FPS) game I will be talking about in this section of Unit 6
Assignment 3 is Counterstrike Global Offensive, (CSGO). The game pits two teams against
each other: the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists. Both sides are tasked with eliminating
the other while also completing separate objectives, the Terrorists, depending on the game
mode, must either plant the bomb or defend the hostages, while the Counter-Terrorists
must prevent the bomb from being planted or to rescue the hostages. There are six game
modes, all of which have distinct characteristics specific to that mode. Global
Offensive has matchmaking support that allows players to play on dedicated Valve servers,
as well as allowing custom maps and game modes via community servers. Global
Offensive has a competitive scene, with Valve-sponsored tournaments, known as the
Majors, being the premier competitive event for the game.
 Effects of Exposure to Explicit Sexual or Violent Content:
There has always a huge controversy and debate about whether people playing video games
that include explicit sexual or violent content effect the players in a way in where explicit
sexual or violent act are the kind of crimes they will commit because the video games that
they are playing with Explicit sexual and violent content are influencing them to commit
these crimes.
These days so many games are considered Explicit over years and gradually over the years, I
believe that the video games audience and parents of children who play video games have
become a lot more lenient with the type of games they let their children play. An example of
this is I remember around the end of 2004 / start of 2005, shortly after the release of Grand
Theft Auto (GTA) San Andreas and my big brother really wanted to play it but because of the
contents of the game and what the game was based around there would be no one my
parents would let him play, also back then the graphics on video games are absolutely
nothing compared to how detailed and more graphics games and now such are limbs flying
off bodies etc.
These days now most of the Grand theft Auto (GTA) community is kids between the ages of
around 9 15 so they are all technically underage to play the game and the only people that
would have been OK with buying this game for their child.
When talking about the effects of Exposure to explicit sexual or violent content in relation to
the First Person Shooter game I have chosen, CSGO. CSGO is a rated 18 game meaning that
the player needs to be 18 years of age or older to play the game.
Like I mentioned earlier amount a huge percentage of GTAs player base actually being
under the age requirement to be allowed to play the game, you can somewhat say the same
about CSGO apart from that because CSGO is such a skill based game it doesnt attract a lot
of really underage gamers like GTA. From playing CSGO myself for 2-3 years I know that
there are quite a lot of young people playing the game and the youngest person I have
personally come across while playing CSGO is around 13 / 14 years old but CSGO has a huge
audience and number of players which are over the 18 age limit and usually between the
ages of 19 23.
Even though CSGO is a rated 18 game, I do not believe it is because of how graphic the game
actually is because it is much a classic FPS game, Valve the company who made CSGO have
kept the classical feel to it keeping the graphics very simple. However, I believe that the
reason this game is rated 18 is purely because of the objective of the game and what the
game is about, Terrorist VS Counter Terrorist and the only way you technically win is by
killing and eliminating all of the Terrorists or Counter Terrorists depending on which team
you are on.
 Effects of Advertising:
Advertising a game before its release to alert the public the a very successful way to
increase the amount of people who will buy the game on the release date and will bring in
more new players and potentially even a new target audience, depending on where you
broadcast the advertisements for the game.
Some companies advertise their video games differently, For example in assignment 1 when
I was review the World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria video game trailer, they advertised
that game on YouTube, Web advertisements and they also produced short cut down
versions of the trailer to broadcast as Television (TV) advertisements, I believe that
advertising your soon to release video game across different platform is a very good idea
because you covering many parts of the media for people to come across most likely more
than once which also means they will remember it more.
I also think it would be very successful for a company to also keep advertising there new
game After its release because a lot of companies advertise for latest upcoming game when
its like 2 months from release for example. Most people forget within that month or two.
So I think it a company keeps adverting there game after its release and tell the audience
OUT & PLAY NOW where the audience can literally just go and buy and play the game they
just watch on YouTube or on Television would be a good bonus to the amount of players
buying and playing the video game.
In relation to the First Person Shooter game, I have chosen to talk about these topics on,
CSGO. From researching around how this game was advertised before and after its release
in 2012 like what I did for the video game I covered in assignment 1, CSGO was only
advertised on YouTube with a short YouTube trailer.
Counterstrike Global Offensive (CSGO) only had one trailer release, which was only released
on Valves YouTube channel and published to the public on August 17 th 2012. Since then,
the trailer has accumulated just under 10 Million views! (9.9Million to be exact) which is
many views so you can see this trailer was definitely a success.
From researching and reading the active player base charts and graphs on the Steam
website, (the website CSGO is bought from) you can see how successful this advertisement
was for the CSGOs release because the games player base increases from a active peak
player base of 1,642 to an active peak player base of 52,261!
CSGO has continued to slowly grow and fortunately hit a Boom in and around 2015 and the
player base has rapidly increased, at one point having a peak active player base of 850,485!
Last months stats, April 2017 the active peak player base was 708,468.

Health Concerns:
There are always health concerns when it comes into video games and gaming, physically
and mentally.
Long term video gaming and physically hurt your body, For example staring at a monitor and
many hours every day will definitely do some damage to your eyesight over time, which
may lead to you needing to wear glasses or even worst if the case got serious. In addition,
what is very common in people who physically hurt their body from long video gaming
sessions is that they forget to eat or drink for the whole day because they are so focused on
playing the video game. This is where you see cases of people passing out while playing
games because they are extremely dehydrated and most probably be quite sleep deprived.
Another popular way peoples physically health is effects from long video gaming sessions is
blood clots in the body from sitting down in a chair / sat at a desk for a very long period of
time. This can greatly reduces your body blood flow because you are sat in the same
position for such a long duration and this can lead to blood clots in the body.
When relating this heading to the First Person Shooter Game I have chosen to talk about in
this assignment, CSGO. The same health concerns I talk about above obviously also apply to
CSGO because it applies to all video games. However, one of the great health concerns
about games like CSGO and other shooting games is that many people think video games
like this greatly influence players of the game to go and perform acts similar to the game.
There are quite a lot of stories online about people who say they have done unforgivable
crimes such as breaking into and shooting up a school and other similar stories of a video
game influencing people to shoot their own family members.
Many people just simply blame the video game influencing the people to commit these
horrific crimes but I think there is a lot more to it. I strongly believe that the people who go
on to do these type of crimes and claim to be inspired from a shooter video game have
further mental health problems and most likely had those mental health problems since
they were a child, which sometimes has been proven to be the case.
The introduction of the Arms Deal update in August 2013 added cosmetic items, termed
skins, into the game. Skins would have a rarity and other high-value factors that influenced
their desirability, and these soon became used as virtual currency and the creation of a
number of skin trading sites enabled by the Steam works API. Some of these sites began to
offer gambling functionality, allowing users to bet on the outcome of professional matches
with skins. In June and July 2016, two formal lawsuits have been filed against these
gambling sites and Valve, stating that these encourage underage gambling and undisclosed
promotion by some streamers. Valve in turn began to take steps to prevent these sites from
using Steam works for gambling purposes, and several of these sites shut down as a result.
Since then a huge ban has been put on CSGO skin bettings and gambling due to many of
CSGOs player base were young teenagers who are under the age of 18 that are too young
to be able to gamble since it is illegal.
Since the ban of gamble the prices and worth of the in game weapon skins have changed
drastically!

Censorship Debates:
There is a huge debate about whether video games should be censored. I believe that video
games should not be censored and video games that people think need to be censored from
children should not be childrens game and Pegi and rise the age limit on the game.
Most countries are find with no censorship; however, countries especially in Asia are very
serious when it comes to graphic videos and video games. A perfect example to show how
sensitive China is with censorship with graphic video games is in World of Warcraft.
The image on the left shows a skeleton prop which is in the
World of Warcraft game sat up against a wall which is on
every regions World of Warcraft servers apart from Asias /
Chinas.
They are so against the smallest graphic things that they have to come up for an
alternative. As you can see in the image, they have redesigned that model to have skin etc.
When talking about this topic in relation to my chosen First Person Shooter, CSGO, I believe
that there would never be a need to censor anything in this game because there is nothing
graphic in this game to censor. The only graphic thing in this game is when you shoot
somebody but you do not kill them blood will appear on the floor / walls to indicate the
player that you did hit them. There will always be people complaining say that this needs to
be censored but this would kill such an important asset to such a competitive game.