Grand Thief Auto 5
Reviews
The reviews on Amazon are useful, they are mostly all rated 5 stars for how good the game is, the only reviews with low ratings are due to the game not getting delivered fast enough or coming damaged but other than people complaining about the companies delivering system the game seems to have good reviews on the game. Everyone seems to be raving about how fun and how well produced this game is, also having a creative storyline.
GamesRadar
This website is telling us about the game in detail, describing each part of the game and they're really selling it to someone who was thinking of buying this game. I think this is a good review and because of the detail of the graphics, characters and storyline and the 5 stars it would make someone want to go out and buy this game.
This is a good well written review, it gives the game a percentage rating and gives the audience an overview of the storyline of the game in detail, it tells us how its the biggest most dynamic and most diverse open world ever created. It makes us feel like its art and we must purchase it because it's so amazing.
GAMER PROFILE
The Age bracket is 18+, how ever allot of people play it from a younger age of around 13 and over. The Pegi Website says "The content of this game is suitable for persons aged 18 years and over only. It contains: Extreme violence - Multiple, motiveless killing - Violence towards defenceless people - Strong language". The Main gender for the game is Male. Females are known to play it, But mainly male The Average ratio is 80:20 which is understandable, Men usually play more violent and action games because thats just what men commonly go for. Its scenes in the game like this that probably make it abit less appealing to women where Trevor (Main character) interrogates and tortures a man using car jump cables.
SOCIO ECONOMIC SCALE
On the scale, the GTA V gamer would sit between the labourers/working class and the unemployed for the people who play it, as these groups will consist more of younger people. However, the people who buy these young people the game would be situated in the higher rankings of the scale i.e. parents with a high level of skill within their occupation receiving a wealthy income, therefore are able to buy their children these games.
SOCIO ECONOMIC SCALE
On the scale, the GTA V gamer would sit between the labourers/working class and the unemployed for the people who play it, as these groups will consist more of younger people. However, the people who buy these young people the game would be situated in the higher rankings of the scale i.e. parents with a high level of skill within their occupation receiving a wealthy income, therefore are able to buy their children these games.
GTA is a mainstream game. its very typical, driving and shooting kind of game, its just the way its presented that makes it get the reaction it does, Mainstreamers like this because they hear on reviews that its 10/10 and quoted as "Awesome" and they like that, therefore they just go with it. Also you could argue that its for Succeeders aswel, Seek control and strong opinions, GTA has allot of opinions aimed at it and a big majority of them are amazing. Thats why succeeders also appeal towards the game. Overall the game is Mainstream, its a widely popular played game owned by most teens. In honest there arent many games like GTA, of course there's driving and shooting games but theres things in GTA that make it Unique, like free roaming and all the different options you have throughout the game. The Game is quite open to everyone, its on Xbox, Playstation and its even available on PC. If Grand Theft Auto V were a theatrically-released movie instead of a video game, enough people would have bought tickets to earn only $227.4 million at the global box office. GTA V was released back in September, which was actually four months later than the original date given by the developers. However, that didn’t affect the sales of the game. Just within 24 hours of the release of the title, Take Two Interactive announced that the game managed to raise over $800 million.
Focus Group
- What do you like/don't you like about the game?
- How do you feel when your'e playing the game?
- Do you think the game targets your age range?
- How does the game keep you interested and wanting to keep playing?
- Do you feel that the game is effecting your academic mindset i.e. preventing you from doing school work?
- How long do you spend playing this game?
Summary
Gender for GTA 5
The gender for GTA 5 is definitely aimed more toward men, this can be seen by the way women are represented in this game. There isn't a positive role model for women to look up to in this game. The women characters in GTA 5 either stripers, frustrated wives, or slutty teenagers. In my opinion I think that these characters could put the female gender off playing the game because it shows women in a bad light. The strong content of the game probably would make the female gender not want to play the game because of the violence and sexual nature in the way it shows women. There isn't a main women character in the game, who is shown as a strong person like the way that the males are shown. The reason it attracts the male gender is because they get to come across as stronger and better than females due to the violence and also the sexual manner that females portray during this game. You only have to look at the advertisements of the game to show us how women are represented.
Gamer Profile
- Age of gamer, the certificate and what people that age are interested in:
www.pegi.info/
- I think Grand Theft Auto reaches out to more males as the game is very sexist in terms of women and gives them a stereotype. It also brings all the stereotypical things we think men enjoy like violence, action and we see the males with weapons such as guns, knives, grenades, which is why it is more appealing to the stereotypical male. This tells us that that females enjoy games which are more tame and more realistic and you can enjoy playing in groups for example Just Dance for the Wii. I think that males would rather buy this game at age 18 rather than females at that age range despise the stereotypes because I don't think it would be something that females would be interested in at that age. On google there is a website called (www.grantland.com) which has at heading "Grand Theft Auto Continues to Treat Female Gamers Like Roadkill With Latest Instalment". They are saying women are viewed as sex objects, only created to keep a man happy and if they step out of line they get treated really badly. And you can't play the game as a female which it makes it seem that women aren't capable of what the males are doing during the game, the only thing they are good at is selling their bodies etc.
Psychographics:
Grand Theft Auto 5 is for the mainstreamers and explorers, as the game contains aspects that appeal to both of these psychographics. This game appeals to mainstreamers as it is from a familiar brand in rockstar games, they know to expect quality from the brand. The game in itself is also a brand that is known all over the world and has shows great quality and won many awards. It also appeals to the Explorer category as GTA has new and sometimes controversial ideas and mechanics. GTA 5 contains many new and old ideas that remain only in a small amount of games, being able to have sex in game still one of them. GTA 5 saw many new ideas, from the use of the new online system to your characters mouth moving when you spoke into your headset, all these things appeal to the explorer psychographics.
- Socio Economic Scale:
I think the social scale for people who constantly play this game are people on lower paid jobs where they usually come from backgrounds which they don't really care about education and just have a dead end job and use the game as a way to escape reality. People who aren't concentrating on their education usually come from a family that also have low paid jobs or don't have a job at all. Because they have no job and could afford to buy the game because of their job seekers allowance or benefits have so much time on their hands, they might play the game more than other categories. This could also include younger people maybe under age 18 with no job still in education whose parents might not care what they play and buy them the game, and the younger they are i think the more influence the game will have on them. And as people know it is a very violent game and kids might follow this in school or outside of school thinking its alright because they haven't been taught any different by growing up playing this game.
I think these kind of people are more likely to play it than the others above them as they may have more time on their hands as there jobs will be low paid and maybe not many hours long. People who come from wealthy, good backgrounds and are more likely to have been taught what is right and wrong about society, also the equality between genders and have stayed in education longer there have been taught for longer than others and by this have learned key skills about society than the others have. In the higher groups, there parents are more likely to have been both employed rather than just the man.
-Typical Gamers
-Sales Figures:
-(www.games.on.net):
-(www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
-Success of the game:
-(www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
In my opinion qualitative would be more useful to the gaming industry as they can read the review and see what people preferences are on the type of game the developer wants to make. It makes it easier to find out what to include in a game and what not to include, it help them make their game appeal to their target market. Quantitative date can also be helpful as it gives a solid rating and helps the developer see how well their game is received by the public. In my experience the focus group was the most helpful as it gives first hand research and opinions from real people. It also gives an even spread of data as it is not just from one person so is not bias, this gives us good reliable set of data. It could also be moulded around my situation as i was asking the questions and they weren't done by someone else.
The whole focus group enjoyed then game. The reasons that the focus group enjoyed this game is because of the graphics and how well the game was created, it's one of the most well made games of our generation, there's a whole other world in a disc that has been created for entertainment purposes. The group felt as though that the game was doing nobody any harm because there are films which 18 year olds can watch with as much violence and sexism involved but which are clearly made to be entertaining, this is what makes the game so entertaining, it doesn't mean that that's how they would act in reality.
Also they liked the new characters which they hadn't seen before and it made them enjoy the game more because these characters in the game had different personalities. The online gaming feature also was a plus for the focus group because you could engage with strangers and play a game worldwide. The reason they thought that this game suited them is because it was meant for a younger audience who can be more open minded about things unlike adults who might find the game disgusting. The reasons they didn't enjoy the game is because of the loading time and taking to long for them to carry on the game, they had to wait for missions to load and levels to load, but in my opinion I think this is a good thing because it gives players a chance to have a break from playing for a few minutes.
Also the focus group felt that the game appealed to its target audience (males 18+) because of the way the males treat the women in this game,immature teenage boys would call their friends a 'lad' if he slept with a prostitute etc. And I think older men would like the way they treat the women and find it funny that they are just 'bitches' and 'hoes'. Also it targets the audience well by the way that males are shown as stronger and more important characters, holding a lot of strong weapons...
Also they liked the new characters which they hadn't seen before and it made them enjoy the game more because these characters in the game had different personalities. The online gaming feature also was a plus for the focus group because you could engage with strangers and play a game worldwide. The reason they thought that this game suited them is because it was meant for a younger audience who can be more open minded about things unlike adults who might find the game disgusting. The reasons they didn't enjoy the game is because of the loading time and taking to long for them to carry on the game, they had to wait for missions to load and levels to load, but in my opinion I think this is a good thing because it gives players a chance to have a break from playing for a few minutes.
Also the focus group felt that the game appealed to its target audience (males 18+) because of the way the males treat the women in this game,immature teenage boys would call their friends a 'lad' if he slept with a prostitute etc. And I think older men would like the way they treat the women and find it funny that they are just 'bitches' and 'hoes'. Also it targets the audience well by the way that males are shown as stronger and more important characters, holding a lot of strong weapons...
Not only would it appeal to this stereotypical view of males ages 18 and upwards because of the 'hoes' and the guns, but also because you can complete missions and it will make you feel fulfilled and like they've achieved something. They can also get rich from completing these missions and can buy expensive cars and houses. This is reaching out to the aspirers
Gender for GTA 5
The gender for GTA 5 is definitely aimed more toward men, this can be seen by the way women are represented in this game. There isn't a positive role model for women to look up to in this game. The women characters in GTA 5 either stripers, frustrated wives, or slutty teenagers. In my opinion I think that these characters could put the female gender off playing the game because it shows women in a bad light. The strong content of the game probably would make the female gender not want to play the game because of the violence and sexual nature in the way it shows women. There isn't a main women character in the game, who is shown as a strong person like the way that the males are shown. The reason it attracts the male gender is because they get to come across as stronger and better than females due to the violence and also the sexual manner that females portray during this game. You only have to look at the advertisements of the game to show us how women are represented.
Gamer Profile
- Age of gamer, the certificate and what people that age are interested in:
www.pegi.info/
- I think Grand Theft Auto reaches out to more males as the game is very sexist in terms of women and gives them a stereotype. It also brings all the stereotypical things we think men enjoy like violence, action and we see the males with weapons such as guns, knives, grenades, which is why it is more appealing to the stereotypical male. This tells us that that females enjoy games which are more tame and more realistic and you can enjoy playing in groups for example Just Dance for the Wii. I think that males would rather buy this game at age 18 rather than females at that age range despise the stereotypes because I don't think it would be something that females would be interested in at that age. On google there is a website called (www.grantland.com) which has at heading "Grand Theft Auto Continues to Treat Female Gamers Like Roadkill With Latest Instalment". They are saying women are viewed as sex objects, only created to keep a man happy and if they step out of line they get treated really badly. And you can't play the game as a female which it makes it seem that women aren't capable of what the males are doing during the game, the only thing they are good at is selling their bodies etc.
Psychographics:
Grand Theft Auto 5 is for the mainstreamers and explorers, as the game contains aspects that appeal to both of these psychographics. This game appeals to mainstreamers as it is from a familiar brand in rockstar games, they know to expect quality from the brand. The game in itself is also a brand that is known all over the world and has shows great quality and won many awards. It also appeals to the Explorer category as GTA has new and sometimes controversial ideas and mechanics. GTA 5 contains many new and old ideas that remain only in a small amount of games, being able to have sex in game still one of them. GTA 5 saw many new ideas, from the use of the new online system to your characters mouth moving when you spoke into your headset, all these things appeal to the explorer psychographics.
- Socio Economic Scale:
I think the social scale for people who constantly play this game are people on lower paid jobs where they usually come from backgrounds which they don't really care about education and just have a dead end job and use the game as a way to escape reality. People who aren't concentrating on their education usually come from a family that also have low paid jobs or don't have a job at all. Because they have no job and could afford to buy the game because of their job seekers allowance or benefits have so much time on their hands, they might play the game more than other categories. This could also include younger people maybe under age 18 with no job still in education whose parents might not care what they play and buy them the game, and the younger they are i think the more influence the game will have on them. And as people know it is a very violent game and kids might follow this in school or outside of school thinking its alright because they haven't been taught any different by growing up playing this game.
I think these kind of people are more likely to play it than the others above them as they may have more time on their hands as there jobs will be low paid and maybe not many hours long. People who come from wealthy, good backgrounds and are more likely to have been taught what is right and wrong about society, also the equality between genders and have stayed in education longer there have been taught for longer than others and by this have learned key skills about society than the others have. In the higher groups, there parents are more likely to have been both employed rather than just the man.
-Typical Gamers
This video shows how angry and aggressive your typical gamer can get when playing a violent video game. Violent video games are aimed at older teenagers, aged 18 and above. The typical gamer is around this age range and sometimes younger if they're parents have bought the game for them, overall the typical gamer for Grand Theft Auto is 18+. This is due to the amount of violent content within the game. Although this game is targeted for 17 year olds and above, this site states that younger ages are getting access to the game, therefore questioning wether this is due to the fact that parents/guardians may not know what they are purchasing for their children. Psychographics give us a more detailed examples of what types of things the specific audience is interest in and the way that certain person thinks. Just because of what I spoke about in the gamer profile about it being more towards males doesn't stop females from playing the game, because it is a very popular game, it depends what psychographic they are. The typical gamer is male, but this is just a stereotype but this is what people expect, they expect males aged 18+ to be playing GTA and have anger issues like the video shown above.
-Sales Figures:
-(www.games.on.net):
-(www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
-Success of the game:
-(www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
Write up
Charlotte (NEW YORK)
ReplyDeleteNo focus group, summary or individual write up
• Analyse a section of the game and explain why you know it targets this age, gender, socio economic and psychographic
• Get one or two research links about who are typical gamers and summarise the information in your own words.
• Which way of describing an audience is more useful in your opinion (demographic, psychographic or socio economic scale)? Why do you think this?
• What were the positives and negatives of your focus group?
• Why is a focus group useful for the industry?