The effects of shoot-em up games on 16-18 year olds

Task 1

There is a lot of controversy these days about video games being too violent and that they have a negative effect of people as it can influence their behavior. i am going to see if this is true and collect research to prove my points.

What is the gratification theory?

The uses and gratification theory is an approach that states that people seek out and find specific media to satisfy needs. The gratification model believes that there is so much content available that no one will miss out on anything and that people will choose what kinds of media they want to view. It also states that audience is not passive.

This means that people do not mindlessly believe whatever they see and different people are interested in different content. This theory looks into how and why people tend to choose media.

This theory can be broken up into 4 types

1. Diversion

This is when audiences try distracting themselves from real like by indulging media. An example of this would be heavy RPG style video gamer's which create another life on an online platform and spend a lot of time playing as that character in order to escape real life.

2. Personal relationships

Consuming media makes the audience feel like they are part of a community, which other is part of. one example of this would be fans of a popular TV show which would talk about it and feel a mutual relationship with others they discuss with, this is a reason why friends would recommend films or TV shows to other friends so that they will have a subject to talk about and strengthen relationships.

3. Personal identity

This helps the audience confirm identity and personal tastes, which society deems appropriate for them. An example of this would be certain individual such as a young school child watching Saturday morning cartoons or a politics teacher watch the BBC show question time. This is because they are interested in such content and the society they live in deems it appropriate.

4. Surveillance

The need to know what is happening. This means the audience is curious of what is happening around them and would like to stay informed by such media as News channels and gossip magazines.

What is the hypodermic needle theory?

This theory suggests that media information is powerful and direct and suggest that media information is injected straight into the brains of a passive audience. it also suggests that we as an audience all think the same and respond to media messages in the same way. This means that the audience believe everything the media tells us with giving it second thought and it goes directly against the gratification theory.

This theory was developed in the 1920-1930's after analysis of WW1 propaganda where it seems that the public would believe straight away in what the media has to say.

WW carter of the Paynefund study of influences of film from 192-1932 said, 'we see that as an instrument of education it...can profoundly affect the patterns of conduct of children'. This tells us that children were very easily influenced by the media and that it can have a long lasting effect of their psyche.

In later years people started to doubt this theory's reliability, but then in 1938 the war of the world’s broadcast supported this theory. the broadcast was a radio broadcast that warned listeners an attack of earth was in progress, it said that Maritain’s had landed on earth and a modern army of 7000 had a crushing defeat were only 120 had survived against the invaders.

this broadcast created mass hysteria and people genuinely believed it to be real, if fact people reported to have seen objects in the sky and Martians. This case study shows that people believed information by the media straight away without having second thoughts, supporting the hypodermic needle theory.

Even till this day case studies can be seen where the hypodermic theory is supported, for example mass hysteria when a celebrity death is falsely reported or this news headline which many believed without second thought.

'Grand theft auto lead teen to kill' (fox news February 16th 2005).

The difference between the conscious and sub-conscious mind

The human brain is an amazingly powerful organ; it can detect the slightest changes in touch, sight and smell. The brain processes day to day information with our conscious mind and subconscious mind together.

The conscious mind takes precedence to our sensory information and directs the way our sub-conscious reacts and understands the world we live in and then stores it.

We use our conscious mind to make daily life decision, for example what you are going to wear, your daily routine, what you are going to wear. It’s also there to allow us make decisions, answer questions, pay attention, focus and reason.

The sub-conscious mind controls our breathing, our reflexes, our habits etc. it’s able to process information and stores it in our brains forever. It’s not something we normally notice that is why it is called the sub conscious.

An example of how our brain works would be a child learning how to ride a bike. The conscious mind will process information about how to keep balance and how to coordinate the body. But the sub conscious is what remembers how to ride the bike and stores it in our brains, and then the next time the child ride a bike the muscle memory (sub conscious mind) is at work. Without the sub conscious a regular activity would be like learning it from scratch every time you do it, you will not be able to speak a language, you will not know how to walk, and you may even forget how to breathe.

                                                     

Task 2

Produce a questionnaire

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
 
 1. How many hours do you spend a week playing video games?

[1-3]           [4-6]          [7-9]          [10+]

 2. Do you play shoot'em up style video games?

[yes]        [no]

3. Would you describe yourself as an aggressive gamer

[yes]        [no]

4. Do you prefer games with violence involved?

[yes]        [no]

5. Do you believe the graphics of damages and injury are accurate video games?

[yes]       [no]


6. Do you believe video games influence you mentality?

[yes]        [no]

QUALITATIVE QUESTIONS

7. What is your opinion on shoot'em up video games? 


8. What kinds of emotions do you feel when you play shoot'em up games?


9. What do you think of violence in video games?


10. Do you think Shoot'em ups have any impact on your behavior? Please explain you answer.




TASK 3.
results.

The questionnaire i made was handed out to nine people all aged between 16-18, this is because these are the people that the question at hand targets. For fair results i asked both girls and boys, the results are collected before. As you can see i collected both qualitative and quantitative research so i could have a range of different results from my survey.






Quantitative questions.


Question 1.
How many hours do you spend a week playing video games?

As you can see from my results everyone who took my survey do play games, five out of nine people claimed that they only play for a little while each week. The other four people said that they played a lot more, one person in fact played 10+ hours a day. this shows that gaming is defiantly popular to this group of people.


Question 2.
Do you play shoot'em up style video games?

This was surprising as i expected more people to play shoot' em up games. These results support the gratifications theory in the fact that there is enough media around for the public to ignore one type of media and find something which suits them better.



Question 3.
Would you describe yourself as an aggressive gamer?

 These results are very interesting as they are very similar to question 2. This is very interesting as most of the people who do play shoot' em up also answered that they would describe themselves as aggressive gamers. this very strongly supports the hypodermic theory.

Question 4.
Do you prefer games with violence involved?

Here the result are more or less equal, and does not support either theory well, perhaps if there was a larger number of people questioned there would be a more solid result.


Question 5.
Do you believe the graphics of damages and injury are accurate video games?

Here the results are pretty equal but this goes against the hypodermic needle theory because it states that the media has full power over the public and that all people think the same way about the media. according to the my results people have equally different views.


Question 6.
Do you believe video games influence you mentality?

The results here were very strong as the majority believe it does not influence their mentality. this goes against the hypodermic needle theory but then again due to the sub-conscious minds of the people asked they may not notice if it is having an effect on them.

 Now we will be looking at the qualitative questions and the results that the people answered.

 Question 7.

What is your opinion on shoot' em up video games?

My results show that many people do not mind the shoot' em up video games and many described them as 'fun'. One person claimed it helps them think tactical and helps them concentrate, this shows that shoot' em up games can also have positive effects from shoot' em up games.

Question 8.

What kinds of emotions do you feel when you play shoot' em up games?

 For this answer there were mixed results, some people said they felt frustration and anger whilst other claimed they felt excitement and happiness. One even said 'I want to kill everyone and win :)'

This goes against the hypodermic needle theory as it shows that many people have wider views. We are able to see this because of the qualitative research allows the subjects to answer in more detail about what they think in their heads.  

Question 9.

What do you think of violence in video games?

This question had so many different results; some people said 'I can be violent in the game because I can be in reality'. This shows that people understand that it’s only an in game thing and that it does not apply outside the virtual world. Another said 'it makes video games more fun to play', both of these support the gratification theory, in specific the diversion type as it shows people like to indulge in media to get away from real life and are able to do stuff like shoot a gun in a game which they are not allowed to do in real life. 

Questions 10.
Do you think Shoot' em ups have any impact on your behavior? Please explain you answer.

People replied with such statements as 'No, because it is just a game'. People do understand that it is just a game and are not influenced as heavily as the hypodermic theory claims that people are. One person even went as far to say 

'No, i have a mind of my own'. This clearly supports the gratification theory and another said the only effect it had was to make them think more strategically.

Conclusion

From my research and the questionnaire I have come to a conclusion that the gratification is the theory, which applies to society. Although I have come to this conclusion i still believe that both theories are accurate, but the gratification theory is the right theory for the day and age we will in where there is plenty of media for everyone. The hypodermic needle theory i believe is also accurate but is very out dated, it was more accepted when media wasn't as diverse and people were not as media savvy as they are now. A lot had change and there are aspects of both theories but the gratification theory is defiantly the more dominate.