Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs

In today's lesson we were given the learning objective to:

"Consider how audiences react and respond to videogames by stimulating a focus group to make a new products"

To do this we drew Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs on an A3 sheet of paper and annotated what each level of it meant (as you can see below).


After doing this, we were then given the task of writing the different components of Blumler and Katz's Use and Gratification Theory onto post it notes and placing them in order next to the triangle as to what level they linked to.


As you can see from the image, the different components included:

• Diversion - how we use media to divert from reality, to get away from stress/boredom. It entertains us & 'takes the pain away' from every day life.
• Identity - Who? Where? When? Why? How? - using media to identify ourselves.
• Personal Interaction - using media to find things in common, eg. using it to find company from people who have similar interests to you.
• Surveillance - looking; making sure you fit in with everyone else and education; what you learn from watching a TV programme that you never knew about before.

We identified that:

1. Diversion fits in, in between Self-Actualization and Esteem.
2. Identity fits in Esteem.
3. Personal Interaction fits in Love & Belonging.
4. Surveillance fits in Safety. 

By doing this, we could therefore relate both theories and understand where different groups fit into it and for what reason.



Distinguishing Video Games

In today's lesson we were given the task of listing as many video games as we could think of in a couple of minutes and once we were done doing this, were given the task of distinguishing a timeline of the ones we had thought of with Use on one end and Gratification on the other.

For example: on the Use end would be Brain Training and on the Gratification end would be Crossy Roads.

After doing this, we then had to separate them into the table shown below (which is what Milly and I did). 

Many people in the class had different opinions on which video game went where, but this task was very useful as it widened my knowledge on what video games were around and their purposes.