Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Violence in Video Games

Violence in Video Games.

Violence in video games has been a controversial subject ever since it was seen in video games.

More than 200 Academics have signed a letter criticising new research that suggests a link between violent video games and aggression.
(The Findings were released by an American Psychological Association).
The Researcher concluded while there was "No Single risk factor" to blame for aggression the research shown that violent video games had some to contribute to aggression.
It is said if you play for 3 hours on a game with violence you may become pumped but, research doesn't suggest that you will go out and commit a crime.

Violent video games is often cited as a factor in motivating shockingly violent youth crimes such as high school shootings.
It is said that the student who carried out the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 used a gun which he called "Arlene" Allegedly after a character in a novel inspired by the game "Doom".
However, this isn't a strong enough subject to be against video games as most people who play graphically violent video games such as Mortal Kombat, did not resort to violence or crime. 
The Content should be, and is, regulated to ensure children and minors do not play inappropriate material, which in turn isn't the games fault if a minor plays the game.

The age restriction allowed games back then to release more graphical content without being blamed for a crime, as most crimes that were committed by minors were blaming Video games it was a good idea to make the game with violence be for adults only. As it was unlikely that a grown man/woman would commit a crime based around a video game, the age restriction behaved like a age restriction for an adult movie, books or TV shows etc.
This suddenly back fired on parents in court as it was and is illegal for your child to play a game under the age restriction.
Due to many protests many gaming companies such as "RockStar" had to go court. As many developers wished not to be involved, violence in video games became more unlikely. This made the games such as GTA and Mortal Kombat standout to the crowd. These games were huge hits and today are even more violent with realistic art as its style.

A task-force said more research was now needed to establish whether violent games did lead to violent criminal behaviours.
However, the group of 230 academics from universities around the world wrote in its open letter to the APA youth violence in the US and around the world was currently "at a 40-year low".
The decline in societal violence is in conflict with claims that violent video games are important public health concerns.
Dr Andrew Pryzbylski said he focused on motives of people who played electronic games and which he found that players had a psychological need to come out on top when playing.
It is said that players can become aggressive when playing video games however, the need to master the game was more significant in the research.

In Europe, games are given age-related ratings in accordance with the Pan-European Game Information (Pegi) System.
 There are five age ratings (3,7,12,16 and 18).
A Pegi 18 certificate may contain scenes of "Gross violence". Which is the most difficult to define since it can be very subjective in many cases, yet in general terms it can be classed as the depictions of violence that would make the viewer feel a sense of revulsion. (Says a Website).
Dr Coulson suggests " its kind of putting forward a solution to a problem I dont think exists".
As many minors would ignore this law, and parents not usually on top with what there child plays, this would be seen as a law that is useless. However companies are aware that people will buy their games underage as its not forced in law as much, instead the companies use this as a way to protect there content by making only a selected age group to play.

The APA taskforce used meta-analysis - combining the results of studies in order to look for patterns and correlations, rather than carrying out new research itself. Many people criticised the experiment as other correlations sometimes had other explanations. For example, a boy is more likely to play a video game than a girl, but they were also more likely to be aggressive in general.
Other experts such as Dr Coulson cautioned the work included in the study that may not have been a subject to peer review.

For many parents they are little more than the source of our children's tantrums. feet-stomping and long periods of hibernation in stuffy rooms behind locked doors may seem bad, however a new study revealed that fast-paced action games turn us into faster and better decision makers.
Scientists at University of Rochester in New York conducted a series of tests on dozens of 18-25 year old. who were not ordinarily video gamers, splitting them into two groups, the first was given an action game and a unreal Tournament. The second group were given a more sedate game such as sims 2. After 50 hours of playing a test was made. People who played the action game answered 25 percent faster than their counter parts. They also answered just as many questions correctly as their strategy game-playing peers did.
The same team also detected last year, that action games enhanced our ability to see in the dark by improving the eyes ability to detect contrast.

Audience Research:

Hypodermic Needle Model:
Implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. The theory suggest that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly using desired design.

Gratification theory
Focuses on why and how people actively seek out media products.

Arousal
Playing video games to stimulate emotions as a result of fast action and high quality graphics.

Challenge
Many people that play video games like to challenge themselves to feel a personal accomplishment.

Competition
One of most frequently cited reasons for playing video games, to determine who is best and has better skills.

Diversion
Can be used to avoid stress, fill time, relax etc.

Fantasy
 Video games allow players to do things that they wouldn't be able to do in reality.

Social Interaction
Gaming brings social interaction, as many people feel they need to be cool by getting the latest game or mod.

Passive or active consumption.
When a audience doesn't engage or question the games message/story but just accepts it. An active consumption is when the audience will engage and discuss what the game portrays.

Responses:

Participatory
When the audience can join and be part of the story.

Cultural competence
Games and other media need us to have a certain degree of cultural understanding for us to be able to interpret them. I.e. reading the language in a letter or a sign or symbol.

Fan Culture
Where an audience takes an active role in the creation of media that is based on an existing product. i.e. a mod.

Negotiated
When the reader accepts what the game is showing them but may modify it in their mind, which would reflect their own interests and experiences.

Preferred
When a player understands the message being shown by the game and agrees with it.

Oppositional
When a reader understands the games viewpoint or story that the developer is portraying, yet rejects it and has a alternative idea/view.

Effects debate:

First-person shooters
They maybe angrily condemned by critics as violent, but first-person shoots are the games that are most likely to improve reaction time and eyesight. The frenetic pace of such games encourage the brain to make faster and more accurate decisions.

Role-playing games (RPGs)  
Relaxing and wholly immersive, these games maybe addictive but do little aid reaction times and decision-making, researches found.

Brain-training games
Manufacturers are increasingly marketing "brain-exercising" games at the adult market. Earlier this year, however, a test of 11,500 members of the public failed to find any improvement in mental performance after people regularly used brain-training games. 

(Concerns such as excess playing time.)
There are a lot of health problems with playing games for long periods of time without breaks, some games even offer suggestions to take a break after a hours game play and repeat the warnings.
 This can create depression and anxiety and ignoring responsibilities. Time that has spent on gaming can affect the activities that are fundamental to their physical, social and intellectual development.
Addiction is a severe problem in Asian countries such as China and Korea.
Image result for concerns such as excess playing time

(Social isolation)
Social isolation is when a player spends more time on games than in the real world. This can cause huge problems that can end in extreme ways if its not handled. People that are addicted to playing video games for a long time can create a addiction, which can be severe in some cases. The higher the addiction the less likely they are to have good social skills.


(Cost)
All video games come with a price to either buy the product or to later pay in the game. Most games now a days like the idea of making you pay for it, then showing you exclusive deals you can get, for example: DLCs, game extensions, weapons. Some games are made to be that impossible to beat you would likely have to buy the products its recommending.
Theirs another way games produce money and that's the things the game requires for example:
Kinect, microphone, live, console, controller etc...
Phones especially are giving out free games that have ads that pop up and other mission which you have to unlock by a very high level or some money.

(Separation from reality) 
Separation from reality is when the player doesn't know what's the real world, this usually happens to those that are addicted to gaming. These people will not interact with anyone and can be dangerous depending on how bad their addiction is. Which can result in tragic endings.
 Some examples of this are games that include things such as, stealing cars, racing, violence and even murder. An example of this is the game "Manhunt" in which you play a character in a strange and dangerous situations, this was also related to a murder in the UK after someone playing the game was claimed to be obsessed with the game.
Image result for separation of reality games

Benefits (hand-eye coordination, brain training)
A growing body of research indicates that playing first-person action games, particularly shooters, improves brain function. Studies cited by Scientific American Mind found that players who played shooters often fared better in tests of abilities such as spatial reasoning, spatial focus, visual acuity and decision-making.
Games can help the brain improve with English and Maths though simple objectives, a good game which is a good example for helping you with English is "The typing of the dead", which makes you have to type certain words to kill the zombies (18+)

(Thinking and strategy skills)
A new British study finds that some video games can help to train the brain to become more agile and improve strategic thinking.
From biological and chemical  research doctor said
"Previous research has demonstrated that action video games, such as Halo, can speed up decision making but the current work finds that real-time strategy games can promote our ability to think on the fly and learn from past mistakes,"
Strategy games such as war games were the player has to think of a strategy to play the game help players develop thinking skills. Instead of actually controlling the player through a game time needs to be taken to make the correct decision to guide the main game playing character through the game

(Future impact)
Their are positives and negatives when playing video games for sometime.
The positives is that:
gaming has seen benefits for hand-eye coordination in various sectors. Some reports say that surgeons who play games have become more skilled after they have practiced gaming over a period of time. Other simulation games such as pilot or driving games have advanced so far recently that virtual environments are used to train pilots and drivers.
 Specific brain training games have been developed in a range of subject areas so that hand held consoles can be used as brain training games. It is thought that by giving players challenge and fun activities in game format that they are challenged using a platform that they are used to and find learning more enjoyable.
Image result for games future impacts

(Impact on 'mainstream' application development)
Game development is constantly requiring more advanced hardware, an example of this is the iPhone gyroscope shown below.
iPhone gyroscope link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGzjnZsQc7M
Its shows it from different angles as if you where inside the game and physically looking round, by using things such eyefinity we are tying to immerse ourselves in the game more.
 Game development is progressing rapidly and are producing more games with high quality.

(Sound)
Sounds in games are used to give off different emotions, to make the feeling of the games atmosphere come out. Sound is very important to make the game seem funny or scary.
Their are two different types of sounds:
Non-linear sounds which is a sound from a living thing or a instrument, the sounds can change depending on how the noise is edited.
Non-linear sounds are used in a load of different types of horror games:
Silent Hill, Resident Evil and F.E.A.R
These games are great examples of making dramatic sound affects.

(High score listings)
High score listings on games are very important if the game wants people to still play their game when its getting popular. People fight to become first place or in the top ten in most games which makes the games make a good amount of money, this is annoying for players yet will keep them playing the game.
Making a high scores available in games make players want to continue playing and to beat others while their at it. This boosts the players confidence and also makes the player like the game. 
In fact, this so-called “big-fish-little-pond Effect” which proves that game designers want people to feel better on a higher rank.
Image result for high score games

(Competitive games)
Most games are competitive which makes players want to show you their skills yet wanting to win. In these games for example call of duty, Borderlands, Skyrim, Star craft 2 are all games that compete in different ways, to levelling up to having the best gear to completing the game or even having the highest kills at the end of the game.
Everyone likes to seem to be better than their friends when something they enjoy is on. Competitive games are very good at selling as their target audience is huge. 

(Peer pressure)
Peer pressure is found to be a case for most games to be sold, this can come from your friends that want you to get it so they can play with you or it can be the business which wants you to buy it. For example GTA 5 was said to be a great game from the company Rockstar which advertised the game greatly which made people want to buy it, it also gave out an online few weeks after which made even more people buy it as the company Rockstar had shown things that most people would want to play online with friends, which results into peer pressure from friends and family.
Image result for are people peer pressured in playing games

(Fun)
Every gamer plays a game because its fun, their are a range of different types of games which will have your type of game in it. Every game is aimed at a certain target audience to horror or adventure everyone plays a game because its enjoyable and its something that they like. We enjoy video games the most when we share similarities with the characters we play as which a new study has found. More generally, we love video games because they're the best way to try out characteristics we'd like to have, or they allow us to try on different hats, a study from Essex University has found. Gaming is also fun for those that find it hard to socialize with people, which makes them feel more confident when playing a game or behind a screen.

My survey results
I asked 10 different confirming my audience and questions surrounding Violence in video games.

This Survey has more male responses, which would be took in consideration in the conclusion. This is to get a basic idea on what type of person has answered the questions.
This shows that the audience i'm asking is mainly above 18 but with some people younger also taking part. By asking this question i'm aware on what age range i'm getting answers from

With 61% responding with 10 to 12 we know that the audience were past gamers and may still be gamers. It also gives us an idea on where they started gaming and how long they have continued the cycle.
The average hour of play time a week between 20 people is 21 hours showing that these aren't casual gamers.
Making any statements/opinions about video games more valid. 
With many people saying yes, they explain that the idea to compete with other people with skill can feel like an achievement and stops the game from feeling dull. 
One or two people said they prefer relaxing/casual games as they dont have to work so hard.
The responses were close to being even but with "shoot 'em ups" was the top selected. 
Other was the lowest pick following horror.
This gives us the idea on what the audience likes to play and where the violence is scene in those genres.
85% said yes to being frustrated when playing video games, research suggests that many things in life can be frustrating and wouldn't result into violence and so why would video games be an exception.
Most people responded with no (55%), however the answer yes was not far behind (45%).
This has been the topic of discussion when violence in video games are involved. Some responded that it can affect people with already bad mental issues.  
Many said no, the people that responded with yes was only shocked rather than distress about the violent scene. Suggesting that many gamers are now use to violence (Bad Point-Against gaming magazine) however as its close to being even, the point doesn't really matter.
 Research suggests that if person has played a violent game then watches a violent scene, they a more likely to not be distressed, rather than people playing a fun happy game, which would make them feel distress when watching the scene.
My research supports that claim however, it doesn't cause everyone to act the same.
All had a good response to their feelings about video games as they think it can make a game seem more realistic/interesting, others suggest it stops the game from being dull. Little suggested that violence is okay but needs to be put down a little in some cases, such as Mortal Kombat. In my opinion violence in video games shouldn't affect you and the player should know the difference between the game world and reality.

Conclusion.
By the research I made and the final results of my survey, my conclusion is that playing violent video games do not push people to commit crimes. Due to the research against violent video games not giving actual relevant results and not being able to confirm that violent video games are bad makes the argument weak. An expert explains that the violent video games do contribute to aggression however, this contribute would not be enough for them to commit murder or a crime. Movies and games that have no violence can still contribute to aggression, and yet video games are blamed. As its proven that first-person shooters are good for you, as it makes your eyesight better in the dark and makes you respond quicker proves that the games are better for you than actually bad for you. When social isolation is involved the game in my eyes is not the problem its the person playing. It is said playing for too long can cause problems which is correct, however, so does anything with a bright light i.e. a TV or tablet etc.
My survey result backups my conclusion of my research as many other people agree that video games do not make them angry or violent and that they dont mind the violence if it suits the games style. If anything violence in video games can make it better (Said someone).
Overall I think that violence in video games do not effect your mentality.

Object-Oriented Design Assignment Task 1

Object-Oriented Design Assignment Task 1

Concepts and Principles:

Simplified Understanding.
Blueprints can be confusing and messy at times which is why simplifying the blueprints with titles usually work best. 
An example would be a moving character or object. The blueprint may have many connections and names that may not seem to do with the properties, however simplifying what the blueprints do, would make editing and finding them easier. This could save you from removing something important accidentally or editing it the wrong way.
It basically just to make your blueprints and work more organised. An example of what a simplified blueprint, "Opens door" this names the action of the blueprint and makes it easy to understand what the blueprint does.

Reusability.
Reliability is basically reusing an object again, an example of this would be a plant. A plant would very likely be seen in a game more than once because their are many same type of plants in the world. Being able to make multiple of the same object makes it easier to design and makes the overall design progress quicker. Items such as grass or trees would need to be reused as the designer wouldn't need to make more of the same type of object if they already have one. Reusing an object is similar to the Parent object as the behaviour and properties will be transferred as its a duplicate if they wanted. Reusability is a big thing as it saves time creating other similar objects, it would also be seen as a waste if the object was only going to be used once, for everything.

Maintenance.
Maintenance is used to clean, debug, fix and to make the game 100% efficiency when running. 
This is when the game will be fixed or changed in order to make it better.
An example would be if a character or object had a error when animation or blueprints are involved. This is the time when the designer will fix it by changing it.
Maintenance can be seen on already released games in order to make a update, this could be to fix bugs or add/remove objects to the game. This is needed for games as frequent updates are important to keep the public interested and to keep the game fair.
The cost of regular maintenance is very low, however a break down would cost much more to fix and would cost the business money due to the game being down, which is why games are regularly checked.

Efficiency.
This is important to the make sure that code isn't going to be to large. Their is many ways on making blueprints for the objects properties or behaviours. Making sure that the blueprints that you create are as short as possible and not confusing it will make editing them later on easier to understand. Maintenance would be much faster if the blueprints created for the game was simple and didn't require many scripts. 

   Real world modeling.
Real world modeling is basically realistic collisions and modeling. When designing most games would make the object solid so that the player cannot go through it, however some games are made to allow the player to go through objects, but its a low amount. Realistically speaking a person wouldn't be able to walk through a brick wall or a pole, so the objects will be have the same properties of being solid. Another example is weather, if it was sunny it would need to cast a shadow to buildings and other objects facing it. Rain would require either a splash on other water created i.e. a river and would also need to make it look like its doing some affect towards the environment so maybe a damp floor or puddles.

Collaboration and sharing
Collaborating and sharing makes games better, having people that work with you and even the public can improve the game a lot. As may people have great ideas and expand on what other peoples ideas can make the game even better. When a large amount of people think the same thing can make the difference of a game that will last for a year in the public eyes to a very long time.

Communication.
Game developers believe that communication is a big thing in games and that without access to other people games can become dull. Testers and the public are great people to get help from and recommendations. If a game had no communication to the users the game wouldn't be able to fix itself to become better and they wouldn't be aware of any errors.

Quality assurance.

Quality assurance technicians, or testers, perform a vital role. They test, tune, debug and suggest the detailed refinements that ensure the quality and play-ability of the finished game. 

Game Objects:

Sprites:
These are 2D objects that a 2D game would use. This can be a simple object like a box or a character.

Characters:
The character is what the player will play as. Characters in video games are people in the story that will either talk to you or interact with you in someway.

Weapons:
Weapons are used to kill either the players character or the enemy. These can be collectables or hidden objects. Some games like to make adjustments to their weapons that make it more powerful "Electric". Weapons can usually be picked up or bought in games, usually the location and cost will determine how rare the weapon is.
Some weapons are objectives which you need in order to finish a mission or little objective i.e. a pistol needed to be picked up so that you can fight the boss on the next level.
Rooms:
Most games are made in sections called rooms (levels). This is to make the game run at its best quality without lagging or bugging out. When a loading screen appears its due to it loading up a room that wasn't in previous room (level). for example, a house. The building might be in a level however if you enter it and it loads, the blueprint would move you to the house you think you just entered. This is also useful if maintenance is needed. This can make the game able to be ran in some ways without it stopping it completely.

Walls:
All games have walls that can stop the character/AI from reaching. The walls are usually found on the outside of the map. There is usually another wall that is usually called a death wall which can kill anyone that falls out of the map or access to an unwanted area. Walls determine where characters/players are allowed to go and where they aren't allowed.
Scenery:
This is the background of the level that is usually mountains or a river of some sort. This is to add depth and make the environment seem more realistic as it looks larger. Usually fog or some type of weather is involved to add a good affect such as a sun set.

Instances:
Is an example of a single occurrence of something.
An example would be a gate that opens and then no more action takes place. These usually occurs when an object will fall or a window if broken, the actions wouldn't be able to be seen again unless the game was made to do that
Rewards:
Collectables and bonus missions are usually the main ways to get rewards in order to get things such as power ups etc. Rewards are one of the main reasons for people to play games, if that's to get a powerful weapon or to unlock a secret area. Without rewards most games wouldn't be played. Rewarding could be giving you something as little as a profile picture, or an achievement. People that like to get everything from their games will focus on what they can achieve by doing something in the game.

Object Properties:

Colour:
Colours can show that you are interacting with an object, such as damaging an enemies can make their health bar go red, indicating that the enemy is taking damage. This can also be used make objects standout such as collectables, as it would be much easier to see from a distance if its bright.
Certain colours can indicate danger or other things, such as a red colour usually is to indicate that some one is taking damage. Green can show that an objective is complete, yellow could show you are in progress of a mission or that you have taken some damage.

Size:
The size of objects depend on what the object is going to be used for. Usually the objects are realistic size. Stronger enemies such as bosses will be larger and would normally have weak points to hit.
Other weaker enemies will be smaller to make the health understandable.

Speed:

When a moving object is created speed is a key factor. If a enemy is faster than the character the designer would expect the player to fight rather than run away. Another example would be the clouds and wind this would need movement but it would have to be slow in order to make it look realistic. Certain objects such as barrels and balls, if they were to collide with the player the ball would roll much quicker than the barrel.

Movement:
This is how a character or object can move, for example in my game the enemy clown will have the ability to run and walk depending on the alert level. Some enemies can only walk or craw there way around. Other games way have a flying movement which can be useful when going over none walk able terrain. The player will usually be able to use two different keys for two different movements.
This is to make the game more interesting and also to make it easy to get around.

Sounds:
Sounds will be basically used to make the atmosphere to add emotion the game and player. This can be from the wind and rain from the weather outside, to your weapon shooting. Without sound the game would be seen as boring and will not have much personality. Many games use sound to make their games add the atmosphere that they want .i.e. a horror would require sounds that are creepy and loud at times, removing sound from a horror may not stop it from being scary, however it may make most of the scary parts of the game much less scary.

Health:

Health is usually seen in a bar that is basically showing how much health that object has. Most games like to add health packs in order to have a fair fight with enemies that have much larger health pool.
Health for characters will depend on how strong they are either on appearance or how important they are in the story. Bosses are very likely to have the most health in the game to make it challenging. 

Lives:

Lives depend on the game. Usually platforms will have heart symbols as their lives and every time they are hit, a live is lost. Some games such as free for all, usually only allow you to spawn once every round as a way to make the game mode interesting. Lives is the amount of times a player can respawn and depending on the game some will be unlimited in order to make allow you to continue to play the game. Platforms such as Mario only allow a certain amount of fails until the player has to restart from the beginning.
Action and events:

Mouse and Keyboard events:
This is the controller which a character object will be controlled by using keys. An example "WASD" would be used to make the character move and the "Spacebar" would be used to make the character jump and so on. This is important as its how the game decides to play and without some type of control the game wouldn't be able to be run
The mouse is usually the camera view from first-person/Third Person, it controls where the player wants to look at and what angle.

Create:
These are what objects are created.
These are usually made using Maya or some other software that offers quality work. Then imported into Unreal and placed into an area.
Textures can be created using similar softwares such as Photoshop or Illustrator. When designing UVs is a must when adding it to a created object or it wont fit.

Destroy:
This is when an object is destroyed. An example would be an enemy being killed by the players bullet or melee weapon. This can also be used on objects that don't have much function such as a barrel or a glass.
Depending on the game it can depend on how much objects can be destroyed. Some games allow you to destroy most objects which is one of their main design choices, others choose more of a less "destroy" root which only objects such as windows can be destroyed.

Collision:

This is when a character and object collide with each other and react in someway. Usually most games will make objects solid and stop the character from colliding with the object, this is to make it more realistic and stop them from entering an unwanted area. Some objects may move or open when you collide with them i.e. a chest or door, these are classic examples of what a lot of designers do to save time designing blueprints and animation.

Timers:
Usually this is used for games that want quick and fast paste. i.e. Racing games and platforms are usually the main example for this. This is to make you try your best and to hurry, which makes the player have similar feelings to the character of the game.
It can also be used a couple of times in games that don't use them heavily i.e. Cod. When a mission involves running away before a bomb activates or before someone dies this can bring more tension to the game and make it more realistic rather than have forever on that one mission, when realistically you would have hardly any time.

Scoring:
Scoring will depend on the game, some games reward you by using them as credits others use it for you to see how good you are to others in the world "Leaderboards" This is usually a big factor that most gamers would want good scores to show off their skills. People also like having the idea on where they are ranked in the world which is why scoring takes a big place in the gaming industry.
Most mobile games see scores as a main objective and even stop you from progressing if you dont have enough points. Others like to compete with their friends so its a must for most developers when thinking about a competitive game. Games that aren't competitive may still have a scoring system but its more unlikely.

Inheritance:

Parent:
The parent is the primary object that will be re-used in order to make a child object.
An example would be an enemy boss. As most enemies would need to have the function to walk and behave in a certain way this would mean that an easier way of creating them would be to have a parent object to inherit from. This saves time and makes it easier to find the original object which makes it easier to navigate in the blueprints. 
This is basically reusing an object, but allowing the "parent" as the main controller for the child objects.

Child:
The child is the object that has been created using the parent.
Child objects are usually the objects that the designer wants to add or remove actions towards, allowing an object to be stronger,weaker or even a different type of mesh would be why a child would be created. 
An example would be a unimportant enemy. As most games would need multiple "bad guys" the easier way would be to create child objects using a parent. This would make the object have the same properties and behaviours as the parent.
Child objects can find their parent by the menu, this is used if the designer wants to copy something over or want to remove the bond to the parent.

Inherited behaviours and properties:
The child object inherits the behaviours and properties that the parent has. Having parent objects saves time and allows more similar objects to behave the same. An example would be a breakable barrel. I may want other breakable objects, so using the barrel as a parent would allow other objects such as glass to behave the same way. This makes creating properties easier for objects. Another example of a behaviour would be a door, most doors would need to be opened in a similar way which is why most doors will be the same object (child). This saves time blueprinting and gives a better feel for the game if the doors are opened and shut the same way. Sounds can also be inherited i.e. if a collectable was collected or a clue all items would need the same properties of sound and to be picked up. If all collectables had different sounds most likely it would be because of how rare they are, which in most cases isn't the case.

Overriding events:
Overriding an event can either make the object know your intentions on what you want the object to behave like, or it will make the object change depending on what event is changed.
An example of Overriding an event would be if a character had fell from a none-death zone area that would make the character continuously fall, this would have to override the event to make the player die so that the player could restart. You can also override colours, if an action happens such as the character or object being harmed the object could lose its colour or go bright to show you are interacting with the object. 
Overriding is basically changing a property or behaviour of an object if a action takes place such as, if a clown is shot the nose will go brighter until the object it destroyed. This is used to make the player aware that they are doing something right and that they are interacting with the object