Minecraft in class
How video games are traditionally marketed:
-advertisement i.e. public billboards, TV, magazines, buses
-word of mouth
-reviews
-pre-releases/ demo versions
How Minecraft is marketed:
-Through other games and platforms
-mainly word of mouth
-sharing mods and game footage against web forums
-through YouTubers playing it
-lego
-social media
Minecraft documentary:
-minecraft is popular as it attracts so many age ranges and allows the freedom to create
-who plays minecraft? wide age ranges, generally younger people, pegi= 7+ game, 5k people a day join minecraft
-Microsoft brought minecraft for $2.5 billion, out of the $80 they're worth. They will make much more profit out of minecraft as well as increasing the audience and sales for the rest of their products like Xbox and PlayStation
-Youtubers who play minecraft: Britoni Johnson, Ali A
-'Kids are able to create rather than destroy' -Stephen Reid
-On average, people play minecraft 4 hours a day
-Minecraft can be used as an educational tool: redstone, robots, create not destroy
-Youtubers are a threat to game developers as they can decide whether the game is a flop or not and decrease sales
Marketing, promotion and franchising:
-minecraft mods: most mods add content to the game to alter game play, change the creative feel, or give the player more options in how they interact with the minecraft world
-minecraft lego is a way into the game, a range of people may buy it for a variety of reasons i.e. collectors, people who don't have access to a console, YouTube watchers etc.
-Minecraft collabs with Jinx, an online gaming merchandise store, to sell minecraft merch like; clothing, foam pickaxes and toys of creatures in the game (relating to identity, uses and gratifications as well as Jenkins fandom theory)
-In 2013 Mojang signed a deal with the Egmont group, to create minecraft handbooks, annuals, poster books and mgazines
-In 2019 there may be a minecraft movie released by warner bros. This has anticipated success, similar to the lego movie
-fan trailers help the promotion of minecraft
-Minecon is a convention for minecraft, the first gathering was 2010. And in 2017 it was livestreamed for the first time. Minecon Earth globalizes the game.
Audiences and Institution:
-The uses and gratifications theory, developed by Bulmer and Katz suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media.
-Integration and social interaction- the ability for media products to produce topic of conversation between people
-Entertain, identify, social interaction,knowledge
Minecraft being owned by microsoft advantages v. disadvantages
advantages
-wider audience, increase marketing
-invest more money, profitable
-persuade the users to buy other microsoft products
disadvantages
-lose its own creative identity
-minecraft will be dictated by microsoft
-minecrafts market could decrease
Ways to interact with minecraft:
-Lego (young children, male and female, interested in building)
-game consoles (gamers, young/teens)
-YouTube (young, may not be able to play the game, fanatics)
-Social media (younger and older audiences, parents)
-mods (girls are stereotypically more likely to play creative mods and males the survival mods)
-fan made media (fanatics)
-books (no access to consoles, fanatics, younger/ teens)
-cross play (playing with people from other platforms, social interaction)
-PC (don't have a console)
-devices (people who prefer hand-held devices)
-demos (people who don't have access to the game)
-story mode: target audience, younger audiences who may need guidance through the game, fans of fantasy films like lord of the rings, less creative/ imaginative audience, minecraft fans who may want to try something else
Regulation:
-PEGI: video games
-Ofcom: TV, streaming and on demand, radio, post
-IMPRESS & IPSO: newspapers, magazines
-BBFC: film
Minecraft is regulated through PEGI with an age restriction of 7 years, it may be this as it allows you to kill zombies as well as interacting with possible strangers online.
The internet makes minecraft difficult to regulate
advantages of regualtion:
-keeps younger people safe from viewing explicit content
-someone to complain to
-reduces offensive material
-ensures safety to some extent
disadvantages of regulation:
-restrict freedom of speech
-can be too strict or too weak
-self-regulatory so could be biased
-disadvantage for creators as sales may be restricted- demonitised
Livingstone and Lunt:
-Studied four cases of the work of Ofcom
-Ofcom is serving an audience who may be seen as consumers and/or citizens with consequences for regulation, consumers have wants, are individuals, seek private benefits from the media, use the language of choice and require protection against detriment
Cultural Industries:
-The success of a media product can be judged by the amount of consumers who play the game regularly
-It could also be judged by the content available (how explicit it is) and the age restrictions, if they match up
-Branding, celebrities, storyline
Hesmondhalgh:
-Cultural Industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration- cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk
-Risk is particularly high in cultural industries because of the difficulty in predicting success, high production costs, low reproduction costs and the fact that media products are, 'public goods' - they are not destroyed on consumption but can be further reproduced
-Industries rely on repetition through use of stars, genres, franchises and repeatable narratives (microsoft had little risks when the brought minecraft as it was alread popular)
-Hesmondhalgh's cultural industries theory is relevant to minecraft as it explains why microsoft acquired the game: the did this because the risks were limited as minecraft was already popular, and therefore its success was easier to predict
-Minecraft was popular originally because of the storyline, the market is now increasing due to celebrities 'promoting' the game through YouTube and now the microsoft branding
-Additionally, Hesmondhalgh's theory suggests cultural industries follow capitalist patterns of increasing concentration and integration, microsoft may have used this as an advantage as minecraft follows capitalist patterns
-The concerns that people might have over this acquisition are that the audience may disagree with minecraft moving into a new market, in case they ruin it by unsuccessful changes microsoft have the power to make
-Microsoft may only be interested in making money as opposed to appealing to the users
Identity: David Gauntlett
-The media have a complex but important relationship with identities
-Gauntlett believes that the media you consume, makes you yourself
-There are many diverse and contradictory media messages that individuals can use to think through their identities and expressing themselves
-People may feel pressure to like things to fit in with their identity
-Regarding minecraft, Gauntlett suggests that people build a stronger sense of self-identity through creative processes
-Minecraft allows people to express their identity and also socially create
-Popular things i.e. feminism and veganism may make people feel pressured to fit in with the rise of popular things
Fandom: Henry Jenkins
-Fans act as 'textual poachers' taking elements from media texts to create their own culture
-The development of 'new' media has accelerated participatory culture in which audiences are active and creative participants rather than passive consumers
-They create online communities, produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems etc. This generates ;collective intelligence'
-Convergence is a cultural process rather than a technological one
-Jenkins prefers the term 'spreadable media' to terms such as; 'viral' as the former emphasises the active participatory element of the 'new' media
-advertisement i.e. public billboards, TV, magazines, buses
-word of mouth
-reviews
-pre-releases/ demo versions
How Minecraft is marketed:
-Through other games and platforms
-mainly word of mouth
-sharing mods and game footage against web forums
-through YouTubers playing it
-lego
-social media
Minecraft documentary:
-minecraft is popular as it attracts so many age ranges and allows the freedom to create
-who plays minecraft? wide age ranges, generally younger people, pegi= 7+ game, 5k people a day join minecraft
-Microsoft brought minecraft for $2.5 billion, out of the $80 they're worth. They will make much more profit out of minecraft as well as increasing the audience and sales for the rest of their products like Xbox and PlayStation
-Youtubers who play minecraft: Britoni Johnson, Ali A
-'Kids are able to create rather than destroy' -Stephen Reid
-On average, people play minecraft 4 hours a day
-Minecraft can be used as an educational tool: redstone, robots, create not destroy
-Youtubers are a threat to game developers as they can decide whether the game is a flop or not and decrease sales
Marketing, promotion and franchising:
-minecraft mods: most mods add content to the game to alter game play, change the creative feel, or give the player more options in how they interact with the minecraft world
-minecraft lego is a way into the game, a range of people may buy it for a variety of reasons i.e. collectors, people who don't have access to a console, YouTube watchers etc.
-Minecraft collabs with Jinx, an online gaming merchandise store, to sell minecraft merch like; clothing, foam pickaxes and toys of creatures in the game (relating to identity, uses and gratifications as well as Jenkins fandom theory)
-In 2013 Mojang signed a deal with the Egmont group, to create minecraft handbooks, annuals, poster books and mgazines
-In 2019 there may be a minecraft movie released by warner bros. This has anticipated success, similar to the lego movie
-fan trailers help the promotion of minecraft
-Minecon is a convention for minecraft, the first gathering was 2010. And in 2017 it was livestreamed for the first time. Minecon Earth globalizes the game.
Audiences and Institution:
-The uses and gratifications theory, developed by Bulmer and Katz suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media.
-Integration and social interaction- the ability for media products to produce topic of conversation between people
-Entertain, identify, social interaction,knowledge
Minecraft being owned by microsoft advantages v. disadvantages
advantages
-wider audience, increase marketing
-invest more money, profitable
-persuade the users to buy other microsoft products
disadvantages
-lose its own creative identity
-minecraft will be dictated by microsoft
-minecrafts market could decrease
Ways to interact with minecraft:
-Lego (young children, male and female, interested in building)
-game consoles (gamers, young/teens)
-YouTube (young, may not be able to play the game, fanatics)
-Social media (younger and older audiences, parents)
-mods (girls are stereotypically more likely to play creative mods and males the survival mods)
-fan made media (fanatics)
-books (no access to consoles, fanatics, younger/ teens)
-cross play (playing with people from other platforms, social interaction)
-PC (don't have a console)
-devices (people who prefer hand-held devices)
-demos (people who don't have access to the game)
-story mode: target audience, younger audiences who may need guidance through the game, fans of fantasy films like lord of the rings, less creative/ imaginative audience, minecraft fans who may want to try something else
Regulation:
-PEGI: video games
-Ofcom: TV, streaming and on demand, radio, post
-IMPRESS & IPSO: newspapers, magazines
-BBFC: film
Minecraft is regulated through PEGI with an age restriction of 7 years, it may be this as it allows you to kill zombies as well as interacting with possible strangers online.
The internet makes minecraft difficult to regulate
advantages of regualtion:
-keeps younger people safe from viewing explicit content
-someone to complain to
-reduces offensive material
-ensures safety to some extent
disadvantages of regulation:
-restrict freedom of speech
-can be too strict or too weak
-self-regulatory so could be biased
-disadvantage for creators as sales may be restricted- demonitised
Livingstone and Lunt:
-Studied four cases of the work of Ofcom
-Ofcom is serving an audience who may be seen as consumers and/or citizens with consequences for regulation, consumers have wants, are individuals, seek private benefits from the media, use the language of choice and require protection against detriment
Cultural Industries:
-The success of a media product can be judged by the amount of consumers who play the game regularly
-It could also be judged by the content available (how explicit it is) and the age restrictions, if they match up
-Branding, celebrities, storyline
Hesmondhalgh:
-Cultural Industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration- cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk
-Risk is particularly high in cultural industries because of the difficulty in predicting success, high production costs, low reproduction costs and the fact that media products are, 'public goods' - they are not destroyed on consumption but can be further reproduced
-Industries rely on repetition through use of stars, genres, franchises and repeatable narratives (microsoft had little risks when the brought minecraft as it was alread popular)
-Hesmondhalgh's cultural industries theory is relevant to minecraft as it explains why microsoft acquired the game: the did this because the risks were limited as minecraft was already popular, and therefore its success was easier to predict
-Minecraft was popular originally because of the storyline, the market is now increasing due to celebrities 'promoting' the game through YouTube and now the microsoft branding
-Additionally, Hesmondhalgh's theory suggests cultural industries follow capitalist patterns of increasing concentration and integration, microsoft may have used this as an advantage as minecraft follows capitalist patterns
-The concerns that people might have over this acquisition are that the audience may disagree with minecraft moving into a new market, in case they ruin it by unsuccessful changes microsoft have the power to make
-Microsoft may only be interested in making money as opposed to appealing to the users
Identity: David Gauntlett
-The media have a complex but important relationship with identities
-Gauntlett believes that the media you consume, makes you yourself
-There are many diverse and contradictory media messages that individuals can use to think through their identities and expressing themselves
-People may feel pressure to like things to fit in with their identity
-Regarding minecraft, Gauntlett suggests that people build a stronger sense of self-identity through creative processes
-Minecraft allows people to express their identity and also socially create
-Popular things i.e. feminism and veganism may make people feel pressured to fit in with the rise of popular things
Fandom: Henry Jenkins
-Fans act as 'textual poachers' taking elements from media texts to create their own culture
-The development of 'new' media has accelerated participatory culture in which audiences are active and creative participants rather than passive consumers
-They create online communities, produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems etc. This generates ;collective intelligence'
-Convergence is a cultural process rather than a technological one
-Jenkins prefers the term 'spreadable media' to terms such as; 'viral' as the former emphasises the active participatory element of the 'new' media
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