Media EdU model answer - Video Games & Identities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbF_rNGR08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvoD7ehZPcM

The first clip is a trailer for the action fantasy RPG (role player) video game Fable Legends, part of the Fable
franchise. It was marketed globally by the publisher Microsoft Studios and developed by the British company
Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One platforms. Both publisher and developer consciously
targeted a female demographic in their game content and advertising. This trailer was shown online but also on
commercial television networks. The game is due for release in 2015.
The second clip is one of the official trailers for Grand Theft Auto, a violent open world action-adventure video
game made by British developer Rockstar North and published by the multinational organisation Rockstar
Games. The American publisher Take-Two acquired and now owns the rights to all Rockstar Games products.
GTA V is part of a long running franchise and was released in September 2013, available as a multi platform
game. This trailer was shown online and on commercial television networks and helped to make GTA V the
fastest selling entertainment media product in history.
1. How do the two trailers use narrative enigma and genre in the marketing of the games? (8 Marks - 7
Awarded)
Both narrative and genre are techniques used to market to target audiences in video game trailers as part of an
integrated marketing campaign. Stereotypically, RPG games have a primary male demographic but Fable
Legends subverts this representation with a female rescue narrative within the trailer. This would appeal to
female game players in terms of empowerment and works alongside the type of characters found in the game.
There are two male and two female characters evidencing equality of representation but importantly the female
characters are as physically combative as the male characters. The genre conventions of RPG games support
this type of marketing with Fable Legends using Steve Neales theory of repetition and difference offering
stereotypical RPG representations but also more obvious unique selling points including a pastel colour palette
and significant use of humour. Characters and their role in the narrative are important in this particular trailer with
notions of heroes, a word that is repeated during the narrative voice over by Michael Gambon.
Dependent on cultural capital some audiences would recognise the voice of Michael Gambon as playing
Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series franchise and as such would make genre linking as both have the
mise-en-scene and narrative of the fantasy genre. Genre marketing is crucial for Fable Legends in encoding
fantasy conventions and iconography including the idea of a quest, a persistent game world, weapons (but not
guns), magical representations, mythical beasts and creatures but also non-graphic representations during action
sequences. The story is central to the fantasy genre and the trailer uses enigma to arouse audience interest
regarding the gameplay possibilities.
Fairytale roots are used within the trailer but with the suggestion (in terms of enigma) of a darker narrative that
would satisfy the audience expectations of stereotypically male RPG players. This is anchored by the text slide

at the beginning that warns it may not be suitable for children. For some audiences this would mean promises of
pleasure; however, a PEGI 12 classification has been given to the trailer, which would ensure wide mass
audiences have access to the game.
The trailer for GTA V presents audiences with less narrative enigmas but more narrative action codes. It has a
more direct mode of address targeting a more stereotypically male demographic who are familiar with openworld action adventure conventions. The trailer also flirts with the idea of FPS (first person shooter) in terms of
genre conventions, in particular the levels of the violence. The narrative game world of the previous versions of
GTA is achieved through an establishing shot of the city but what is specifically marketed to audiences is their
identification with character. Trevor, Michael and Franklin are back working together which is a key selling point.
Promises of pleasure through genre conventions include violence, car chases, explosions, robbery scenes but
also diegetic dialogue, which tells audiences that the narrative gameplay will not be deviating significantly from
the genre conventions of the franchise. Like Fable Legends humour is encoded through Michaels wife who calls
him a lonely pathetic psychopath but this would be familiar to audiences who understand the conventions the
game adopts.
2. What is the appeal of violence in computer games? You may refer to other media products to support
your answer. (12 Marks 11 Awarded)
Using Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications model as a framework to analyse the appeal of violent video
games, diversion or escapism is a key appeal with the ability for players to engage in violent combat vicariously.
Violence is often genre specific to the video game market with COD (Call of Duty), Halo and Bioshock: Infinite
being particularly violent games. All three have a young mainstream target audience who enjoy the
representations in the same way they would enjoy a violent action packed Hollywood film.
The levels of violence are often central to the appeal of the game with viral talkability generated through
personal relationships, particularly online and used as a discussion forum. The body count, ways of killing and
the hyper real way the violence is represented are all fundamental talking points. In this respect, personal
relationships are being developed with other game players providing an ad on appeal. Forums, social networking
and using web 2.0 are ways of gaining information or surveillance on the levels of violence in a particular game.
In Halo 4, for example, there is a wide selection of guns available from automatic weapons to grenade launchers,
which would be discussed and shared by fans increasing the excitement and action elements in the game.
Research suggests that third party violence in computer games is in fact cathartic as a way of working though
problems in your own life with the expression of safe anger: a form of anger that has no real life consequences.
Third party gaming gets the player close to the action. In Bioshock: Infinite, for example, you can follow Booker
DeWitt through narrative space in classic point of view with vision down a crosshair in preparation to fire with
reloading a key feature of the game.
The appeal of the violence can also be fragmented into sub genres with Shoot em Up and Beat em Up games
offering a different way to take part in escapist violence. Gameplay violence also allows players to be part of a
collective identity, a group of gamers who are all experiencing the same audio-visual representations online
using consoles or playing at conventions. The non-realist aspect to most violent video games has also been

offered as an explanation as to the appeal of given game. Interactive games challenge the player on a need to
win basis with the only way of achieving these ends being the defeat of the enemy. This can be understood using
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs with self-actualisation being achieved through the achievement of defeating an
enemy and realising ones own personal potential and self-fulfillment. During gameplay players can master the
use of violent weaponry and gain self-respect from others in the process.
Violence in some video games has a less obvious high impact appeal with perhaps the potential for passive
consumption not immediately obvious. Fable Legends is violent but like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim the violence is
embedded within the non realist fantasy genre conventions with elaborate costume design and flying beasts
existing in a fictional world. The fictional diegesis makes the violence more acceptable and potentially more
appealing in this way as the player can self indulge. The appeal of violence can even be linked to representation
within games like Tomb Raider and Beyond: Two Souls that are aspirational to a female demographic. Lara
Croft and Jodie Holmes are initially framed as vulnerable but swiftly become combative and violent with the
nature of the violence directed often against men.
3. What are the arguments for and against the regulation of video games? You should refer to other
media examples to support your answer. (12 Marks 12 Awarded)
Video games are regulated in the UK and in Europe by PEGI (Pan European Game Information) and the VSC
(Video Standards Council). This is an argument already for the liberalisation of regulatory frameworks as
applied to the video games industry as it has already been institutionally addressed by the move to PEGI from
the BBFC in 2012 reflecting a form of deregulation. The BBFC did not have the staffing to cope with the volume
of video games currently being published, each one requiring classification and a certificate. PEGI 3, 7, 12, 16
and 18 certificates still exist but the responsibility is now on the developer and publisher to claim their own
certification.
Audience desensitisation is one argument that has been levelled at critics who reinforce and circulate the moral
panic that games like Duke Nukem and GTA V passively influence young gamers, in particular to becoming
more violent in their everyday life. However, very few games (6%) justify the 18 classification criteria which
includes graphic violence and multiple motiveless killings. Games where the body count is high just because
they can be tend to be classified at this level. It is interesting to note that 46% of video games are rated at 3.
Desensitisation could be used as an argument to support the idea that we should be moving towards an era of
deregulation or as an argument that vulnerable parts of society e.g. children are in need of protection from a big
brother type regulatory body. Statistically, 90% of parents never check the ratings which would evidence this
need.
Social, legal and technological developments also effect the age rating with the David Gauntlett argument
promoted that young people are more sophisticated consumers of media thanks to digital technology and as
such are less in need of protection. Some games are in need of regulation and some have been banned like
Super Columbine Massacre where you are the two gunmen in a pixelated game recreating the 1999 high school
tragedy. Here the boundaries of fiction, fantasy and historical fact become blurred as the game is intercut with
real media footage. This argument stands up but some games like Bioshock: Infinite often escape a form of

regulation that does not relate to simply the levels of violence, swearing, nudity, etc. Bioshock: Infinite is an 18
rated game because of the levels of violence not the racist connotations within gameplay which are apparent
suggesting that sometimes inappropriate and unacceptable ideological content is still slipping the net.
Digitisation means target audiences have been harder to reach but also harder to identify. Historically, video
games were easier to regulate as it was obvious in terms of who was being targeted but now audience
fragmentation as well as the wide range of platforms that games can be played on makes this harder. Henry
Jenkins suggests that instead of online audiences being passive they are in fact engaging in a wide range of
multiple communications supporting Gauntletts theory. Online the internet is technically unregulated posing
additional problems for any body seeking to regulate the content of video games that are widely and often freely
available. The responsibility must now remain not in the hands of any regulatory body or even parent but by the
player of the game him/herself.

Section B (46/48)
4. To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated?
In answering this question there is a need to initially define the concept of mediation as it refers to identity. My
case study looks at the identity of young women using gossip magazines as primary media. Mediation in this
respect refers to the selection and construction of identities within the pages of gossip magazines that reflects
the identity of the consumer in terms of audience identification. Gossip magazines can also represent a range
of alternative identities many of which are aspirational to the reader. It would be the preferred reading of texts
like Heat, Reveal, Now and Take a Break as gossip magazines that there exists the interface of passive
consumption between reader and text (using Halls encoding/decoding theory) that is of commercial benefit
to advertisers. In the same way that vloggers like Zoella are now sponsored there is a direct correlation between
identity, mediation and commercial and ideological exploitation.
Identity is the way we see ourselves and in turn the way different groups in society see us. Gossip magazines
provide a platform for personal improvement as well as a vehicle for voyeurism. Readers may feel comfortable
about their own individual identity when reading about negative representations of celebrity e.g. stories about the
Kardashians and Jordan. However, these celebrities regularly adorn the front pages and inside content of many
gossip magazines and despite frequent negative representations are still held up as celebrity icons who have
an identity that is beyond the reach of the reader. Using John Ellis theory, they are both ordinary and
extraordinary and it is this aspect that links with the aspirational appeal.
Next to stories about Jordan and the Kardsashians there are often articles about ordinary young women whose
identity as a social group is constantly mediated to consumers. Some will identify with the representations and
some will find them a source of entertainment. The juxtaposition of advertising and editorial copy will often find a
solution to a problem written about in a quasi journalistic article. In a January 2015 edition of the weekly Reveal
magazine a distressing article about a young woman who endured years of problems with her periods was facing
a half page advert for sanitary products. While Angela McRobbie has studied womens lifestyle magazines
suggesting texts like Cosmopolitan and Grazia offer more empowering even post feminist representations,

gossip magazines link the identity of young women to working class culture. There is form of homogeneity
within gossip magazines that suggest this shared collective identity.
The content of gossip magazines reinforce and circulate this shared identity suggesting young working class
women share similar interests reflecting very much a hegemonic construction. On an August 2015 front cover
of the weekly gossip magazine Closer cover lines include stories about celebrity relationship break ups (reflecting
stereotypical obsessions with relationships), a story about Jordans anger over nude pictures (reflecting
obsessions with body image) and a lead story about three female celebrities begging their men for a second
chance (clearly encoding a patriarchal discourse in terms of the importance of the significant other, men).
Next to the celebrity gossip stories there is a fashion cover line directing the reader inside the magazine to where
over 50% of the magazine is devoted to fashion advertising.
There are enough audiences out there who enjoy the representations contained within the covers of this media
form. Gossip magazines have been most criticised by Janice Winship and Marjorie Ferguson for reinforcing
outdated hegemonic representations that fail to reference a more progressive pluralistic society.
Consumerist ideology drives the what women want narrative and gossip magazines mediate this identity. The
how to look good for your man narrative is still apparent while a direct mode of address anchors the
representations. Readers buy into the myth of inclusivity whilst magazines also market to some audiences who
aspire towards a collective identity and enjoy the shared representations.
The hegemonic notion of beauty and fashion is something the target audience can share and understand. Front
covers and images make little attempt to be pluralistic even on the surface like some other magazine genres.
Gossip magazine representations (always advertising copy) can also often be understood using Laura Mulveys
subverted female gaze theory but also using the binary opposite of this theory: voyeuristic interest in the
grotesque body. In a July 2015 edition of the weekly Heat magazine a full page advert discussed whether
children should be allowed to model with the inevitable preferred reading of yes as long as supervised by a
parent. The mediated gender identity evident in the article however was the fact that at no point did the
discussion turn to male children modeling. It was assumed that modeling would be referring to young females.
It is these notions of hegemonic inevitability that underpin the identity of young women in gossip magazines.
Headlines like Bag Bonanza and Shop to you drop imply a shared interest with their very presence as full-page
content reinforcing a stereotypical identity. Convergent links to www.heatworld.com in magazines like Heat
extend and promote this identity on digital platforms. Arguably, this form of convergent linking suggests more
active audiences (using the Uses and Gratifications Model as a template) but in reality presents audiences
with similar content again promoting a form of mediated collective identity. On the homepage of Heatworld on
28th August 2015 a banner advert stretches across the page for very.co.uk, an online fashion company, followed
by a Max Factor eye lash/mascara advert below and then an article about the breakup of the boy band One
Direction with links to video footage of distraught young female fans. Convergent links to Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube encourage further interactivity but what drives this identity is commercialism and consumerism.