What do audiences want from 18 age rated computer games/films?

What the audience whats from an age 18 game or film is to experience

something that they would never be able to experience in real life. Because if
you look at call of duty the game is about warfare and a lot of people would be
very scared to enter a battlefield but on a games console its all just for a laugh
but when play a game you know youre playing the game. So 18 rated games are
really there to let people experience a situation they would never want to be in.

The effects of exposure to explicit sexual or violent content, health

concerns & censorship debates?
The effects of exposure to explicit gaming is that when people play these
games for too long they forget what is real and bring gaming aspects into
the real world. This is because they are used to it on a game which they
play all the time so they think its exemptible when its really not. Violent
video games have an effect on children similar to that of violent television
and film. As one expert said Were not just teaching kids to kill. Were
teaching them to like it this is true because kids are enjoying killing each
other on video games every day. Children naturally learn by observing,
imitating and adopting the behaviours they see, depending on the results
they get from observers of that behaviour. The content is not only
available on TV, but on computers and electronic devices whenever our
children use them, sometimes without our knowledge. Because of this, it
is becoming increasingly difficult to prevent children from seeing
inappropriate sexual or violent content. Because there is so much
exposure to the violence on media this does have an effect on some
people for example the tragic shootings at Columbine High School in
1999, the Federal Trade Commission. There was speculation that the two
committed the killings because they had been bullied, were members of a
group of social outcasts that was absorbed by influenced by violent video
games and music however none of these theories was ever proven.
Although video games made have given them motivation and the courage
to do it they still had to do it themselves.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1495
Audience responses - negotiated, preferred, oppositional, participatory,
Negotiated this is when you would bargain with another or others, as in
the preparation of a treaty or contract or in preliminaries to a business
deal.
Preferred you like something else compared to the other persons or
things in estimation: like better; choose rather than.
Oppositional - a person or group of people opposing, criticizing, or
protesting something, someone, or another group.
Participatory - to take or have a part or share, as with others.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/negotiate
Task 1:
Write a report on Media theories discussing their where it came from and
pros and cons. Find theorists discussing each theory both for and against
and use these in your report.
1. Hypodermic Needle
The hypodermic needle model was proposed in the 1940 which suggested
mass media could have a powerful and instant impact on people. The
hypodermic needle is a model of communications suggesting that an
intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the
receiver. A potential downfall of this theory is that it can influence a lot of
people and impose a false perception on a large audience. But in the
same way it can influence a negative impact, mass media can directly
impact a large group of people to do positive things which can be benefit
them and others.
One of the first studies that disproved Hypodermic Needle Theory was
The Peoples Choice, conducted by researchers Paul Lazarsfeld and
Herta Herzog in the 1940s. The study analyzed the effects of media
propaganda on peoples voting decisions. Lazarsfeld and Herzog
examined voting data during the 1940 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt
and discovered that interpersonal sources of opinion influenced voters far
more than the media did. In many cases, the medias propaganda had no
effect on the public at all.
The study proved that people could choose which messages to accept
from the media, as well as determine the degree to which those messages
would affect them. People werent the helpless, passive victims of the
media as Hypodermic Needle Theory suggested. From his research,
Lazarsfeld, along with Elihu Katz, developed the two-step flow model of
communication, stating that the medias messages are first received and
interpreted by opinion leaders before they reach the general public.
An example of this would be when Jamie bulger, a two year old toddler
who was abducted and murdered by two 10 year old boys. The two boys
had apparently watched Childs play 3. And when you look and albert
bandura copycat violence. He conducted experiments to see if children
acted in the way they had just seen in the media. He did an experiment
on little children where he showed them a video of a women beating up a
bodo (inflatable thing) and showed this video to little kids and when the
kids went out to play they all started to beat up the bodo as they just sure
in the video. This concluded that violent media content could lead to
copycat violence.
https://mediablogofchris.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/the-hypodermic-
needle-model/
https://www.newenglandcollegeonline.com/resources/psychology/psycholo
gy-of-copycat-criminals/
https://www.slideshare.net/HannahCharlesMedia/hypodermic-needle-theory-
29639628

2. Uses and gratifications theory

This is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. This
theory places more focus on the consumer instead of the message its self.
They asked what people do with media instead of what media does to
people. This makes it more personal instead of blaming the media more
of the person. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for
choosing media to meet their needs. It offers the audience a choice
allowing them to be selective over what media elements or text engage in
or self-inject into their lives. This provides the individual with positive
feedback on their mind-set while they are engaging with the text they
have chosen. In this model, power has shifted away from the producers of
the text towards the audience meaning there is no defined target
audience making it hard for the media producers to gather a strong fan-
base as the audience cannot be categorized as they have been provided
the power to engage with media texts on their own.
Originated in the 1970s as a reaction to traditional mass communication
research emphasizing the sender and the message. Stressing the active
audience and user instead. Psychological orientation taking needs,
motives and gratifications of media users as the main point of departure.
For example people would watch a tv series because they can relate to it
and because of this they can relate to the characters or situation they are
in. or they heard from a mate it was good. This is word of mouth. Which is
where people tell each other if a show was good or not and this will make
the next person watch it and this will carry on. Reason for it being called
word of mouth.
https://www.learning-theories.com/uses-and-gratification-theory.html
https://prezi.com/8wwftv-rsu-d/uses-and-gratifications-theory/
https://www.learning-theories.com/uses-and-gratification-theory.html

3. Reception study

Reception theory provides a means of understanding media texts by

understanding how these texts are read by audiences. Theorists who
analyse media through reception studies are concerned with the
experience of cinema and television viewing for spectators, and how
meaning is created through that experience. Reception theory places the
viewer in context, taking into account all of the various factors that might
influence how she or he will read and create meaning from the text. A
good use of this would be that you can study how certain groups respond,
helps media people know how to target certain demographics, and
stimulates creativity in media productions. But can be bad as well because
its difficult to manage variables and this presence might affect
participants behaviour or responses.

You look at the example I gave where the two boys killed the boy because
they watched childs play 3. But loads of other people have watched the
film since and not everyone who has watched it did the same as these
boys. So it also depends on what mental state people are before they
watch the film.
https://www.slideshare.net/dphillips4363/reception-theory-presentation/4
https://prezi.com/qbdmneftgbyh/audience-theory/
4. Passive or active consumption
An active consumption is when the audience will engage and discuss
media messages that comes across to them and sometimes question the
media messages through life experiences. A passive consumption is when
the audience doesnt engage or question the media message but just
accepts it, this what media outlets want to achieve when making a film or
show as they want to view to except and not question
5. Censorship debates
Censorship is the suppression of free speech, public communication or
other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful,
sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by
governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions.
Some good things about censorship would be it helps save the children
from violence, it keeps the negative impact of sex materials away from
children, it limits harmful advertisements, and it helps protect personal
security. Some bad things though are it keeps the ignorant, ignorant, it
violates the First Amendment, It encourages ulterior motives, it hinders
sex education and awareness and it violates website owners legal rights
to make their information accessible.
https://futureofworking.com/11-biggest-pros-and-cons-of-censorship/

6. Effects debate
This is the debating in the media studies on the effect that the media may
have on its audience. This issues focuses on the negative effects that may
be created by media texts.