HA6 Task 4 - Analysis of a Game Genre

Genre: Interactive Drama

Beyond: Two Souls - Heavy Rain - Mass Effect 3

I am going to explore the genre of Interactive drama in this article, using three games to detail my points and views while ultimately providing a detailed analysis into the genre.An Interactive drama is a fairly new genre introduced into the gaming industry, it consists of a story being played out in front of the player, but offers up choices or decisions which can have a massive impact on how the story will carry on from the point of that choice/decision.

In the game Heavy Rain You as the player are put in control of 4 major characters, each one of these characters could potentially die at various points during the story, however instead of having a Game Over screen pop up, the story carries on despite the death of this supposed major character, which causes the story to play out completely differently when compared to the scenario in which that character survives.

For Heavy Rain this results in an open ended, multi-strand story. The game Beyond: Two Souls takes a similar approach, however unlike Heavy Rain your choices and decisions are self-contained within each separate chapter of the story. This results in a more linear story and is made possible as the story follows a single main character, (Jodie Holmes) over the course of 15 years, therefore each chapter of the story has a fair amount of time separating them, which helps the believability of prior events not being reflected upon due to a 2 to 3 year gap. this could also be considered as a negative as it lessens the impact that you as a player has over the story, so regardless of your decisions in chapter 1, chapter 2 will always start the same way. The positive here is that you can quickly go to a certain point in the story and check out the results of different decisions easily without having to start from the very beginning.

While Mass-Effect 3 is primarily an action game and is not really considered an Interactive drama, (More RPG than anything) it has the same elements as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls when it comes to making decisions in the story. Not only that but like Heavy Rain it has a multi-strand story, while it's not quite as expansive, it allows the players to experience a number of different events in the game, which can also lead to a number of different endings, which is also a feature of both Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.

A notable aspect of all three of these games is that they all have a heavy emphasis on their characters and the development of said characters. This fact lends its self greatly to the drama aspect of this genre, as all of these characters go through negative experiences throughout but as they do, they grow as characters which also helps with the players immersion into these characters lives.

It's important to note that all these games also appear to be heavily influenced by films, especially in the case of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. The director of these games; David Cage clearly had a vision of what he wanted to achieve and many gamers have fairly declared that these games are nothing more than interactive films, many gamers have also pointed this out as a negative, however this is all they were ever meant to be, the emphasis was always meant to be on the story and the characters rather than engaging gameplay. 

Simply put, you are put in charge of the direction of the story. That's not to say that gameplay is neglected altogether, as there are plenty of high pressure action scenes which require rapid responces from the player in which a mistake can result in a harsh punishment. In a game with no Game Over screen, these punishments will stick and prove as a much harsher punishment than restarting from the last check point.

Sources

Image: http://redkingsdream.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RKD_heavy_pain.jpg, http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/write.ign.com/147611/2013/05/Beyond-Two-Souls-Jodie-600x336.jpg,http://i2.cdnds.net/13/12/618x347/gaming-beyond-two-souls-9.jpg, http://i1.cdnds.net/13/25/618x347/gaming-beyond-two-souls--screenshot-13.jpg, http://i1.cdnds.net/13/12/618x347/gaming-beyond-two-souls-13.jpg, http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/j_Lnqkhwxzo/maxresdefault.jpg  

Text: IGN Reviews, Gamespot Reviews

HA6 Task 3 - Addressing Audiences and Audience Feedback

• Genre – A way to define the nature of the media in question. Despite there being many genre's which use the same media, they all have differences, being both major and subtle. A genre is used as a label in order to give a type of media it's own category which it can be recognised by.
• Content - The things which make up the mass of a product, media products are all about their content, in both quality and quantity. How much do we get and how good is it? There needs to be a good balance between quality and quantity, as everyone wants a good ammount of content, but obviously this is pointless if the quality suffers because of it.
• Construction - The structure of a media based product and how it works. In terms of a video game, this will refer to it's final build, how the game is set up and how it plays.
• Narrative conventions – The characterisation, form, plot, time frame.. These all make up Narrative conventions, among other things. It is the basis for the story and how it's built up.
• Common Codes – The ingredients involved in creating a media product and how they relate to each other.

The Last Of Us

Genre: 3D, Action Adventure, Horror
Content: (Font: Broken, worn, forboding, lifeless) (Environment: Desolate, lifeless, overgrown, lonely, unforgiving) (Story: Engaging, involving, deep)
Construction: (User Interface: HUD - Heads Up Display, injury indicator),
Narrative Conventions: Hopelessness, loneliness, desperation, future, post-apocalypse, fungal infection, journey.
Common Codes: Third person, Over-the-shoulder, Shooter, Survival, initiative.

Just Dance

Genre: Rhythm, Party
Content: (Font: Impact, stands out, energetic) (Environment: Up-beat, flashy, over the top)
Construction: (HUD: Interactive)
Narrative Conventions: Party, good times
Common Codes: Happy, energetic, up beat, lively,

HA6 Task 2 - Audience Response to Products

The Hypodermic Needle

A method of injecting the audience with small doses of information via various forms of media. This process is designed to produce a reaction from the intended audience, however this reaction exists solely for a short term effect, as the audience can be considered passive and easily mailable.

For example within the video game trailer for "Uncharted 3", there were various action packed scenes which didn't necessarily make up much of the actual game as a whole, however at the time, this would stimulate excitement from the intended audience.

The Inoculation Model

This model suggests that the longer an audience is exposed to a certain media based message, the more immune that audience will become to it. Within the realms of video games, it's suggested that the various violent methods of dealing with an in-game enemy over a long period of time becomes less shocking to the individual committing them, as a result it's suggested that the same sort of action in real life would have a diminished shock to the individual.

There's an interesting example of this brought up in the video game "Metal Gear Solid 2" in which soldiers are trained up within a VR (Virtual Reality) training programme. It gave the soldiers involved a false mindset, that war was simply a video game, that losing simply meant you just try again and therefore was effective in producing fearless soldiers.

Two Step Flow Model

Within the two step flow model, an opinion leader tends to act as a filter between the information being produced by the mass media and the individual receiving that information. For example, say you and a parent are listening to the same news story, your opinion of that news story can be influenced by the opinion your parent demonstrates, up until the point of your parent calling out that story, you may have been convinced by it or vice-versa.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

It is apparent that there are many different audiences across the world and that an individual will seek out information for many different purposes, these reasons can be factored in to three things.

• Personal Identity
• Integration and Social Interaction
• Entertainment

For example, when it comes to video games, people may search out information regarding a new games release and features, a video game could also fit into one or all three of the previously mentioned attributes, as a person may buy a game out of personal interest, social integration or merely entertainment.

Reception Theory

This theory examines how the audience receives the information being provided to them. This can be split into three basic definitions.

• The Preferred reading: This is where the audience receives and accepts the information being offered to them. If we were to take a game as an example, This would be the audience accepting the game exactly for what it is and enjoying it for that.
• The Negotiated reading: In this instance, the audience gives and takes with the information given. They take from it what they need whilst rejecting what they don't. A common thing with 3D video games is issues with the camera control, so a lot of reviewers will bring up the positives of an open world yet state that the experience gets brought down via a terrible camera.
• The Oppositional reading: This is where information is given, yet not received as intended. For example when the PS3 was in it's early days, many games made use of the limited motion control of the sixaxis controller, now while this was released as a means of adding further variety to games, many perceived it as a cheap gimmick which ultimately didn't receive the expected gratification.

Sources: http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/13000000/playing-video-games-south-park-13058702-800-597.jpg, http://us.123rf.com/450wm/wavebreakmediamicro/wavebreakmediamicro1307/wavebreakmediamicro130704187/20625214-twins-and-parents-raising-arms-while-watching-television-sitting-on-a-carpet.jpg, http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/metal-gear-solid-2-substance/9/94/Mgssub_vrraiden.jpg, http://mattbrett.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/uncharted3-plane.jpg, http://25.media.tumblr.com/22180795c4aca75518b15f91e3838666/tumblr_mo7ptbtmpR1r3xauuo1_500.png

HA6 Task 1 - Defining Audiences

How we define audiences from James-003