Analysing Video Games

Games make meaning too

A video game is a media text, and it can be analysed just as carefully as a film. Games have a genre with its own conventions, they tell stories, they represent people and places, and they are aimed at particular audiences. What makes a game different is interactivity: the player is not just watching but acting, making choices that can shape what happens. To analyse a game you notice these features, explain how they work, and say what effect they have on the player. This module covers genre, interactivity, narrative, representation and audience, and how to write about a game as a media text.

Video game words

Learn these terms before analysing a game. They name the features a media analysis looks at.

Match each game term to its meaning

Film against video game

Games and films are both media texts that create meaning, but one big difference changes how you analyse them.

What makes a game different?

When analysing a video game rather than a film, what is the key extra thing to consider?

• The interactivity, where the player acts and makes choices
• Only the colour of the box it comes in
• Only how much it costs
• Nothing, a game is analysed exactly like a film

Analysing a game with care

Analysing a game means more than saying whether it is fun. You name a feature, such as the genre, the narrative, a representation or the way the player interacts, and you explain how it works and what effect it has on the player. Representation needs particular care: how a character or group is shown is a constructed choice by the makers, and it can either reinforce a stereotype or challenge one. Your job is to describe that choice and its effect, not to repeat or endorse any stereotype. Feature, how it works, effect on the player: keep to that and you are analysing, not just reviewing.

Pick what you can analyse

Select everything you can analyse in a video game as a media text.

• The genre and its conventions
• The narrative and how the player shapes it
• How people and groups are represented
• Which shelf the box sits on in a shop
• How heavy the console is

Order how to analyse a game

Put the steps of analysing a feature of a video game in the best order.

• Describe the feature you have noticed
• Identify what kind of feature it is
• Explain how it works in the game
• Say the effect it has on the player
• Link it to the audience the game is for

Complete the game facts

A type of game with shared conventions is its _____. The way a player acts and affects the game is _____. How people and groups are shown is _____. The players a game is aimed at are its _____.

One game, read closely

Imagine an invented puzzle-adventure game set in a flooded city. Its genre is a mix of puzzle and adventure, so players expect problems to solve and a world to explore. Its narrative branches: the choices the player makes change which ending they reach, which is only possible because of the interactivity. The game represents its lone hero as calm and resourceful, a constructed choice that challenges the idea that a hero must be loud and aggressive. Its audience is older children and teenagers, so the challenge is pitched to reward patience. Analysing it, you would name each feature, explain how it works, and say its effect on the player. Notice how the same tools used for film, plus interactivity, unlock the whole game.

Tap what to analyse in a game

Tap the TWO things that are worth analysing in a video game as a media text.

• how a character is represented
• how the narrative branches on player choice
• the price of the game
• the shop shelf it sits on

The video game run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Analyse each game choice

Read each situation and choose the best answer.

• A game lets the player make choices that change the ending. Which feature does this show?
• A game shows a hero in a way that goes against a common stereotype. How should you treat this?
• A student writes only that a game is fun. What is missing from the analysis?

Build a point about games

Choose the word for each gap to complete one clear point about analysing games.

Explain how to analyse a video game

A friend thinks a video game is just for fun and cannot be studied like a film. Using what you have learned, explain how to analyse a video game as a media text.

• Explain what genre, narrative, representation and audience mean for a game
• Explain what interactivity adds compared with a film
• Explain how to treat representation as a constructed choice
• Explain how to move from reviewing to analysing
• Explain why the effect on the player matters