HA10 Task 1 - Audience Theory

The Uses & Gratifications Theory
The uses and gratifications theory is supposed to help researchers understand why and how people seek out specific types of media to help with their specific needs. Using this theory allows you to find out what type of media text that individuals use and if it's either for the purpose of finding out information about specific subjects, for personal identification, for integration and social interaction
or for entertainment. Everyone is different in terms of League of Legends people might play it because they want to learn the type of community that it has because every game has different people playing them and they people usually go to the things that they find the most relate to. Another purpose why someone might play it is for personal identification, meaning they could be doing it to escape problems and stress from the real world so they go into this fictional world as a sort of release to make themselves feel better.

The researchers Bulmer and Katz expanded on this theory which they then published their own in the year 1974. The theory suggested that individuals used a media text for the following purposes:

Information
This is when individuals use media text as a way to satisfy their needs to be informed about something. This can be anything that's informative like press, broadcast and other online news. It can also be something like seeking advice on how to fix a certain type of item. Another example can also be when someone uses the media text as a source to satisfy their curiosity. These are all good examples of reasons as to how people use the media text to satisfy their informative needs.

Personal Identity
This is when individuals use the media text as a way of satisfying personal needs like to build up their self-esteem or/and confidence. Many social media sites allow for many people to satisfy their personal needs especially Facebook and Instagram as there are such options where other people are able to like your content like your images which then builds up your confidence and feeds your ego which is one of the main reasons why people use the media text to satisfy their personal needs. I think this also one way that media draw people into their content because sometimes people might see themselves in the content that the media is producing. There are also magazines that tell you on what signs you should look for to determine whether a person likes you or not.

Integration and Social Interaction 
This is when an individual uses the media text to satisfy their companionship needs. I also feel like this is partially a part of personal identity because of the fact that people use the media text to get closer to their friends, family and society. Individuals also use the media as a substitute for real-life companionship as they identify with other individuals that they interact with using different media like game and social media sites like Facebook. Some individuals see friends in fictional characters whether it be through anime or through games.

Entertainment
This is when an individual uses media as a way to escape reality. I think that this the most common needs that people have between the other three as entertainment has been around for a very longtime and now people are accustomed to search for entertainment in many ways and using media is one of the easiest ways you can obtain entertainment. Many people want to escape from their problems and stresses and the media is the one of the best ways to relieve them. The media can be used for many things which I think that it's a great way to fill time, relax and release vent up emotions.

Out of all the listed needs that I talked about above, I think that the ones best suited for League of Legends are personal identity, integration and social interaction and entertainment. I think that personal identity is one of them because people might play it because they feel that they have something in common and similar interest with the other people that are playing the game because of the fact that they are playing the same game. I think that the reason why individuals use League of Legends to satisfy their social interaction needs is because within the game you can chat with people without having to actually interact personally. Many people use games as a way to interact with people because they may have mental illnesses like social anxiety which makes it hard for them to talk to other people face to face. I think entertainment is the main needs or reasons why people League of Legends because they want to escape reality and immerse themselves in games fantastical environment.

The main reason that I play League of Legends is so satisfy my entertainment needs along with integration and social interaction. League of Legends helps satisfy my entertainment needs because I enjoy the visuals and the graphics of the game but I also enjoy the gameplay of it, and it makes me feel good when I play good in the game which I guess you can say is a part of personal identity needs. As for integration and social integration League of Legends helps satisfy this need because it allows me to play with friends that personally know which makes the gameplay an even more fun experience because you are able to share it with a person you know.