Change of opinions on current issues:

 Games based on real-life events such as Wars, may influence people’s opinions on
those events i.e. Call of Duty World War II, Battlefield 1

One controversial in a game that caused outrage was Modern Warfare 2’s “No Russian”, where the
player is an undercover agent that poses as part of a terrorist squad. The player is tasked with
shooting civilians and leaving no survivors. Whilst at the time the mission was labelled as a bold
move, however with terrorist attacks becoming more common… this mission has become a topic
that may be referred to a lot when linking violence and videogames.

Also on a quick note, Papers Please is a game in which the player is tasked with allowing or denying
immigrants into a fictional country. If the player makes a mistake and lets the wrong person through,
there is a chance of that person being a suicide bomber which with recent events is quite a
controversial topic.

https://www.thegamer.com/too-real-disgusting-video-games-based-on-real-life-events/

Popular culture view changes:

 Video games, like books or movies, have avid users who have made this form of
media central to their lives
 Especially in the 1980’s kids were getting more into playing console games, they sold
lots of merchandise that contained either game logos or characters (such as Mario
and Pac-Man)
 A poll that was taken in 2007 showed that Canadians could identify Mario easier
than they could identify their Prime Minister at the current time
 The Wii was found to be very popular in retirement homes as it was a console that
people of all ages could enjoy (Wii bowling was shown to be one of the most popular
games)

http://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/10-4-the-impact-of-video-games-on-culture/

Certain institutions (police, armed forces):

A lot of videogames include violence against Police Officers; i.e. GTA, Saints Row 3, Payday 2. Some
people argue that the Police are viewed this way due to problems with law enforcement for
legitimate reasons (especially amongst ethnic minorities), other examples like The Hillsborough
Incident help to play a part in the way that Police are portrayed.
Even in America police are now equipped with fully loaded guns and gear even if they are only
serving a warrant…

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/07/cops-and-robbers-how-police-became-our-new-
favourite-video-game-villains
 Loot Boxes

Star Wars Battlefront

- People thought that they could buy crystals to unlock characters, so you had to play hours
upon hours to get enough credits to play your favourite character for about 5 minutes
before you died and went back to playing your average trooper

“The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different
heroes. We selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments
made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we’re looking at average per-
player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we’ll be making constant adjustments to ensure that
players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.”
EA Representative

- Characters cost significant amounts i.e. Luke and Darth Vader costing 60,000 credits but
were reduced to 15,000
- Player pays for Crystals which cost from a 500 bundle at £4 to a 12,000 bundle at £80, these
crystals allow you to earn a star card/sometimes credits from buying Loot boxes.
- Trooper (star cards for troopers) being 200 crystals or 4,000 credits which roughly translates
to about £1.60
- Hero crate (star cards for heroes) being 110 crystals or 2,200 credits = about £0.88
- Unlock star cards to increase customisation options and unlock additional perks

Opinion leader theory will link into the idea of loot boxes and how they are a problem in gaming as
many people watch videos of games online like Battlefront, Shadow of War, and Halo 5. Rather than
playing the game for themselves they will rely on someone else who plays a game to get an idea of
what the game is like and the features the game includes. However the idea of loot boxes has been
debated amongst the gaming community and whether this makes a game pay to win rather than to
play for enjoyment and unlocked things by actually playing the game. It doesn’t seem fair if someone
who has only just started has upgraded weapons/armour/etc. is able to play against someone else
who has just bought the game to play for fun and has to use the basic starting equipment.

Playing some games with loot boxes can be fun however in some games loot boxes don’t effect
gameplay themselves, in some games you can unlock skins or poses/etc. from buying loot boxes and
in some games like Shadow of War you can unlock smaller “crates” by just playing the game and
doing missions… I found that when playing with these the game wasn’t actually any easier or more
difficult, I found it enjoyable just to see what kind of orcs I could unlock and which ones looked the
best.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/13/16646374/battlefront-2-40-hours-unlock-luke-vader-prices
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-11-09-the-price-and-state-of-star-wars-battlefront-2-loot-
crates-at-launch
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/15/star-wars-battlefront-2-loot-crates-explained/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-battlefront-2s-loot-box-controversy-expl/1100-
6455155/
 Immersion

Immersive and Realistic games increase problems

Games that immerse that player into the game world can be both a good and bad thing: It allows the
player to get a better understanding of the situation of that character and what they are dealing
with however certain events in these games can cause debates as to whether decisions that the
player makes are morally right or wrong.
First of all Fallout 4 Spoilers, when you arrive in the institute you arrive upon a synth version of your
son to see what the players reaction will be able and how the in-game character reacts to seeing
his/her son again. When you join the other factions you will eventually have to destroy the institute,
you have to make a choice on whether you want to save your “son” who is basically a synthetic
version of your son that contains all the memories of Shaun who is actually the leader of the
Institute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCJg91Bg7aI&t=710s

Removing the difference between reality and fiction

-Due to cost being so high unlikely that a majority of people have any form of VR headset currently;
Oculus Rift (£598), HTC Vive (£759), Playstation VR (£349)
- More likely to cause harm to someone’s Physical health than to really remove the barrier between
reality and fiction i.e. causing nausea, dizziness and vertigo
-However whilst playing the games it is quite easy to become immersed into the game you are
playing, but it is very unlikely that because of this someone will go commit a crime in real life that
they did whilst using VR i.e. Skyrim – pickpocketing and Fallout – killing people, people playing these
games are very aware the differences between real life and fiction

https://www.t3.com/news/5-problems-virtual-reality-needs-to-solve-to-go-mainstream
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160729-virtual-reality-the-hype-the-problems-and-the-promise
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160729-virtual-reality-the-hype-the-problems-and-the-promise

Representation of Minorities in Videogames

Race/ Ethnicity:
- Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Khaled Al-Asad ~ Muslim
- Assassins Creed, Altair ~ Syrian

The way that ethnicity and race is portrayed in video games may influence a lot of passive
members of the audience who won’t question what the game shows them, however in
many cases the way the characters of ethnic background are shown to be bad i.e. Assassins,
Terrorists, Thieves – However there will be many Active audience members who will know
that the ethnic backgrounds aren’t actually like that and are in most cases the kinder people.

Gender:
- Females either the Damsel in distress or smart, intelligent characters that know what they
are doing i.e. Princess Peach is also requiring Mario to come save her from the clutches of
Bowser whereas Lara Croft is off on her own defeating evil mercenaries in order to rescue
priceless artefacts without having to rely on anyone to come save her when she’s in trouble

Sexualisation in games
 1. Overwatch – Tracer, D.VA, Widowmaker ~ Compared to Pharah, Sombra, Ana, Zarya
2. Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain – Quiet, sniper known for lack of clothing (Character
breathes through her skin due to being experimented on)

Continuing on about gender, our next topic we are talking about is; Do you find the way masculinity
is represented in games mould your attitudes in real life?

How games affect your behaviour?

 The scientists were trying to gauge the impact of gaming long-term. They picked gamers who
had been playing at least two hours a day for the last four years
 All of the participants in the study were men and they all refrained from gaming for three
hours before the experiment
 Each participant asked how they would feel in the situations presented in the emotionally-
charged photographs. As they answered, their brains were scanned and their answers were
compared with non-gamers who were put in the same situations
 "We hope that the study will encourage other research groups to focus their attention on the
possible long-term effects of video games on human behaviour," said Dr. Gregor Szycik, who
led the research
 To summarize, our results provide additional evidence against the desensitization hypothesis
of VVG (Violent Videogames) use and human aggression. Research on media impact on
aggressive behaviour should focus on short term (influencing the subject’s state) as well as
long term impact (possibly influencing trait aggressiveness)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00174/full

1. Aid in overcoming dyslexia

2. Improve balance (particularly in people with Multiple Sclerosis)
3. Increase speed of decision making
4. Curb cravings from food to drugs
5. Reduce stress and anxiety levels
6. Encourage teamwork
7. Improve motor skills (surgeons who game for 3 hours or more a week were shown to make
32% fewer laparoscopic incision errors than those who did not play)
8. Can enhance socialization and career-building skills
9. Improve vision

https://it.arizona.edu/blog/game-changer-video-games-and-real-world-problem-solving-part-one

Do violent videogames cause you to become more violent in real life?

- Isn’t it better that children are indoors playing in game that they know isn’t real rather than
being outside and committing crimes in real life
- Playing these games will allow for children to tell the difference between real life and fiction
+ what is wrong and what is right
- Some games you may game angry and rage especially when playing competitive games,
however you can take your angry out in the game – certain tasks in games may help players
relax and calm down without having to take it out on someone or something in real life

 Researchers interviewed just over 200 children aged 10 and 11 about their playing habits
including how long they spent each day and what types of game they preferred.
 Two thirds of the children said they played video games every day
  Overall those who played for less than an hour a day were less likely to have problems such
as aggression than those who did not play at all.
 “These findings do not support the idea that regular violent game play is linked to real world
violence or conflict.”
 It noted that previous studies potentially linking violent games with aggression did not
always compare them with games involving similar levels of competition and difficulty.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/study-finds-no-evidence-violent-video-games-
make-children-aggres/

On 20 April 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 students, a teacher,
and themselves in the Columbine High School massacre. The two were allegedly obsessed with the
video game Doom. Neither student had made a Doom level mimicking the school's layout, and there
is no evidence the pair practiced the massacre in Doom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversies#Portrayal_of_race

Hypodermic Needle Theory: Assumes that audiences will all behave the same way, as if they are a
passive audience (don’t question)
Two Step Flow Theory: Ideas and opinions of other people affect how audiences respond these people
being - Opinion Leaders: People who affect audience responses – active audience

Uses and Gratification:

1. Entertainment and Diversion: Helps audience escape reality
2. Surveillance (Learning): Magazines/news sites all keep people informed
3. Social Interaction: Audiences can use ‘texts’ to interact
4. Personal Identity: Compare lives to characters’ lives

Reception Theory: Concerned with how audiences read ‘texts’ and how the will create a meaning
from that information
Preferred Responses: For
Negotiated Responses: Neutral
Oppositional Responses: Against

Encoding: Production of a message

Decoding: How an audience member is able to understand, and interpret the message