Unit 6 LO3: Understand how media audiences respond to media products‏

There are many people out there in the world who are effected by what they see in the media or the games they play. When i say effected i mean they see the world in a different light. There are many theories out there which are related to this. For example the Hypodermic needle effect is one of them. There are other theories such as Obstinate audience theory and the reception theory. The main theory i want to focus on is the Hypodermic Needle Theory.

There are theories that have an effect on peoples minds. There is a term used in the media which is called  'copycat murderers'. This is a term used by people in society who label people who have murdered in similarity to a movie or a game. An example that we could use for this is the murder or James Bulger. The two killers were also said to be have influenced by games which contain violence.

The hypodermic needle theory is when the mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on the audiences. The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.

Both images used to express this theory (a bullet and a needle) suggest a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.  There are games such as grand theft auto which can have an effect of peoples minds. For example as it is an open world game. You have the ability to kill someone in the middle of the street for no exact purpose. Stuff like this may have an effect on an individuals mind and cause them to go and take this out on someone in the public.

Gratification theory is where media users play an active role in choosing and using the media.  Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use.  The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfills the needs of the user.  Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.

Active and Passive audiences. There are two different schools of thought concerning how audiences consume media text. Those that believe the audiences are 'passive' and 'active'. Passive audience theory is where the media injects ideas and views directly into the audiences minds like a hypodermic needle , therefore, controlling the way people think and behave. Active audience theory argues that media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively involved, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts. 

Quantitative and Qualitative Questions.

Qualitative Questions:

When playing shoot em up style games, do you feel influenced/involved in any way? why?

What type of Shoot Em up games do you play?
What is your opinion on shoot em up style games? 

Quantitative Questions:

Do you play games violently orientated everyday? (yes, no)
On average, how many hours do you spend playing video games a week?
(1-3), (4-6), (7-9), (10 or more)
Do Shoot em up style games make you more aggresive? (yes, no)
Do you like violent games? (yes, no)
Do you play violent games alone? (yes, no)

I have now put together a bar graph of my results from the questionnaires that i have handed out.

1. On Average, how many hours do you spend playing video games a week?

        We can see from this graph that most of the people who have carried out my questionnaire tend not to spend much time playing video games. 

2. Do you like violent games?

From this graph we can see that the majority of the people who have carried out my questionnaire tend to like to play violent related games.

3. Do Shoot em up style games make you more aggressive? 

From this graph we can see that the majority of the people who filled out my questionnaire tend to find that shoot em up style games did not make them aggressive.

4. Do you play violent games alone?

We can see here that the majority of the people who have carried out my questionnaire tend to play violent games alone, would this have an effect on their behaviour?

5. When playing shoot em up style games, do you feel influenced/involved in any way? why?

The feed back that I recieved from this question varied. There were some people who said they felt more influenced when they were playing in a group. Some also said that they did not feel influenced at all as it is only a game. 

6. What is your opinion on shoot em up style games? 

The answers which i have received for this question has also varied. Many people said that Shoot em up style games are the real meaning to games nowadays. Without all the killing and shooting, the game would not be as fun to play. 

7. What are your views on violence in video games?

For this question, i had someone answer me saying that violence in video games is their only way to take out anger whereas they can't do it in real life. 

conclusion

In conclusion to my research i have come to the understanding that the most common theory here is the gratification theory. It is true that most people pick and choose nowadays as to what suits them. We can see that a lot of people like to play Shoot em up style games weather they are alone or in a group.