AUDIENCE

• Audiences/Social and Participatory Media (AUDIENCE)

  Audiences/Social and Participatory MediaFan blogging maintains interactive elements outside of the gaming environment using Gauntlett and web 2.0 (much talked about at the time by academics)​Collaboration and sharing of media now crucial to the life of the game - fans use the basis of SIMS to create their own fan fiction e.g. editing live gameplay recordings
• Target Audience

  Primary demographic: 12-25, female skew but with a significant number of young male game players​Mass, mainstream target audience - life simulation a 'safe genre' reinforced by the popularity of Reality TV​Secondary target audience young adults who extend game playing onto convergent social and participatory platforms​C1, C2, D working class and aspirational middle class​
• Audience Appeals

  Replicates aspects of humanity and the human world - classic voyeurism ​Risk taking without risk​Aspirational performance that may never be replicated in real life - personal identity​A diversion/escapism from reality - app games allow for distraction and 'dipping in and dipping out'​The absolute participatory aspect - social interaction ​
• Audience Positioning and Postmodernism

  SIMS is about immediacy - the death of traditional narratives​

  Style over substance - see obsessive consumerism encoded into gameplay (bathroom decoration next slide)​

  The boundaries are blurred between reality and representation - hyper reality​ 'Zalfie' playing SIMS is all about copies of copies - playing themselves in a virtual game environment​

  Baudrillard suggested that in postmodern culture reality and simulation are blurred - we are copies of copies​
• Main target audience

  18-40
• How do audiences receive enjoyment from playing Sims FP

  Audiences may enjoy the feeling of 'playing God' and being in control or creating their desired life that they cant have (escapism)
• How can catharsis be found in playing sims?

  -They are able to experience situations that are exciting via the game (e.g. committing crimes, killing a sim)

  -Audiences are able to vent their own frustrations/feelings in a safe way