Understanding of how media audiences respond to computer games
Applying audience theory's
Passive and Active Audiences
A passive audience is where the audience just accepts what is onscreen and what is told to them which means that they aren't engaged or that they won't question the media they will just accept it. So passive audiences tend to be more easily manipulated, compliant, followers, controlled and dominated. In the way that the media outlet intend it to be.
The opposite of a passive audience is an active audience where the audience doesn't just receive the information given to them and just accept it they will be more engaged in it and will question it to try and find out more information and to get a better understanding of it.The audience will make their own choices based on the new information that they have just revived. So active audiences tend to be more engaged, involved, responsive, in control and free willed.
GTA V
The game has generated several controversies related to its violence and depiction of women. A mission that requires players to use torture equipment in a hostage interrogation polarized reviewers, who noted its political commentary but felt that the torture sequence was in poor taste.The mission also received criticism from politicians and anti-torture charity groups.The game became subject to widespread online debate over its portrayal of women, particularly in the wake of backlash against GameSpot journalist Carolyn Petit when she claimed the game was misogynistic in her review.After Petit's review webpage received more than 20,000 largely negative comments, many journalists defended her right to an opinion and lamented the gaming community's defensiveness towards criticism. Australian department store Target pulled the game from their 300 stores following a Change.org petition against depictions of violence toward women in the game.
In relation to passive and active audiences when they play GTA V and due to the theories then the passive audience would go out grab all of their torture tools, kidnap some and then they would torture them due to what they have seen and done in the game but the active audience wouldn't do this because they have more control and free will so they would think that it is okay to do it in the game but it is not right to do it outside of them game and in real life. The series has been banned in Brazil, and condemned in various countries, as well as by specific groups. MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), Common Sense Media, Freedom From Torture, and Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups have all taken issue with various elements of the games. Grand Theft Auto (or, more accurately, creators Rockstar Games) has been sued repeatedly for being responsible for inspiring teens to kill and holds the record for Most Controversial Video Game Series In History according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Hypodermic Needle Effects Debate
The hypodermic needle effect theory is an audience theory that is based on the idea that mass media messages are injected directly into the brains of a passive audience due to passive audience being more easily manipulated than active audience. This suggests that the mass media has a powerful effect on the audience and they might be able in influence or control they actions due to them being a passive audience.
An example of a mass media hypodermic needle effect is the War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his broadcast of “War of the Worlds”—a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth. This caused a world wide panic after audiences tuned into the broadcast and they thought that it was a real news report and that the world has been invaded by aliens. But if this happened today hardly anyone would believe it and would think that it is a joke because we would be more aware.
Also theorists believe that the hypodermic needle effect theory is now outdated because in the olden days there wasn't as many media sources for people to prove it wrong. Where as now we have the internet which is full of sources on all stretches of information. They also think this because given the progress of accessibility of information over that past years it has become significantly more easy to gain access to truthful accounts of an event or topic. This means that unlike in the past an audience will not have to take the statements given as fact and will refute these statements with their own information gathered from researching the topic through modern technologies such as the internet.
Also theorists believe that the hypodermic needle effect theory is now outdated because in the olden days there wasn't as many media sources for people to prove it wrong. Where as now we have the internet which is full of sources on all stretches of information. They also think this because given the progress of accessibility of information over that past years it has become significantly more easy to gain access to truthful accounts of an event or topic. This means that unlike in the past an audience will not have to take the statements given as fact and will refute these statements with their own information gathered from researching the topic through modern technologies such as the internet.
GTA
Zachary Burgess decided to steal a pickup truck, kidnap a woman and crashing into nine parked cars, all in an attempt to feel like a character in “Grand Theft Auto,” according to WDSU-TV.The real-life crime spree took place early Saturday morning in Baton Rouge, La., when Burgess, a lacrosse player at Auburn University, was in town to see his team take on Louisiana State University in football. Burgess, 20, was in the parking lot of a bar when the owner of a truck drove up and got out of the truck, leaving it running with a female passenger, Monique Jiarusso, inside. At that point, the suspect got in the vehicle and attempted to flee the parking lot with the woman, according to Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Don Coppola. “When he tried to flee the parking lot there were several cars blocking the way,” Cpl. Coppola told NBC33tv.com. “He began ramming into the parked cars.” Burgess quickly abandoned the car a few yards from the crime scene and a group of witnesses held him until officers arrived. The female passenger told police that Burgess “forcibly” held her captive in the truck, but she was able to jump out of the vehicle and get to safety, Coppola said. When officers questioned Burgess, they say he explained his rationale for the alleged theft, kidnapping and attempted hit-and-runs. “One of his statements was that, he wanted to see what it was to be a Grand Theft Auto individual, what it felt like,” said L’Jean McKneely with the Baton Rouge Police Department told KTRK-TV. “I guess to take a car and strike several vehicles at a high rate of speed.” Burgess was arrested and charged with theft of a motor vehicle, nine counts of hit and run and simple kidnapping, WWMT-TV reported. This is an example of Hypodermic Needle Effect Theory by someone being influenced by the video game GTA to steal a car, kidnap a women and do 9 hit and runs all because he wanted to feel like a character from GTA.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
The uses and gratifications theory suggests how media is incorporated into peoples lives. It looks into why people seek out specific media forms to fulfill their needs. There are 4 activities audiences are assumed to participate in, these are:Surveillance/Information, Personal Identity, Personal Relationships and Diversion. Also this theory was designed by Blumler and Katz in 1974. Also it is an active audience way of looking at why we play video games. So due to the research of Blumler and Katz in 1974 we can use this theory to look more at the mind set of a person and what they take in from video games instead of just what the video games tells you and we think about focusing on what we do with the media instead of what the media does to us. Also we need to remember that not all audiences are sponges and that some will actually filter the information and use it accordingly in their every day lives or try and create or do something new and different with their new information.
An example of the uses and gratification theory in video games is when a young teen shot his parents because they took the video game Halo 3 off him. In September 2007, Daniel, then 16, had sneaked out of his bedroom window to purchase the game at a store against his father's orders. When he returned home, his parents caught him with the game and took it from him. His father, Mark, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, put the game in a lockbox in a closet where he also kept a 9mm handgun, according to prosecutors. About a month later, on Oct. 20, 2007, Daniel used his father's key to open the lockbox and remove the gun and the game. The boy shot his parents, killing his mother and gravely wounding his father. As his father lay wounded, Daniel tried to place the gun in his father's hand. The 17 year old only started playing video games due to a snowboarding injury the year before which meant he couldn't live the house so he played video games while he was stuck inside. So the video games that he played became a big part off his life and part of his uses and gratification to keep him entertained. So due to being stuck at home and only playing video games he became more relied on his games. So when his video game was taking away from him he snapped and his aggression drove him to shoot his Dad and kill his Mam.
A 14-year-old Idaho boy in Coeur d'Alene has reportedly confessed to authorities about a pre-planned murder of his family members after idolising a violent game character, Trevor, in Grand Theft Auto 5, according to a report on KXLY. Eldon Samuel III has been charged on two counts of adult first-degree murder in the deaths of his father, 46-year-old Eldon G Samuel, Jr, and his younger brother, 13-year-old Jonathan Samuel. According to the police, the boy was taken into custody after he called up 911 and confessed to the officers that he had shot his dad with a .45 calibre handgun, before killing his brother. Samuel alleged his father had opened fire outside their home while entering it and fought with him. He also alleged that his father pushed him twice in the scuffle, which enraged him to shoot his father thrice, twice on the face followed by another shot to his brain. The boy told the police that his father was still alive at the time and tried to crawl back into a room where his younger brother was hiding under a bed. Investigators later learnt that Samuel had shot his brother four times with a shotgun after the latter refused to come out of the room. After finding his brother still alive, an enraged Samuel picked up a large knife and stabbed him multiple times, before finishing him off with a machete (striking him repeatedly 30 times). Samuel later revealed to officers that he enjoyed playing as Trevor in GTA 5, which inspired him to emulate the violent character's actions in real life. Trevor is seen as a character with extreme anger issues and a tendency to pull the trigger or shoot at other characters in the game without notice. This is an example of a 14 year old that is under the age restriction played GTA V and copied his favorite character, that is Trevor from GTA V, and killed his Dad and Brother like Trevor would in GTA V.
An example of the uses and gratification theory in video games is when a young teen shot his parents because they took the video game Halo 3 off him. In September 2007, Daniel, then 16, had sneaked out of his bedroom window to purchase the game at a store against his father's orders. When he returned home, his parents caught him with the game and took it from him. His father, Mark, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, put the game in a lockbox in a closet where he also kept a 9mm handgun, according to prosecutors. About a month later, on Oct. 20, 2007, Daniel used his father's key to open the lockbox and remove the gun and the game. The boy shot his parents, killing his mother and gravely wounding his father. As his father lay wounded, Daniel tried to place the gun in his father's hand. The 17 year old only started playing video games due to a snowboarding injury the year before which meant he couldn't live the house so he played video games while he was stuck inside. So the video games that he played became a big part off his life and part of his uses and gratification to keep him entertained. So due to being stuck at home and only playing video games he became more relied on his games. So when his video game was taking away from him he snapped and his aggression drove him to shoot his Dad and kill his Mam.
Audience Responses
The audience can respond to anything and everything in many different ways depending on if its bad or good but I am going to be talking about how the audience respond t video games. One example of a response that the audience to have towards video games is when they look forward to play their favorite video game especially after a long day at school/college or at work and they can come home relax and play what ever their favorite video game is either on their own or with there friends online. For example after I have had a long day at college working on my assignments I like to go home and play on Minecraft with my friends or play on Batman Arkham.
Another example of the audience responding to video games is when a new video game is released and they respond in a really good way and get really exited for the game and can't wait until it comes out. As soon as they see the trailer for the game they get so excited and that's all they will be able to talk about for that week and try to find out every last detail about the game just out off pure excitement.
Another example is when they play a great game and they really enjoy they want to play as much as they can until they complete but when they do they still want to play more so they will complete it again, get DLC for it, make their own fun in the game by making the own challenges or they might even try to recreate the game in real life in a fun way and make it feel like they are actually in the game. An example of this is done by Rooster Teeth and it is called immersion. They have done a lot of immersion videos about games in real life such as Fallout 4, five nights at Freddy's, Mario Kart and PacMan.
Audience and younger audience interpretation
The audience and consumer could interpret a video games in different ways like putting new information that they interpreted from the games that they played into their life for good to help them with certain things but they could also interpret and gain bad information that they might do in real life like committing crimes especially they are younger than the intended audience and that they aren't mature enough to understand the game. An example of this if a adult played GTA V hopefully they will understand that what you do in GTA V you can't do in real life but if a child that is under the age restriction plays GTA V they might not know that they shouldn't do what they do in real life and they could be copying a character from GTA V.
A 14-year-old Idaho boy in Coeur d'Alene has reportedly confessed to authorities about a pre-planned murder of his family members after idolising a violent game character, Trevor, in Grand Theft Auto 5, according to a report on KXLY. Eldon Samuel III has been charged on two counts of adult first-degree murder in the deaths of his father, 46-year-old Eldon G Samuel, Jr, and his younger brother, 13-year-old Jonathan Samuel. According to the police, the boy was taken into custody after he called up 911 and confessed to the officers that he had shot his dad with a .45 calibre handgun, before killing his brother. Samuel alleged his father had opened fire outside their home while entering it and fought with him. He also alleged that his father pushed him twice in the scuffle, which enraged him to shoot his father thrice, twice on the face followed by another shot to his brain. The boy told the police that his father was still alive at the time and tried to crawl back into a room where his younger brother was hiding under a bed. Investigators later learnt that Samuel had shot his brother four times with a shotgun after the latter refused to come out of the room. After finding his brother still alive, an enraged Samuel picked up a large knife and stabbed him multiple times, before finishing him off with a machete (striking him repeatedly 30 times). Samuel later revealed to officers that he enjoyed playing as Trevor in GTA 5, which inspired him to emulate the violent character's actions in real life. Trevor is seen as a character with extreme anger issues and a tendency to pull the trigger or shoot at other characters in the game without notice. This is an example of a 14 year old that is under the age restriction played GTA V and copied his favorite character, that is Trevor from GTA V, and killed his Dad and Brother like Trevor would in GTA V.
