MINECRAFT AUDIENCE 31012019 WHY DO THE MINECRAFT AUDIENCE

MINECRAFT AUDIENCE 31/01/2019

WHY DO THE MINECRAFT AUDIENCE ENJOY PLAYING THE GAME? WHAT IS THE APPEAL? Affordable Endless creativity Flexible Free trial Escapism Unique Global and commercial

MINE-CON Minecon events have been held yearly as a way for fans to come together to celebrate all things Minecraft. Unlike most conventions, Minecon has never been about making money. It’s a celebration of Minecraft, and a way for both fans and its creators to say thank you. $160 per ticket entry

PROLIFERATION OF TECHNOLOGY Proliferation: rapid increase in the number or amount of something. Positives- • Improvement in quality • More interaction • More enjoyable Negatives- • Expensive (price goes up) • Older models are slower • Updates only available on new consoles • Pressure for the audiences to spend more • Piracy is easier The release of the Play. Station Vita version of Minecraft boosted sales of Minecraft by 79% outselling PS 3 and PS 4 release making it the largest launch on a Play. Station console.

FAN MADE MEDIA q A fan film is a film or video inspired by a media source, created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. q. Fans are now enjoying making You. Tube videos to show others what they have created and help to give tips for success. q. Forums q. Stories e. g. fanfiction

THE YOGSCAST AND MINECRAFT MARKET PLACE In 2010, Simon and Lewis showed You. Tube viewers across the globe how to survive a night in Minecraft. This went on to form the basis of one of the most popular serialised shows on You. Tube, The Shadow of Israphel. First UK You. Tube channel to receive over a billion views in 2012 Helps to encourage people to play Minecraft more as they can understand link with other players in the game. The Yogcast is a media production company and video game publisher who produce gaming related products

THE MARKET PLACE – EST 2017 The establishment of Minecraft Marketplace is a great example of how the industry are listening to their audiences (fans) and allowing the trade of different maps, textures and ‘add ons’ in a legitimate setting. The nature of the game has also allowed audiences to learn new skills such as programming. There are several accounts on You. Tube and across blogs who have their own dedicated channels discussing Minecraft, offering tutorials or who just want to show off their game play or promote their own maps.

THE FEMALE AUDIENCE However, compared with the average gamer, there is a slightly higher proportion of female gamers in Minecraft. • In terms of motivation, Minecraft users score high on Discovery (experimenting and exploring) and Community (interaction and teams), and low on Excitement (fast-paced and intense) and Story (scripted narrative and characters).

Explain the impact of digitally convergent media platforms on video game production, distribution and consumption. Refer to Minecraft to support your answer. Digitally convergent media is where you can access a number of features on one device for example video game consoles can be found on computer and TV. Production refers to all the phases of designing and making the product The distribution has changed dramatically because now players can download the game and log on to Minecraft on any device.

Explain how media producers in the video game industry attract and potentially construct audiences. Refer to Minecraft to support your answer. 15 marks • Media producers- Microsoft, Mojang(indie) • Education • Virtual Reality • Modes of play • Yogscast • Minecon • Modding- editing the game to the fans wants • No limits

EXPLAIN HOW MEDIA PRODUCERS IN THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY ATTRACT AND POTENTIALLY CONSTRUCT In AUDIENCES. 2011 Minecraft was introduced to the gaming world by Mojang as a independent Sandbox game. Although, as the audience got bigger, the creator Persson sold Mojang to Microsoft in 2014. The change in media producers had a positive impact on the game and it soon became one of the most popular games globally. A feature that was most attractive to the audience was the idea of ‘modding’ which enables the fans to create their own custom levels, objects and even unique characters. Modding encourages the players to continue playing as they can make different aspects of the game to keep in new and exciting rather than getting bored and moving onto a new game. By creating a connection with the audience it also means that they get involved with live events such as Minecon where fans are able to come together to see other players at a large event to discuss the game and dress up as characters. This was extended further to reach an even wider audience with an interactive show that utilised Youtubers to discuss game play and allowed audiences to see humorous and creative options for the game created by the players themselves. This show included Youtubers such as members of the Yogscast, whose use of humour in game play and even live-action Minecraft may appeal to new online audiences as well as preserve the interest of existing ones with new ideas and exhibiting the game in potentially new and unique ways. When Microsoft took over Minecraft, they introduced two new features; education and virtual reality. The education mode began to be used in schools (especially in America) which then began to provide a wider scope into different markets.