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Video games are the youngest media form on the AQA specification — commercial video games only emerge in the 1970s — and simultaneously the largest by global revenue. They now earn more than film and music combined. They are also the most theoretically distinctive: they are the only mainstream media form organised around interactivity. A film is watched; a video game is played. That difference runs through every dimension of analysis.
This lesson covers video game conventions, interactivity and player agency, representations (with particular attention to gender and violence), the AAA vs indie industry divide, and the PEGI regulatory system.
Video game conventions exist at multiple levels — from the visual design of the on-screen image, to the structure of play, to the genre codes of specific game categories.
| Genre | Key conventions |
|---|---|
| Shooter (FPS/TPS) | Gunplay, cover, levels, progression |
| Role-playing game (RPG) | Stats, dialogue, quests, character customisation |
| Strategy | Resource management, turn/real-time systems |
| Platformer | Jump mechanics, level-based progression |
| Simulation / management | Resource/systems focus, open-ended play |
| Puzzle | Mechanics-focused, short loops |
| Sandbox / open world | Large explorable space, emergent play |
| Survival | Resource scarcity, crafting, permadeath |
The defining feature of video games is interactivity: the player does not just receive the text, they co-produce it through their actions. This has several consequences for analysis.
Agency is the player's capacity to meaningfully affect what happens. High-agency games (sandbox RPGs) let the player shape narrative and world extensively. Low-agency games (linear story-driven shooters) channel the player down a narrow path, though they may feel agentic.
Janet Murray's concept of procedural authorship is useful here: the designer does not author specific events but rather the rules by which events unfold when the player acts.
Different games position the player differently:
In game studies, the HUD, menus, and meta-systems are extra-diegetic — they exist outside the story-world. The player sees them but the characters do not. Some games work to make HUD elements diegetic (a holographic display on a suit, a physical map) to deepen immersion.
graph TD
A[Video game] --> B[Interactive elements]
A --> C[Non-interactive elements]
B --> D[Mechanics]
B --> E[Player choices]
C --> F[Cutscenes]
C --> G[Set-piece sequences]
D --> H[Emergent narrative]
E --> H
Video game representations have been intensely debated since the 1990s. The primary points of debate:
The video game industry is broadly divided into two ends, with a middle tier that has been squeezed.
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