Mock exam

minecraft notes

What are the main ways Minecraft attracts audiences?

- Sandbox construction game - endless
- Community
- Different platforms
- Social media - Twitter
- YouTube - Inspiration
- Adverts on Apps / Pop ups
- Unique game - Limited competition
- Buy and play within communities on realms
- Pay to have access to the game
- create and support fan clubs
- Buy add ons for the game such as skins
- Subscribing to magazine
- Watching online videos
- Fans influence how it is updated
- Attend Minecon
- Buy merchandise, toys and clothes

Marketing: How are video games traditionally marketed and what franchising takes place?

- Adverts
- Merchandise - LEGO, Action figures etc.
- Social media
- Platform store
- Game trailers
- Books - Annuals, Manual

Without the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher, and no money spent on advertising revenue, due to the independent nature of Mojang, the game relied on word of mouth between gamers and features on sites such as the Penny Arcade Web Comic to generate interest amongst gamers.
A LEGO set based on Minecraft called Lego Minecraft was released on 6th June 2012.
2 more sets based on the Nether and village areas of the game were released.
Mojang collaborates with Jinx, an online game merchandise store. includes clothing, foam pickaxes, and toys of creations in the game.
Mojang signed a deal with Egmont group, a Childrens book Publisher.
In 2019, a joint venture with Warner Brothers releases Minecraft the movie.

How is the industry regulated and by whom?
- PEGI regulates video game industry. They regulate the industry by; using intellectual property rights and licenses, age ratings/classifications, advertising laws, data protection, gambling legislation and responsibility of staff.

Who regulates content and how?
- PEGI (Pan European Game Information) regulates content by giving video games, age ratings - 3,7,12,16,18 and giving content warnings of what is including such as; Bad language, Discrimination, Drugs, fear, gambling, sex, violence and online. These are given symbols to show the feature.

What are some of the effects video games are seen to have on players?
- Problem solving and logics
- Hand eye coordination
- Planning resource management and legistics
- Situational awareness
- Mapping skills
- memory and concentration

How is Minecraft regulated?
- Minecraft is family friendly and the initial minecraft series was rated PEGI 7 but later introduction stories were classified higher because narratives and dialogue were being introduced.

Minecraft Production, Distribution, Technology, Circulation

Group research from Great Baddow High School Media

Minecraft Timeline

17^th may 2009 – First release of the game
21^st may 2009 – Accounts can now be registered
24^th may 2009 - Official Minecraft forum is opened
8^th June 2009 -  Multiplayer released
20^th October 2009 – Beginning of survival test
29^th January 2010 – Introduction of crafting system.
17^th June 2010 – Minecraft passes 20,000 sales
22^nd July 2010 – First over internet test of survival mode multiplayer
16^th October 2010 – Mojang is founded
22^nd December 2010 – Minecraft beta version is created
12^th Jan 2011 – Minecraft reaches a million sales
1^st July 2011 – Minecraft passes 10 million registered users
16^th August 2011 – Minecraft pocket edition released for Xperia play only
17^th November 2011 – Pocket edition released on IOS
9^th May 2012 – Released on Xbox 360
25^th October 2013 – Java update 1.7.2 released ‘the update that changed the world.’
13^th December 2013 – Minecraft for Java surpasses 13 million sales.
4^th September 2014 – PlayStation 4 edition released.
5^th September 2014 – Minecraft Xbox 1 edition released.
10^th December 2014 – Pocket edition released for Windows phone
30^th June 2015 – Minecraft for Java Surpasses 20 million sales.
13^th October 2015 – Minecraft Story mode released.
17^th December 2015 – Minecraft Wii U edition released
2^nd June 2016 – Minecraft sold over 100 million times over all platforms, makes 2^nd bestselling game.
27^th June 2016 – Minecraft announces release of Minecraft the movie for May 24^th 2019
1^st November 2016 – Minecraft education edition released
19^th December 2016 – Minecraft pocket edition released on Amazon fire TV and Apple TV.
May 11^th 2017 – Minecraft Nintendo Switch edition released
13^th September 2017 – Minecraft released on Nintendo 3DS
December 2017 – Minecraft hits 74 million active players and 144 million total sales  

Video game Key words

Minecraft highlighted article

Minecraft introduction

Video game: A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a monitor or other display.

Types of Video games: 
- RPG
-Sports
-Strategy
-Action/adventure
-Puzzle solving
-Construction
-FPS
-Simulation
-Horror
-Children's

Examples:

- Fortnite                                        -Cooking Mama                      -Sims

-Nintendogs                                   -Dinner Dash                           -Far Cry
-Fifa                                               -Big Brain academy                 -Rainbow 6 Siege
-GTA                                             -Sky Rim                                  -Fable
-NBA                                             -Mario Sonic                            -WWE
-UFC                                              -F1                                           -Assassin's Creed
-Wii Fit                                          -Just Dance                              -Wii Sports resort
-Crash Bandicoot                           -Rachet and Clank                   -We Sing
-Moshi Monsters                            -Guitar Hero                            -Monkey Ball
-Call of Duty                                  -Watch Dogs                            -Battlefield

Terminology:
-Games Consoles - A unit accommodating a set of controls for electronic or mechanical equipment.
-Sandbox Game - Construction; building from scratch. Changing roles of the 'look down generation.' Collaboration through gaming; multi-player
-Microsoft - Institution which owns videogames; Xbox and Minecraft
-Platforms - Different levels of gaming. Online Vs Moving images Vs Audio. Ways you can play (App, physically etc.). Multi-Platform - More than one way of playing; more platforms = wider variety.
-Servers - How the games run, where info is kept, enables games to be played.

Intro to Minecraft...
- Minecraft development - from 'online Lego'
- Multi - platform =  more available
- Open Sandbox - no limit
- Started as an 'indie'
- Critically and commercially successful
- From independent to mainstream - 125 million copies sold.

-Minecraft was created by Marcus 'Notch' Persson and developed by Mojang.

-These were independent, separate to and not financed by a big commercial company.
-But, as small independent products become successful, it is usual for larger organisations/owners to want to buy them.

6 reasons why Minecraft is successful...
- Infinite replayability - Sandbox (No limits)
-Strong community - creations are the marketing campaign
-Platform agnostic - Released on everything
-Co-opted by children - Household name
-Not limited by genre
-Fulfils human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness

Minecraft intro essay

Why has Minecraft been a commercial and critical success?

Minecraft is a sandbox computer game meaning that the main aim of the game is to build and construct anything you want. This is one of the reasons why Minecraft is one of the most successful video games, there is unlimited possibility meaning that a player can build a variety of different things. The video game was created and designed by Marcus “Notch” Perrson in 2009 and was fully developed and published by Mojang. Players are free to explore the different environments and realms available, choose what to build and have the ability to be creative with the game. The game has no specific objective giving players a more free range. As well as constructing and ‘mining,’ players can fight with monsters and play in multi-player to build as groups. Minecraft players build structures from different materials available; mostly 3d blocks. There is a wide variety of different textures from a range of metals to fabrics; potions, animals and different accessories are also available to build with.

On opening the game, Players can choose between two types of gameplay; survival and creative. In survival mode, the player is given limited life and start with no materials and must collect and create all of their tools, weapons, armour and other resources from scratch in order to build. In this mode, monsters come out at night and can attack, so players must combat and stay safe in order to sustain their life. These monsters include skeletons, which can shoot arrows, creepers, which explode when getting near the player, zombies, which can eat you and many more such as spiders. This mode is very popular as it gives the player a chance to work for their progress and ‘survive.’ A popular reason why Minecraft is so popular is that there is no specific genre, players can construct but also battle in action packed combat and also explore. The other mode is called creation which differs and the player starts with unlimited resources and are able to create whatever they wish to. In this mode, players are also able to fly making it quicker to travel across the environment. Players are given unlimited life so cannot die making it easier to make whatever they want. In creation mode, players have the ability to have monsters in their world based on whether they pick easy, medium or hard and also peaceful where there is no monsters at all. The problem that players have with the monsters is that they can destroy the structures that the players spend their time on making.

After making their structures, players often share their creations online, mainly through Youtube, so that viewers can get inspiration and sometimes copy their ideas. This is another popular aspect. Minecraft has created a community of players which all share their ideas and this can lead to more multi-player game play in order to create bigger structures quicker. Minecraft’s community has grown so big that there is now an event called Minecon which involves players to go to one event and talk about the game and get even more inspiration. Minecraft has influenced popular culture because of social media. Their video channels have huge followings which learn from the internet videos. Minecraft’s success in popularity has meant that merchandise has now been created for players including foam pick axes, t shirts and mugs.

Minecraft has huge commercial success with over 121 million copies of the game sold as of February 2017. An estimated 55 million people play the game every month including a range of ages from around 8 years old to around 30. Minecraft is the second best-selling game of all time after Tetris. In 2014, the game was brought from Mojang by Microsoft for $2.5 billion. Since being released, the game has been released on many platforms including Xbox, Playstation, Wii, Nintendo, PC, Phone, etc. This is a main reason why the game is very successful as it is on a multi-platform meaning that more people can play the game. Since the release of the game, there have been many spin off games including the education edition and story mode. Minecraft has also expanded from just being  video game as there is a feature film being released in 2019, Lego have released a selection for Minecraft and more merchandise has been released making Minecraft a global success and a household name.

728 words

Exam Breakdown

Exam 1 = 2 hours
Exam 2 = 2 hours 

Exam 1; section A (45 marks)	Exam 1; section B   (25 marks)	Exam 2; section A  (30 marks)	Exam 2; section B  (40 marks)
Newspapers; Guardian & Daily Mail Front covers	Magazine; 2 front covers of The Big Issue Advertising & marketing 2 music videos	Film; Jungle Book 1967 & 2016 Radio; R1BS Video games; Minecraft	Mainstream television series Vs Indie television series
LIAR & Theory	Language & Representations  No theory Only 2 topics out of 3	Industries & Audiences Only 2 topics out of 3	LIAR