Video Game Audience

Video Game industry and Audience 

Reception theory- encoding and decoding model

Stuart Hall

Producer encodes ...... Audience decodes 

Using Assassins Creed as an example: 

Preferred Reading

beat the baddies (attacking spanish) save the people 

Negotiated Reading 

taking an intrest in the plot and history side 

Oppositional Reading

Aberrant Reading ( completely misinterprets the point) 

Pro racism 

LORE- term used for video games- refers to history of video game world 

NPC- non player character 

PC- player character 

Dark souls 3 can be negotiated in many different ways:

• Purely game play
• The mystery of it
• Plot line/history
• Relaxation

Does a video game have to be fun?????

not nessicarily for example 'vidsula novels' player just slects choices ect

The 25th Ward: The Silver Case PS4

Excessive swearing 

Much text and dialogue 

alienates audience 

simplistic 

retro sound track 

NOT FUN TO PLAY

deliberately boring 

frustrating

WHY PLAY IT?

satisfying when completed

does appeal to niche audience

FANDOM- Henry Jenkins

 a fan= and active participent 

"fans will often use video game sin ways the producer did not initially intend"    


Fandom isn't just for fans 
fandoms are often looked down upon eg. Bronies 

Cognitive Dissonance= 

The reduction of the psychological stress of cognitive dissonance is a function of the magnitude of the dissonance caused by the existential inconsistency, between two contradictory beliefs held by the person; or by the contradiction between the person's beliefs and an action he or she has taken.

THE AUTHOR IS DEAD?

-Roland Bart

THE END OF THE AUDIENCE

-Clay Shirky 

notion of target audience 

participatory culture 

producers rely on audiences 

A producer is selling an audience to an advertiser 

Death Stranding (unrealised) by Hideokojima

-he is an example of an OTEUR (author)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPL_E-TEtL8