The Sims FreePlay - Language & Audience blog tasks

The Sims FreePlay - Language & Audience blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay case study part 2 - Industries' and complete the following tasks.

Regulation – PEGI

Research the following using the PEGI website.

1) What is the VSC and how does it link to UK law?
-->They are a rating board that is an administrator of the PEGI rating system. In 2012 it as incorporated into the UK and the VSC was the body responsible for age rating of video games using the PEGI system.

2) Note down the key statistics on the homepage.
-->VSC: working in the video industry since 1989.

Games Rated: 12,000+

Apps Rated: 8000+

Years in Operation: 30+

Number of Member Outlets: 1987

3) What is the purpose of PEGI?
-->It is the UK gaming regulator. Answers gaming questions, offers advice and info on how to play games (off and online) safely and responsibly. It is unbiased and independent.

4) Click on the PEGI Rating tab in the top menu. What are the age ratings and what do they include?
-->PEGI 3: Shouldn't require a content warning, considered suitable for all age groups. Some violence in a comical context or child friendly setting is acceptable, as is nudity when shown in a completely natural and non-sexual manner such as breast feeding.

PEGI 7: Some frightening scenes or sounds. Little more violence that is always unrealistic and often directed towards fantasy characters, also very mild non-realistic violence to humans, implied violence - e.g. bombing of a city where violence is not seen directly.

PEGI 12: More graphic and realistic looking violence towards fantasy characters, any violence to human characters must look unrealistic unless its minor or a trivial injury - a slap. Sexual innuendo and posturing ofte n seen in music videos is allowed. Some bad language - but only mild swearing, teaches or encourages gambling, can feature horror content e.g. strong threat and dread or graphic injury details.

PEGI: 'Parental Guidance Recommended' rating for some non-game apps - user generated content e.g. Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

PEGI 16: More mature and realistic violence towards human characters, can deal heavily with injury or death to humans. Sexual activity can be shown, but no explicit body arts, depictions of erotic nudity can be featured. Strong language and sexual expletives, tobacco and alcohol encourages, use of illegal drugs, could glamorise crime.

5) Scroll down to look at the ‘How games are examined’ infographic. What is the PEGI process for rating a game?
-->Content Declaration Assessment: Game developer declares in detail what the game contains - elements like violence, bad language, sex and drug use. Developer then provided with a provisional rating which can be used for advertising.

Submission Materials: developer should provide evidence for their assessment, includes game footage and copy of game. 

Video Footage Examination: Video footage is assessed and analsyed to see if anything was missed or misinterpreted from the questionnaire, before examining the game itself.

The ‘Freemium’ gaming model

Read this Lifewire feature on freemium gaming and answer the following questions:

1) How does the freemium model work?
-->Free-to-play app is a free download that uses in-app purchases. Normal as-supported apps that offers an in-app purchase to disable the ads.

2) Why do some gamers believe freemium is ruining games?
-->It feels like games are just trying to leech players off of many with any opportunity. Could implement the worst side of it. Player base can change - makes harder to pay peope for the initial price of the download so some developers push the pree-to-play model.

3) What are the positives of the freemium model for gaming?
-->Emphasis on longevity, a popular game already has a fan base and it is much easier to keep them within the same game than to convince them to move to the sequal. Leads to more content through in-app purchases and free updates to keep the game fresh for those playing. Directly opposite of gaming 15 years ago where there would be a couple to patches but an bugs after them were left.

Read this New York Times feature on freemium gaming and answer the following questions:

1) Why did Temple Run use the freemium model?

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2) The bigger gaming studios like Electronic Arts used to avoid the freemium model. Why are they now embracing it?

-->They are embracing it now because it had a reputation of being low quality or full of annoying ads. They use it now because it leads to bigger profit for the game makers.

3) Why does Peter Farago suggest independent game makers benefit more from the freemium model than the major publishers like EA?

-->Mr. Farago said, independent game makers should benefit more from freemium than major publishers like Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Microsoft. He said that the big companies had always relied on charging for games and that it would be difficult for them to change their makeup.

Electronic Arts

Read this Pocket Gamer interview with EA’s Amanda Schofield, Senior Producer on The Sims FreePlay at EA's Melbourne-based Firemonkeys studio. Answer the following questions:

1) How has The Sims Free Play evolved since launch?
--> It’s this rich world which covers every aspect of the Sims’ lives. Pets range from puppies and kittens to dragons and fairies and the world is full of interesting places for Sims to go, mountains of fashion and near infinite ways to design and decorate homes.

2) Why does Amanda Schoolchild suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?
-->She suggests that instead they are 'services'; functions like customer support and community management are a critical part of the game development process and must be embedded with our game teams so we not only know what our players are saying about the newest update, but we also can quickly respond to any problems that arise.

3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?

-->She exclaims: ''our community is very active and always hungry to see more features and content in the game. We’ve not had to do much more than listen and build to keep the players engaged. When we find systems that are particularly exciting to our players, we focus our efforts to build that section out a little more."

4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?

-->"There are so many more ways that each of our players have unique needs and requests when it comes to playing The Sims FreePlay, so it’s super important that we’re always finding ways to reach all of these individuals by varying the content and features we focus on."

5) How many times has the game been installed and how much game time in years have players spent playing the game? These could be great introductory statistics in an exam essay on this topic.

-->well over 200 million installs of The Sims FreePlay to date; 78,000=amount of game time in years players have spent in the game

Finally, read this blog on how EA is ruining the franchise (or not) due to its downloadable content. Answer the following questions:

1) What audience pleasures for The Sims are discussed at the beginning of the blog?

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2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?

-->new clothing or furniture options

3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?
--> developers came under fire for locking several iconic characters and powerful multiplayer abilities behind DLC in “Star Wars Battlefront II.”

4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?

-->The game constantly reinvents and designs itself around the changing desires pf the players and the targeted audiences.