Target audience: Planetside 2

Who plays video games?

1. What is Planetside 2? PlanetSide is a massively-multiplayer online first-person-shooter video game 
2. What genre does the game belong to?  
3. Planetside 2 developer/publisher: it was published by Sony Online Entertainment
4. When was it launched? released November 20, 2012. 
5. How does the game play work? Action, Fight, Science Fiction.
6. What are the six different player classes in the game?  The infiltrator is a sniper class, The Light Assault class, The Combat Medic is a healing class, The engineer Class, The Heavy Assault class, and the MAX class.
7. What is the story or narrative to the game? the narrative of this game is that there is a planet called Auraxis, which was discovered 300 years back. although the chronology of the game universe starts a few years before. After the Earth has nearly come to ruin following a devastating war, the world's governments came to a consensus and united under one banner: the world-wide Terran Republic (TR). Some time later a wormhole, one which scientists fail to explain, appears and then disappears without a trace. Ex-President of the Terran Republic, Tom Connery, believes that the wormhole is a sign of existing extraterrestrial life and launches several space expeditions. The first expedition to Moon Belt gives a lead—a figurine of alien nature—giving Connery a reason to start a second expedition further into space. Several Terran Republic ships travel through the wormhole and are stranded for a very long period of time; their situation grows dire. Due to the crew's mental exhaustion and provision limit, strict curfews are applied. Later, a vote is held about the necessity of the measures. The positive vote wins, but only barely. There are nearly as many negative votes. A second vote is called. However, a terrorist bomb destroys the ship on which the vote is to occur, killing everyone aboard, including Connery. Curfews pass. Later, the expedition discovers the planet Auraxis, and as a result, Vanu, or "ancient", technology. Among this vast array of technology is "Rebirthing Chambers", capable of reviving any person from any kind of injury with even the smallest amount of genetic code and to continued. 

Business model

Now look at the section on the Planetside 2 business model.

1. How much does Planetside 2 cost to play? It is free to download, were if you want to buy something within the game you will have to purchase it from your own money, through PayPal or Credit Cards.
2. What does a subscription offer to players? the game also offers a subscription which provides players with increased experience, cert points, and extra resources, such as if you want to buying a medical kit in the game.
3. What can the in-game currency be used to buy? Station Cash is SOE's
4. Why do some players dislike games in which users can buy additional weapons or health? because they would need to buy the them, which they prefer not so.

Planetside 2: Target audience

Write a possible target audience demographic for Planetside 2 in general:

Gender/age/social class/education/employment/location etc.

-Gender- Male-80%  Females- 20%

-Age- 14+ to 35

-Social Class- A, B, C1 probably mainly middle class people

-Education- High school, College or University, or probably people at work.
- Location at a house.

The three factions

Summarise the three factions that players can join in the game:

The Terran Republic:  Honour, Saviour and Justice.

The Vanu Sovereignty: Potential, intelligence, strengths.

The New Conglomerates: Oppression, Freedom,  Rebels.

Now write a target audience demographic for each faction from Planetside 2 – it will be similar to the overall target audience but think carefully about changes in age, education or employment:

The Terran Republic-  ABC1 demographic - requires tactics

The Vanu Sovereignty- ABC1 Demographic; requires new technology and education/employment

The New Conglomerates- Age 18 - 24 - rebels especially as this game focuses on this particular aspect
Doesn't necessarily require someone to be in employment

Now use what you have learned about psychographic profiling to choose potential psychographic groups for each of the three factions:

The Terran Republic- Mainstreamers - seek security; these are people who live in the world of the domestic and the everyday. 

The Vanu Sovereignty- Resigned: seek survival. 
Succeeders: seek control; succeeders possess self-confidence, have a strong goal orientation and tend to be very organised. As a result, they tend to occupy positions of responsibility in society. When it comes to brands, they will often seek out the best because that is what they feel they deserve.

The New Conglomerates- Reformers - enlightenment/change; valuing their own independent judgement. 

Explorers: seek discovery; these people are driven by a need for discovery, challenge and new frontiers. Young in nature, if not in reality, Explorers are often the first to try out new ideas and experiences.

Wii Party :)

Case study 2: Wii Party

General skills.

1. When was Wii Party released on the Nintendo Wii?  It was released on the 8th October 2012
2. Which developer/institution created Wii Party? It was developed by the Nd cube and Nintendo SPD and platform-wii.
3. How many copies has the game sold since release? 7.94 million copies were sold.

Broadcast

1. What are the key conventions of a video game TV advert? What would you expect to see in most video game TV adverts? the key conventions used are, titles, celebrity appearence, slogans
2. How many of the key conventions you have listed above appear in the Wii Party TV adverts? List them with specific details from the Wii Party TV adverts?
3. What is the typical setting for Wii Party TV adverts? Why is that setting used? the typical setting for Wii Party is in a house or in a studio which looks like a house, there are mainly families and friends in the commercial advert, in Wii Party, JLS are in this TV advert.
4. How might the setting appeal to families? the setting used in this advert may appeal to families because it it based in a home, we families live.
5. What celebrities do the adverts feature? JLS takepart in this advert, such as Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, JB Gill and Oritse Williams.
6. What do you notice about the celebrities' costume and make-up? that they are dressed casual, like an everyday look.
7. Why do you think those particular celebrities were chosen? because the game itself is aimed at people aged 12+ to 35. which people these age group know JLS more.
8. What do the celebrities suggest about the Wii Party target audience? the JLS think that this game is based for everyone.
9. What else can you learn about the Wii Party target audience from the TV adverts? Suggest a demographic profile: gender, age, social class etc. gender- both ,  age-12-35 , social class- A,B and C1 probably.
10. What audience pleasures do the Wii Party TV adverts offer to viewers? Refer to Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory when answering this question. 
11. What examples of branding can you find in the Wii Party TV adverts - either for the game itself or Nintendo Wii? 
12. Do you think the TV adverts were effective for promoting the Wii Party game? yes 

Print

1. Find a Wii Party review from a magazine or newspaper. What does the review suggest about the target audience for the game? 
2. Is the review positive or negative about the game? Copy and paste one quote from the review to support this view. I love this game! This is one of the best party games on the wii by far and it has plenty of brilliant game modes.  the review is positive which helps other people want to buy this game.
3. Do you think magazine reviews are effective in promoting the game to Wii Party's target audience? yes because the target audience for this game- 12 to 35 tend to read and look at magazines. 

E-media

1. Visit the Wii Party website. How does it attract and maintain the interest of a Wii Party fan? its very attractive, it gives you all the information needed, it also makes the viewer read more, and click on every link possible.
2. What do you notice about the people in the scrolling central image featured on the website? that they are in the gameplay, they are in the actual game itself, which then makes the viewer who hasn't got a Wii, know how the characters or Mii's look in there.
3. How many times can you find the words 'friends' or 'family' used on the official website? Why do you think the website emphasises this aspect of the game? loads, this is because the game it selfis plaed by family and friends.
4. What is the colour scheme for the website? What does this suggest about the target audience? the colour scheme is mainly bright and strong pink, which also suggests that  girls/womens might more tend to play this games.
5. Look at the 'Video Gallery' on the official website. What do the 'Invitation' videos suggest about the Wii Party target audience?  the target audience of  the invitations videos suggest that kids and ladies are a big fan of this game, and  
6. How many 'likes' has the Wii Party/Wii Party U Facebook wall had? 
7. How does the Wii Party Facebook wall cross-promote other Nintendo games? Find three examples and explain why they appeal to the Wii Party target audience.
8. Wii Party does not have such a strong presence on other social networking sites. Why do you think this is?
9. Which platform do you think is strongest in promoting Wii Party to its target audience - broadcast, print or e-media? Why? i think that e-media is stronger in promoting, than broadcast and print, for example, everyone watches TV, which the ad may come on,rather than going on facebook and looking at the ad, which some people might not tend to have.