The document discusses various ways that gaming is consumed beyond just playing games, including: 1) Merchandise like clothing, collectibles, and unusual branded items from publishers like Rockstar Games. 2) Cosplay where fans recreate character costumes. 3) E-sports which are competitive video game tournaments with cash prizes. 4) Machinima that uses game engines to create animated films. 5) Modding where fans create new content, levels, or total conversions of games. The Hot Coffee mod for GTA: San Andreas is a notable example that impacted the game's rating.

1. How are games consumed?

2. Gaming consumption
Gaming has changed from the days of coin-op arcades.
How we consume gaming products comes in a variety of
different ways, here are some to consider:
• Merchandise: t-shirts, Rockstar’s more unusual items
• Cosplay
• Fanfiction and Fanart
• E-sports
• Machinima
• Modding – Rockstar had a great beneficial relationship
with their fans – right up until the Hot Coffee
controversy which changed everything!

3. Merchandise
You only have to flick through the poster racks of
HMV to see that videogames merchanise is
everywhere. From Angry Birds selling 10 million
plush soft toys last year, to more extravegent –
replica samarai swords from Japanese
roleplaying games (RPGs)
Rockstar Games are particularly savvy with their
merchandise – Remember: For them their brand
is as much about style as it is about the product.

4. Merchandise

6. Cosplay
• Cosplay short for "costume play“ is a type of
performance art in which participants don
costumes and accessories to represent a
specific character.

9. E-sports
• Electronic sports (or E-sports) comprises the competitive
play of video games.
• Other terms include competitive gaming, professional
gaming, e-sport, and cybersport. The most common video
game genres associated with electronic sports are real-time
strategy (RTS), fighting, first-person shooter
(FPS), massively-multiplayer online (MMOG), and racing.
• Games are played competitively at amateur, semi-
professional and professional levels, and some games have
organized competition in the form of leagues and
tournaments. Events such as Major League Gaming
(MLG), Global Starcraft II League (GSL), World Cyber Games
(WCG), Dreamhack, and Intel Extreme Masters provide
both real-time casting of streamed games, and cash prizes
to the winners.

13. Machinima
Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is filmmaking within a real-
time, 3D virtual environment, often using 3D video-game
technologies.
In an expanded definition, it is the convergence of filmmaking,
animation and game development. Machinima is real-world
filmmaking techniques applied within an interactive virtual
space where characters and events can be either controlled by
humans, scripts or artificial intelligence.
By combining the techniques of filmmaking, animation
production and the technology of real-time 3D game engines,
Machinima makes for a very cost- and time-efficient way to
produce films, with a large amount of creative control.

14. Machinima
Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is filmmaking within a real-
time, 3D virtual environment, often using 3D video-game
technologies.
In an expanded definition, it is the convergence of filmmaking,
animation and game development. Machinima is real-world
filmmaking techniques applied within an interactive virtual
space where characters and events can be either controlled by
humans, scripts or artificial intelligence.
By combining the techniques of filmmaking, animation
production and the technology of real-time 3D game engines,
Machinima makes for a very cost- and time-efficient way to
produce films, with a large amount of creative control.

15. Machinima
Examples include Call of Duty gameplay videos
Halo 3 had built in machinima recording software
Games often feature cinematic camera angles and
graphics – particularly in cut scenes: sections in a
game where the player is not in control but ‘movie’
like scenes to provide context and explanation of
player motivations
Rockstar Games that have resulted in machinima
include GTA and Red Dead Redemption

16. Blood Money (GTA IV Machinima)

17. Modding
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to
PC, especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and
real-time strategy games.
Mods are made by the general public or a developer and can
be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not stand-
alone software and require the user to have the original
release in order to run. They can include new
items, weapons, characters, enemies, models, textures, levels,
story lines, music, and game modes. They also usually take
place in unique locations. They can be single-player or
multiplayer. Mods that add new content to the underlying
game are often called partial conversions, while mods that
create an entirely new game are called total conversions and
mods that fix bugs are called unofficial patches.

18. Modding
Mod or modification is a term generally applied
to PC, especially first-person shooters, role-
playing games and real-time strategy games.
Mods are made by the general public or a
developer and can be entirely new games in
themselves, but mods are not stand-alone
software and require the user to have the
original release in order to run.

19. Modding
They can include new
items, weapons, characters, enemies, models, te
xtures, levels, story lines, music, and game
modes. They also usually take place in unique
locations. They can be single-player or
multiplayer. Mods that add new content to the
underlying game are often called partial
conversions, while mods that create an entirely
new game are called total conversions and mods
that fix bugs are called unofficial patches.

20. Modding
The Internet provides an inexpensive medium to
promote and distribute mods, and they have
become an increasingly important factor in the
commercial success of some games.
Developers such as Blizzard Entertainment, id
Software, Valve Software, Bethesda Softworks,
Firaxis, Crytek, The Creative Assembly and Epic
Games provide extensive tools and documentation
to assist mod makers, leveraging the potential
success brought in by a popular mod like Counter-
Strike.

21. Modding
Considering our focus on Rockstar Games, the most
important mod in recent history is the 2005 Hot Coffee
mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
TASK: Research the answers to the following questions.
The more detail the better for your research. You will
need to look at more than one source for this.
1. What was the Hot Coffee mod?
2. How did the mod affect San Andreas’s age rating?
3. What was the impact for each of the stakeholders:
The developers, the publishers, the platform holder
and the consumer?