Media Magazine

1) Diploma – freedom to play: is online gaming hazardous to health?

"They have, according to critics, sucked the social life out of many of today’s teenagers."

"A large portion of today’s teenage generation spends much of its free time sitting in front of a computer screen shooting aliens, zombies or other teenagers sitting at another computer screen"

David Pinchen is studying the new Creative and Media Diploma at Long Road Sixth Form, Cambridge.

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 28, April 2009.

2) Censorship – Debating the Issue

"Both films assume a degree of sophistication and intelligence on the part of the audience when interpreting the messages and values encoded in such graphic depictions. On the other hand, no director ever has complete control over how the representation of violence will be received by the audience."

Stephen Hill is Head of Media at The Burgate School and Sixth Form Centre in Fordingbridge, and also teaches at Bournemouth Media School. He is studying for a PhD on the Music Press.

First published in MediaMagazine 24, April 2008.

3) Studying videogames

"Some people believe that the violence portrayed in videogames is a primary cause for violent acts committed by children. They believe that games make violence socially acceptable. They argue that children replicate the behaviour they view."

4) Why should we study digital games?

"There are also those who are more concerned by the notion that games negatively affect their users. Games have been vilified in the popular press for their supposed violence. Much of the apparent evidence for the link is founded on poorly conceived or simplistic research methods, generally combined with a very narrow understanding of what constitutes play, or a game, or violence. Digital games are accountable for their content, just as any other form of media must be. But, as yet, there is no compelling reason to single games out as having a greater ‘influence’ than television, for example."

Andrew Burn, Diane Carr and Gareth Schott

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 5, September 2003

5) Categories of violence

"There is a mechanism, usually called ‘identification’, which makes viewers of ‘violence’ vulnerable to it – such that it thereby becomes a ‘message’ by which they are invaded and persuaded."

"Violence is a unit of meaning that can be abstracted from occasions and modes of occurrence, and measured – with the correspondent assumption that the more violence there is, the greater its potential for influence."

Martin Barker

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 1, September 2002

6) Diploma – the c-word: censoring the media?

"Many people use the games as a way to tune out of the real world and if they want to steal a car, they steal a car in-game instead of in the real world. In could be argued, therefore, that the game stops people breaking the law, although ironically many adults believe that such games encourage kids to steal cars and argue that the games should be banned. The amazingly realistic graphics that some of the newer games have seem to fuel such worries about their impact on young people."

Tim Hodson is studying the new Creative and Media Diploma at Long Road Sixth Form, Cambridge.

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 28, April 2009.

7) Games in the classroom – whatever next?

"Games have narratives, and as the player moves through the levels or stages, s/he experiences the game as a character. In this sense this is a unique kind of text because, as you take on the character you are playing, you ‘become’ a representation. We could get into all kinds of intellectualising here about existential postmodern identities."

Julian McDougall

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 6, December 2003

8) Spread the word / Viral and sub-viral

9) Capture the objective: postmodernism, creativity and Call of Duty

From MediaMagazine 33, September 2010. Available now as a PDF download and in the archive Creativity, Videogames, Postmodernism, Theory, A2, Popular culture ???

10) What are you playing at? – Representations of gender, race and nationality in videogames

"The main task for any student is to challenge this. You must develop a critical faculty that questions and probes how and why this ‘misrepresentation’ occurs. As you do this, the benchmark for most media study will always hold true – what is the ‘message’ behind the medium?"

Patrick Toland

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 7, February 2004

Scholar Articles

Invading your hearts and minds" Call of Duty and the (Re) writing of Militarism in U.S. digital games and popular culture
"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to show how these games contain images and narratives that resonate with and reinforce a tabloid imaginary of post 9/11 geopolitics, glorify military power and elicit consent for the idea that state violence and wars are inevitable"

The Appeal of Violent Video Games to Lower Educated Aggressive Adolescent Boys from Two Countries
“In general, boys were most attracted to violent video games. Boys that scored higher in trait aggressiveness and lower in empathy were especially attracted to violent games and spent more time playing video games than did boys lower in trait aggressiveness.”

Academic study says violent games reduce stress

The Motivating Role of Violence in Video Games
Studies also showed that players high in trait aggression were more likely to prefer or value games with violent contents, even though violent contents did not reliably enhance their game enjoyment or immersion.

The Hitman Study
Results do not support a link between violent video games and aggressive behavior, but do suggest that violent games reduce depression and hostile feelings in players through mood management.

Playing with Race: The Ethics of Racialized Representations in E-Games
“Reinforcing the racism that justifies domination and mass killing becomes a key part of the authenticity of historically accurate war gaming.”

Worlds of affect: virtual geographies of video games
“First, there are the representational issues concerning the worlds depicted in video games, such as those portraying hyper sexualized women or Orientalist depictions of Arab enemies. We suggest, however, that these cultural, sexual, and political representations are not the only forces doing work on the player within the virtual world of a video game.”

Critical Investigation

Critical Investigation Title

How and why does graphic violence within video games such as Call of Duty attract a teenage demographic?

Keyword	Synonym 1	Synonym 2	Synonym 3
Call of Duty	Medal of Honour	Brothers in Arms	Battlefield
Violence	Aggression	Blood + Gore	Graphic Violence
Representations	Arabs	Russians	Germans
Terrorism	Post 9/11	Moral Panics	Arabs
War	Civil War
Teenagers	Media Effects	Effects Theory	Regulation and Censorship
Demographics	Primary Audiences	Secondary Audiences	Effects theory

Academic study says violent games reduce stress

Talks about how stress and depression is reduced on students by playing violent games in their spare time and sometimes even in lessons. This is an article which reflects academic life and the effects violent games have on students in college and university and therefore the reason I studied it.

Teach games in schools, say academic experts

Article on why video games should be taught in schools. Also quite academic, and also relates to my coursework as it educates me on the media effects of violent games.

The player: why games merit academic study

Call of Duty 4 Threat shuts down University

Call of Duty University > A Facebook group where owners of Call of Duty come together in varied forums to talk to each other about the game and play together. It is simply a viral campaign to make everyone aware of Call of Duty and if you do have it, you should join the group.

Kobe Bryant in Black Ops Commercial

Raising the B.A.R. with COD: Black Ops

Call of Duty Black Ops: Game with glimpses, horrors of war

"Black Ops Violence Went Too Far" - Treyarch

Call of Duty Black Ops Toned Down

Black Ops Violence Too Much

The 3 articles above are based around Treyarch (Creators/Developers/Publishers of Black Ops) and their own view on the violence of Black Ops. They have also agreed that there is too much graphic violence involved in the game and came to a point where the games violence had to be toned down to make it more socially acceptable and ensure the negative media effects would not increase

The New Audiences For Blackops : Seniors & Parents

This helps me distinguish the primary and secondary audience. In this trailer they have made it look as if Call of Duty: Black Ops is targeted for everyone as within the trailer, both genders and age bands are included connoting the specified demographic. The slogan also reads "Theres a soldier in all of us"

Further Research

Gender Portrayals in video games

Call of Duty

One of the favoured topics for modern storytelling whether it is movies, television or video games is World War II. The time period is very recent and the events still echo into our present. One of the main genres of video games that concern itself with this time is the first person shooter. While many games in the genre place the player as the one person who can save the day, while playing Call of Duty the player is just one more guy in a squad. The highest rank the player can achieve is Sergeant and that is only because of specialised training.

Obviously with a game set in World War II, Call of Duty features male characters exclusively. While it is interesting to discuss the implications of excluding female characters, it is indicative of the time period and the conflict itself. As such, only the portrayal of males will be examined.

Call of Duty falls into common stereotypes of masculinity, particularly in World War II cultural media. That is, brotherhood, loyalty and a grim determination to see it to the end. The player is surrounded by average men in an extraordinary situation. And they all, including the player, need to adapt to that. The one thing that shines through the brightest is the fact key NPCs will do anything to ensure the safety of the player and other NPCs. In an interesting turn of events, the player is almost bestowed with this same mentality. By seeing the NPCs doing such things, the player is positioned to also perform the same sort of acts to protect the men around them. This brotherhood is a key aspect of most masculine based cultural media. While the mentality and personality of the characters in Call of Duty conforms to male stereotypes, the physical representations aren’t.

The characters that the player comes into contact with, both allies and enemies are average guys. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are skinny. Others are muscly. The men in Call of Duty cover a large range of masculine body-types once again cementing in the mind of the player that these men are ‘just like them.’ With the main demographic of first person shooters being men this is not surprising. To assist with immersion, Call of Duty ensures that the characters the player comes into contact with are average day guys they could see everyday in their real world lives.

While first person shooters tend to be exclusively the domain of men, Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) are a more balanced player base in terms of gender.

Possible COD 7 Viral Campaign

Guardian Articles

Call of Duty: Black Ops upsets Cuba with Castro mission

Cuban government says segment of game in which players try to kill former leader glorifies real assassination attempts by US. A video game developed in the US that challenges players to assassinate former Cuban president Fidel Castro has provoked an angry response from Cuba.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, which went on sale in the UK this week, is set during the cold war, with gamers taking on the role of a special operative as he saves the US from a communist plot, travelling between Cuba, Vietnam and Russia.

However, a mission in which players try to kill a young Castro has sparked a fierce response from the Cuban government.

"What the United States government did not achieve in more than 50 years, it now tries to do virtually," said a story on the government-run Cuba debate website.

It said the game glorified real US attempts to kill Castro – there have been 638 attempts on the former leader's life, according to one of his bodyguards.

In 2006 Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuban intelligence services, revealed how plots ranged from an exploding cigar that was intended to blow up in Castro's face to a fungus-contaminated wetsuit that would infect him with a chronic skin disease.

Perhaps the most fanciful plot involved planting explosives inside a mollusc shell painted in bright colours in the hope that Castro might be drawn towards it while scuba diving in the Caribbean.

In a section of Call of Duty: Black Ops set in Havana, players gun down enemy combatants while pursuing Castro, who was president of Cuba for 49 years before resigning in 2008.

"This new video game is doubly perverse," the article on cubadebate said. "On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader … and on the other, it stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."

It is not the first military-style shooter game to generate controversy this year. Medal of Honor was banned from US military bases before it went on sale last month because it let players take on the role of Taliban fighters battling US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. Developer Electronic Arts later changed the name of the combatants from Taliban to Opposing Force.

Reviewers of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which retails at around £50 in the UK, have been unfazed by the challenge of gunning down one of the primary leaders of the Cuban revolution. The game was given five stars by the Guardian.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is 'biggest entertainment launch in history'

Call of Duty: Black Ops has generated revenues of $360m in its first 24 hours on sale in the US and UK. Released on Tuesday, the military shooter has out-performed its record-breaking predecessor, Modern Warfare 2, by $50m. According to MCV, 5.6m units have been sold across North America and the UK. Furthermore, according to developer Treyarch, within one hour of the launch, the game's online mode was being used by 1 million concurrent players.


Activision is claiming that the Black Ops launch now represents the biggest entertainment launch in history. By comparison, the blockbusting 3D movie Avatar made 'just' $232m in its opening weekend. CEO Bobby Kotick has issued a jubilant statement: "There has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening-day records for two consecutive years and we are on track to outperform last year's five-day global sales record of $550m."

Although, the publisher has always been bullish about the prospects for Black Ops, industry pundits previously doubted that the new game would match last year's release. Modern Warfare 2 was developed by Infinity Ward, the studio that created the Call of Duty series; its games have often been thought of as the superior iterations. Treyarch, meanwhile, has been responsible for solid performers like Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War, but has never attained the same levels of critical support.

Meanwhile, Cuba's state-run news website has criticised the game for its opening mission which involves a CIA attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro. According to the Associated Press, an article on Cubadebate claimed, "What the United States couldn't accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to do virtually."

Call of Duty: Black Ops looks likely to fight games slump when it launches

Call of Duty: Black Ops launches in Hollywood style

Call of Duty: are the kids all right?

Call of Duty: Black Ops upsets Cuba with Castro Mission

Cuban government says segment of game in which players try to kill former leader glorifies real assassination attempts by US. A video game developed in the US that challenges players to assassinate former Cuban president Fidel Castro has provoked an angry response from Cuba.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, which went on sale in the UK this week, is set during the cold war, with gamers taking on the role of a special operative as he saves the US from a communist plot, travelling between Cuba, Vietnam and Russia.

However, a mission in which players try to kill a young Castro has sparked a fierce response from the Cuban government.

"What the United States government did not achieve in more than 50 years, it now tries to do virtually," said a story on the government-run cubadebate website .

It said the game glorified real US attempts to kill Castro – there have been 638 attempts on the former leader's life, according to one of his bodyguards.

In 2006 Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuban intelligence services, revealed how plots ranged from an exploding cigar that was intended to blow up in Castro's face to a fungus-contaminated wetsuit that would infect him with a chronic skin disease.

Perhaps the most fanciful plot involved planting explosives inside a mollusc shell painted in bright colours in the hope that Castro might be drawn towards it while scuba diving in the Caribbean.

In a section of Call of Duty: Black Ops set in Havana, players gun down enemy combatants while pursuing Castro, who was president of Cuba for 49 years before resigning in 2008.

"This new video game is doubly perverse," the article on cubadebate said. "On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader … and on the other, it stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."

It is not the first military-style shooter game to generate controversy this year. Medal of Honor was banned from US military bases before it went on sale last month because it let players take on the role of Taliban fighters battling US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. Developer Electronic Arts later changed the name of the combatants from Taliban to Opposing Force.

Reviewers of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which retails at around £50 in the UK, have been unfazed by the challenge of gunning down one of the primary leaders of the Cuban revolution. The game was given five stars by the Guardian.

Research November 11th

Activision Infinity Ward Court Case
The split between Activision and Infinity Ward means that some audiences may not appreciate the production of Call of Duty anymore due to the fact that different audiences may have favoured the other publishers. By Infinity Ward splitting up with Activion means that Activision and Trey Arch (also owned by Activision) are the main producers and publishers of Call of Duty which may upset some of the target market.

Infinity Ward employee group sues Activision
Through their attorneys, the so-called "Infinity Ward Employee Group" has claimed that the publisher withheld royalties in order to ensure development staff stayed on to complete Modern Warfare 3. Last month, studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were sacked for "insubordination" and later set up their own studio, Respawn Entertainment. The duo has filed its own $36m lawsuit against Activision. Since then, a reported 26 staff have left Infinity Ward, some of whom have gone on to join Respawn.

How Call of Duty has an impact on young boys

Call of Duty: 5 years of graphics effects

Issues & Debates // Theories

Representations & Stereotyping

The representations of Arabs within Call of Duty is quite negative and hence controversial towards the public. Other examples of representations in the game are Russians and Cubans which are also negative representations. All have been represented as quite vile, associated with terrorism and portrayed as the villain of the games. The general stereotype of "terrorist" has been conducted within the portrayal of Arabs in the game and also through the maps where such locations such as Afghanistan and Karachi have been used to depict the terrorist association.

Digital Arabs : Representations in Video games

Looking at the representations in my text will help me to distinguish what is being represented, how it being represented in a positive or negative light and why they are being represented as the following. A lot of Arabs have been represented within Call of Duty as quite violent terrorists and shown to be villains in a negative light. I intend to use this research in order to distinguish the reasons of these representations. I will also look at other representations within the game which have caused controversy such as Russians & Germans. This will be helpful in my linked production as perhaps I could use different representations in a similar way.

News Values
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 leaked footage set to ignite controversy
Call of Duty: Black Ops - multiplayer details revealed
Russia bans Modern Warfare 2 over “airport terror” level
Modern Warfare 'set for record'
So realistic it's scary
Call of Duty Black Ops Launch
Fastest Selling Game Ever

The big hype of Call of Duty's release has caused controversy all around the world and therefore connotes the flowing articles around the big debate about the features in the game. A lot of the news articles I have looked at are based around the controversy which is within the game and also the amount of graphic violence which is involved in the game and how it influences young kids. It also talks about the moral panics some levels have caused such as 'airport terror' etc. The sales have also been a big talking point and the fact that the sales of Black Ops have bettered Modern Warefare 2's sale records.

Moral Panics

Modern Moral Panic

Medal Of Honour: Another Video Game Moral Panic

Curbs on computer games to protect children

Moral panics link to my critical investigation as it's how the audience perceive the text and how this affects the society. A lot of audiences have become worried about the increase of interest in Call of Duty and the impact it has on young adults and therefore I have looked at moral panics as a lot of controvery has been revolved around Call of Duty. Examples are how audiences are hooked on playing the game 24/7 and the violence within the text encourages young adults to adapt to the same level of violence. A lot of footage within the game also causes effect as some editions of the game have been censored as it has been seen as controversial and patronizing in some countries.

Media Effects

Media effects is how the text affects it's target market. Call of Duty is a great example where I can look into media effects, as a lot of audiences percieve the text in different ways and the media has a different effect on them. For example the graphic violence in Call of Duty can be passively acknowledged and then act upon it, whereas the violence within the game can be ignored and morally safer.

Atlantic Columnist: Violent Black Ops Ad is "Twisted"

Analysis; How the Infinity Ward scandal affects Call of Duty

Dr. Rich responds to comments on his Call of Duty post

Post 9/11

The fact that the new Call of Duty Black Ops is to be released on the 9th of November can also be seen as very controversial. The fact that the date is seen as 9/11 can be debatable and perhaps this was purposely to be released on this day to cause chaos and also how Call of Duty is purely based around the convetions of war, violence and terrorism.

This is one of the key areas of my research. The fact that Call of Duty's games are all revolved around war and graphic violence is the influence of 9/11. I have decided to do research by comparing the difference between games that were released pre and post 9/11 to see how the intensity of the violence has dramtically changed and also how the representations have changed.

Censorship

Call of Duty: Black Ops Censored In Japan [Japanese Version Of Black Ops To Have Some Light Censorship, Blame Square Enix]
Germans Must Play Censored Call of Duty: Black Ops

Censorship and Regulation relates to my investigation, as my text has a lot of censorship within it due to the graphic violence and other features within it. A lot of versions of my text have been censored due to the controversy it has caused in many different countries such as Russia, Germany, Japan & Cuba. Also a lot of regulation has been placed upon it to ensure the media effects are not too dramatic upon the targeted audiences. That's why I feel it's important to explore the kinds of censorships and regulations that have been conducted on my text. Also it may help me with my linked production as it will give me a boundary to work within and include stuff which should be and regulate media that isn't.


Ownership & Control
Developers
Infinity Ward
Treyarch
Sledgehammer Games
Amaze Entertainment
Rebellion Developments
n-Space


Publishers
Activision
Aspyr Media

Call of Duty have a contract where each year Activion or Infinity Ward take the responsibility of producing the next Call of Duty. By doing this it ensures theres a healthy competition between both organisations and also attracts a very big mainstream audience
depending on the creators they favour the most.

Its important to look at ownership and control as I can identify the organisations who are responsible for catering to the production of Call of Duty. It also allows for me to do background research on the producers and publishers to see the games and other media they have produced and whether the level of impact is similar to the effect it has through Call of Duty. I can also look at similar genre games like Call of Duty, e.g. action, and shooter games.

Theories
Audience theory


Hypodermic Needle Theory
Audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data.


Two Step Flow
information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered through "opinion leaders" who then communicate it to their less active associates, over whom they have influence. The audience then mediate the information received directly from the media with the ideas and thoughts expressed by the opinion leaders, thus being influenced not by a direct process, but by a two step flow. This diminished the power of the media in the eyes of researchers, and caused them to conclude that social factors were also important in the way in which audiences interpreted texts. This is sometimes referred to as the limited effects paradigm.


Uses & Gratifications
individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes (ie uses and gratifications):

• Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.
• Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life
• Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts
• Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains

Reception Theory
the text is encoded by the producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences between two different readings of the same code. However, by using recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading.

Research on Viral Campaigns

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/viral-campaign-resident-evil/43486

This is a viral campaign promotion Resident Evil 5.

Gorilla Advert

Another recent example of how an amazing advert can get millions more views thanks to the web comes in the form of a gorilla playing the drums for Cadbury’s.

Although it isn't a viral campaign for games, its an example of a advertisement that spread vastly and become popular amongst everyone.

How to create a successful viral campaign

This talks about how to make a successful viral campaign which will be very helpful to me. As I am planning on making one it talks about the content which needs to be involved, how to make the campaign more engaging and social for people, the information which is essential to be gathered, the planning needed to make the campaign etc.

Call of Duty Blackops

I also looked at the PC gamer magazine website promoting the new Call of Duty Black Ops. Also I found an example of a viral campaign which was on both sides of the magazine article promoting the new Football Manager 2011. It was a very clever campaign as if you clicked on the side randomly it would automatically take you to another page reflecting Football Manager. In my opinion it was a very clever idea in the way it would attract a mainstream market.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1138/5120169697_e68a86e162.jpg

This is the front cover of the Official Playstation Magazine. I intend on buying one in order to study the codes and conventions used inside to attract the audience of Call of Duty.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1371/5120773518_8be4134c88.jpg

A teaser site has appeared for the long, long rumoured Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombie Mode.

Black Ops viral website, GKNOVA 6 has been updated to show tons of footage of ravaging CoD zombies, including scientist zombies, office worker zombies and 28 Days Later-style fast zombies. We can't wait.

Black Ops GKNOVA 6

Xbox 360 Viral Campaign

Halo 3 Viral Marketing Campaign 1

Halo 3 Viral Marketing Campaign 2

Gears of War Tries Viral Marketing?