Presentation

 

Focus Group

Focus group of 4 students, 3 male 1 female aged 17-18

Q1: What console do you use and how often?

Xbox = 4 Wii = 3 PS3= 1 all members of group play at least 1-3 times a week if not daily.

Discussing the Xbox

Q2: What features within Xbox do you us?

Facebook, market place (for demos and DVD’s), radio and music player. Used to use MSN.

Q3: What features do you think could be improved?

Facebook is too simple, if it included features such as Facebook chat, they may use it more. Also Sky is too complicated and expensive. They don’t know enough about it to want to use it.

Q4: What features would you add?

They would add Tumblr, Facebook chat, an Xbox blog to discuss game tactics and any problems they may occur and need help with, Skype and be able to take photos of yourself to have as your avatar. 

Q5: What other media forms do you have on whist playing?

Music on laptop so you don’t have to go through anything on your Xbox to change song, you can do it without disturbing your game. Internet to look up cheats, hints and tips, and sometimes on their mobile phone but find it hard to multitask.

Q6: Do you feel the added features have changed how you use the original forms?

Not changed.

One on one interview

I completed two interviews, asking both gamers the same set of questions to try and see what they think to the added features on consoles.

Interviewee 1: 21, male, administration clerk

Interviewee 2: 17, male, student

Q1. What game console(s) do you use and how often?

I use Xbox and play basically everyday.

I use Xbox and Wii, mostly Xbox though, most days of the week. I rarely use the Wii so I’ll just talk about Xbox during this.

Q2: What features of the console do you use and how often?

When the features first came out I went on them to see what they were but I don’t anymore. Zune is too slow, it gets frustrating and the movies you can rent are mostly in HD which is pointless if you don’t have an HD TV, also downloading the HD movies is slow and irritating so I don’t use it. As for Facebook and Twitter, I don’t use Twitter anyway but the Facebook is like a limited version of it so you can’t access everything or upload photos or anything so I don’t see the point in using it when the original one on the computer is so much easier. So basically I don’t use any.

I use the online gaming depending on if I payed for the subscription. Or the market place a few times a year maybe, the music player and radio quite often and I used the Sky TV once but I didn’t like it.

Q3: What features do you think could be improved and why?

I don’t want any improved. In fact my improvement would be to remove them. A console is for gaming, not for social networking or downloading a film.

I’d remove the Facebook and Twitter applications as I think they’re pointless and unnecessary. I like the market place as I think its good to find out about new games, however I’d remove the advertising. Sky TV was difficult to navigate and slow loading, I got a free trial of it but I wouldn’t pay for it as its so expensive.              

Q4: What features do you think could be added to improve the console?

Like I said, I’d remove the features altogether.

I don’t think I’d add anything really. I think an Xbox is for playing the games, I don’t see the necessity of anything added on unless its gaming related.

Q5: What other media forms do you use whilst using the game console?

I might have my computer on so I can look up hints and tips for games, find out achievements, that kind of thing, although I now use my Ipod for that but it’s the same kind of thing. I might have music on, although on some games it’s already available, like it links to your music player or songs it thinks you’ll like or to your favorite radio station and plays that. Although on some games it’s really annoying to have music on as well, it distracts away from it so I just turn it off.

Occasionally music from my laptop or the internet for cheats on games.

Q6: What are your favorite games to play by yourself? With a friend? Online?

By myself I play role play games like fable or oblivion. With friends I prefer action and sport like PES, Forza and Gears of War. Online, Halo, Call of Duty, Bad Company, more action games.

Role play games when I’m by myself as it gives me a sense of accomplishment, like Mass Effect. Other than that I like first person shooters such as Gears of War, Call of Duty and Halo. With friends I like Guitar Hero and Gears of War and Halo. As for online, I think it depends on how big the game is, I like massive games where you can play against loads of people at a time.

Q7: How often do you play online against others?

Rarely. If I have friends over and we get bored of playing each other then we might play online against other people, but I find people online annoying. They slag everyone off, betray you, if you don’t react quickly enough they kick you out the game and at the same time they yell abuse down the headset, being unnecessarily aggressive and annoying. Having said that, if you chose carefully what to play online you can actually have some decent games. Like Battle Stations Pacific. It’s a niche game so you don’t get as many of the idiots. Plus it’s complicated and hard so people want to play a proper game, it’s not one that you can pick up for a quick 5 minute game.

If I have the Xbox live subscription then I play online all the time, however it’s expensive so I cant always afford it.

Q8: Do you feel that the added features on the console have changed how you use the original format?

As I don’t use the features on the Xbox, it’s not changed at all. If the original formats weren’t around or were difficult to access then I’d most likely use the Xbox. I hate the MSN feature, I forgot to say that before. The conversations keep popping up in the middle of a game and it’s just irritating. I play Xbox to remove myself from the outside world, I don’t want to be easily contactable. The sky TV would be useful if I had sky already, however it’s so expensive if you get it just for the Xbox so I don’t use it. I can only think that the sky would be the only thing that changed anything though. Also, all these features are on Xbox Live which is assuming you have an internet connection. So if you don’t, you won’t be able to use them anyway.

Maybe made me use the radio less? I don’t think I actually used the radio that much before anyway but its convenient that its on the Xbox so I guess I use that less.

Primary Research

(Observing two males aged 21-22, both regular games)
Both players became easily absorbed into the first game (Halo Reach), with players leaning in towards the screen, the game has all their focus. Playing against each other created a minimal amount of banter and all conversation is about the game, if talking they were speaking strategically. The comments made about game play are very sarcastic, especially towards each other when something works to either players favor. Sentences about anything unrelated to the game are very rare, mostly just swearing or insulting the other player and being offensive. Players also seemed so absorbed in the game that they rarely finished a full sentence and they seemed to forget what they were trying to say. Gamers had no other media form on at the same time, so they're minds were completely focused on the game being played. Having said that, player 2 regularly sang to himself singing songs related to the killing he was doing in the game at the time. However as his focus was elsewhere, he often forgot words and resulted to humming or creating new lyrics about the game. The strong focus on the game began to fade after 20minutes when players started to become bored, they then turned to finding the funniest way to kill each other. The conversation then turned humorous and constant with regular jokes and laughing.

This is similar to when the players began a racing game (Forza 3). They began by choosing cars seriously and racing to their best ability. However after around 15minutes, game play turned into having fun, crashing into each other purposefully, as well as racing the wrong way around the track and finding the worst cars possible. A lot more conversation is had when racing and it is always light hearted and jokey, compared to the abusive and insulting conversations during Halo.

When playing sport games such as Fifa 2011, both players are aggressive and easily irritated by the game. There is no real skill to the game and decisions made by the game itself (such as when a free kick should be given) are sometimes false which only aggravates players more. The anger is now directed to the game instead of each other and both players are being sarcastic towards each other as well as the game. Player 2 is speaking a lot more, however comments are half complete and not entirely relevant, he repeatedly yelled ‘Cillit Bang’ at one point.

In all games played, the player in the lead was cocky and sarcastic, whereas the player losing constantly swears and gets angry. This is mainly player 1 in the lead, however when player 2 does better he instantly becomes cocky and player 1 becomes angry. I think this shows how gaming brings out the competitive side of people. It also appeared that the more experienced player, who won the majority of the time, is able to laugh and joke when he is winning, however when he gets killed or is losing, makes an excuse as to why and becomes very easily agitated and swears. Less experienced players also get easily agitated however not as easily, and they seem to get a lot more enjoyment out of doing something well on the game.

Both players get very agitated after not smoking for a length of time. This is more obvious around the games they found more aggravating such as the football. However when playing Halo, which held their attention for longer, the need for a cigarette was less apparent. I think this is a prime example of how games can absorb you and completely influence your mood and feelings.

When playing individually, on role playing games, the player is very focused and drawn into the game. He is somewhat oblivious as to what is happening around him. I have to repeat his name a number of times before he listens to me. The gamer has a lot of patience for this genre of game, able to play on it for hours at a time without becoming tired or bored of it. This is such a contrast to when the player is gaming online against strangers. He easily gets fed up and uninterested in the game, becoming frustrated at the other players.

Despite the heavy use of the console, the gamer has not once used the Facebook or Twitter functions. He briefly scrolls through the market place but doesn’t give it his full attention, he seems to be looking through it just for something to do, not with any intent to use it properly. He rarely uses the radio or music player function, when asked about it, he said it distracted away from game play. Also the radio function became annoying as he doesn’t particularly like the radio anyway. Overall he uses the Xbox for gaming not for the ‘add on’s’.

From observing this gamer, even though the extra features on the consoles are constantly being improved, I don’t believe it will lead to an increase of gaming. The gamer doesn’t use the features and seems to dislike the fact they are there. Although this is only observing a select gamer, I believe that many others will feel this way. I think that as long as the original formats are available, people will favor those over those available on the console.

By observing these gamers, I realize just how controlling games can become, I watched as both players became easily absorbed into games which resulted in them barely speaking for an amount of time. Although the term ‘social depravation’ seems quite severe, I believe that gamers could become so infatuated with the console and gaming that they would loose social skills, such as the aggressive language, limited speech and quick mood changes.