Media Blog 1 - Mr Bush

1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies? It reinforces typical American Teenage stereotypes not, but only showing basic and unintersting stereotypes such as young white teen boys joining rock bands and girls doing ballet. 2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay? Stereotypes surrounding capitalism and the idea of making a lot of money to become rich and successful. Also reinforces the stereotypes surround white sub urban families with the fashion and how they're dressed as well as the blonde labrador and silver sedan. 3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay? 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? Realistic enough to make it believable without having to over step boundaries. 2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic rep...

Background: mobile gaming The videogames industry has changed massively since the emergence of the smart phone and app store distribution model. Mobile gaming has changed the audience demographics for gaming and brought the industry into the mainstream. The app store model means tech giants such as Apple and Google are making significant sums from mobile gaming but mobile hits can still earn developers millions. Angry Birds made developer Rovio $200m in 2012 and broke 2 billion downloads in 2014. The Sims FreePlay is a spin-off from the hugely successful Sims franchise first published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 2000.  The game is a strategic life simulation game (also known as the sandbox genre). The Sims FreePlay takes the game on to phones and tablets and uses the ‘freemium’ model that makes money via in-app purchases. The game has seen 200 million downloads since 2011 – remarkable success. The Sims FreePlay: Audience The Sims franchise has demo...

Regulation – PEGI Research the following  using the PEGI website . 1) What is the VSC and how does it link to UK law? It monitors the contents of particular medias within the UK to make sure they're able to be sold to the appropriate ages. 2) Note down the key statistics on the homepage. 12,000+ Games Rated, 8000+ Apps rated, 1987 Number of Member Outlets, 30 Years in Operation. 3) What is the purpose of PEGI? Provide information about a game about the contents of a game. 4) Click on the PEGI Rating tab in the top menu. What are the age ratings and what do they include? Ages 3, 7, 12, 16 And 18. The higher the age the more adult content, such as violence, swearing, drug abuse, sexual content. 5) Scroll down to look at the ‘How games are examined’ infographic. What is the PEGI process for rating a game? Initially a game producer rates the game themselves. Anything from violence to strong language to sexual content must be monitored before applying ...