Book Research: Grand Theft Auto

I’ve always been a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, and I can understand the controversy its caused over the years. It’s violent, sexual, and apparently encourages younger audiences to aspire to be like the characters in the game. When it was first released in 1997, it was ultimately known for just its criminality, not because it was one of the first Sandbox games which was meant to be its key feature. Here’s what I found when conducting my book research:

But on it’s release in October 1997, Grand Theft Auto’s key feature – the offer of a city to roam in – went largely ignored. Instead people talked about the games over-head view point, which was seen as a 2D relic in a era when 3D was fast becoming the norm, and the subject matter. Egged on by the publicist of the game Max Clifford, Grand Theft Auto was greeted with howls of outrage thanks to its embrace of criminality. Most games portrayed players as heroes, regardless of their in-game actions, or at the very least victims who have been forced into carrying out criminal acts. Grand Theft Auto offered no such veneer of respectability. The player was an amoral crook out to rob, kill and main for personal gain and nothing more. Politicians and players alike were shocked by DMA Design’s refusal to apply more mortality to the players actions. One reviewer called it the “most violent piece of gaming on the PlayStation” thanks to features such as the ability to mow down whole processes of Hare Krishna for extra money. In the UK parliament, Conservative peer Lord Campbell of Croy accused the game of setting an “alarming precedent” and of glamourising crime. – Replay: The History of Video Games, Page 345 and 346.

Articles around GTA controversy:

http://www.cbn.com/family/parenting/carey_grand_theft_auto.aspx

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11270982/Grand-Theft-Auto-5-banned-by-retailer-over-graphic-violence-against-women.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4671429.stm

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/australian-retail-stores-stop-selling-grand-theft-auto-v-article-1.2033475

Book Research: Manhunt

There was a big news story after the release of Manhunt in 2003. A teenager murdered his friend, and the murder was apparently linked to the gameplay. Manhunt is a horrific game without a doubt. I’ve owned and plated through the content and I was so surprised by Rockstar North. I know that Grand Theft Auto is violent, but this was completely different. Rockstar North really pushed the boundaries on this game, and it seems that their decision ultimately backfired. I found out about this whilst researching Replay: The History of Video Games,  but it only stated a brief passage about it: This is what I found:

While Irlem explored the fears of acts of God, British game developers Rockstar North took the horror game in a darker direction with 2003’s Manhunt, which put the player in the shoes of a convicted murderer who is forced to kill by the director of a snuff movie. Manhunt revolved around its murders, which ranged from suffocating people with plastic bags to clumsy beheadings with meat cleavers, and rewarded players for the brutality of the executions they carried out. The graphic deception of murder and the players complicity in the carnage made Manhunt one of the most contraversial games of the 21st Century, earning bans in Australia, Brazil, Germany and New Zealand. In the UK, national papers linked Manhunt to the 2004 murder of 14 year old Stefan Pakeerah in a Leicester park by his 17 year old friend Warren LeBlanc. The police and the courts dismissed the link, not least because it was Pakeerah but Leblanc who owned the game. Leblanc was jailed for a miniumum term of 13 years for the murder. – Page 276

Links to the news stories around this topic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-316491/Teenager-gets-life-Manhunt-murder.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3934277.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1468088/Manhunt-computer-game-is-blamed-for-brutal-killing.html

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/manhunt-blamed-for-uk-murder/1100-6103718/

I want to show how violent this game actually is, so here’s a few images I’ve found of the gameplay:

Revolutionary Games: The Sims

I thought it would be a good idea for me to look into some of the most revolutionary games of all time. Since my dissertation will be based on video games, I want to expand my knowledge more on the subject, even though I’ve owned a console from the last three generations of gaming consoles. One of the most popular games I’ve been playing over the years is The Sims. The aspect of being able to control people and choose how to live their lives by getting jobs, improving skills, marriage and kids as well as keeping them alive and happy won over so many people, including myself. I’ve been a fan since the release of the original game, and I have stuck with it for each generation.

       

 

The aspect I love the most about The Sims is that everybody plays it in a different way. Some use it to create families and live through each of their lives. Some use it as a building program, allowing them to create their own houses and community lots without any sort of restriction. There was a point I remember as a teenager when The Sims 2 was used by YouTubers to create mini-series and create a story to share with the YouTube community. I was always fascinated by this and attempted to create some myself but they weren’t a huge success. I didn’t have a good knowledge of cheat codes and Custom Content. That was another huge part of The Sims. The players were able to create their own content and add this into the games, allowing their experiences to become more personal and tailored to the individual. The addition of each expansion pack also brought more content and different life stages to make the experience similar to everyday life. For example, The Sims 2 introduced a university pack, allowing the players to experience the life of a university student, which would eventually lead to better paid jobs. There was also a pets pack, allowing the user to create custom pets or adopt them. I never know what EA will release next, and as a gamer its really exciting.

  

The Sims 3 was an interesting introduction to the franchise. It introduced a concept called Moodlets, which would either improve or deteriorate a Sims mood. It also introduced a new world where a Sim could explore the neighbourhood openly, similar to a Sandbox game. This was a huge development. Allowing the characters to roam freely cut out a huge amount of loading screens and opened up a new world of fun in terms of gameplay. There was also a lot of new features in CAS (Create A Sim) which allowed a user to develop a Sim more to their liking by changing each individual part of the face, and allowing highlights in the hairstyles, I think this made Sims become much more human. The concept of Create-A-Style was also introduced. This would mean the user could design an outfit or a room, but use their own specific design elements, such as the colours or patterns. The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 are without a doubt my most favourite part of the entire franchise. I also enjoyed playing each on console too, especially with The Sims 2 where you could play multi-player! What an achievement. It was so nice to be able to play with a friend and not having to constantly take turns.

 

The release of The Sims 4 caused quite a stir in the community both before and after its release. The developers at EA removed a lot of key aspects included in other base games, such as the toddler generation, the ability to build pools, and ghosts of deceased Sims. This really put off a lot of its audience, because these are what made the game fun to play, and without it fans felt like it would be a disappointment. It caused such controversy that EA agreed to bring these features back into the game through a series of update downloads. There is finally a Sims series that doesn’t involve buying the disks for the expansion packs. Everything is now bought and downloaded through Origin, who are owned by EA. Although this makes getting hold of the games more simpler, I will miss actually buying the disks and collecting them. There are some great new features in this latest addition. Sims now have actual emotions, and it changes their behaviour and the way they interact with other Sims. I’m looking forward to seeing what EA has to offer during this new generation of The Sims.

 

 

Book Research: Horror Games

I’m a huge fan of the horror genre, and I know a few people who also feel the same. I like both the films and the games created. I was interested to find an entire section on the subject from the book Replay: The History of Video Games. It describes how developers didn’t want to make horror games because of the lack of technology they were able to use. Here is a passage I have found:

Until the early 1990’s, game developers rarely tried to produce horror games, largely because the limited technology often made the task of scaring players difficult. One of the early attempts was Five Ways Software’s 1985 adaptation of The Rats, James Herbert’s gory horror novel where a plague of mutant rats terrorise London. The game used text adventure scene where players experienced the attack of the rats from the victims perspective, but with the twist that these encounters happened in real-time rather than the usual turn-base approach. Five Ways Software’s subversion of the adventure game format, which is ill suited to real-time action, helped create a sense of panic when the rats attacked as players struggled to survive. The game also added images of rats that would burst out of the on-screen page obscuring the text to add panic. It was an interesting experiment in trying to evoke fear in players but it proved to be a one off. – Page 274.

Resident Evil was another big breakthrough in the gaming industry. However, it was Silent Hill that almost revolutionised the industry. It was one of the first games which use psychological fear to bring in the player, scaring them in a completely new way. I was thankful my book has an large extract about horror games. With it being something I love, it was really meaningful to me to be able to learn a little about the history and how it all started. Here’s what I found about Silent Hill:

Resident Evil’s nail-biting action and global success encouraged the arrival of more horror games. Many stuck to the B-Movie feel of Resident Evil, but others sought to move beyond the Romero zombie movie template. Konami’s Silent Hill was a particularly significant development. Instead of taking its inspiration from the gory shock movies in the US, its Japanese developers absorbed ideas from the new wave of Japanese horror films, which tend to concentrate on psychological fear rather than shocking images and the crossover between natural and supernatural words. – Page 275.

Book Research: The Release of Tomb Raider

Another controversial release in the gaming industry was Tomb Raider, one of the first games with a female protagonist. It was a pretty big move in the industry as this was one of the first games in which would appeal more to women. The worry for Core Design was that men would be put off by this new female character and wouldn’t want to buy and play the game. However, the game was a success with both genders, and has now gone on to a series of a total of 11 games, and a reboot in 2013. This is what I found when reading:

Gard’s new creation, Lara Croft, was Indiana Jones re-imagined as a busty English aristocrat whose hot pants hugged her wasp waist. She was more adolescent fantasy than feminist icon, but for video games it was a huge departure from the norm. Video games were still largely a male pursuit and asking a male to play as a female still seemed like a daring move that bordered on commercial suicide. “At that stage, all game characters were still big and burly men”, said Heath Smith. “There had never been a popular female character, but she did have something about her. Toby said ‘lets just run with it and see. If it doesn’t work we’ll swap it to a guy’. It was as ridiculous as that. – Page 269

It was around the time of the release of the first Tomb Raider that the industry realised that more female players were beginning to emerge, and were becoming more confident in speaking out. This is what I found about the subject:

Tomb Raider’s release coincided with an increasing awareness within the game industry that female players were growing in number ans becoming more vocal. Until the mid 1990s, few game designers had attempted to appeal beyond the industry’s core audience of young males. “They didn’t care to and just assumed that girls wouldn’t play the ones that were out there as much as boys would,” said Brenda Laurel, who in 1996 formed Purple Moon – a publisher dedicated to creating games for girls. “The video game business was totally vertically integrated around a male demographic – from designers and programmers, to marketers and distribution, to retail and customers.” – Page 270

 

Above: Tomb Raider 1

Above: Tomb Raider 2013

Book Research: Sexism

I’ve been lucky enough to find a book which is helped a great deal with gathering research for my dissertation. The name of this book is “Replay: The History of Video Games”. I’ve managed to learn a lot about the industry but also about how women were and still can be interpreted when they call themselves a ‘girl gamer’. Here is a quote I have pulled out of the chapter titled ‘We Take Pride in Ripping Them To Shreds’ and it discusses how women were seen as gamers after the release of Doom in 1993:

Many of the women who played Doom and similar games online found themselves confronted with rampant sexism from some male players who accused them of being transvestites, claimed that they were inferior players because of their gender, or offered comments such as “Girls who play online do it because they can’t get a man” and “I’ll give you a rocket to ride.” – Page 272

Research Methods Starter Questions

Task – Start a section on your reflective journal and answer the following questions:

What areas of my subject discipline am I interested in? (List 3)

• Video Gaming
• Women in the industry
• Gender stereotyping

What will help inform my creative practice? (Make a list of topics)

• Use of photography in gaming
• Women in the industry; this will give me more of an overview into the type of work I could get into after graduating.
• Female protagonists in gaming

What kind of work do I hope to be doing eventually? (Make a list of companies or people in the industry who influence your thinking)

• Photographers in gaming
• Female designers
• Sony & Microsoft (Console designing)

Who are the key practitioners in this area?

• Rockstar
• EA
• Microsoft Game Studios
• Activision
• Crystal Dynamics
• Core Design
• Maxis
• Naughty Dog
• Sony
• Microsoft
• Nintendo

How can I find out more about them?

• Internet research
• Emails

What Internet sites will help me in my research? (List 8)

• Google Scholar
• Gaming sites i.e. Rockstar, EA
• Library catalogue
• Athens
• Science Direct
• Naughty Dog
• Activision
• Raven

What books are available that can help my research? (List at least 5 titles)

• Prescott, J (2014) Gender Considerations and Influence in the Digital Media and Gaming industry (eBook)
• Cassell, J and Jenkins, H (1998) From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games
• Tassi, P (2014) Fanboy Wars: The Fight for the future of Video Games
• Ferdig, R (2008) Handbook of Research on effective electronic gaming in education
• Walkerdine, V (2009) Children, Gender, Video Games: Towards a relational approach to Multimedia
• Oviatt, M (2014) Video Girl: A quick evaluation of female characters in Video Games.
• Kafai (2011) Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming

Who are the authorities on the subject I want to explore/investigate?

• International Game Developers Association (Ethical standards)
• The Game Rating Authority
• Video Standards Council
• British board of Film Classifications
• PEGI

Video Games or Movies? The “Interactive Cinematic” Experience

This lecture we watched has stayed with me, and its really getting me thinking about what industry I actually want to work in after graduation. I wasn’t aware that the animation of a photo-real digital version of a person’s face had actually been done before, until I remembered about some of the video games I have come across over the last few months. I will illustrate the main three I have in mind:

This whole concept has had both positive and negative feedback. Some gamers think its brilliant, different and really attracts them to this new type of genre. Others believe that David Cage is just trying to take movies and make them into a video game when it just doesn’t work. Personally, although I’m attracted to these games and really would love to play them, I’m on the the fence about the whole ‘interactive’ aspect of it. The game makers make a huge deal about how you can choose your own path in these stories and make your own choices which will eventually change the plot or the ending of the story. After finding play-throughs on YouTube and observing the game, I’ve found out that actually there isn’t an awful lot of choice provided to make the story experience your own. They’re all very linear which completely spoils the cinematic genre, and basically just persuades people to buy the game to make more money for its developers. I’m a huge fan of video games, and I’m all for trying out new games. But when the makers are creating a game purely for the money, that’s when my problems start. Designers should be making the games purposely for its audience, not just so they can make money.

There is a particular game which uses this photo-real technique and have made an incredible custom story in which the player can have full control on their own playing experience:

 

Yes, that’s right. GTA 5. This game is incredible, literally the best game I have ever, and will probably ever play. I was able to follow the story, but also roam completely free through the open-world map. Rockstar has a very loyal fan base, each game appeals to their current audience but also appeals to new gamers. I hate the thought of spending money on a game and then not getting my full enjoyment after it. My point is, you can have a really good game which people actually want to play, or you can create something that will disappoint your audience but make you a large amount of money and I think game developers have forgotten the proper meaning of enjoying video games.

Why I want to write my Dissertation on Video Gaming

I’ve been a keen gamer from a young age, ever since I was bought my first game console. I’ve never been much of a girly girl and I always found comfort in playing video games in my spare time. This interest continued to grow when I reached my teenage years. I became very isolated and lonely, but gaming always made me feel happy and calm. I’ve had a range of consoles over the years, starting with the PlayStation 1, to the Xbox 360 which is my current one. I like being able to escape and forget about anything stressful and having something like this really helps me do that.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how the gaming industry is very male dominated. This is what I want to focus my dissertation on. I want to look into why the industry is so gender stereotyped, and why it isn’t more appealing to women. I’d love to work for a big developer but I’m worried I would be rejected because I’m female. I think this is a topic I know I lot about and I know I wouldn’t lose interest when I’m writing. I’m looking forward to writing my dissertation and I hope I can achieve my goal into finding out about this.

Dissertation title: Is the video gaming industry gender stereotyped more towards men than women?

ARD505 Research Methods Assignment: Dissertation Proposal

Rationale:
This assignment is to help you prepare the ground for writing your dissertation at level 6.

Content:
You will need to produce a 1,500 word written proposal that states the aims and objectives of your dissertation and provides a context to the topic you have chosen. You will also outline the methods you intend to use to collect the
information needed. You will present your proposal as a Ppt. to your peer group.

Aim:
The dissertation must have a clearly identifiable and feasible aim with an analytical or evaluative approach.

Objectives:
You are required to state the objectives of the dissertation. These are four or five clear and concise statements of the expected outcomes of the research, not a description of the process or steps taken to carry out the research.

Method:
You are also required to outline your method of achieving these objectives. In bullet point format, give a clear indication of the work proposed.

Assessment Requirements: 10 minute Ppt. presentation including 1,500 word research proposal.