C1 Gaming

Do Now                                           Video Games          Wednesday 18th September

There is radio, magazines, film, advertising, gaming, newspapers, tv and music

You can access the media through the internet, by voice or bought from a shop. Cinema, phone, computer, magazine etc...

Lo: To explore the history and context of video games.

1970s: Nolan Bushell and Al Alcorn of Atari develop an arcade table tennis game. When they test it in Andy Capps Tavern in Sunnyvale, it stops working. This is because people played it so much that it jammed with quarters, Pong, a legend was born

1980s: Nintendo's Game Boy popularises handheld gaming. Game Boy is not the first handheld system with interchangeable cartridges but it charms users with good game play, ease of use and long battery life

1990s: Sony releases Playstation in the United States, selling for $100 less than the Sega Saturn. The lower price point, along with the arrival with Nintendo 64 in 1996, weakens Sega's home console business. When Sony Playstation 2 releases in 2000, it becomes the dominant home console and Sega exits the home console business

2000s: Microsoft enters the video game market with Xbox and hit games like Halo: Combat Evolved. Four years later, Xbox 360 gains millions of fans with its advanced graphics and seamless online play

Uses and Gratification: The theory states that an audience will use a media form for either one of four reasons: Personal Identity, Information, Entertainment or Social Interaction. Acronym - PIES

Baseline Test: 

Explain why audiences play video games. Refer to the uses and gratifications theory in your response. 

The users and gratification theory refers to the idea that an audience will use a media form for one of four reasons, these being: personal identity, information, entertainment or social interaction. If we focus on personal identity, a person may relate to a specific character or situation within a video game, which allows them to feel a connection towards it, especially if it is similar to a troubling situation they are facing allowing them to see other perspectives. A lot of our information comes from video games, especially if they are educational, or are non-fiction based, although this is not the main reason for playing video games, it is still a main contributing factor. Our interests come in to play gaming, for example, we may have a favourite genre. When you feel enjoyment or thrill from playing these games, this counts as entertainment, and is a matter of personal opinion on which games give you this result (e.g, games that make you laugh, or make you scared). However, the majority of people play video games for social interaction. Gaming can be a perfect way to learn about the people you play with, whether it be family or friends. As you bond increases with the people you're playing with, so will the appreciation and connection for the game that helped this to happen. It also links to the other factors, where your friends or family may entertain you, give you information or you learn something about them that relates to you on a deeper level. For example, RPG games where you create your own character (e.g. Skyrim or Baldur's Gate 3) allow you to become the person you want to be, and have your own individual identity in a sea of players, and make decisions that you would actually make in real life. Especially in multiplayer RPGs (e.g. Stardew Valley), it allows you to connect with others, in scenarios that real life would not usually provide.

T: 2. more application of the theory to a specific text.

Do Now                           Case Study: Fortnite                   Wednesday 25th September

Lo: To research the case study and explore the context of video games

1. PIES

2. Personal Identity

3. Information

4. Entertainment

5. Social

1. Phone, PC, Xbox One, PS4/5, Nintendo Switch

2. Because a phone is very portable, meaning you can play mobile games, especially offline ones, practically anywhere.

3. It has increased, because there is more types of games and ways you can play them, that could appeal to many different people

4. In-game currencies and cosmetics. And advertisements.

5. Augmented reality is combining real-life with virtual reality, it has enhanced games (e.g. darts) to give games a more modern twist.

Augmented reality is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated 3D content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.

That 18-34 year olds are the highest percentage of video game players

1. Epic Games

2. 7 years

3. 25.3 billion pounds as of June 2024

4. Fortnite Battle Royale, Fortnite Save The World, Fortnite Creative, Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing and Fortnite Festival

5. Fortnite's story involves a group of Factions trying to take control of the Zero Point and effect 'The Loop'. That's the term that explains why we continue rebooting into games. The creation of the Fortnite island by the Zero Point which is this universe's Big Bang Theory. The next major development is Geno discovering the Zero Point and creating the Imagined Order, or IO, to try and control the Zero Point to reshape reality. The IO uses the Zero Point to travel around different realities too, after Agent Jones first enters it. This is why Jonesy makes up such a large percentage of skins. The aim is to be the last one standing in Battle Royale, complete missions and upgrade heroes and weapons in Save the World, freely create content on your own islands in Creative, build, harvest and gather in Lego Fortnite, hop into a rocket powered car and put your racing skills to the test in Rocket Racing and keep the rhythm and play notes to get high scores in Fortnite Festival.

6. Battle and Construction

7. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

8. You can play with a duo, or squad up to 100 people in a game using chat functions.

9. Free to Play, first of its kind to introduce proper building mechanics, and easy to play with friends

10. You can create some skins, collaborations with other franchises for information.

Epic Games was started by Tim Sweeney in 1991 and was originally run from his parents house. 

They use an operating system called Unreal Engine to develop Fortnite.

Epic Games owns video game developer Chair Entertainment and cloud-based software developer Cloudgine.

Do Now                     Exploring Context                             Wednesday 2nd October

Lo: To explore the context of video games.

1. Epic Games

2. 1991

3. Survival/Sandbox/Shooter

4. Personal Identity, Information, Entertainment, Social Interaction

5. A mix between virtual reality and real life. 

Prince Harry

"Its created to addict."

Gaming addiction is a disorder

Main problem is that it's addictive.

Made to keep you in front of the screen

Thinks it should be banned

I agree, similar to social media, it draws you in, whether through collaborations or with it's already existing popularity; and this keeps you at the screen, playing and buying things on the game, overall just making them money, without much care for their players. I think raising a generation with these behaviours, could overall lead to a rise in laziness and worse mental health in later years.

Healthcare Triage

No correlation between aggressive thoughts and video games

People who play violent games have less aggressive thoughts

I do not think that violent video games give you violent thoughts. In various studies, there was no link between behaviour and games. This is a direct way that proves that there is no correlation. Also, there is an age rating on all games for a reason, to match a child's mental status, and whether they can play these games without acting upon the thoughts they have whilst playing it. However, I do believe that virtual reality games can allow people to act upon violent thoughts. If a violent game (e.g. one where you can be shot), is played on VR headset constantly, a person can become desensitised to being shot. From my personal experiences, a game where you are high in the air, has cured a fear of heights. So, this means that theoretically, with these fears being abolished, there is nothing preventing a person from acting upon violent thoughts, because they are not afraid of the consequences.

Media Insider: Bandura and Video Games

I agree that video games, could induce copycat behaviour. In the Bobo doll experiment, children (3-6 years old) watched a doll being hit and shouted at by an adult on a video. They were then put in a room with their own Bobo doll, and 'copied' the behaviours they saw on the video. However, other factors could have affected this, such as peer and family influence and prior experiences of playing like this before. But, considering that they didn't know any better, an impressionable child can easily be manipulated by these video games, and galvanise their behaviour as they grow up to have ideas that certain ways of life are safe, and okay.

I believe that video games do not create violence, this is because there is no direct link between violent video game and violent acts, age ratings clearly state how different people should play different games and it is common sense to not copy fictional material. However, it also can create violence, because in settings such as the Bobo doll experiment, more impressionable children copied the violent behaviour they saw in a video; but this could be due to the no prior knowledge on how to play with a Bobo doll, and the design of one (almost made to be pushed and hit).