Task 1 Minecraft & Technological change? Record notes on how Minecraft has developed
over recent years
• Through the
impact of microsoft
• By the
development of Microsoft Realms & online subscription payments
Task 2. Record notes on Minecraft related to ownership
• Recognize
the way Minecraft developed as a grassroots movement in Mojang
• Recognize
how “Microsoft Studios” have diversified the brand and product offerings
• Question. Discuss whether you believe “independent”
game developers and prosumers need to surrender their creative license to
conglomerate interests (Microsoft) to maximise profits.
Task 3.
Minecraft- The significance of
economic factors
• Recognize
why Minecraft’s production costs under Mojang were substantially lower compared
to Mainstream games producers.
• Recognize
how Minecraft is linked to Not for profit organisations
Task 4. Minecraft: –
Maintaining audiences
Record notes on the methods used by Minecraft to
maintain/increase market share through
Youtube tutorials
Youtube celebrity parodies
Celebrity parodies of Minecraft
Through intertextual references (Matt Groening “The
Simpson’s)
Through product synergies - Lego
Discuss in what way is the message of Mincrat expanded
globally through celebrity fandom/
Discuss how this method of promotion is likely to be lower
in cost compared to large scale advertising campaigns e.g. research the
advertising/marketing cost for Call of Duty World war 2.
Task 5: regulatory framework
Recognize the regulatory frame work for video games
classification
• What is PEGI
• Why is the
PEGI rating for Minecraft products different
• How doe
Minecraft seek to regulate their product.
The impact of Microsoft
•When
the Xbox and PlayStation versions were created there was often a chance to
offer digital versions of the same game across the Windows 10 operating system
to promote the Microsoft brand across home computers, a form of synergy.
•Users
were
often encouraged to download the game through the cloud servers rather than a
physical copy of the game which would incur more of a cost for the institution.
•physical
copies
of Minecraft were
often
released six months after the downloadable version, most likely as a way to
limit the impact of piracy, hacking and file sharing.
The
introduction of Minecraft
Realms (2013) has tried to give the producers more control over the
distribution and circulation of the game since some pro-am consumers were
creating their own virtual spaces and hacks across illegitimate servers, such
as https://www.wizardhax.com/
play/ as one example.
• what
is your view on the role of game producers protecting themselves and its customers from hacking.
they have reason to and its okay but its annoying tho
•What
is view on accessing games through piracy.
the creators still get money ultimately and they aren't losing a lot just because maybe 1% of the consumers only have it illegally.
Mojang Studios,
Was
founded in 2009
by Markus “Notch” Persson who
developed Minecraft.
Following
the release of the game in 2011 it has sold 121 million copies worldwide.
It
is a grassroots program meanning the
program developed through input from its users.
Microsoft
Studios bought out Mojang and
the intellectual property rights of Minecraft in
2014
for 2.5 $Bn.
Mojang
Studios is their only first-party studio in Europe.
Microsoft
work with third party development studios
•Their
decision to invest US$2.5 billion to purchase Mojang was taken as Minecraft
enjoyed global success and a loyal fan base.
•This meant that they would receive long term revenue (profits).
•Other collaborations with games developers includes Telltale Games who helped develop the Minecraft: Story Mode in 2015.
•Playstation versions were developed by 4J Studios.
•This meant that they would receive long term revenue (profits).
•Other collaborations with games developers includes Telltale Games who helped develop the Minecraft: Story Mode in 2015.
•Playstation versions were developed by 4J Studios.
Changes
in Ownership and control.
The
vision of the founder Markus Persson to use Mincraft as a grassroots (bottom up) collective
for the development of the brand appears to be lost.
Following
his transfer of intellectual property rights to Microsoft. There is evidence to
suggest that Persson did
not wish to develop a virtual reality version of the game with Oculus.
Under
Microsoft's ownership plans
to work on a virtual reality version of Minecraft were renewed.
Question. Discuss whether you believe “independent”
game developers
and prosumers need
to surrender their
creative license to conglomerate interests (Microsoft) to maximise
profits.
They dont need to surrender their creative license. Markus chose to sell it off because he wanted to, "It's not about the money. It's about my sanity." (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/minecraft-creator-markus-notch-persson-sold-out-to-microsoft-for-the-sake-of-his-sanity-9739320.html)
COD WWII
-shouting, swearing
-violence (bombs, guns, fighting, war, fire)
-explosions, loud noises
-flashing lights
-air raids
-blood/gore
-17+ years
marketing
-used famous people, Kit Harrington, Kevin spacey
-"Disembodied, badly equalized and with no musical cues
or ambient sound around it, the nonetheless recognizable voice of Kevin Spacey
in sneering antihero mode fuzzes over the computer speakers. "You think
that you can just march into these countries based on some fundamentalist
religious principles, drop a few bombs, topple a dictator and start a
democracy?" he asks. "Ha! Gimme a break." A strange humming
noise follows. That audio clip, with no context, surfaced in May. A new
episode of House of Cards, perhaps? An Aaron Sorkin project? It took the
Internet a few hours to figure it out. When you ran the clip through a
spectrogram(!), the waveform made by the hum at the end resolved into a picture
of a soldier carrying a gun into battle in a pose instantly familiar to players
of Activision's decade-plus-old video game franchise, Call of Duty. Which is to
say, everybody."
-will be launching on PS4, Xbox One and PC
-launched near christmas (christmas presents from family)
-$50-100million was spent marketing the game
-teasers months before release
-big launch trailer
-pre-order to get beta version
Minecraft was a indie game and COD is a conglomerate companies game, so they had different marketing strategies. Notch spread it around then more people spread it around through youtube videos mainly, COD used its money to create adverts and trailers for its games.
LEGO and minecraft
Lego and minecraft teamed up because they have the same kind of age ranges. They can merge the audiences and take all their money, the retired product set 21118 (the mine) is sold at the highest £289.99 on amazon.\
Lady gaga
Gaga also utilized the 3D game Minecraft in a sequence and enlisted Minecraft Youtuber SkyDoesMineCraft in a sequence which depicts the singer reviving famous men who have been dead. The artist had been a fan of the game since Martyn Littlewood of The Yogscastused it to create a parody of her 2011 single, "Born This Way", which she appreciated. Minecraft and Lego were also used to create little items like fruits and chairs in the video.
Ratings PEGI
It is
regarded as being family friendly and the initial Minecraft
series was rated a PEGI 7 but the later series is higher
Minecraft Xbox One Edition
Microsoft studios
The content of this game is suitable for persons aged 7
years and over only.
It contains: Non realistic looking violence towards fantasy
characters - - Pictures or sounds likely to be scary to young children - Non
realistic looking violence towards characters which although human are not very
detailed
System: Xbox One
Genre: Puzzle
Releasedate: 2017-09-20
Question: why should Tetris be rated a 3 whilst in the case
of Minecraft a similar game visually it has a 12?
the only similarities between these games are that there are
blocks on the screen. in tetris you make lines of blocks to score points, in
minecraft you buld, fight and destroy.
Minecraft Realms are hosted on specialised servers by
Mojang.
The terms and conditions require users to comply to the
following regulations:, it must:
•not be offensive to people;
•not be illegal or unlawful;
•be honest and not mislead, trick or exploit anyone else nor
impersonate others;
•not infringe anyone's copyright or other rights;
•not be racist, sexist or homophobic;
•not be bullying or abusive;
•not damage our or another person's reputation;
•not include pornography;
•not include advertising.
if minecraft didnt regulate this it wouldnt be allowed and
it could damage or completely destroy the brand.
The impact of digitally convergent media platforms on media
production, distribution and circulation, including individual producers.
•Minecraft was developed using Java code which meant that it
could be used on a variety of devices form iOS to PC’s and android phones.
•The use of Java has meant that there are several rival and
clones to the game Minecraft. http://castleminer.com/ is just one example
of a game with remarkable similarities and there is much
scope for debate about how you go about copyrighting ideas if everyone is using
open source software.
•when Microsoft purchased Mojang there was a surge in clone
titles for rival consoles, such as Nintendo (who did not officially receive
versions of Minecraft at the time) including Battleminer
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