TASK 4

TASK 3

Historical Text GTA 1
Grand Theft Auto is an open world action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and published by BMG Interactive. It was released in October 1997 for DOS and Microsoft Windows, and on 14 December 1997 for the PlayStation.

How is it similar/different to your main text?

The massive leap from GTA 1 to GTA 5 consists of many more improvements and changes, firstly the most obvious change is the graphical quality of the text itself, over the years hardware is rapidly being developed to obtain better graphics from current hardware architecture of the PS4/XB1.

In terms of content missions and free roaming has become more open and natural, character models have changed from the previous 2D flat world to a life like realistic 3D world. With this change it allows characters to have more identity within the game which offers a more immersive experience for the user. However GTA 5 still has the core concept which GTA 1 had and that is committing crime and being rewarded for these actions. GTA 1 is famous of being the first AAA gangster game 

How does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?

TASK 2

"Portrayal of Women in Video Games." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.

Allen, R. (2006) Critical Definition c. In: Video Games in Modern Age. London: Video Games Ltd.

Willis, Laurie. Video Games. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2010. Print.

Berger, John (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.

Brown, John (2014)  An Introductory History of Fashion. London. [Lecture at Media Magazine, 5 January 2014].

Freud, S. (1901) The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Translated by Anthea Ball. 2002. London: Penguin Books Ltd

Feminism in Video Games (1972) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. [DVD] U.S.A.: Paramount Pictures.

Grand Designs: Series 6, Episode 19. (2009). Channel 4: 23 June. 19.00hrs.

Hall, Stuart (1997) Representation. London: Sage Publishing.

The Impressionists with Tim Marlow (1998) Directed by Phil Grabsky & Ali Ray. [DVD] Brighton: Seventh Art Productions.

Kirkham, P. (1987) Interior Design In: Conway. ed. Design History: A Students' Handbook. London: Routledge.

Savage, Martha (2008) Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute At: http://yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1996/3/96.03.10.x.html (Accessed on 10.11.2008)

Simpson, Sara (2009) [Interview by email, 24 February 2009]

Sturken, Marita & Cartwright, Lisa (2001) Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

TASK 1

Women gets raped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ACa5bBto8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeX_GsRmDhI
2 Men harassing a innocent women on the side of the street, then forcing to have sex
Players use melee attacks, firearms and explosives to fight enemies, and may run, jump, swim or use vehicles to navigate the world. To accommodate the map's size, the game introduces vehicle types absent in its predecessor Grand Theft Auto IV. In combat, auto-aim and a cover system can be used as assistance against enemies.Should players take damage, their health meter will gradually regenerate to its halfway point. Players respawn at hospitals when their health depletes. If players commit crimes while playing, law enforcement agencies may respond as indicated by a "wanted" meter in the head-up display
First person prostitution has caused a massive moral panic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7__X3B3Vkk

Issues and debates
Representation and stereotyping; Media effects; Reality TV; News Values; Moral Panics; Post 9/11 and the media; Ownership and control; Regulation and censorship; Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century; The effect of globalisation on the media.

Almost all young people play video games, and majority of the games contain male dominated playable characters.

Regulation and censorship:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10355275/Grand-Theft-Auto-V-is-designed-deliberately-to-degrade-women.html

Moral Panics:
http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/mmm/commentary.php?Commentary_ID=244
In 1999 two teenagers killed thirteen students at Columbine High School in Denver, USA. USA Today claims the two students were obsessed with video games and the playing of the games led to the attack. This was the start of video game moral panic. After this incident parent’s, teachers and many organisations started to believe video gaming caused violent behaviour in its players.

The first event that created the panic then causes a build in public concern and generally leads to a response from authorities and opinion makers. The panic is reduced or there is a call for social change and the issue is managed or fixed. The moral panic around Grand Theft Auto follows this pattern

Example: CBS News claims that an Alabama lawsuit claimed that Grand Theft Auto led a teenager to go on a killing rampage, murdering 3 people; 2 of them police officers. The 18-year-old killer apparently played Grand Theft Auto day and night for months on end until he finally snapped. He was said to rein-act the game in his murders. 

Theories
Gender and ethnicity; Marxism and hegemony; Liberal Pluralism; Colonialism and Post-colonialism; Audience theories; Genre theories.

Tutorial 3

Met deadline – 3,000+ words on Notes and Quotes, seriously impressive!

Struggling to find Media Magazine articles to research – GTAV campaign article not too relevant. Check MM34 – Engendering Change article, could be useful.  MM40 (Play issue) could have some relevant stuff in terms of Effects theory. There should be something useful here.

Check Media Edu for case studies – there should be something on gender and videogames. A basic introduction that is worth looking at: http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-video-games/

Major gap now is academic books and journals…

You’ve got six pdf academic journals and read and collect quotes from – that will fill the gap in terms of academic texts. Also check the books we have in DF07 – we’ve also got a book on videogames coming in, keep an eye out.

You’ll also need to use the BFI trip to fill the academic gap in your research.

Post this up on your blog along with a plan for the next two weeks.

Response: Go through all of the PDF documents, have a look at the book on Monday about video games, Check Media Edu link references for additional information

Tutorial 2

Change proposal – your question is under the hypothesis. Your hypothesis is the statement you want to prove or disprove… So it might be that ‘the lack of female videogame characters makes society more sexist’ – or you might want to test something else. Remember you can prove OR disprove the hypothesis in the essay.

Research

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/jun/12/games-industry-problem-female-protagonists

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/21/grand-theft-auto-5-women-misogynistic-violent

Loads of articles attached – check Google Scholar for more

Tutorial 1

·         Topic – female protagonists in videogames.

·         Need to nail down hypothesis – what is your angle/argument?

·         To what extent does the lack of female protagonists in videogames like GTA5 contribute to gender stereotyping in wider society? [Might need a bit of work]

·         Linked production is the challenge – documentary? YouTube GTA spoof? Opening to a movie in a similar genre to GTA? Either way it’ll be tricky.

Research

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games

Research Plan

Research Plan

Primary Media
Grand Theft Auto 5

Secondary Media
Male:
Sleeping Dogs
Far Cry
Saints Row: The Third
Kane & Lynch 3
The Godfather 3
Mafia 3
Watch Dogs

Female:
Quantum Break
Laura Croft - Rise of the Tomb Raider
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
Dead Island 2
Alien: Isolation
inFamous: First Light - DLC added content after release of game
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood
The Last of Us
Heavy Rain

Documentaries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7JU0BoX0nQ - GTA 5 Cast Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfQSoKgr2jY - Gender Stereotypes in Video Games

• What were your favourite video games growing up?

My favourite video games were ofcourse super mario, crash banicoot a little bit of tomb raider ofcorse pokemon and erm batman games.

• Today in the year 2012, what would you say the most popular video games sell? The violence or would it be the sex appeal that they give off?

I don't think its the violence because if you see today Halo 4, Call of Duty all violence and those are the most popular games. The only games we see on commercials are like 20 games have the sex appeal so its moreso the violence.

• How do you feel about how women are portrayed in video games?

"Usually im proud because usually they're a fighter or very strong but still attractive, but then other games women are portrayed very weak" Tatiana - Female Gamer

• As a female gamer how do you feel about games with only male characters in them?

"It can be disheartening because in those games women have such small roles, but in grand theft auto they only play as prostitutes" Tatiana - Female Gamer 

• Female characters usually  play damsel along distress and are prized for their overly masculine male character
• Lara Phenomenon - Heroic female characters are portrayed as crime fighting strong women

Are video games sexist?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MxqSwzFy5w -

• ''Great that the world of games is expanding and there are more women creating and playing games'' 
• ''65 percent of girls but fewer than 19 percent of boys said they played no video games at all in a typical week''
• ''Among hardcore gamers who play more than 20 hours a week, the ratio of boys to girls is 7 to 1''
• ''This huge gender gap has persisted since the researchers first started asking about video games in the mid-1990s''
• ''I discovered that gamers make a lot of people nervous''
• ''Gamers have long faced disapproval from moms and teachers and above all researchers and politicians concernocrats both liberal and conservative''
• ''For years, games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty were said to cause violence, even though no one was able to establish a clear correlation''
• ''Video games have surged in popularity and youth crime has plummeted''
• ''Critics are concerned that gaming is a largely hetero-patriachal capitalist pursuit''
• ''The world of gaming has become more inclusive''
•  ''Male gamers, as a group, do evince a strong a preference for games with male heroes and sexy women''
• ''No evidence that these games are making males racist, misogynist, or homophobic''

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i_RPr9DwMA - Women as Background Decoration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah8mhDW6Shs&safe=active - Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency - XOXO Festival

Media Articles/Texts
Gender stereotypes must be confronted                         

http://www.todayonline.com/voices/gender-stereotypes-must-be-confronted

• ''It is through stereotypes that we trivialise and misjudge lived daily experiences such as if people believe men cannot control themselves and women do not often mean what they saw''
• ''The implications are that stereotypes often go unquestioned and are normalised in culture, professional environments and the law''
• ''Gender stereotypes perpetuate body image disorder and impose unrealistic perceptions on relationships''
• ''History or a long-lived paradigm that informs our current view of gender roles, but this does not make it morally justifiable or eternal'

How to attack a woman who works in video gaming http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games

• ''Bullies of the games industry, do insist that your efforts to totally ruin a woman’s life and career are founded in transparency, ethics and integrity''
• ''The endgame is to frighten all women out of the video games industry''
• ''When harassing brave women, be sure to maintain that your campaign isn’t about gender''
• Undermine her credibility and devalue her work by hardly discussing it – and maybe discussing her full sexual history instead.

Nick Clegg warns of 'corrosive effect' of Grand Theft Auto http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/20/nick-clegg-warns-of-corrosive-effect-of-grand-theft-auto

• ''These games can have an incredibly powerful effect, and I expect in some cases a corrosive effect, on someone's behaviour'' - Nick Clegg
• ''They occupy a hermetically sealed world of their own and that can have a very detrimental effect'' - Nick Clegg
• ''Violent video game play is a causal risk factor for aggressive behavior; the scientific literature has effectively and clearly shown the answer to be yes''
• ''A number of methodological flaws that all appear likely to inflate effect size estimates''

Who are the best female characters in video games http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/13/best-female-characters-in-video-games-ubisoft-assasins-creed

• ''Female bone structure is just different," - Joe Ubisoft. 
• "Are there spiders in there? We just don't know.'' - Joe Ubisoft
• ''Question of focus and production'' - James Therien
• ''A game has come under fire for its lack of female representation''
• ''Nearly half of gamers are women''
• ''It would take for ever to list all the times games were a bit sexist''

Sex, Lies, and Gender Games                                

http://reason.com/archives/2014/10/12/gamergate-part-i-sex-lies-and-gender-gam

• ''Conservatives and right-leaning libertarians, it's a welcome pushback against left-wing cultural diktat, particularly in the area of gender politics''
• ''Reality is more complex than any of these narratives''
• ''Feminism GamerGate rebels against is not simply about equality or  diversity; it is an authoritarian, far-left brand of gender politics that views everything through the lens of patriarchal oppression and tolerates no dissent''
• ''Attacking such ideological deviations as liking a heterosexual love interest for a character perceived as gay, liking or disliking a character on the wrong side of race-and-gender identity politics''

Conservative Group to Video Game Gender Critics 

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/conservative-group-to-video-game-gender-critics-st/1100-6422381/

• "I have spent the last few weeks looking into the gamer culture, talking to gamers, looking at the data. I don't see pathology or imminent death. What I see is a lively, smart, creative sub-culture consisting mostly of tech-savvy guys from all over the world. But also including a small, but distinct group of very cool women. If you love games, they don't really care about your age, your race, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual preference. They just want to game. My suggestion to their critics--stand down."
• I disagree with probably 80 percent of Anita's claims, although I'm sympathetic to her point of view. She's definitely extreme and dogmatic. She picked apart last of us and beyond two souls, really stretching to "prove" they aren't any better than conventional male lead protagonists. 
• Debate surrounding these controversial topics is superficial, created by "gender police" who don't have much of a real argument.
• "Now gamers are dealing with a new army of critics: gender activists and, I don't know, hipsters with degrees in cultural studies," she says. "And these critics are concerned that gaming is largely a hetero-patriarchal capitalist pursuit. Why, they ask, isn't it more inclusive? Why must there always be male heroes? Why are females portrayed either as damsels in distress or sex objects?"

Lindsay Lohan's Grand Theft Auto V Lawsuit                                           

http://kotaku.com/lindsay-lohans-grand-theft-auto-v-lawsuit-is-getting-in-1644774807 

Gender GT5 negatives both sides - 8 Reasons Why It’s Blatantly Misogynous

http://whatculture.com/gaming/gta-v-8-reasons-blatantly-misogynous.php

• "Grand Theft Auto and controversy are hardly strange bedfellows"
• "Banned in five different countries, including Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates"
• " Long-running series, earning criticisms for its perceived sexism and misogynistic attitudes toward women"
• "Expose injustices created by gender stereotypes"
• "The game was misogynistic in its attitudes toward women" - Carolyn Petit
• "Crammed full of horrible gender stereotypes, with no strong female characters to root for, and radio shows advising us to treat women like urinals."
• "Barely any, if any at all female antagonists during missions"
• "Huge proportion of the villains you plough through with your machine gun are male"
• "Are we expected to believe that women can’t be villainous"
• "Females also have poor representation in the emergency services as well as the criminal underworld"
• "Female paramedics, you ask? Nope. Female ambulance drivers at least? Nope. Female fire-fighters? Not a single one. Talk about sexual discrimination in the workplace."
• "Billboard in game parodying Chanel perfume, with a message urging potential buyers to “Smell like a bitch”
• The perfume in the GTA universe is called ‘Le Chien’, which is French for dog
• "Ads that equate manhood with sleek sports cars and voices on the radio encouraging listeners to “use women like urinals”"
• "The reason men talk over women is because you yammer on"
• “I’d much rather be…. mistreating women” as well as recommending underground clubs where “you can finger groupies"
• "The women in GTA V are shown to make very ill-informed decisions"
• Amanda – a former stripper/prostitute – running off to have an affair with the tennis coach
• "Amanda is frequently depicted as a free-loading sponger without any sort of identity, career hopes or personality."
• "Both are portrayed as powerless, naive and spiteful individuals who gamers are made to ‘hate’ due to their selfish actions, whereas instead, we should be lamenting Rockstar for not creating a strong female role"
• If women in Rockstar’s fictitious worlds aren’t being depicted as spoilt, selfish, vindictive brats, they’re being portrayed as prostitutes.
• "GTA V has little room for women except to portray them as strippers, prostitutes, long-suffering wives, humourless girlfriends and goofy, new-age feminists we’re meant to laugh at."
• We see scantily-clad women on street corners after dark, who can be interacted with and propositioned into sexual situations for money.
• Rockstars is a dark, dark world where women are depicted – and treated – abominably
• Rockstar have crossed a line with their strip clubs in GTA V, now, they’re fully-graphic, almost fully-nude women of whom you can interact and supposedly sleep with.
• Occasionally you find women stripping off their bras and wandering around topless, all for our amusement and perversion.

Why does sexism persist in the video games industry?
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27824701

• The latest instalment of Ubisoft hit Assassin's Creed would not feature any playable female characters because it would have "doubled the work".
• The percentage of female characters in video games has remained steady at around 15%.
• "It's amazing how little has changed" - Yasmin Kafai . University of Pennsylvania professor
• 4% of the main characters in the top 25 selling videogames of 2013 were female.
• Even when female characters do exist, their representation is generally skewed.
• Since men were the primary consumers of video games, the gender balance was lamentable but not surprising if firms were simply designing games with their target audience in mind.
• Dynamics of who is gaming has steadily changed in the last five years, as women increasingly flock to video games
• "The industry as a culture feels less sexist than it used to," Dmitri Williams - University of Southern California professor 
• "Video game industry realised they were leaving a lot of money on the table by alienating women," - Dmitri Williams
• 60% of popular smartphone game Temple Run's players are female (although that game does allow one to play as a female character).
• "Gender ratio of players of so-called hardcore games, like first-person shooter games such as Halo, is generally disproportionately men" -  Prof Williams
• "I think we're starting to see in some cases at least in some genres an even larger gap in the types of players" - Prof Downs
• The need to constantly refresh successful franchises to boost console sales has also put pressure on developers to churn out games at ever faster speeds.
• "Time crunch is a problem because most developers are men." - Katherine Isbister - New York University professor and game designer 
• "Developers tend to create things that are similar to things they're seeing and playing so there's a feedback loop"
• "Are women not playing hardcore games because they don't like them? Or because they feel alienated?" - Prof Williams.
• "Everyone I know when given the option will play as female characters including some men"
• Reduction of both hypersexualised female and male characters.
• "The more we're normalised and shown as protagonists, the more women are going to want to play games"

Why does the games industry have such a problem with female protagonists?http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/jun/12/games-industry-problem-female-protagonists

• "Thanks #XboxOne #E3 press conference for revealing to us exactly zero games featuring a female protagonist for the next generation." Via Twitter @Anita Sarkeesian
• "Games with female protagonist don't sell"
• "If you look at the first three months with the smaller quantity of female-led games, they did not sell as well," - Geoffrey Zatkin of EEDAR
• "The ones that were male-only sold better"
• Games with a female-only protagonist received only 40% of the marketing budget of male-led games
• "Games industry marketing that is sexist in its own right"
• "The creation of great and complex female characters in video games is an involved process, but ultimately developers are going to have to take some risks and step outside of the expected or established conventions"
• "Publishers suggesting that the audience is male and therefore doesn't relate to female characters is ludicrous and short-sighted" 
• "It's not really about taking risks, it's about catering better for the existing audience"
• More than half of the women we questioned play video games and that three-quarters of women who game think the hobby no longer has anything to do with gender. Female gamers are not a minority, and female protagonists shouldn't be either.
• "Women are every bit as much a part of the gaming ecosystem as men and yet they receive only a small fraction of the leading roles" - Craig Stern

Yes, it's misogynistic and violent, but I still admire Grand Theft Auto http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/21/grand-theft-auto-5-women-misogynistic-violent

• I think that's why its problematic elements rankle – not because I'm 'offended', but because it seems lazy, repetitious. I'm not 'offended' that I can't play as a woman; I'm disappointed at the missed opportunity." - Leigh Alexander

Female NPC Failing to exit carpark

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/dont-miss-gta-v-clip-4705511

• It’s true that GTA V isn't particularly female-friendly - there has never been a female protagonist and women are relegated to the roles of sex objects
• There are unsavoury stereotypes at every turn, which the game franchise is trying to make fun of, with varying degrees of success.
• The Grand Theft Auto franchise isn't known for being politically correct. It’s all gangs, guns, drugs, strippers and prostitutes
• All the trademark violence, sexism and callous dark humour you expect by definition from the title

GTA designed deliberately to degrade women

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10355275/Grand-Theft-Auto-V-is-designed-deliberately-to-degrade-women.html

• Grand Theft Auto V is relentlessly misanthropic, holding up a skewed mirror to our entertainment and industries and asking us to peer into the ugly reflection
• The women characters are often leered at or cast as nags
• The idea of a mini-game that effectively asks you to grope a stripper repels me, I began to feel suffocated by a testosterone-addled life of deviancy.
• Nearly all the women portrayed are shallow and sidelined, and the men front-and-centre are heartless, psyThe video games industry is one that struggles deeply with the treatment of women.chotic, money-obsessed, philandering bastards. 

Sexism in the gaming industry - Michael Su                                          http://www.idsnews.com/article/2014/10/sexism-in-the-gaming-industry

• ''This is a growing community and one that has greatly expanded from its humble roots into a burgeoning industry worth billions''
• ''It takes really thick skin to be a prominent member of this community, which can produce just as much noise as political debates''
• ''In Grand Theft Auto V there are several instances of violence against women seen in “random encounters” where the player character can choose to stop or not'' -  Sarkeesian
• ''Endemic of videogames using women as mere set-pieces or window dressing''
• ''The idea that this media can subconsciously influence our thought processes akin to brainwashing is ludicrously false''
• ''There is an impact from playing video games that can transfer to real life''

Anita Sarkeesian bravely confronts sexist video gaming culture

http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-a-feminist-critic-video-game-culture-20141016-column.html#page=1

• ''Feminist critics who are raising their voices against the sexist depiction of women in video games are being harassed and threatened by cosmically immature male gamers who seem to view rational, thoughtful critiques as an existential threat''
• “Threats of violence and harassment are wrong''
• ''They have to stop. There is no place in the video game community or our societyfor personal attacks and threats.”
• ''56% of parents said video games are a “positive part of their child’s life.''
• ''Gaming is probably never going to return to "normal" 
• ''There’s a massive paradigm shift”
• “Gaming is becoming more diverse and inclusive.”

Violence, Sexuality, and Gender Stereotyping - Media Effects + All theory             http://www.scripps.ohiou.edu/wjmcr/vol13/13-b.html

MM40 - Media Magazine The Play April 2012
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0i5diL3vrEiSGxRNHIyZmM4Ums&usp=sharing

• The social taboo of taking pleasure in violence could go some way to explain why computer games have been problematic.
• It is frequently argued that games such as GTA encourage consequence-free violence for its own sake through the narrative of the game.
• Players in these types of games can immerse themselves in the narratives; and the game-play means that they identify with the violent protagonists and receive rewards for violent actions.
• The violence in games is largely perceived as ‘unjustified’ and presented as fun or just a way to pass the time; it is therefore more likely to be seen as morally reprehensible.
• "Gaming has changed beyond all recognition"
• Early versions had been interesting but technically conventional; however in GTA 3 they produced a game changer. They pioneered open world gaming with the creation of an L.A. around which your gangster avatar could roam at will.
• Manhunt 2 became the subject of a high-profile legal dispute with the British Board of Film Classification, the organisation currently responsible for age classifying games.
• The protagonist is a misogynistic gangster, and the game became notorious for scenes in which the anti-hero could hire a prostitute, have sex with her and kill her to get his money back.
• Reinventing a dormant movie genre for a gaming audience to whom it would seem fresh and new. Film Noir,with its striking black and white cinematography, loner anti-heroes with a past, and glamorous and dangerous female characters known as femmes fatales.
• Gaming used to be seen very much as a children’s domain. Yet adults also play – and it may be that digital media are allowing them new opportunities to do so.
• The games industry is fond of claiming that the average age of computer gamers is rising all the time: it’s now around 30
• Women are depicted as conservative and reactionary, out of touch with current youth/gaming culture 
• The violence of computer/console gameshas led to bans, restriction of sales through classification, censorship and hundreds and thousands of panicked articles on the negative influence games have on their audience.

Computer Games as Educational Tool - PDF

• Playing games is an important part of our social and mental development
• Students rated game elements such as logic, memory, visualisation and problem solving as the most important game elements
• The average age was 19 with most of them having very little computer experience or exposure to playing computer games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOMN11_rhFY&list=UUvHtEkC1NPbdC7c1eCupsnQ

EDU

Facts

• 54% Female 46 % Male audience

Source: http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp

• 31 The average age of today’s gamer.

29% under 18 years

32% 18-35 years

39% 36+ years

• 14 The average number of years gamers have been playing.
• 71% of gamers are age 18 or older.
• 48% of gamers are female.
• 62% of gamers play games with others, either in-person or online.
• 53% of gamers play games on their smartphones.
• 41% of gamers play on their wireless device.
• Parents of Gamers
• 91% of parents are present when games are purchased or rented.
• 88% of parents feel that the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system is helpful in choosing games for their children.
• 87% of parents believe that the parental controls available in all new video game consoles are useful.
• 68% of parents believe game play provides mental stimulation or education.
• 55% of parents believe game play helps the family to spend to time together.

Source: http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2014.pdf

• 59% of Americans play video games
• Smartphone and wireless device use increased by 22% and 37%, respectively, over 2012
• 
  

Critical Investigation

Working title: Female protagonists in videogames.

Include specific texts in the title and either 'how or 'why' or both, e.g.: To what extent and why are video games such as 'Call of Duty' and 'Grand Theft Auto’ becoming more violent?

Angle
To what extent does the lack of female protagonists in videogames like GTA 5 contribute to gender stereotyping in wider society?

Hypothesis
The lack of female videogame characters makes society more sexist
Linked production piece
Short documentary interviewing a group of both female and male gamers, get their views from both sides of the argument. Leading physiological expert interview with their views on how video games has caused gender stereotypes, over the years their past experience and knowledge. Gives an insight into how games effect their personal and social life.
E.g. Reaction video to gaming from females and males when playing certain game genres. For example: seeing what pleasures the consumers when playing games (men conducting violent actions)

MIGRAIN
Media Language:
Costume - Lauren was our main character. Her character represented a possessed girl who had nothing to live for any more. The costume that we decided upon was a pyjama set: black and white trousers and a grey baggy t-shirt. We thought that this would represent a world where there was no willingness to even get dressed.

Lighting - The lighting that we used was minimal. We used the natural light of the room at the beginning of our sequence which was quite dull as we had thin curtain closed to give the dark feeling, reflecting the characters personality. During the sequence we used a lamp to light Lauren's face, it was bright around her face, but the rest of the room was dark.

Actors/Action - The main actor within the thriller is Lauren, she is the only person that we see through the entirety of the sequence, until the very end where her councillor is introduced which is Jae. The action that Lauren makes is subtle through most of it.

Make-up - The make up that we used was minimal to give a look of vulnerability. Lauren's face is naturally pale therefore we added 'talc' to make it more pale, then we put white eye-shadow on her eye lids.

Props - The props that we used were: a table, paper, crayons, a lamp, photos and scissors. (Lauren will be going into more detail in another post)

Setting - Our setting is mainly set within one bedroom. It is mainly white, giving the feeling of a hospital room, it is neutral and plain.
Institution: Rockstar Games is a multinational video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of British video game publisher BMG Interactive. The publisher is known for the Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A. Noire, The Warriors, Bully, Manhunt, Midnight Club and Red Dead games as well the use of open world, free roaming settings in their games. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that have been created internally. While many of the studios Take-Two Interactive has acquired have been merged into the Rockstar brand, several other recent ones have retained their previous identities and have become part of the company's 2K Games division. The Rockstar Games label was founded in New York City in 1998 by the British video game producers Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.

As of February 2014, Rockstar Games titles have shipped more than 250 million copies. The largest franchise being the Grand Theft Auto series which alone have shipments of at least 157.5 million In March 2014, Rockstar Games received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award at the British Academy Video Games Awards.

Genre:

Representation:
The portrayal of men and women in video games, as in other media, is a subject of research in gender studies. The way men and women are portrayed in games often reflects gender roles or popular stereotypes, such as that of the damsel in distress for women. Other issues include significant underrepresentation of female characters in mainstream games, particularly protagonist characters.
Audience: 

Ideologies:

Narrative: Nine years after a botched robbery in Ludendorff, North Yankton, that left two of his accomplices dead and forced a third into hiding, former bank robber Michael Townley is living under witness protection with his family in Los Santos, San Andreas, under the alias Michael De Santa. Franklin Clinton, who works as a repo man for a car dealership alongside his best friend Lamar Davis, is asked to reclaim a car from Michael's twenty-year-old son Jimmy, who is overdue on his loan payment. Correctly deducing that his son is about to become a victim of credit fraud, Michael confronts Franklin and orders him to crash the car through the dealership. Franklin is fired, but he and Michael become friends. When Michael discovers his wife Amanda in bed with her tennis coach, he and Franklin chase the man to a mansion, which Michael destroys out of anger. The mansion's owner, Mexican drug lord Martin Madrazo, demands compensation, so Michael and Franklin perform a jewellery shop heist to pay their debt. Michael's sole surviving partner in the Ludendorff robbery, Trevor Philips, hears of the jewellery heist and realises that Michael's death was faked and that the heist was his handiwork. The two reunite after Trevor tracks Michael down in Los Santos.

The personal lives of the protagonists begin to spiral out of control. Trevor's unexpected reappearance results in Michael displaying acts of reckless and erratic behaviour, which prompts his family to leave. Michael's attempts to make something of himself bring him into conflict with Devin Weston, a self-made billionaire venture capitalist and corporate raider who develops a grudge against him and vows revenge. Franklin becomes disturbed by the way Lamar falls under the influence of gangster Harold "Stretch" Joseph, who defected to a rival gang in prison and repeatedly attempts to kill Lamar to prove himself to his new brethren. Trevor's reckless efforts to consolidate his control over various black markets in Blaine County see him waging war against the San Andreas chapter of The Lost outlaw motorcycle club, a number of Latin American street gangs, rival meth dealers, government-sponsored mercenaries and Triad kingpin Wei Cheng.

Apply the Key Concepts to your texts/topic by using the questions from the Summer Research Project to help you. (Include at least five bullet point/key concept). Include as many media keywords as you can.
First of the lot is the Research Lab, which can be accessed through a mission in single-player. Unlike the earlier glitch, now there is an easier way to activate the glitch.
Here is how you do it:Make sure you have downloaded the mission or job named as 'Section 3' and logged into GTA Online with Invite Only session.
Once you have adjusted the game settings to your liking, just tap the B button on your Xbox 360 or circle button on your PS3 and choose Yes to confirm that you want to quit the job.
After you quit the job, you will spawn inside the elevator as shown in the video.
Now you can exit the elevator and roam around the Research Lab without any restrictions.

Police Station Deathmatch
Next up on the list is the Police Station Deathmatch mission which can be downloaded via Rockstar Social Club.Once you have downloaded the mission from the Job playlist, here is what you should do:Start the mission in GTA Online (Invite Only session) and then hit the B button on Xbox 360 or Circle button on PS3 to force the glitch into action.
You will now spawn inside the Police Department with free roam access throughout the building.

SHEP
Apply the Wider Contexts to your text/topic, including at least three bullet points on each one.


Issues/Debates
Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using the Media A-Z to help you think about this:

• Representation and stereotyping - Are black people represented differently? Women characters are only pedestrians and strippers in GTA 5. 

• Moral Panics - Rockstar have not released the most anticipated game mode heists which has caused a major outrage and forcing many 
• Regulation and censorship - The 18 certificate is issued by the British Board of Film
  Classification (BBFC), to state that in its opinion, a film, video recording, or game should not be seen in a cinema or purchased by a person under 18 years old. This has been bypassed by many under aged teenagers buy purchasing the games via internet websites like Amazon which don't enforce age validation. 
• 
  

Media effects
Reality TV
News Values
Post 9/11 and the media
Ownership and control

Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century
The effect of globalisation on the media

Theories
Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using keywords/specific theorists' names from the Media A-Z:

• Levi-Strauss: Binary opposition - 
• Uses and Gratifications: Personal Identity - People on benefits may watch the show to gain a sense of personal identity and be able to identify with the characters in the show.
• Dyer: Stereotypes - Male gamers stereotype to show power and to impress friends, suggests that they are the dominant gender?
• Cohen: Moral Panics - The issue of benefits is a moral panic in society and causes controversy, have top selling games not included female protagonist on purpose.

Hall - Dominant/Alternative reading 

Semiotics
Structuralism and post-structuralism
Postmodernism and its critiques
Gender and ethnicity
Marxism and hegemony
Liberal Pluralism
Colonialism and Post-colonialism
Audience theories
Genre theories
Contemporary Media Landscape

Research Links:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/20/nick-clegg-warns-of-corrosive-effect-of-grand-theft-auto
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/13/best-female-characters-in-video-games-ubisoft-assasins-creed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7JU0BoX0nQ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfQSoKgr2jY

Ignite Presentation Feedback

• Good choice of topic - but introduction doesn't mention the key issue of female protagonists
• Delivery weak - lack of rehearsal
• Timing is terrible - lost control of presentation
• Such a shame because there is some really good content and research here but no rehearsal or preparation
• Woefully short - really quite pathetic given the time you had to prepare for this
• Didn't get into the media debates/issues - such a missed opportunity 
• Q+A does show some opinions on these issues and potential, good debate going too
• Tomb Raider would make a good historical case study but you will need a modern example from the last 5 year

WWW:

• Some key research done 
• Examples of both supporting and opposing question
• Provided background of game and current news stories (Lindsey Lohan lawsuit, most sold game of all time)

EBI:

• If evidence was backed up on question, why is the female gaming percentage increasing.
• Find quotes and opinions from other people about topic
• Included my personal opinion about question
• Space out slides so the information
• Rehearsed presentation

Research: Explore the differences of modern and historical games; why have games changed over the past years and what impact its had on females. Find information and research about physiological impacts of playing video games both men and women. Why are females increasing becoming the dominant gender for gaming, see what attracts and engages women to continue playing video games. Research more AAA game titles including female protagonists, Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy and Kingdom of Hearts franchise. Find audience theories that link in with Grand theft Auto 5 - Male gaze, stereotyping and moral panic. Find any news articles that support the fact that males are increasingly becoming more violent due to video games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.