1. Possible impact on audience
One of the strongest impacts Gears of War 3 may have on
the audience is violence. Even on adults the impact can be
strong as the violence is so extreme in this game at times.
This can be from simply shooting one of the enemy
characters to setting them on fire which can definitely be
seen as extreme violence. There are certain ‘moves’ you can
do when playing as the characters in the game. If you get
one of the enemies on the ground from shooting them or
hitting them there is a selection of moves you can perform
that kill the enemy. This can be either turning the body over
and punching it to death or the very violent move of putting
the face of the enemy on the ground and stomping on the
head which causes a great amount of blood to pour out.
The weapons in the game also include very vicious
attachments such as the chainsaw and blade attached to the
end of the machine gun.
Violence
Swearing
Throughout Gears of War 3 there is almost constant
swearing and aggressive language. The characters swear to
emphasise the situation they are in, for example if they are
being over run by Locust then they will curse to show there
anger, frustration and possibly fear. If people playing the
game and are already familiar with what happens then they
may quote what the characters say which will include
swearing.

2. Imitable behaviour
A lot of the actions which occur in the game can be easy to imitate. For example the curb stomp move which
makes the character you are playing as put the enemy body on the floor and stomp onto it’s face. Is obviously
a very imitable move, however if something like this happens in real life then the influence could have also
come from the movie American History X, where the protagonist in the film puts the mouth of a man robbing
his car on the curb and stomps on the back of his head. This scene is iconic for how disturbing it is and
therefore in Gears of War 3 this is also are fairly disturbing action, especially due to the amount of blood.
Another action which is imitable is when the character turns the enemy over onto the floor and punches them
several times in the face.
Spreading of slander
Although there isn’t any evidence of any spreading of slander in Gears of War 3 there is a strong similarity in the
facial design of Marcus Fenix and the famous Wrestler Batista. Even though there is nothing which could suggest
the game is spreading lies about the wrestler there is simply a similarity between the face of the character in the
game and the real life person. Some people may feel like this was done on purpose and Fenix is based on Batista.

3. Impact violence in Gears of War
has had on people.
There was a story in newspapers which
stated that Gears of War was the
influence for a young boy to slit his friends
throat.
Apparently the 13 year old boy met up
with another schoolboy after they played
Gears of War 3 online. Supposedly the
violent and bloody content in the game
was the influence for the 13 year old to
slit his friends throat.
It was said that the content of the
game was one of the main reasons
which caused the boy to carry out
this action.

4. Relevant laws
Copyright laws – The US copyright office website states that “Copyright protects only the
particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form.” This
means that the basic design of the game is protected by copyright laws and but it also
means that Microsoft gaming or Epic gaming who make Gears of war can not copy any
other elements from other games apart from the style of game play. A game which is very
similar to Gears of War is Unreal Tournament. Not only is the game play similar but the
design of the characters and armour is very similar, people may see this as a breaking of
the copyright law. However this is the not the case as Epic Gaming was also the designer of
Unreal Tournament and this explains the strong similarity between the two.
Obscenity law – There are a variety of characters of different races and ethnic
backgrounds in Gears of War 3. However none of the characters are represented in a
negative way and all of them are even in representation.
Child protection law – There is no children in Gears of War 3 and therefore there is no
breaking of this law.
Cruelty to animals law – There is no animals in Gears of War 3 which means it doesn’t
break this law.

5. Relevant Regulatory Bodies
The video Standard Council is the what categorizes games into age ratings. PEGI (Pan European Game Information)
rates the games on their content. The Video Standard Council website says “From the summer of 2012 the PEGI system
has been effectively incorporated into UK law and the VSC has been designated as the body responsible for the age
rating of video games under the PEGI system. Video games will be age rated at one or other of the following age
levels.”
Age ratings 3 and 7 are advisory only whereas age ratings of 12, 16 and 18 are mandatory ages and it is illegal to sell
anyone under these ages to sell them again of one of these age ratings.
Gears of War 3 has the age rating 18. The Video Standard Council website says “This adult rating is applied when
the level of violence reaches a stage where it becomes gross violence and/or includes elements of specific types
of violence. In general terms it is where the level of violence is so visually strong that it would make the
reasonable viewer react with a sense of revulsion.” This applies to Gears of War 3 as the violence in the game is so
graphic and extreme that it could not have any age rating less than 18.
The descriptors for Gears of War 3 are: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language. This is an indication of
the contents of the game and what to expect when playing it.