HA11 – Task 1 - Analysis

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

War Thunder's genres are action,simulator and MMO

As War Thunder is a combination of different genres, I shall go through them one at a time, with examples of them in the game War Thunder.

Analysing the genre’s characteristics
Action: Action games are defined by fast paced and intense game-play, with most shooters such as CoD and Halo falling under this genre. Other game types that involve fights/chases also fall under the action genre.
War Thunder fits into this genre due to the intense plane and tank fighting that takes place in every match.

https://pams.s3.amazonaws.com/prd/s3fs-public/submissions/screenshots/wt_presskit9.jpg

Simulator: Simulator games are defined by the high amount of realism in them, with the most popular being farming, train and flight simulators. 
War Thunder fits into this genre due to (in the simulator bracket) the vehicles behaving realistically, the camera is limited to what the commander/pilot would see, and the vehicles have simulated parts, compartments and crew that can be damaged, destroyed or wounded.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rFYJzpTPo1c/maxresdefault.jpg

War Thunder also has some destructible scenery (walls, sheds, cars, etc) which adds to the simulation, and is also very satisfying to plow through.

MMO: MMO games are defined by having large numbers of players online at once such as Planet-side 2 (albeit an extreme example) with up to 1000 players at once. These games usually tend to be RPGs and Sandboxes. 
War Thunder fits into this genre due to the large number of players playing together at once (16v16), with higher numbers in the higher realism brackets (I once saw a video of a 64 player match).

https://mrghosty.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/planetside2-2012-11-23-15-32-31-46.jpg

Analysing the narrative structures
Action games' story is usually based around the main character going on an action packed adventure, whether that is a war, exploring ruins, etc.
Simulator games tend to be lighter on/has no story beyond: "you are (insert game job here), do your job.". 
MMO's almost always have a large story that is bigger than just the player, It could be a fantasy land over run with monsters, a sci-fi war on a distant planet, and so on.
With the lack of an actual story in War Thunder beyond: "there's a war and you are taking part in random battles". there is not much in the way of narrative. What little there is is: "you are a pilot/tank commander, help your team win this battle.". The team's you are on are of people of your vehicle tier (preventing a low tier tank having to plink rounds hopelessly off a Maus' hull) of any faction unless you play in the higher realism, at which point the teams are limited to tanks of a certain faction.


Analysing the representation of characters
As simulators don't usually have any characters aside from the occasional (and sometimes freaky looking, low poly count) person to fill the world or as passengers in certain games, there is no representation of characters.

The horror, THE HORROR!
http://www.pcgamesn.com/sites/default/files/trainsim912311.jpg

Both Action and MMO games can vary massively on how they represent their characters, with some games going full stereotype (males built like refrigerators on legs and females being nothing aside from something to rescue/look at), some games turning stereotypes on their head (strong female lead, useless guys needing help) and most other games sitting somewhere in the middle. But for balance reasons there is rarely any game-play difference between playing as a male or female besides how skimpy/badass you want your armour to look.

http://www.manapool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ME6.jpg

War Thunder doesn't have much in the way of characters but here are the closest things it has: There are a variety of profile pictures you can use of different looking pilots, with even the option of a few female pilots, but as these are profile pictures they aren't much more than a picture of the pilot stood next to a plane.
There are the crew of the vehicles, only seen in aircraft or open ground vehicles, they all appear to be just 1-2 guys (guy in helmet and guy in cap) of each faction copy pasted doing a different thing (loading, aiming, driving, etc.) they are all white males, which is fairly accurate as the game is supposedly set between the Spanish civil war and the Korean war and there weren't many people of other ethnicity or genders in service (although there are Asian crew in the Japanese faction, but that is kind of obvious.). They also don't have any personality so I hesitate to call them "characters" as they are only really there as decoration/to represent crew damage.
Finally there is the voice overs, they are just disembodied voices of the commander talking about the progress of the match (We have captured the A point) and various reports from the crew (Loading (ammo type), (part) damaged, etc.).
It is possible to get new crew voices via a little bit of modding (which due to overlapping fan-bases they mostly tend to be the crews out of the anime "Girls und Panzer").

http://wikiwiki.jp/warthunder/?plugin=ref&page=3.7cm%20Flak%2036%20Sd.Kfz.6%A1%BF2&src=shot%202015.12.14%2019.16.27.jpg

HA10 - Task 3 - Responses

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

Here is my personal response to War Thunder using the Reception Theory (the theory that people can receive a product as either Preffered, Negotiated or Oppositional):

I believe that my response to War Thunder has to fall under negotiated.

While it does mainly fit under preferred reception (as in I play it how it is intended to be played and I enjoy it), there are moments where either I find something wrong with the game (mainly due to rubbish players) or I get bored and decide to do something random that counts as "oppositional" (dog fighting with a bomber, holding off entire enemy team with a single low tier tank, go mountain climbing in a Flak truck, etc.).
These random divergences, while not what the game's developers had in mind, are still supported and allowed in the game (although it may irritate your team mates if it throws the match).

With all of that, the combination of Preffered and Oppositional reception means that I recieve War Thunder as Negotiated reception.

(Image to personalise and visualise my personal feelings on the game)

https://i.imgur.com/X39AKNE.jpg

HA10 - Task 2 - Effects Debate

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

The following are my thoughts on the effects of War Thunder:

War Thunder is very good at training your reaction times, awareness and multiple object tracking. As said in the "Are video games really that bad?" documentary (44:06 specifically), video games can help to train these skills as they require you to rapidly and constantly switch between focusing on something, paying attention to your surroundings and reacting to anything that might happen.

Examples of these in situations in War Thunder include:
An enemy Panzer IV coming around a building corner (reaction time). Avoiding collisions in close quarter dogfights (awareness).
And chasing down a B-17 while making sure none of the nearby fighters sneak up on you (multiple object tracking).

Another effect of War Thunder is it's violence. While there is no blood or gore, your vehicles still have crew who can be wounded/knocked out. Like the before mentioned documentary said, the psychological effect of the violence is short lived and limited to within the game, due to your brain's ability to differentiate between reality and a game stopping you from lashing out in real life.

Worst case scenario, you get frustrated for a little bit because someone got a lucky shot off on you early in the round.

(Image to personalise and visualise my personal feelings on the game)

http://img.memecdn.com/you-see-ivan-if-you-play-war-thunder-u-get-funny-moments_c_5925713.jpg

HA10 - Task 1 - Audience Theory

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

This is my personal response to War Thunder using the Uses & Gratifications Theory (This is the theory that people uses media for their own personal reasons):

My uses for War Thunder falls under the catagory of entertainment most of the time, as I enjoy the rush of the action, the satisfaction of taking down multiple targets and the hilarity of a failed ramming attempt bouncing off me. These are some of the many things that make it entertaining for me.

Another use (to a lesser extent to the first) is Personal Identification. I find myself atracted to these types of games and  that I fit in moderatly well (although due to certain playerbases, a bit of headbutting may be neccesary).

I also use it for social interaction, as it is an online multiplayer game where I can communicate with my team mates and even the other team (usualy to complain about them, but still, it is social interaction).

It could also be argued that War Thunder can also be used for information, as there are detailed descriptions (or just links to the Wikipedia pages) of all of the historically accurate vehicles in the game, from armour and weapon statistics to the history of the vehicals.

(Image to personalise and visualise my personal feelings on the game)

http://img.memecdn.com/and-it-is-of-very-very-dangerous-of-getting-shot-into-back_o_4759219.jpg

HA9 - Task 3 - Conclusion

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

War Thunder does seem to be hitting slightly above it's target audience's age with it getting mostly 18-29 year olds rather than 12. It is not what they were expecting, but it is still a very strong reception. It is also cashing in on both the popular action genre and the dedicated simulator genre with it's combination of fast paced combat and realistic vehicles.

Another conclusion I have drawn is that I could use a little practice learning what to search for, as I tend to struggle to find solid statistics such as numbers, charts, etc, although in this instance there doesn't seem to be much research actually done on War Thunder.

HA9 - Task 2 – Audience Response

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

War thunder, having a combination of the popular Action genre and the less popular simulator genre, falls somewhere in-between audience size wise, having a smaller audience than pure action games yet a larger audience than pure simulator games.

http://www.psychologyofgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/genres.jpg

It also appears that War Thunder's audience is mostly Males of the 18-29 years old range, slightly above the intended target audience of 12 years old (as stated on the game's website and mentioned earlier in this blog).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3391052/ratings

This graph also shows that most people vote the game very positively (with US players not liking it as much for some reason not revealed by the graph) with almost all votes being over 7/10.
Though this graph is limited in the number of people included, I think the number is just about big enough to be somewhat accurate.

HA9 – Task 1 - Deconstruction

Scenario: I have been commissioned by ukie to write a series of resource packs to be published on their website within the guides section.

Genre description
War thunder's genre is a combination of action, historical accuracy and simulator. It also has degrees of simulation based on the realism settings of Arcade, Realistic and Simulator.
These brackets allow for the separation of different skill levels with increasing realism (no icons over enemies, wings can snap off at high speeds, aircraft stall at low speeds, limited camera views, etc.).

Selection of content

War Thunder has a wide and balanced selection of content (both sides of the spectrum of colourful, gritty and sometimes in-between). From green sweeping valleys to grey destroyed cities, the colour pallet is rather balanced with the maps tending to lean towards the colourful side, but the game's trailers tend to lean towards the grittier side of war.

https://static.warthunder.ru/upload/image/Dev%20Blog/1_Kuban_.jpg

https://static.warthunder.com/upload/image/Dev%20Blog/berlin/Untitled_000009.jpeg

Construction of content

War Thunder is constructed on Team combat and tiered vehicle unlocks.
Each match, two teams are assembled from waiting players of similar vehicle tiers (with which nation the vehicles are from also deciding the team on the higher realism settings). This helps maintain balance such as stopping bi-planes having to go up against jets or early tanks armed with small cannons going up against the Maus super heavy tank (unless you want that in a custom match, although these offer no rewards besides the fun).

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Codes and conventions
War Thunder's codes and conventions are as follows.

Codes (required): Balanced* matchmaking, reasonably priced unlocks (with some optional premium items only costing a few pounds), working game-play. 
*Results may vary, because matchmakers are not always 100% accurate.
Conventions (expected): Fun and engaging game-play, cosmetics, good looks.

These codes and conventions are typical of most free to play games with optional premium content (faster researching, premium vehicles, more decals/paint jobs etc.)

Modes of address

War Thunder is 1st person in address as you are the one who is doing everything (Although there is a 3rd person camera angle in the two easier difficulty brackets, you are still in control so it is 1st person in address. This is re-enforced in the hardest difficulty as these views are limited to looking out of the cockpit/commander's hatch.). You are the pilot, you are the tank driver, you are the researcher/engineer at the garage/hanger. Everything is controlled by you, from the in match combat, to the out of match repairs and research selection.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZBaLGkfLmWg/maxresdefault.jpg