The Great(est) Escape: Why Audiences Really Play Video Games

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The Great(est) Escape: Why Audiences Really Play Video Games

"With the proliferation of games consoles, laptops, iPads and various smartphones it is fair to say that these days most people under the age of 65 will have had some experience of playing video games of one sort or another. However, a growing number of people worldwide of all ages are spending increasing amounts of time playing games. Though difficult to fully establish because of its sheer size and variety, a range of studies put the global gaming audience at between 450-700 million people with an average 11 hours of gaming per week."
proliferation - rapid increase in the number or amount of something.
With the growth in technological entertainment, it is quite rare for someone under 65 to not experience these media texts, more specifically video games. This growing number also increases the number of hours played by the users of specific media type.

"Conventional media theory such as Blumler & Katz's uses and gratifications theory provide rather broad ideas about how fictional texts offer escapism for their audiences, transporting them to a different emotional place and diverting them from the mundanity of their real lives."
Blumler and Katz's theory can be used on all media types and are quite conventionally used as all media texts can be applied to the theory. This theory finds the focus of usage for the viewer, for example: Avatar, the film, is used for escapism through its many features like narrative and setting.

"It is at this point that we can start to use less conventional theory tools to unlock the true nature of the ways that audiences use computer games to satisfy un-met needs in their own lives."
Blumler and Katz' theory is useful, however moving away from conventional media theories allows us the fully realise the way audience use video games to satisfy the un-met needs in their lives.

Dyer's Utopian Solutions
"This has a relatively simple premise: entertainment texts offer audiences a utopian or perfect ideal that they can access through media consumption. This 'utopia' is in contrast to the imperfections and difficulties audiences face in their own social lives."
An ideal world is offered to the viewer/user of the media which they can engage in and interact with. The utopia is used within the Uses and Gratifications theory as 'Escapism', allowing for the need to be fulfilled for the user to escape flawed reality. As explained in the quote, below.

"In short, escapist texts offer quick wins and rewards that fix the gaps in our social and emotional needs. In real life, clear rewards are rare and much harder fought for."
While in reality, rewards are harder to gain or see, escapism allows for quick and simple wins and rewards that fulfil our self esteem needs or need for self actualisation. 

Applying the Theory: Puzzle Games
"Puzzle games are consistently ranked as the most popular genre of games with both males and females of all backgrounds, most of whom would not consider themselves gamers."
Puzzle games are easily accessible to all audience types (such as casual or hardcore gamers) as they do not require the user to learn multiple button prompts and present a simple control mapping. Tetris (the example bellow) is a great example, as the user only has to go left and right as well as use a button to flip the falling blocks into correct positions.

Tetris example:
"The ordering of random blocks that drop from the top of the screen at increasing rate into rows that disappear once a full row is achieved. Good decision-making is rewarded with points. If poor decisions are made and full rows are not achieved they do not disappear, the screen becomes clogged up with unspent blocks and the game ends when the random falling blocks can no longer enter play."

"The key utopian solution that is offered in this game is the audiences' ability to maintain Order over Chaos. By contrast, individuals find themselves managing different priorities and responsibilities in their lives, their families, friends or their workload - with no easy answers. Puzzle games such as Tetris allow audiences to manage a chaotic situation, creating ordered rows with measurable reward - the awarding of points for completed lines and the ability to play on, creating further order out of increasing chaos."

Maslow's Hierarchy
"In Western society most of our 'lower order' needs are met: we have food, shelter, we are healthy and we have the support of our families. However, the upper two categories of self-actualisation (becoming the best we can be) and the resulting self-esteem and praise by others can only be met by individual action and achievement of socially recognised goals."

The First-Person Shooters (FPS)
"...the predominantly male audience is offered an energetic escape from the sedentary lifestyles that most males are involved in their place of education or work. Likewise this allows male audiences a means of asserting dominance upon a virtual battlefield with their tactical movement and skill in handling virtual weaponry. The rewarding of this dominant and physically capable behaviour is a means of the audience becoming the most masculine male they can be. This is a form of masculine self-actualisation."

"When the experience is taken online, players can take their virtual selves online and achieve real-world dominance over their friends in a virtual environment. One of the reason why computer games are popular with the parents of gamers is the safety of masculine expression it offers their children, compared to the dangers of old fashioned group play from days gone by..."

"...online play is offering communal activity in an increasingly fragmented society."
'Fragmented society'. personally, I don't believe online play or any type of online usage to socialise or fulfil needs fragments are society. It allows societies to become more connect to each other and increases socialisation more than offline talking as online usage allows more focused social interaction that can interest the user. The thought of society being 'further fragmented' is a view shared within the older generation and is slowly disappearing with technological advancements.

"It is worth considering that the single-player experiences of best-selling action titles such as Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin's Creed offer a very similar experience to a first-person game but from a third person perspective, where the camera is set behind the protagonist."

Comparisons made to similarly genre-d video games that approach the same subject, 3rd person POV providing a similar experience but less personalised. 1st person = audience positioning, personal identity and escapism.

The Sports Simulation

"Simulation games such as the FIFA Football series, EA Sports Golf or Formula 1 2011 offer their audiences a way of participating in sporting events that they are consistently positioned to aspire to within their real lives..."

"These games offer their audiences highly realistic verisimilitude of the decision-making processes involved, such as whether to keep the ball on the deck if the pitch is wet, or which golf club to use. The physical mastery of a golf swing or taking a free kick is replaced by the relatively simple sequencing of pressing a combination of buttons for specific lengths of time."

verisimilitude - the appearance of being true or real.

"This is in great contrast to the actuality of true sporting success. It is said that it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice to achieve mastery of an art, sport or other physical discipline..."

"These games offer an intensity of sporting experience that is in opposition to the monotony of unfocused practice that real life normally offers..."

monotony - lack of variety and interest; tedious repetition and routine.

"...success within these games offer their predominantly male audiences an affirmation of their gender identity as they have self-actualised their potential, experiencing both visual spectacle (scoring a 30-yard volley against Barcelona), and also the self-esteem boost for success in creating it."

The Role-playing Game (RPGs) & Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPGs)

"Role-playing games such as the recent Elder Scroll V: Skyrim and the Dragon Age series allow the audience to recreate an alternate persona or avatar of themselves within some form of science-fiction or fantasy setting."

User can insert themselves or alternate selves into world presented, while following a particular vocation or character class. This allows for personal identity and escapism is once again fulfilled

vocation - a trade or profession.

"...As the player progresses through the game's large and non-linear narrative they are rewarded with experience and treasure that will raise the level and capabilities of his ideal self. Within a conventional role-playing game, their characters' decisions and moral choices determine the path through this non-linear narrative."

"Gamers play these games because unlike other games, the character that they create has real consequences for the narrative journey. The gamer is fully actualising in a world abundant in magic or technology, this is in contrast to their own lives where they can effect little change."

"In Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games such as World of Warcraft the grand narrative arc of the single-player experience is dispensed with as players take their avatar into a shared online realm where they can fully actualise as a citizen of a virtual world without a demand to complete a narrative quest unless they choose to..."

Sandbox Games

"...the ability of players to freely create situations from a blank canvas environment, the most popular of these games are the Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row series. These games offer players the ability to take control of a relatively normal human being in an massive urban environment, with the options of undertaking criminal missions or behaving in a violent and anti-social manner whilst evading the virtual city's law enforcement in a more experimental way."

"A typical mission might involve stealing a particular type of car with a reward of in-game cash to spend on items within the game such as weapons or clothing. However, if the character is killed during his misdeeds, then the player starts again in hospital with less money. This offers the safety of knowing that they won't really die or be imprisoned, in contrast to the real world."

"Masculine dominance and emotional detachment in committing crimes for the sake of personal gain is rewarded with notoriety within the story world."

"The money that the player earns can then be used to buy a range of items (clothes and guns etc) that allow the gamer to self-actualise and own these items in the virtual world. This is in stark contrast to the gamers' everyday lives, where actual disparities in living standards in capitalist countries are widening - the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer."

Motion Controlled Games

"As a physical, energetic experience, these games are used in a number of unique ways. Zumba Fitness can be used as a private motivational tool to participate in a physical activity - but without the public embarrassment of going to the gym. This is especially important for mainstream female audiences where being slim and toned reinforcing dominant ideas of feminine beauty and desirable behaviour."

"Just Dance and Wii Sports titles are often used as competitive, communal party games that invite observation. In Wii Sports it might be an archery contest or in Just Dance a 'dance-off' to popular hits against a friend. Whether competing with friends or alone, the experience of trying to match physical performance with an onscreen goal offers the gamer the ability to test themselves and rate their performance. This is a source of self-esteem if they achieve a suitable standard. The recognition and acceptance of their peers through a group gaming activity also taps into their needs for love and belonging."

The Overview

"To sum up, the theories we have applied in this whistle-stop tour of the most popular gaming genres offers an interesting insight as to how the theories of Dyer and Maslow could be applied to gaming texts. This is by no means exhaustive, as even the games mentioned offer subtle elements from other gaming genres and the pleasures that come with them. Each game is an incredibly rich text that is deserving of further study..."