Unit 6 Assignment 2 - UPDATED

http://uk.ign.com/games/grand-theft-auto-v/ps3-20594

Reviews off IGN Are Useful because the give the review that their gamers have given it (10/10) and a general overall public review, it also gives you the option to give your own review which will add onto their public total. IGN is an established Website thats been around for years and is known for being reliable. Although IGN havent left any words about the game they have a comment section below full of comments and the publics' thoughts and opinions on the game.









The good thing about Gamespot is that again it has a rating (9). And it points out positive features about the game and things and things that the public talk about the most, but it also points out the bad things, theres more good than bad, which is what you'd expect but at least its honest.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review/1900-6414475/

The Telegraph is an established paper/website and is probably reliable, how ever it doesnt really give much away, it has a rating but it doesn't have any words about the game and doesn't have any user comments... Just a star rating and a picture from the game.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/10312515/GTA-5-review.html

GAMER PROFILE

The Age bracket is 18+, how ever allot of people play it from a younger age of around 13 and over.  The Pegi Website says "The content of this game is suitable for persons aged 18 years and over only. It contains: Extreme violence - Multiple, motiveless killing - Violence towards defenceless people - Strong language". The Main gender for the game is Male. Females are known to play it, But mainly male The Average ratio is 80:20 which is understandable, Men usually play more violent and action games because thats just what men commonly go for. Its scenes in the game like this that probably make it abit less appealing to women where Trevor (Main character) interrogates and tortures a man using car jump cables. 

SOCIO ECONOMIC SCALE

On the scale,  the GTA V gamer would sit between the labourers/working class and the unemployed for the people who play it, as these groups will consist more of younger people. However, the people who buy these young people the game would be situated in the higher rankings of the scale i.e. parents with a high level of skill within their occupation receiving a wealthy income, therefore are able to buy their children these games.

GTA is a mainstream game. its very typical, driving and shooting kind of game, its just the way its presented that makes it get the reaction it does, Mainstreamers like this because they hear on reviews that its 10/10 and quoted as "Awesome" and they like that, therefore they just go with it. Also you could argue that its for Succeeders aswel, Seek control and strong opinions, GTA has allot of opinions aimed at it and a big majority of them are amazing. Thats why succeeders also appeal towards the game. Overall the game is Mainstream, its a widely popular played game owned by most teens. In honest there arent many games like GTA, of course there's driving and shooting games but theres things in GTA that make it Unique, like free roaming and all the different options you have throughout the game. The Game is quite open to everyone, its on Xbox, Playstation and its even available on PC. If Grand Theft Auto V were a theatrically-released movie instead of a video game, enough people would have bought tickets to earn only $227.4 million at the global box office. GTA V was released back in September, which was actually four months later than the original date given by the developers. However, that didn’t affect the sales of the game. Just within 24 hours of the release of the title, Take Two Interactive announced that the game managed to raise over $800 million.

FOCUS GROUP

Questions we asked: 

1. Do you Think the game targets your age range?
2. How does the game keep your interested when you're playing
3. Do you feel the game is effecting your academic mindset
4. How long do you spend playing this game a day?

Our Focus group tells us a fair bit about the average 'gamer' this lad tells us he plays around 3 hours a day, he enjoys the storyline and the game structure. He also says the game doesn't affect his academic lifestyle. He is asked does the game target his age range, he says "No because im below the pegi rating". This says allot, it shows that people dont really care for the ratings.
The Group on a whole didnt think the game targeted the age rating, mainly because Matt Benn from the focus group said "theres probably more younger kids that play it than people actually over 18" which is probably true, everyone has gta. its just one of those games you have to own and most people that own it are my age (17). The question about keeping the players interested was answered in a variety of ways, two people said its fine doing the Side missions and additional tasks but the other 3 people said they dont tend to play the game by the rules and do the free roam feature and customise cars and kill people just for fun, slightly dark but... its a fair point. 3 players didnt feel that the game was affecting them academically. They say they dont play it enough for it to become an issue, however one player thought he could be achieving more by not playing the game. When asked how long the game spends on the game he said usually from when he gets home from college to late at night, if thats the case wheres the time for academic things? the other 3 who dont feel theyre affected said they onloy spend 1-3 hours a night at a push. Focus Groups overall are extremely helpful to the industry because  they are a range of people and it gathers a general opinion based on different people with different interests. 

The typical gamer in my mind is someone who plays regularly and plays a variety of games, the person in our interview would be classed as a gamer but maybe not an intense gamer. he plays a few games for a few hours per night, He has a keen interest in the game we questioned him about and doesn't feel its affecting his studies etc. - http://www.gaminglives.com/2011/03/01/the-changing-face-of-the-typical-gamer. 

I personally believe Qualitative data is better, because its word of mouth by someone physically playing the game. Quantitative data off big mainstream websites could be influenced maybe by money... or just the respect of big companies. Maybe a bit biased towards bigger games? where as qualitative is just speech and word of mouth from people so it cant really be biased and you get a word for word review of a product, id personally rather go off qualitative data than quantitative.