Task 4- Audience Research- Michael Cartledge and Harrison Marlow

Questionnaire Template

Analysis of Results

1. Are there any game trailers that you have found particularly memorable, if so which?

This question found that some of the main memorable trailers were quite dramatic heavy action trailers often leaving normally one of the protagonists in some sort of danger or peril such as ‘Uncharted 2 – Among Thieves’ where we see the protagonist ‘Nathan Drake’ waking from being unconscious in a train wreck with him losing a lot of blood from a wound to his stomach. Game companies use this as a drip feed effect for the audience and the fans of the series, leaving the fans wondering what happened to their favourite characters.  

2. Which gender would you expect the protagonist of a video game to be?

All of the results were for a male lead, this suggests to me that a large proportion of the gaming community prefer a male protagonist, this could be because when they play the game they feel like they are the guy who they're playing as.

3. What do you understand about the 'Action Role Playing Game' genre and it's conventions?

Out of all of the participants in the observation 8/10 knew what sort of game an RPG is and what they believed was important about an RPG is exploration and adult themes and violence with the most important element a leveling system, this is so the better a player gets and the more hours they put into the game the better and stronger their character gets, a great example of an RPG would be ‘Fallout New Vegas’. They also pointed out that more of the better RPG’s are set in apocalyptic world where you have to really push yourself to carry on and not die, they said that an important part of an RPG would be that it has to be difficult but fun.

4. What themes would you expect to find in an action game rated 18?

Everyone said they would expect there to be heavy violence, with a dark narrative and even immature, rude or vulgar jokes (GTA/ Saints Row). But most people want a heavy dark storyline making sure that the character is relatable and makes the player question what they might do if they were plummeted into a much darker world than they currently know.

5. What genre of game do you enjoy playing?

The participants had a multiple choice here, they could all choose as many as applicable to their personal preference, all 10 participants ticked Action Adventure letting us know that clearly that they all love action games where they are the hero, this could be because it opens up a world that would be improbable in real life and would be impossible to reach, the next choice with the top marks was Racing which means I at least need drivability in the game, like 'GTA' style open world where the player can race around in a car at stupid speeds doing stupid things, RPG was the next highest choice clearly showing that they like the ideas of exploration, from the choices given it is transparent that all of the applicants want a good free-roam RPG with driving, possible random encounters and challenges.

 6. Do you prefer a game to be Linear or Sandbox?

A majority of the people said they preferred a Sandbox game rather than a Linear purely because of the exploration, but some participants preferred Linear for the story, so it would be a good choice to take elements from both and incorporate both elements into one game.

7. What percentage of action to story do you prefer in a game? 

In total after some scientific calculations it turns out that 41% should be action and the other 59% should be story driven which personally I agree with, this means the game could have a great story and enough action to keep you into the game and feeling like a bad-ass in certain points also really connecting you to the characters in the game and making you care for them. 

8. What kind of protagonist are you drawn to?

The most checks went to a relatable everyday guy, that’s been forced into a world that he usually wouldn't know, a world that he doesn't understand but her still goes through it because he feels responsible for some reason or he’s doing it for some sort of cause (Lee Everett – The Walking Dead). The next top choice was for a cocky character, the ‘Nathan Drake’ of sorts, he knows the severity of the situation but he still makes jokes in order the intimidate his opponent or even just lighten the atmosphere for the company he travels with. The last most important element to a protagonist is that they are Heroic, if the player is given a choice between right and wrong they would feel obliged to go for the good because they want to feel like that character and feel accepted by the NPC’s in the game.   

9.What age do you like a protagonist of a game to be?  

The main choice of age of video game characters are middle aged, I suppose this is because it shows that they have lived a lot and have a lot of experience and even wisdom under their belt, and this is also an expected age of a Hollywood action hero to be. The next choice would be young adult where the character would likely have to learn the skills to become a stereotypical hero.

10. What is your favorite game of all time, and why?

The main genre of games chosen for favorite games were action adventure games such as ‘Uncharted – Drakes Fortune’ or the action RPG ‘Skyrim’ these two games alone sum up the answers as they both have the key elements that we are looking to put into a video game the action elements with the great story in both and the cockiness put forward by Nathan Drake with characters we get connected to in the same game Sully and Elena. And ‘Skyrim’ one of the largest games I’ve played with a crazy large map and the leveling up system where we slowly progress as a character and get stronger and stronger, and learning new skills to help you play through and finish the game. This is the proof of what sort of things we would have to put in out game, we’d have to make it open world with random encounters and optional quest lines or missions, with some hard choices to make which could in fact change the outcome of the game with characters that people need to make a connection with and even worry about or be upset if something happens to them.