Media Paper 2 PPE - Learner response

Remember, the most important aspect of any mock exam is making mistakes and learning from them. With a new specification this is even more important and remember we're learning from this process too. 

Here, we need to closely analyse our performance in Paper 2 and identify specific ways we will improve for the real exam on Thursday 13 June (PM). Complete the following learner response tasks in a new blogpost on your Media Coursework Blog called 'Paper 2 PPE learner response':

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

WWW: very well revised prepared and great use of theory and terminology.

EBI: Timing towards the end and the last two questions needed more development.

2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade for A Level Media in this paper? If not, how many additional marks do you need to achieve your target grade in Paper 2?

Yes for this paper is exceeded my target grade.

We don't know exactly what grade boundaries AQA will set as this is a new specification. These are the boundaries we've used, based on last year's A Level exam but reduced slightly to account for the new specification (out of 84):  

A* = 78; A = 68; B = 56; C = 44; D = 32; E = 21.

Now read through the AQA mark scheme for Paper 2. This is vital as the paper was an official specimen exam paper and therefore the mark scheme tells us a lot about what AQA are expecting us to produce. The original Paper 2 question paper is here if that is helpful too.

3) Write a question-by-question analysis of your performance. For each question, write how many marks you got from the number available and identify any points that you missed by carefully studying the AQA indicative content in the mark scheme:

01) To attain more marks I could have made points about the Paparazzi camera that signify success. The composition between the male and female as the male appears dominant reinforces male ownership of the female.

02) In this question representations of gender, I could have added points about the cultural context of Maybelline and how the binary view of gender division is reinforced by other categories like ethnicity and race. The possession of the mascara in the advert is not objectified or sexualised as both genders equally like it. The Fendi advert, however, signifies traditional views of gender as the women is signifying the female desirability as traditional and submissive.

03)  In this question to gain two more marks, I needed to include, the superiority of masculinity may also be rejected, power over producers, natural representation of male power.

04) Making different identities are mixed and they create new meanings • Letter to the Free references a range of cultural styles – artistic, experimental, - not conventionally associated with African American musical styles , the diversity of the style and imagery of Letter to the Free could be read as transcending a specific culture – the nature of the lyrics are an appeal to people of colour beyond national borders.

Letter to Free may seem to more obviously validate the theory but it could also be argued that similar ideas about cultural hybridity are apparent in theories of postmodernism.

4) Choose your weaker of the two 20-mark questions. Write a full essay plan for this question using the indicative content in the mark scheme and with enough content to meet the criteria for Level 4 (top level). This will be somewhere between 4-6 well-developed paragraphs planned in some detail.

07)

Intro:

The representations of newspaper construct their ideological position to get their political opinion across.

Para 1:

The newspaper of the daily mail has a conservative viewpoint.Theresa May story
Theresa May is reflected as a strong, powerful female leader. This is effective in demonstrating how supportive The Daily Mail are of the conservative party. This may also have been done in an attempt to encourage their readership and the population to join forces with Theresa May and support her efforts, rather than working against her and ridiculing her regardless of how much she is trying. 

Para 2:

According to Curran and Seaton, Newspapers have to reflect the needs and desires of of the reader in order to maintain circulation and readership.

• I think that MailOnline does serve the public, but only a certain percentage of the public. I think that the news stories covered and the content generally serves and appeals to an older audience, while the celebrity news seems to be targeted to the same age group, but a different psychographic group (i.e. mainstreamers rather than succeeders).
• Mail Online is guilty of relying on infotainment, this is shown through the heavy focus on soft news and clickbait on the homepage, as well as throughout the website. Yes, there is hard news like politics etc. but I think that the majority is overwhelmingly clickbait and celebrity/entertainment based.

Para 3:

The 'I' newspaper is more of a left wing newspaper as it highlights the newspaper's sense of responsibility and the duty that it has to raise awareness of any crises/issues that could affect society. Covering topics like the NHS financial crisis etc makes people more aware of what is happening around them; thus, making it more likely that people will attempt to push for changes.

•  The i is set to target the wealthy, affluent audience who are slightly older. This is because she feels like millennials will not be reached as easily due to their ability to simply block any information that they don't necessarily think is relevant to them.

Para 4:

The 'i' encourages the political views as the newspaper shares values and beliefs through the different representations.

• The Salzburg Disaster - relating to Theresa May's ongoing attempts to secure a deal with other EU leaders that will be of benefit to the UK
• Reinforces the common belief that Theresa May is struggling with her role of leading the UK through this difficult time of change
• Contrasts to the Daily Mail's approach where they portray Theresa May as "furious" and a more courageous, strong-willed female.

5) Based on the whole of your Paper 1 learner response, plan FIVE topics / concepts / CSPs / theories that you will prioritise in your Easter Media revision timetable.

• Gauntlett's theory.
• Curran and Seaton power of the media
• Letter to the free
• Surgery 

CSPs: final index

1) Advertising & Marketing
2) Music Video
3) Radio
4) Newspapers
5) Film Industry
6) Television
7) Magazines
8) Online, Social and Participatory media
9 Videogames

Video Games: final index

1) Videogames: Women in videogames
2) Videogames: Further feminist theory
3) Learner response: OSP assessment
4) Videogames: Tomb Raider Anniversary
5) Videogames - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
6) Videogames: Henry Jenkins - fandom and participatory culture
7) Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 1 - Language & Audience
8) Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 2 - Industries
9) Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 3 - Representations

The Sims FreePlay - Representation blog tasks

Textual analysis

Re-watch some of the expansion pack trailers and answer the following questions:

1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies?

The trailers do reinforce some ideologies and some are challenged and reinforced. For example, the women within the trailers are objectified and seen to be taking on conventional roles like shopping, doing catwalks in the malls and dressing up. There are specific colours associated with each gender like pink and blue. The idea of the girl being shown doing her homework and the boy in the rock band is conventional and stereotypical, it is reflective of woke politics as there is also not much fluidity in terms of gender representations as the genders are provided with stereotypical roles.

2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay?

The stereotypes that are identifiable is to do with gender representation as the trailer counter argues gauntlet's theory of gender and fluidity because in the free play trailer it only depicts the stereotypical gender roles and what they identify with. For example, females are mostly seen at the chic boutique and doing catwalks and males are seen as playing guitars and the piano.

3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay?

The media theories that are applicable to the sims include:

• Gramsci's theory of hegemony and Marxism: This is because the perfect ideal world is represented and the high life including penthouses the players constantly drive themselves for more as they want this 'lush life'. This conveys the concept of Marxism as the ruling class ideology is conveyed of hard work and getting rewarded. The idea of the sims being able to build a fire station and get a job is the promotion of the capitalist ideal.
• Stuart Hall suggests individuals each have their own conceptual map – effectively what we use to decode and understand media texts. 
• Reflective approach: the media simply mirrors (or reflects) the real world. This is a limited approach that minimalises the power or complexity of the media.

Representation reading

Read this Forbes article on gender and racism in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:

1) How realistic does The Sims intend to be?
The sims is only realistic to some extent as it is more trying to get the audiences to believe in it rather than making it realistic.

2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity?

The Sims 4 is improving the Create-A-Sim feature, adding more details to alter the appearance of a Sim with a less stereotypical ways of representing different ethnicities. As he showed me the tool, creating an Asian character that does indeed appear less cartoonist, I wondered if there’d ever been discussions on coding racial awareness into the game systems themselves. 

3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society?
“It gets to the point where it crosses a line,”  “Our game is kind of a caricature of life. We don’t really have a message—there’s no racism message, there’s no tolerance message.
4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity?
Our Sims will not discriminate based on gender preference whatsoever. But there’s a line where it becomes too real. The only manner of hatred we have in the game is between incompatible Sims, something that’s driven by the traits of the Sim—a hotheaded Sim, or a Sim who hates children.“

5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?

It's not that hatred and real, damaging social phenomena have been written out of the game. The article brings up an example of a Sim whose main character trait is a dislike of children gaining points by breaking his child’s toys, but more than

Read this New Normative feature on LGBTQ representation in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:

1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

There is more diversity in terms of the representation as because there is more choice over the type of identity the sim chooses to have.

3) Why have fans praised the inclusion of LGBTQ relationships in The Sims franchise?
This is because to the gamers they felt something unique was in the game and felt as if it bought up issues of adulthood that wouldn't be done in many other games. The fans felt as if it was something rewarding and positive to see this representation in the game.

4) Why did the Sims run into regulatory difficulties with American regulator the ESRB? How did EA respond?

“When we went to the ESRB on The Sims 1, they didn’t have any guidelines on same sex support because no game had ever done it, this meant that the game a T rating, but the ESRB corrected that after the game shipped and same sex support was an automatic M. This posed a serious problem. Fans had contacted the team regularly about how much they loved the feature’s inclusion, and their fears that it could be removed in later versions. On top of this, the team was proud of its inclusion and wanted to stand by an integral part of the game that had been intended from the beginning.

5) How is sexuality represented in the wider video games industry today?

I think that representation of sexuality is represented as more diverse and subversive like, The Sims continue to strive toward greater heights, there may someday be more games out there that help people see acceptance of sexual identities as more than just a simulation. There is celebratory feel to this game as these relationships are viewed as being positive and is promoted rather than being seen as discriminatory.

Reality, postmodernism and The Sims

Read this Paste Magazine feature on reality and The Sims franchise. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the representation of real life in The Sims 4?

The sims 4 is more suburban than usual and the article is critical of it as it is meant to be allowing audiences to escape reality, but instead people are just playing a virtual life of themselves apart from the things that are included as fantasy.

The article claims:

it’s more about accessorising a comfortable veneer of suburbia than it is about banging aliens and werewolves, aiming for the kind of life you fantasise about before finding out that adult life actually sucks.


2) What audience pleasures did the writer used to find in The Sims franchise?
He claims:
 It’s that I need more options for escapism. The game used to be so complex and now it feels as if going through the motions of domesticity are the only available options. The funnest part of the game used to be all the inventive and mischievous ways to act out or blow off steam, which is really what we’re all looking for on both a macro and micro level. The Sims is really at its best when it’s letting me live my best life


3) Why does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC?
He claims that it was like in real life how he doesn't like doing his laundry and At the time had no interest in adding yet another maintenance ritual to my Sim’s daily routine, but also, as I told my fellow Sims fans, it was almost an act of defiance. He felt as if already he was trying escape.


4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic?
I think to some extent it has because the whole point of individuals to play a game like this is to feel rewarded and feel a sense of escapism through diversion. The part of it being to realistic can just reflect the domesticity in reality.


5) How does this representation of reality link to Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality - the increasingly blurred line between real and constructed?
The term of hyper-reality is used in semiotics to describe an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies. The sims can be described as a simulation of the real world it can be seen as neglecting the real world. Audiences may interpret through this and this may blur their image between the things between fiction and reality. This links to Baudrillard as he claims that now our culture now perceives the copy as more real than the original.

The Sims FreePlay social media analysis

Analyse The Sims FreePlay Facebook page and Twitter feed and answer the following questions:

1) What is the purpose of The Sims FreePlay social media channels?

Push the sims content to a wider audience, and to also demonstrate the realism associated with the sims - i.e. their ability to interact with each other.

2) Choose three posts (from either Twitter or Facebook) and make a note of what they are and how they encourage audience interaction or response.

Grand Garages - Download it now to take your Sim’s dream home to the next level by building the ultimate garage, along with some other surprises.

Pregnancy pictures - advertise the different stages of family life available in the game and the fact that you have an opportunity to develop your own relationships based around your preferences

Happy international women day posts - Simulacra, linking the virtual women in sims to the real-life concept of International Women's Day.

There isn't a lot of text in the captions of the posts - there are typically only emojis which leaves the posts open for debate and interpretation amongst the Sims community and fandom.

3) Scroll down the Facebook feed briefly. How many requests for new content can you find from players? Why is this such as an important part of the appeal for The Sims FreePlay?

1. Different body types
2. Facial features
3. Different buildings

Highlights the fact that audiences constantly desire new more diverse content - important as it signifies the fact that audiences are directly involved in shaping the content of Sims.

4) What tweets can you find in the Twitter feed that refer to additional content or other revenue streams for EA?

1. Expansion packs - a revenue stream as people download the additional content to improve the game.
2. Premium content - "VIP Rooms and Winter Wonderland Quest"

5) Linking to our work on postmodernism, how could The Sims FreePlay social media presence be an example of Baudrillard’s hyperreality and simulacra?

It is an example of simulacra as it is situated in the real world and focuses on real actions, yet is based on fictional content of the sims. It is bringing the media text into and merging it with the real world.

Radio: Final Index

1) Radio: Introduction to Radio
2) Radio: The Surgery / Life Hacks
3) Radio: War of the Worlds

The Sims FreePlay - Industries blog tasks Part 2

Regulation – PEGI

Research the following using the PEGI website.

1) What is the VSC and how does it link to UK law?

The VSC Rating Board is an Administrator of the PEGI age rating system which is used in over 30 countries throughout Europe. PEGI system was incorporated into UK law and the VSC was appointed as the statutory body responsible for the age rating of video games in the UK using the PEGI system.

2) Note down the key statistics on the homepage.

• 12000+  Games Rated
• 8000+ Apps Rated
• 1987 Number of Member Outlets
• 30 Years in Operation

3) What is the purpose of PEGI?

They are committed to providing as much helpful information we can about video game ratings. They can’t tell you how good, bad or indifferent a video game might be, but supply detailed consumer information about the content of the games with PEGI ratings.

4) Click on the PEGI Rating tab in the top menu. What are the age ratings and what do they include?

Age rating 3:

Some violence in a comical context or child-friendly setting is acceptable, as is nudity when shown in a completely natural and non-sexual manner such as breast feeding.

PEGI 7:

A little more violence is permissible at PEGI 7. It is always unrealistic and often directed towards fantasy characters, though very mild non-realistic violence to humans may also feature. Implied violence (for example the bombing of a city where violence is not seen directly) is also dealt with at this level.

PEGI 12

 At a PEGI 12 level more graphic and realistic looking violence towards fantasy characters is allowed. Any violence towards human characters must look unrealistic unless it consists of only minor or trivial injury such as a slap.Some bad language is allowed but it can be no more than mild swearing. 

PEGI 16:

At the 16 level you can expect to see more mature and realistic violence against human characters. The game may deal heavily with death and injury to humans.  Sexual activity can be shown but it must not include visible genitals. Depictions of erotic nudity may feature.

The worst forms of bad language can be heard and will often include sexual expletives. 

PEGI 18:

The adult classification is applied when the level of violence becomes gross. Gross violence is classed as horrific methods of bringing death or severe injury, including torture, decapitation or dismemberment.

Violence against vulnerable characters such as children and the elderly may feature, along with motiveless violence against multiple innocents. Sexual violence and threat are also classified at PEGI 18. The game may include detailed descriptions of criminal techniques, or it may glamorise the use of illegal drugs.

Sexual activity with visible genital organs can be shown. 

5) Scroll down to look at the ‘How games are examined’ infographic. What is the PEGI process for rating a game?
The developer has to let PEGI know the detailed content of the game so that it can be ready for assessment, after this assessment the developer is provided with a provisional rating that can be used for advertising. This further means that developer has to provide evidence for their creation like footage, this is then assessed to see if the developer has missed or misinterpreted a certain part of the footage of the game. The next part is the examination of the game itself so you can try out things that may not have been shown in the video.

The ‘Freemium’ gaming model

Read this Lifewire feature on freemium gaming and answer the following questions:

1) How does the freemium model work?

The basic freemium application gives away its core functionality for free and offers upgrades to add certain features. In its most simple form, this is like combining the "lite" version of an app with the premium version, with the premium features available for a price.  


The idea behind the freemium model is that a free app will be downloaded much more than a paid app.  And while many users will continue to use the app for free, the overall number of in-app purchases will exceed what could be made by keeping the app premium.   

2) Why do some gamers believe freemium is ruining games?

 It often seems like games are trying to nickel-and-dime players to death. A bad game can be ignored, but a good game series turned bad is frustrating.  But perhaps the worst aspect of the rise of free-to-play is how it has changed the player base.  As much as many players wish for games that they can simply pay for and never worry about paying again, gamers as a whole have become accustomed to downloading a game for free.

3) What are the positives of the freemium model for gaming?

The ability to download and check out a game for free is good.  And when done right, you can earn the "premium" content by working through the game and building up the in-game currency.   
But the best aspect of the model is the emphasis on longevity.  A popular game already has a fan base and it is much easier to keep them within the same game than it is to convince them to move to the sequel. 

Now read this Business Insider feature on freemium gaming and multiplayer games. Answer the following questions:

1) Note the key statistics in the first paragraph.

• The "Freemium" model dominates mobile games. From Candy Crush Saga to Clash of Clans, "freemium" games and their in-app purchases account for about 70-80% of the $10 billion or more in iOS revenue each year.

2) Why does the freemium model incentivise game developers to create better and longer games?

 If developers don't have a strong monetary incentive, it's difficult for them to constantly improve the game experience. With freemium games, players are continuously spending money on the game, as opposed to paying once and forgetting about it. Developers are then incentivized to put that stream of revenue directly back into the game to improve it.

3) What does the article suggest regarding the possibilities and risks to the freemium model in future?

The "freemium" model has proven itself to be incredibly profitable. The question now is how game developers use it to grow without alienating a large share of the gaming community.

Read this New York Times feature on freemium gaming and answer the following questions:

1) Why did Temple Run use the freemium model?
Temple Run free and promoted it through free app day, a Web site that features free games. The game immediately had a spike in downloads and quickly soared in popularity. To date, it has topped 40 million downloads, and about 13 million and helped renovate profit.

2) The bigger gaming studios like Electronic Arts used to avoid the freemium model. Why are they now embracing it?

Nick Earl, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, one of the largest American game publishers, said a vast majority of its games coming this year for iPhones and Android smartphones would be free, with the option to buy extras. He said the company had made the decision based on the success of Sims FreePlay.

3) Why does Peter Farago suggest independent game makers benefit more from the freemium model than the major publishers like EA?

Farago said independent game makers should benefit more from freemium than major publishers like Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Microsoft. He said that the big companies had always relied on charging for games and that it would be difficult for them to change their makeup.

Electronic Arts

Read this Pocket Gamer interview with EA’s Amanda Schofield, Senior Producer on The Sims FreePlay at EA's Melbourne-based Firemonkeys studio. Answer the following questions:

1) How has The Sims FreePlay evolved since launch?

It has envolved as there are more things audiences are able to engage with other than just controlling six sims and having a pet you can now get married and have mythical things for your pet.

2) Why does Amanda Schofield suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?

Games aren’t products anymore, they’re services built in a partnership with our players.

This means that functions like customer support and community management are a critical part of the game development process and must be embedded with our game teams so we not only know what our players are saying about the newest update, but we also can quickly respond to any problems that arise.

3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?

She claims that the community is very active and always hungry to see more features and content in the game. We’ve not had to do much more than listen and build to keep the players engaged. When we find systems that are particularly exciting to our players, we focus our efforts to build that section out a little more.

4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?

A lot of the players are able to build incredible houses in ways we could never have imagined when we created Build Mode. They have been working to give them more tools and freedom to make the houses of their dreams by adding balconies, pools, a second story and all manner of furniture styles over the years. It's also really key to remember that we don’t have one kind of player. People play games for lots of different reasons and are at different stages in the game.

5) How many times has the game been installed and how much game time in years have players spent playing the game? These could be great introductory statistics in an exam essay on this topic.

The first is that we’ve seen well over 200 million installs of The Sims FreePlay to date which shows the extent of the popularity of not just this incredible franchise, but also the game itself. The number that I personally find incredibly inspiring is 78,000, which is the amount of game time in years our players have spent in the game!

Finally, read this blog on how EA is ruining the franchise (or not) due to its downloadable content. Answer the following questions:

1) What audience pleasures for The Sims are discussed at the beginning of the blog?

“The Sims” games centre on the players’ ability to create “Sims” — virtual humans with personalities and ambitions — and take complete control of their lives. This means that it gives audiences the autonomy as they are able to have control.

2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?

 “DLC.” A magnet for controversy in the past several years, DLC is simply new content for a game that is purchased or downloaded for free as a separate add-on. To many irate gamers, a more suitable definition would be “things that should’ve been in the game in the first place.”

3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?

It provided an in-depth system of creating pets while also containing a sizable amount of building content for houses and cosmetic items for Sims. Three months later, the related “My First Pet” stuff pack delivered smaller pets and the usual extra elements. 

4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?

The original carved out the niche for “life simulation” gaming. In the next cycle, “The Sims 2” refined the virtual families, allowing players to create multi-generational legacies. Following this feat, the developers gave players full access to every inch of a hyper-realistic world in “The Sims 3.”

5) In your opinion, do expansion packs like these exploit a loyal audience or is it simply EA responding to customer demand
I think it can be exploiting loyal audience to some extent as they want to increase profit and make as much of revenue as possible so both these factors a correlate and customer demand can also be said to be true as now consumers have more of a say in what is being created.

The Sims Free Play - Language & Audience blog tasks: Part 1

Language / Gameplay analysis

Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following questions:

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

The elements of the gameplay include providing a virtual life for audiences and their own identity is allowed to be constructed. it allows the audience to, care, grow, design, play and live suggesting that the game player has an active role in the gameplay and there are 'limitless possibilities' providing a platform for greater opportunities. There is a hyperreal platform provided as the colours used to give a sense of this idealised life which is full of perfection. 

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

The audience is most likely to be a younger demographic as it is more like a happy family game with no explicit references. This can also be because youth culture is mostly represented.

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

Audience pleasures include autonomy as you can 'create your own sim' audiences are given the complete freedom and opportunities for their virtual identity. There is also a sense of escapism as it allows the audience to divert their minds off reality.

Now watch this walk-through of the beginning of The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:

1) How is the game constructed?

The game is constructed to enable audiences to have complete control over their sim and virtual life as the sims needs are also made explicit like their need, hunger, hygiene, bladder. social, fun and energy. This is suburban and provides a sort of domestic space for the audiences promoting middle-class values.

2) What audience is this game targeting?

The audience is a younger demographic from 12 years and no sexual content is explicit and seems like an appropriate game for the young. There is a range of options for the females whilst they create their character again giving the impression that it is targetted at them. It was also described as a dollhouse by the creator will wright suggesting that it is aimed at a female based audience.

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

The audience pleasures include psychologically rewarding as the character gets something each time they do something. This is providing a diversion for them and also gives them a sense of personalisation through the eyes, hair and clothes.

4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?

This is encouraged through adds watched to gain extra crystals and experience which generates more revenue which is encouraging spending and revenue.

Audience

Read this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:  

1) What critics reviews are included in the game information section?

2) What do the reviews suggest regarding the audience pleasures of The Sims FreePlay?

It allows them to have a virtual life as one said that it resembles actual life which means that it allows them to identify themselves with the game. For example, growing babies, designing houses, having their own virtual pet. There is diversity within the game which people like as it allows your sim to have many interactions and some think that it is restrictive because not many things can actually be done, lack of freedom, style and self-creativity.

3) How do the reviews reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?

This reflects the element of participatory culture as audiences are able to have a say about the media they consume and are being subjective of it as a result. This means that culture has revolutionised fan communities with the opportunity to create and share content. This links to Clay Shirky’s work on ‘mass amateurisation’.

Participatory culture

Read this academic journal article - The Sims: A Participatory Culture 14 Years On. Answer the following questions:

1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?

Sims is described as a dollhouse by Will Wright. 

2) Why was the development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?

They claimed that dollhouses were for girls and that girl didn't really play video games.

3) What is ‘modding’?

This is the term for modification which the part of the appeal of the game.

4) How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?

Jenkins discusses ‘textual poaching’ – when fans take texts and re-edit or develop their meanings, a process called semiotic productivity. Fan communities are also quick to criticise if they feel a text or character is developing in a way they don’t support. This links to the idea of modding as it changes aspects of the game to benefit the audience.

5) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.

Wright:

• "A culture wherein players were able to modify game assets by manipulating the game code (a practice called ‘modding’) with the sanction of the rights owners and to share their new creations via personal websites and online.

Jenkins:

• "held together through the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge"

6) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)

The game’s release, skins depicting characters from cult media such as Star Trek, Star Wars, The X-Files and Japanese anime and manga were extremely popular. Players seemed to display a gleeful desire to recreate the worlds of their favourite fandoms within The Sims.

7) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?

 Transmedia storytelling, a process wherein the primary text encoded in an official commercial

product could be dispersed over multiple media, both digital and analogue in form (Jenkins 2007).
The Sims space provided a playground for cult media fans, a stage for enacting fannish stories which
could later be shared (via the game’s in-built camera and photo album) with other game players who had similar interests.

8) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?

The Sims – a comprehensive list can be found at the SWARM1 fansite – but a few sites have taken on the gargantuan task of preserving The Sims, becoming in effect digital libraries or archives. Sites such as CTO Sims2, and  Yahoo Groups such as Saving the Sims3 are continuing to ‘rescue’ game assets from dead sites in a collaborative effort between creators and players who ‘donate’ game mods, which are then uploaded to the site or group and shared with other members.

9) Why have conflicts sometimes developed within The Sims online communities?

In the past there have been conflicts between creators and non-creators; between creators who wish to charge money for their mods and those who wish to share them for free; even between players and Maxis/EA itself. Fans of The Sims are not homogeneous. Some fans have complained of fellow community members receiving more recognition and power because they can create things that others can’t – opportunities for participation do not necessarily imply an attendant equality

10) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?

what it will be remembered for, is for the cult following that it engendered well beyond the usual lifespan of a popular computer game; and also for the culture of digital production it helped to pioneer, one that remains such a staple of fan and game modding communities today.

Read this Henry Jenkins interview with James Paul Gee, writer of Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010).

1) How is ‘modding’ used in The Sims?

modding the Sims to create challenges and game play that is simultaneously in the game world, in the real world, and in writing things like graphic novels.
Such modding is the force that sustains a passionate affinity space that builds artistic, technical, social, and emotional skills. We wrote the book because these woman and girls rock, not because they are women and girls.

2) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?

He claims that The Sims is a real game and a very important one because it is a game that is meant to take people beyond gaming. She helped me see that how women play and design is not "mainstream" (see comments above) but cutting edge, the edge of the future.

3) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?

empower people to think like designers, to organise themselves around the game to become learn new skills that extend beyond the game, and to express their own creativity.

4) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?
I agree with to some extent as people have began to see themselves virtually in this game and being a genuine true representation of themselves. This is enabling audiences to have autonomy and identify themselves with it. 

5) How do you see the future of gaming? Do you agree with James Paul Gee that all games in the future will have the flexibility and interactivity of The Sims?

I believe that as sims made a remarkable impression in the industry that other games may follow upon this as it increases the idea of participatory culture as Jenkins says we are prosumers and what clay Shirky refers to as 'mass amateurisation' because now the way audience interacts with the media actually impacts on what is created. They have the ability to choose what is right for them and this sense of freedom is felt by them enabling consumers to pick and choose what they like highlighting the idea of pluralism. This means that it can result in games having the flexibility and interactivity in future games as gamers feel more pride and are able to express their feelings more publicly.