Take Home

When I first signed up for this course, I knew there was a lot I could learn but I also knew that the content was not one that I was particularly keen. Here is what I knew about videogames:

• trivial
• child's play
• pass-time
• not for me

16 weeks later, there is so much more that I know I will take away from this course. I am mortified by by ignorance early on.

For one thing, I was happy with the text, The Procedural Power of Videogames. It was intriguing to learn that there is a rhetorical dimension to videogames. Who knew? And why not given the persuasive nature of videogames, right? 

I wasn't certain there was such a thing as the rhetoric of videogames. I was therefore surprised that I learned to form associations between games and the experiences created for gamers. That aspect certainly allows me now to understand my son's enthusiasm for videogames. I can talk with him intelligently about his greatest passion--videogames. I can interrogate the games he asks me to buy him based on such design decisions that include:

• for whom is the game designed 
  
• what was the intent, 
  
• how does it relate to other trends in the media, 

I can also interrogate the rhetorical triangle: ethos (designers' credibility), pathos (how does it appeal to audience emotions and their reaction), logos,(technical implementation and game mechanics). This rhetoric, straight from the mouth of Aristotle ceases to be a foreign-outdated concept. Who knows, I can introduce my children to the concept of rhetoric early on. As Aristotle put it, rhetoric is useful in making decisions where true knowledge is not available. Rhetoric is also about discovery and is particular to any given case. As we can tell from the array of videogames, game creators employ a lot of inventiveness in order to discover the means through which they can convey the experiences they wish to share. They also have to think through the specific moves, the tasks and challenges, and, perhaps the end result. They'd then write the code and infuse it with procedurality.

It's always amazing to me when theory and practice come together, and if it is demonstrated in this manner, it's solidified all the more for me.

One thing that stands out for me is the day we read about Advergames and product placement. That same day the media carried the story that  the Obama campaign was placing political ads in videogames. While I was familiar with the concept of product placement in movies, in reality shows, etc, I was not aware that it took place in videogames. Apparently, this marked the first time such a feat had been accomplished.

I learned that what happens in virtual worlds mirrors real-life; that's where the attraction to gaming is. 

Video games and art

Video games are interactive forms of entertainment that utilize engineering processes, which means that the software and artwork recorded are what make up the art component. But doesn't that interactive aspect render them anything, but art?

The concept of computer/videogames as art is problematic because art is thought of as being representational. So the question would be, what do videogames represent? Sculpting and painting, for example, represent people, objects, people, except abstract art is more representative of artists' mindsets or an expression of their thought process, perhaps.

Interaction by necessity interrupts the narrative and impedes the flow of information from author to gamer. Videogames can have themes, just like literature, paintings, through simulations. For videogames to be considered art, they should contain aesthetics; we must be able to assess their artistic merit in terms of design, role play, simulation, visuals, etc, and how all these things work together, just like we do movies and literature.

"Ultimately, whether or not interactive entertainment can be a legitimate art form is up to us. We’ll have to put out a lot of PR material, to let the public and the press know that we ourselves believe that what we do is an art form" (263).

video games and art

Video game art speaks of video games produced as art; art as in literature, as in film. They are a source of inspiration and a source of material for artists, who use videogame art to create even more games. Love them or hate them, videogames are now entrenched in our culture, and, more importantly are a multi-billion dollar industry. But can video games legitimately be called art? Mitchell and Clarke think so. While videogames boast richer and more realistic graphics, but I doubt that I can equate them with, say, film and literature, which are wholly dependent of the control of the producer author, respectively, rather than the gamer.

Is getting lost in a fantasy world all that there is to the gaming experience? Is there an art, or even a language of videogames significantly different from fine art, literature, and cinema/film, respectively?

What's up with creating videogames based on, say, blockbusters? So you watch Alvin and the Chipmunks in the theater and then before you know it you are playing it in a videogame, do you get a sense of newness or do you feel that it is a remix or revisioning or worse, recycling all so that a gamer can gain or feel a sense of control.

For the most part, games pander to gamers fantasies: physical looks, agility, prowess, --in a word-mindless! All these aspects are not typical of life or even of movie-like art, which embraces comedy, tragedy, life, loss, gain--the essence of life. In that sense, videogames are not quite art.

Perhaps it's all about what the definition of art and its understanding is across the board. Whatever the case may be, Art seeks to lead you to an inevitable conclusion, not a range of choices.

I don't know; is this art?



Still, the claim to art by videogames is centered around intervention and interaction.

The Purpose of rhetoric

How do we know when we've persuaded someone? I am thinking specifically about video games that make explicit arguments about violence and representation....what happens if a game is not successful in persuading every gamer.

Is engaging with processes a useful way of understanding the real-world phenomena that they represent?

I wonder if there is supplemental theoretical literature out there that might lend credence to the idea that personal engagement is important in persuasion.

Are there known instances of gamers changing their mind or behavior after playing a game?





Procedural rhetoric is persuasion through the procedures of the game.
It emphasizes the breakdown between the game and the user

Values and Aspirations

While political video games' agenda advances the action of existing/proposed public agenda, educational video games "advance the function of conceptual systems" (264).

Users can learn values that they can use in real life. Take the example of real estate investments as a way of creating wealth as opposed to saving money in the bank--a useful skill. The downside is the materialism that comes with creating wealth as demonstrated in games such as Animal Crossing. I suppose the point here is just as in the real world, so are video games--materialism. The fact is, though, that capital and finances is a much needed literacy; one that adults grapple with and for which they seek out knowledge workers.

The point is that video games can teach values and aspirations that are valued by the society. Users can learn the ideology behind certain tasks. As well, they learn to submit to the logic and value the structure of the workplace. This is how procedural rhetoric in video games opens up spaces of critical contemplation.

I liked his discussion on schooling and education on p262

From a meeting of minds

Randy: Hello Room
alicia: hi gamers
josue: wazuuuup!
Sergio Figueiredo: so... about educational video games
Sergio Figueiredo: what are they?
josue: great segue
Randy: yeah...
Sergio Figueiredo: so what is the difference between video game learning and digital based learning?
josue: procedural rhetorics?
alicia: yes, josue
josue: sans (s)
Sergio Figueiredo: it seems that procedural rhet has to do with all technology
Sergio Figueiredo: does that seem right?
Randy: How abotu Digital Game Based Learning? Didn;t this chapter remind you of Prensky?
josue: agreed
Sergio Figueiredo: who is that?
alicia: it did me, randy
Randy: Mark Prensky - Digital Games based Learning
josue: what is the argument?
Randy: here's a link to his site: http://www.twitchspeed.com/
josue: oooo nice site!
Sergio Figueiredo: Josie just said that"vg" sounds like a disease
alicia: that games have taken on a connotation as being *only* associated with entertainment, but that you can NOT ONLY learn through a game, but possibly learn BETTER than if the same info was delivered in a non-game medium
alicia: that's Prensky's thesis
josue: this reminds me of the same credibility checks that other media have had to endure and finally overcome
Randy: Presnky's big claim - as I remember it - is that learnign shoudl be FUN!!!
Sergio Figueiredo: some dude named Daniel has something like that in 75 called INFOTAINMENT
Sergio Figueiredo: sounds oddly like EDUTAINMENT
Randy: hmmm
alicia: and, in fact, that people have been learning through games (c.f. the games Presky has on his site) all along, so we shouldn't be squeamish about bringing games into the classroom and into business
josue: the difference is that you can really leran thu videogames, while other media present more of a content based learning
anastasi: what about reinforcement theory?
alicia: i think "edutainment" is a word prensky uses, actually
josue: or at least the possibility is there
josue: that's an awful word
Sergio Figueiredo: ok, i get that, but what is Bogost adding to the conversation?
alicia: yes, games present really powerful reinforcers---perhaps at the procedural level
josue: edutainment looks, at first glance, like "adult entertainment!
anastasi: It must have something to do with the intellect, based on Maria Montessori's approach.
Sergio Figueiredo: like the XXX industry
josue: yes
Randy: Wasn;t that Vin Deisel?
josue: and yes
Sergio Figueiredo: haha
josue: and no
Randy: or is that a professional wressler? XXX?
Sergio Figueiredo: that was Ron Mexico
josue: he does add a convincing argument against both behaviorist and constructivist approaches
anastasi: he says Videogames "cultivate higher order thinking skills. Like which ones?
josue: which I think needs to be kept alive
josue: um.....
alicia: like planning
josue: planning?
alicia: that's like, totally, a higher order activity
josue: what do you mean by "planning?"
alicia: like, with the McVideo game
Randy: does that have to do with rules and strategy?
alicia: ok, so what i really meant was strategy
Randy: i see
josue: you are smart Randy
Sergio Figueiredo: which seems like procedures, right?
Randy: exactly...
anastasi: does it have to do with situated meanings, and embodied learning conected to 'particular" worlds and relationships (241)?
Sergio Figueiredo: then, what doe we think of what bogost says at the end: "videogames develop procedural LITERACY"?
Sergio Figueiredo: is isn't a literacy if it is visual... it is a visualicity
josue: i don't like his use of literacy though
Sergio Figueiredo: i agree
Randy: Well I think Bogost is getting at the fact that this "literacy"...
Randy: is developed as a sort of co-creation...
josue: we have had the same arguments about visual literacy, or media literacy
anastasi: there is something about semiotic domains (243) that speaks to embodied experience
Randy: between the designer, game (procedures) and the user's interaction.
josue: but is this a literacy?
Sergio Figueiredo: i don't think so... i think it is a seeing
Sergio Figueiredo: a "see-icity"?
josue: a voyeaurism?
alicia: *ahem* "videogame players develop procedural literacy through interacting with the abstract models of specific real or imagined processes presented in the games they play. Videogames teach BAISSED presepctives about how things work. AND THE WAY THEY TEACH SUCH PERSPECTIVES IS THROUGH PROCEDURAL RHETORICS" (260)
Sergio Figueiredo: yes, i am looking at your body ... in the game... as my fetish
alicia: so, procedural rhetorics make all the difference
anastasi: I think it is literacy in as far as the learned experiences go, don't you?
Randy: good question, much like the question as to whether "procedural rhetorics" is acutally a new rhetoric?
alicia: New Rhetoric
Randy: NeuvoRhetorica
Sergio Figueiredo: a New Rhetoric, like a New Criticism?
Randy: NeoRhetoricus
josue: maybe not new, but perhapsrehabilitated
alicia: as amanda said, "i think anything with 'new' before it as an adjactive is inherently NOT new"
Sergio Figueiredo: What about a Player Response theory, rather than a Reader Response theory?
josue: you'd have to
Randy: now you're onto something!!
josue: have one
Randy: Let's get Katz on the Guitar!
josue: Bogost does discuss this somewhat in regards to the Playmobil toys
Sergio Figueiredo: so this seems like a game, interwining conversations, and trying to keep up with them.... the procedure is all over the place and we are still learning and developing new though
alicia: dudes -- can games be "read" like texts??
Sergio Figueiredo: this doesn't fit in to his Procedural Rhetoric
Randy: Can we consider the "game" or "toy" a text? What happens with Playmobil in this way
josue: that you must play by the rules to break the rules
josue: NOOOOOO!!!!!!
alicia: if so, then there could be a Player response theory
Sergio Figueiredo: can we read movies josh?
josue: j/k you can
Sergio Figueiredo: aren't VGs the new movies?
Sergio Figueiredo: YES!!
josue: if you want to be phallologocentrist
Randy: hmmm - so the interaction in games - or with Legos - is a kinfd of writing?
josue: VGs are the new movies, and movies are the new VGs
anastasi: My question is: are we all capable of writing processes, esp in as far as writing computer programs
alicia: the playmobil thing is weird....i didn't think there were rules to playing with those toys
alicia: since they're TOYS and all
alicia: and, you know, toys sans rules
josue: Playmobil has rules, as far as the themes of the particular set - like procedures in VGs
Sergio Figueiredo: is it writing though? It seems that bogost is arguing that it is a creating.... creating a world, a culture and through that culture is where we learn through procedural rhet.
alicia: how does theme = rule?
Randy: BUT... with Playmobil you can"leave" the area of play - unlike the hard rules of procedural rhetoric, right?
alicia: maybe not, randy. paradigms are all around us.
Randy: I mean, you could put your playmobil toys in the toilet and flush...
josue: it doesn't, in any strict sense of the word. but it does encourage a certain way to play and make connections, which of course are then subverted.
Sergio Figueiredo: is the computer, then, a black bod?
Sergio Figueiredo: box*
josue: sexxxy
Randy: ah - so i see - I have left the non-toilet paradigm for the toileet paradigm
Randy: hmmm
josue: are you designing a toilet in 2L or something Randy?
Randy: not me - that seems an ambitious project
Sergio Figueiredo: just make it a portal... to the clemson experiemental island
alicia: so, is procedural rhetoric ultimately a form of brainwashing?
josue: LOL
josue: wow, that's a srong word...
josue: lemmee see
alicia: i know it was
alicia: maybe explain to me how it's NOT
Sergio Figueiredo: i don't think so if the game has some allowances, like GTA 4
anastasi: I get it; procedural literacy is about understanding the logic underpinning the behavior see page 258
josue: no, it is a orm of play, in a very post-structuralist sense of the word play.
Randy: i don;t think i would call it that, but after playing October 12,... nevermind
Sergio Figueiredo: if you can play without being too restricted by the rules, as we saw a few weeks ago, we are allowed to create out own experience... but yes... only within the theme
Randy: good point
alicia: *nods* i see it from the play perspective...however, i would argue that invoking those post-structuralist connotations actually makes my point about brainwashing
josue: eleborate
Randy: She must be stopped
josue: e = a
Sergio Figueiredo: but isn't that part of the goal of "Education" in the traditional sense
Randy: she is questioning our whole system of procedural rhetorical rule
Randy: serg makes sense
anastasi: the last word is on page 260..videogames "teach biased perspectives about how things work through engaging players directly and through criticism
Randy: At least, sergge, from the approach of instrumentality in education
Sergio Figueiredo: yeah
josue: i don't think that the designers intended any such "play" with their toy
alicia: you're assuming people are good
Randy: didn't they, josh, didn;t they?
Sergio Figueiredo: are you being cynical again?
alicia: what kind of play did the designers of WoW intend?
Randy: Wow!
Sergio Figueiredo: is it all for the money? - Method Man's "C.R.E.A.M."
Randy: (no i really meant - wow)
alicia: WoW pushes a capitalist agenda
Sergio Figueiredo: yeah... so does SL
Randy: and depends on a capitalist model?
alicia: the communal aspects are only there to get you to stay and spend more money
Randy: well... this raises some great questions - let.s continue this!
Sergio Figueiredo: yeah.. and in SL, you are expected to actually use real money to buy game money
josue: I think this capitalist agenda is, as Baudrillard would say, a "bloated" ideology; one that tries to say too much...
Sergio Figueiredo: isn't it then, just a simulation of reality
alicia: ok, so i'm being reductive
alicia: but i'm trying to get back to that brainwashing point
Sergio Figueiredo: brainwashing, conditioning to waht we already know - just another re-inforcement
alicia: see, it's working.........
Sergio Figueiredo: just getting there in a round-a-bout way
Sergio Figueiredo: So, in conclusion....
josue: the ideology itself includes these possibilities because it says "too muc"
josue: much
Sergio Figueiredo: we need a Player Response Theory
Sergio Figueiredo: Games can't be taken out of the capitalist structure of society
josue: of course not
alicia: well, in theory, you could construct a game that would push a socialist agenda, make it just as addictive as WoW, and, suddenly, Obama;s plans wouldn't look so bad anymore
alicia: ;]
josue: they recapitulate in a lot of ways,
Sergio Figueiredo: so can we argue for communism using a "Sims" type game
alicia: yeah, seems so
alicia: sorta
josue: not in the same way, no
Sergio Figueiredo: in-game, that is
josue: well, maybe a little commie
Sergio Figueiredo: as in "communal"
Sergio Figueiredo: , just to clear that up
Sergio Figueiredo: language scholars
josue: as in the diminunitive of communist
Sergio Figueiredo: ok... my batter is about to die
Sergio Figueiredo: i am out, but i will be posting this - *battery
josue: is it a phillie pitcher?
Sergio Figueiredo: Hamels goes tonight at 8:22ppm
Sergio Figueiredo: just to the exta emphasis
Sergio Figueiredo: later
josue: good, nothing is settled, but nothing is ever settled, or shouldn't be

Procedural Literacy

Procedural literacy is about learning to become a literate programmer; it's about becoming computationally expressive. However, computer processing is but one form of procedurality. The other part is about active experimentation in terms of mixing and re-mixing, combinations that yield new results. Underlying procedural literacy is the notion that a conceptual effort is called for in all pedagogy. There is therefore need to engender true procedural literacy through creating opportunities in which learners can understand and experiment with reconfigurations .

How can video games be educational?
An article from the BBC titled Video Games Stimulate Learning seems to confirm Bogost's claim. A study in the UK has concluded that simulation and adventure games help develop players strategic thinking and planning skills. These include: SimCity, RollerCoasterTycoon--games that task players to create societies or build theme parks.

Here is a list of top 10 free educational video games coutesy of http://edugamesblog.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/the-top-10-free-educational-video-games/

1. Revolution
Type: Modification of Neverwinter Nights Gold
Learning Objective: Experience historical incentives for the American Revolution from the grassroots level.
Host URL: http://www.educationarcade.org/revolution (link unavailable)
Comment: Several papers were published on this game, focusing on its interactive means of teaching students about the American Revolution.

2. Re-Mission
Type: Executable
Host URL: http://www.re-mission.net/
Learning Objective: Understand cancer better and develop a positive attitude toward defeating it.
Comment: The game from HopeLab is aimed at teaching young cancer patients about the disease and providing opportunities to enhance understanding in a positive environment.

3. River City
Type: Multi-user Virtual Environment
Host URL: http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/muvees2003/index.html
Learning Objective: Develop an understanding of the scientific method through inquiry and teamwork, as well as an appreciation for history and environmental issues.
Comment: A Harvard product freely available to schools, but only on disc through the mail.

4. Quest Atlantis
Type: Multi-user Virtual Environment
Host URL: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu
Learning Objective: Help students understand social studies, environmental concerns, current events, and scientific standards.
Comment: Although this Indiana University project offers a guest area where interested parties can explore the Quest Atlantis universe, the NSF-funded project requires teachers contact the team before allowing full access. Several thousand participants have joined QA, and research is ongoing. Sasha Barab spearheaded the project

5. Arden
Type: Modification of Neverwinter Nights Diamond
Host URL: http://swi.indiana.edu/arden/index.shtml (link not available)
Learning Objective: Attain an appreciation of Shakespearean authorship and Elizabethan England.
Comment: Said to be not very exciting to typical gamers (no monsters to slay). However, the notion of exploring Shakespeare’s world should prove interesting to English majors and other aficionados of the Bard’s work.

6. The History Canada Game
Type: Modification of Civilization III
Host URL: http://www.historycanadagame.com/
Learning Objective: Understand social forces surrounding Canadian history since 1534.
Comment: Funded by Canada’s National History Society and The Historica Foundation aims to change that, for Canadians as well as those outside her borders.

7. America’s Army
Type: Executable
Host URL: http://www.americasarmy.com
Learning Objectives: Teamwork, and a greater understanding of US military expectations for recruits.
Comment: Critics decry this free videogame as a recruiting tool for the military. The Army shrugs its collective shoulders and says, “So?”

8. Food Force
Type: Executable
Host URL: http://www.food-force.com/
Learning Objectives: Understand world hunger and efforts to alleviate it.
Comment: Classroom materials and instructions are available on-site. Besides English, the UN-backed Food Force is available in (alphabetical order): Chinese, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, and Portuguese.

9. Whyville
Type: Instructional Online Virtual World
Host URL: http://www.whyville.net/smmk/nice
Learning Objectives: Provide a student-centered, hands-on environment for exploring various school subjects.
Comment: This Numedeon-backed product is aimed at elementary and middle school students, in hopes of encouraging “scientific discovery” and “social responsibility.”

10. SimCity
Type: Web-based
Host URL: http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php
Learning Objectives: Understand variable manipulations for urban management while having fun building a simulated city.
Comment: Critics have attacked its oversimplification of urban management, but countless children the world over have learned such truisms as the correlation between higher taxes and a disgruntled populace. Also, if you deplete the fire departments’ budget, disasters will devastate your city! The original SimCity is available online gratis from Electronic Arts, with adverts for the newest version, SimCity 4.

Comics and Games

Finally, I made it to level 10 last night. Phew!
I was so relieved I actually thought I'd reward myself with six hours of sleep. That was not to be, however, but that's a subject for another blog.

Since my last post, I have become quite invested in my character. I learned to protect myself by not venturing out too far and not taking on more than, say, one defiance character, bear, spider,wolves, etc. I learned to lure one away from the crowd before taking him/her on. I learned that I have more chances of beating someone at a lesser level than me. I learned not to get killed because that set me back in terms of finding myself in the spirit world and having to go find my corpse and then get to do what I needed to do.

Also, I figured out, what my son had known all along, which was kill, kill, kill, if you are to get ahead. Without killing, you were pretty much stuck in the same position. You could wander off into the wildest region and "discover" new places and your progress would be very slow indeed.

The Quests
Variations of

Licensing and Product Placement

"Simulations...present biased perspectives on the function of systems and situations in the material world. Procedural rhetoric takes advantage of this tendency to make claims about how things work in the world" (173)

The way procedural rhetoric works in product placement is that it makes claims about how things work. My question then is are positive campaign ads examples of product placement? At any rate, video games have to allow a player "to do something meaningful inside its interpretation" (175). Often, however, games are brand extensions that are based on repackaging. Repackaging in a new media does not create the user experience association both with the theme and the genre because of procedurality rules. The game will often adapt the plot, characters, and the story of a book. It may not, however conform to the tenets of a game and that is a failure as far as games go. But such games all come under the umbrella of Licensing. Licensing takes products from their primary forms to secondary others such as toys, clothing, theme parks, all in an effort to engender players to the product. Some think that licensing joins the cast of ad nuseum, which may estrange players.

Bogost's discussion of games such as Caterpillar Construction Tycoon, American Farmer, and Food Forces indicates that they have something in common. I came to the conclusion that games are socially constructed ways of communicating values such as empathy.

How about product placement?
Take a look at this:



Looks like there ain't no mountain high, no valley low, no river too wide for those who have the savvy to reach niche audiences. While this video shows the Obama campaign ads on virtual billboards alongside the gaming action, Bogost writes about more subtle ways of product placement in movies such as Minority report. Popular shows like American Idol have come under fire for prominent displays of coke products on the judge's table.

In video games as in TV and film, or even reality shows, product placement only follows the norm. Bogost, however argues that a better form of product placement would utilize procedural rhetoric by allowing play and interaction with the product itself so it can do the talking. In addition, "context and code-level integration" aid the process of product placement (what does that mean?) At any rate, product placement seems to be an insidious, even beguiling way of advertising.

The rationale for product placement in videogames is that they add realism, which makes that form of advertising more effective than the illustrative or associative form. Using procedural rhetoric can be more effective than moralism. Watch out, anti-advergames crop up with their own agenda using the same technique for the product. At their core is discontent, disaffection with the product.

In the end, however, both advergames and anti-advergames expose the logic that demonstrate claims about dysfunction of products. It encourages critical consumption so gamers can decide between needs and wants. It's the player who has to evaluate

While on the subject of product placement, how do we account for popularity of products worn by prominent people such as Sarah Palin's eye ware and Michelle Obama's clothing

Persuasive games in advertising

In this chapter, Ian Bogost continues to advance his theory of how video games make arguments and influence players. he manages to exemplify that even in games, advertisers take advantage of that genre that allows for a simulation of the real and imagined. In embedding product placement within games, advertisers invite players to interact with those products that they may not have known before and form judgments about them. And so, in the spirit of Althusser, they are interpolated.

Building on the theme that advertisers colonise media, Bogost bases his claim on Baudrilliard's notion of simulacra, and the signifier(d) to build the case for the strategies employed here. Basically. Ads are signifiers of other ads rather than of the choices and lifestyles of the users. As such advertising relies on the meaning we assign to consumption as exemplified by the blurring lines between needs and wants.

In the BMW game above, this role is neatly blended between aesthetics and functionality to an even higher level of social status. It's thrilling, the user begins to feel, to be behind one of those wheels. The imagery and visual representation in this game, as in others, is used persuasively.

The thing is consumers know they are being aggressively pursued and so they have become cynical. Cynicism means we are not paying attention to their message and so they have to rethink their strategies. The solution is what Bogost calls "permission marketing (150). With the help of technology, permission marketing can permeate our every media source. If you wish toe scape TV, t play video games, you will find it. It's like the omniscient presence from whose presence you cannot flee. But therein lies the procedural rhetoric. Before long you are 'consuming" something you didn't want to. You will be watching the movie Oceans 12 and in it you see features The Oprah Show, or Jay Leno in Juwanna Man, an addition that draws your attention to these real life shows. In this way, persuasive games turn the game over to the consumer by focusing on niche markets, on social cultural contexts of the products, and on product utility.

This is how brand awareness is built, and how consumers invariably become aware of certain products.

Digital Democracy

Building on his understanding of persuasive rhetoric, Bogost's procedural rhetoric, fits the bill for a system of delivery, if you will, that operates through processes, of necessity afforded by computers. At the core of procedural rhetoric is persuasion, just like in the rhetoric of old. However, procedural rhetoric is "devoted to representing, communicating, or persuading the player toward a particular biased point of view" (135). The core difference lies in the ability, by procedural rhetoric, to be "open to reconsideration" (143) through other procedures. Thus digital democracy fits in well with procedural rhetoric.

First, digital democracy has several artifacts:
1. Procedurality
2. participation
3. Spatilaity
4. Encyclopedic scope (124)
Digital democracy is played out in the form of social software resulting into social networks such as myspace

This is how:

Digitization allows for interrelations--interaction; so where a game has been designed to fit this genre, it afford gamers the opportunity to interact with the content at a cognitive level. In Take back Illinois, for example, players immersed in the process of debating/negotiating public policy can see how complex policy making is. If at the end of the game they are persuaded to take a position they were initially opposed to, they would have been interpolated.

However, while the goal of taking back Illinois seems to have been to get people involved in shaping public policy, I was taken aback by the process that prevents would-be-planners, form, say, affording the same school standards across the board.

Interesting issues
JFK Reloaded: does it teach strategic warfare? trench warfare? He seems to suggest that this deal was too sophisticated for a person like Harvey Lee Oswald to pull off. However he does say that the game procedure is constrained by the goal of the designer.

The reference to the Howard Dean campaign and how it failed in as procedure rhetoric because it was abstract in its communications strategy (135).

I wonder what Bogost would think of the Obama Campaign on procedurality.

Game Design

The term, Ludology, was coined by Espen Aardseth, who advocates the emergence of a new field of study, specifically focused on the study of games and game play, rather than framed through the concerns of pre-existing disciplines or other media.

Costikyan: I have no words so I must design....more

A historical artifact that takes us to minds of game designers. Costikyan makes a call to game designers and to the game industry for a critical language.Defines a game as "a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal." He then provides game designer with tools to analyze games. Points to the narrative aspect of games, while emphasizing that an interactive narrative is not a game just for being interactive

Ways to strengthen games

Variety of Encounters
–Random elements are never wholly random, they are within a range of possibilities
–Randomness can be useful.. It is one way to provide variety
–Players like to encounter the unexpected
–With inadequate variety, it gets boring quickly
Positive Identification
–Character identification is a common theme in fiction and games
–Lends emotional power to a story
–In a sports game the identifying position is YOU,
Making the game more important to YOU
Role Playing – provides position identification, the feeling that the world is alive and colorful
Socializing – When designing think about social issues and how the game encourages or discourages socialization.
–How can you encourage better socializing
Narrative tension- The story should become more gripping as it proceeds until climatic resolution.

Narratives:
metanarratives


narratives are not just linear and crafted; Jenkins broadens understanding of narrative into a metanarrative
Jenkins: Game design as narrative architecture
Explores the relationship between games and story
Read: The image of the city
Kevin Lynch argues that the structure of a city exists not only in physical reality but also in the minds of its inhabitants. Individuals hold a unique image of his or her city, a visual representation that guides through daily life and maps out meaning. He breaks down interconnected design elements into five categories: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.
Paths are the transportation routes of the city and are the most common points from which the city is experienced. They can be made distinct and memorable through variation in design and natural setting. To avoid confusion, there ought to be an obvious hierarchy of streets, indicating which carry a higher volume. Each street need not be absolutely straight, but it ought to travel in one general direction and have a directional gradient to communicate where on the line the traveler is. Paths should have well-defined origins and destinations as well as landmarks along the way.

Edges provide a spatially distinct constitution to elements of the city. The more visually obvious they are, like a waterfront or park side, the better. Edges can be strong, but planners must ensure they are are still penetrable enough to allow connections across them.

Districts are relatively large areas that have enough identity to be named. Each district should be set apart from others through thematic, visual clues. Districts often become defined in terms of class or special use as well. Some districts are introverted, with sharp boundaries and an exclusive association, while others are extroverted, tied more closely to the whole pattern of the city.

Nodes are precise locations that require extra attention from the observer, usually junctions along a network of paths or transit stations. They should be limited to a reasonable amount and made distinct through edges and landmarks. A landmark is anything that stands out that can help an observer orient himself. It could be lavish and visually appealing, or it could simply be a foreground that contrasts sharply with the background.

Attaining level 10

I made it; finally!
Last night after a very long day, which is characteristic of my Tues, and Weds, I might add, I decided that I wasn't going to bed before I got to level 10. The previous night I had gone onto level 9.5 but could not stay up long enough to get to the end of that level. I simply couldn't bring myself to slay any more forest spiders, or bears, or even kobloids and humanoids.
It was off to bed for me to be continued the next day.

Which brings me to a the ambivalence I felt in the game. Killing to get ahead. Then again, that notion is not new to human relations. In fact, the creators exploit that aspect as it reinforces an ideological framework that equates success with stepping on other people's toes so as to get ahead. And if stepping on toes means killing then so be it.

On Warcraft

Tasking me with playing World of Warcraft has got to be, arguably the most difficult tasks I have had to undertake. To be fair, WOW is not the difficult of a game to get into. What is difficult, however, is growing up in the ranks.

When I fist signed into the game, it wasn't 15 minutes before I was at level 2. So I thought to myself, making 10 levels will be a piece of cake. I got into the game with gusto, knowing that it was just one of the many on my to-do list. I ran errands and killed stuff; I ran around using my new found powers to live an let die when I realized that killing was the way up the level ladder.

After a while, I tired of killing. I know now that were I an avid gamer, I'd be an achiever. That's all I wanted. Were it possible to achieve without killing, I'd be very happy with that option. So I circumvented the errands, since they involved a lot of killing and made do with looking around outside of my comfort zone. I got into trouble soon, though. I learned that just because I wasn't interested in killing didn't mean the meanies out there would leave me alone. I died. I resurrected; died and rose again so many times I lost count. The last time I died, however, even though I found my corpse myself, I was without a weapon. What to do; what to do!

I killed one of those defiance nuts and got myself a shield as loot. Gotta love a good loot; one that you an use! That helped along in my battles. Most of all, I discovered that I could actually take on opponents with my bare hands and take them down!

Still I felt this urge to get me a weapon and so I wondered from my safety zone only to find myself in a completely different city/region altogether. First I was in a fascinating city that had canals, and parks, and squares, libraries, and all indicators of modern civilization. What I needed was a trainer, and none of those uppity folks in the city would give me the time of day. So off I I wondered, only to find myself in some military lair; there was a tunnel in which I went around and round until I stumbled, or in WoW speak, discovered what I prefer to call the Tundra region.

It was miles of forests, deserts, snow-blown mountains, and exotic-looking places. What I noted was its frost-molded landscapes, frozen roads and even more blood-thirsty killers to match the frozen temperatures. It was all I could do to get myself out of there. Try as I could, I succeeded in embedding myself even more. Suddenly Elwyn Forest seemed like the SC Botanical Gardens. I longed to return there and so I got myself killed, thinking that would oust me from the cold. No such luck! I was resurrected after failing to scale the frozen mountain to locate my corpse. I lost all the copper I had obtained from grazing the defiance nuts in the area. Still, however, no weapon. I got fatally attacked by about 9 level 9 lepers twice. What's interesting is that when you set out to find your corpse, just when you are about to reenter it, the killers can sniff you or something, if you happen to be in enemy territory.
And they pounce as soon as you are alive!

As a Paladin, I found myself fighting back the evil forces with one mighty hammer. I couldn't help thinking that there was more to being a Paladin than my lacklustre performance accorded me. For example, I was unable to cast spells or heal even myself. I did not resurrect dead players, could not find armor to wear even though I had some Plate armor in my loot. I figured I need training but somehow I could never find the trainer nor the school. As a result, my which defense was greatly compromised.

It's easy to understand the attraction of WoW; who can match the satisfaction for gamers that comes with the very real sense of accomplishment they get when they gain a level in experience and strength? Floods of light, noticeably rising levels and a daring adventuresome thrill that can only come from such reckless abandonment.

Still I was baffled by this idea of game in a war game. WoW is rhetorically a war zone. You fight or you are fought; you kill or get killed. You cannot simply sit around and socialize; there is no fun in that. What is the motive behind WoW? I hope avid gamers can respond to this query.

Perhaps the concepts of game/play are understood differently in WoW. Wikipedia defines WoW as a "is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)," a fantasy. Granted, my Paladin character was fighting the environment--the landscape, the monsters, etc. And Wikipedia adds that "it is also through the use of quests that much of the game's story is told." Quests are the way the player is led through the game. However I found the quests rather repetitive and, in way, mindless. It felt like having 500 channels to surf and still wondering weather or not there is something else to watch.

Now on level 7, I am still struggling with the concepts of game and war. They are binaries to me and yet they are at the core of WoW. And examining other forms of play perhaps reveals that these two are not peculiar to WoW. Think about ball games, racing, riding, boxing, even politics, I suppose; all invovle quashing one's opponent. Gamers in those worlds have perfected the art of doing what it takes to be on top of their game.
I don't know if my fascination with WoW will survive beyond this class.
We'll see!

Discussing Bartle and World of WarCraft

Key terms:

• Achievers--play to win are driven by in-game goals, usually some form of points gathering - whether experience points, levels, or money.
• explorers--social are driven to find out as much as they can about the virtual construct - including mapping its geography and understanding the game mechanics.
• socializes--use the virtual construct to converse and role-play with their fellow gamers.
• killers--use the virtual construct to cause distress on other players, and gain satisfaction from inflicting anxiety and pain on others.

Bartle and procedural rhetoric...the code sets out rules that govern the interaction between players. It's procedural; a process that's governed by rules and where winners have a defined path.
Achievers play to win


Espen Aarseth: World of Warcraft as Spatial Practice

Players in the MUD

       ACTING

               Killers            |                  Achievers

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

       PLAYERS -------------------+------------------- WORLD

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

               Socialisers        |                 Explorers

Bartle writes about four proposed types of players, who he maps into a two axis chart copied here according to playing styles. These are

• Action versus Interaction
• World-oriented versus Player-oriented

These two then have four labels to their style of playing. Bartle writes that players have one of these styles as the primary, and will only shift to other style sto keep advancing in their goal.

The four labels are:

• Achievers; achievers are fall in the action-world category of getting treasures, killing mobs
• Explorers; as the terms suggests explore by interacting with their world. In so doing, they discover the topology, physics and mechanisms of the world
• Socializers are in it for the play—they primarily interact with other players and communicate with them
• Killers, like achievers are action-players; they can't leave well enough alone and get off by hassling other players and being a nuisance.

It appears that Bartle’s goal is to promote balance in MUDs. He goes into a rather insightful explanation as to why less sympathetic human behaviors should be avoided even in-game. Prejudice and oppression are just as despicable in the real world as they are in virtual worlds. He advocates design reasons to demote evil.

Look again at the interest graph. Bartle suggests several ways in which graphs can be brought into equilibrium. Caution is in taking away the play, which is the main attraction in the first place.

Players—emphasis on players

World—go global and don't allow players meet

Interacting—focus on interaction rather than action; entertainment

Acting—put into practice what has been learned "without depth you have no MUD" (765).

Consider the following abstract graph:

                         





You can Deconstruct "game/fun versus real life seriousness"

Gaming with Madrid

So I got onto the website watercoolergames.org and decided that I was going to play MADRID.
The instructions were simple: click on the candles make them shine brighter.

There were "persons" holding up the candles, who were also wearing T-Shirts emblazoned, presumably, with the names of their respective cities. I was curious about the choice of cities and wondered what narrative they held that tied them together. On further examination, I noticed that all these cities are those that have been affected by acts of terror. They include in no particular order: Oklahoma, NYC, Madrid, Baghdad, Beirut, Tokyo, and some other city I couldn't quite make out. Although I couldn't quite recall a time when Tokyo came under terrorist attack--I corrected myself with the help of history: the atomic bomb!

The game, like the instructions is simple enough: to keep the candles shining brighter. But there is nothing simple about that task. For starters, although the candles are not that many, by the time you do the rounds, the ones you lit-up first are fading and it's a frantic effort to move from one to the other while keeping them not just ablaze but bright/er.

At the bottom of the screen frame is a brightness-o-meter that indicates how you are doing with keeping the candles bright. Mine was pretty bad; I couldn't get it to the middle let alone keep it in one place for a while. In the end I quit when I began to see that I was not getting far in my efforts and that I couldn't possibly keep this up much longer. I don't know what I missed in quitting but there were no signs of winning.

What I know is that this game is not for amusement. It is a serious game that makes the case for keeping the fire burning; keeping that candle burning bright on behalf of victims of terror. How true! We get smitten with a disaster right after it occurs. And we vow never to forget. But then as time goes on and as the pressures of life make demands on our attention; we move on. And we forget. That is until another disaster comes bearing down on us. Then we take up our arms again.
Sad but true.

This game can certainly affect the way we honor the memory of those who are gone before us; particularly those whose lives were cut short, either through man-made or natural disaster. At the height of the cold war, leaders toyed with the idea of the atomic bomb, and even now, we have countries out there wanting to own one as the ultimate defense. They obviously do not remember what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And all those people been on inflicting terror, London, NYC, Madrid, Oklahoma...those were precious lives that were lost. Katrina may have been a natural disaster but it could have been prevented.

Let us value humanity from Rwanda to Bosnia to Lebanon....all human beings.

We must never forget!

For the Record

"Rhetoric is only part of a president’s power, but it’s an important part. Building public enthusiasm for your efforts helps overcome legislative and administrative barriers."
James Fellows

Understanding narratives and systems in the Game industry

Games as story telling devices, as narrative systems. Games tell stories in as far as gamers tell their own stories. These stories are told in as many and as deep narratives as possible.
Industry designers are people from the game industry who started this, before academics became interested in games as a phenomenon. Academics, particularly from English departments, fell for the notion of games as narratives; the other groups of industry designers examined games as more than narratives, and then there were just gamers.

Ian Bogost, who writes Persuasive Games, represents all three. He has roots in academics, gaming, and designing.

Bogost examines games from a procedural perspective, a different take from narratives and systems. An example of a persuasive game: that uses procedural rhetoric
A serious games is not intended to be played out for amusement (Serious Games)

For games. How about Alice?
However, games have to have rules and winning conditions.
There is a rhetorical and persuasive element to games. He is interested in games that affect change in the material world, making that a political project. They are a persuasive power that can be traced to procedural roots that make up games.

The Expressive Power of Video Games

The Expressive Power of video Games? What a provocative title! More importantly, what a well written treasure....!

Spanning from the very foundations of rhetoric; from Gorgias' description of rhetoric to validating the need for rhetoric as practiced by the Greeks--useful for self-defense, Bogost takes us on a refresher journey of rhetoric that resonates with my 801 course in so many ways.
What I find interesting, however, is not simply the review of rhetoric but how he weaves that conception of rhetoric into what he calls procedural rhetoric--which is what he wanted to arrive at in the first place.

Interesting points:
Sophistry
Dialectic--Socrates/Plato, who debase rhetoric as more pleasurable than substantial
Causality--Aristotle: how rhetoric is practiced through four aspects:

• material--substance from which to make
  
• formal--structure
• efficient--process
• final --purpose (telos) to persuade

An enlightening take on the purpose of rhetoric as being to correct judgment (15). Perhaps Aristotle wasn't so opposed to philosophical rhetoric after all given that rhetoric equaled knowledge and that philosophical rhetoric called to use all the mental capacities to find, to craft, to argue, to persuade.
---------------------------------------

Ways of performing rhetoric

• induction; e.g using examples
• deduction; as in syllogism (18) -----See also the enthymeme
  

Rhetoric has pervaded literary and artistic modes manifesting itself in such forms as writing, painting, sculpture; This trajectory has seen it morph from persuasion to effective expression engaging the audience while accomplishing the rhetors' goal. To Aristotle, where there is persuasion there is rhetoric and where there is meaning there is persuasion (21).

Bogost references Kenneth Burke, who posited that rhetoric is more than persuasion; it is, in a word, identification. The necessary component for rhetoric to accomplish identification is language; a symbolic system necessary to achieve identification (20). Along with identification is the notion of consubstantiality, which is a process resulting from identification. In other words, identification is a supplement to persuasion. Therefore, a rhetor begins with identification, which, once achieved, replaces persuasion in the form of consubstantiality. Following Burke, even more forms or variations of rhetoric have evolved, or perhaps been revealed; these include visual, digital, and one I'd never heard of till now, procedural rhetoric.

Visual rhetoric, ostensibly emerged from shortcomings perceived in oral and written forms of rhetoric. Reason: images evoke visceral responses (Helms and Hill [50]), which do not capitalize on conscious decision-making.
Visual rhetoric is at work in video games but how does it operate procedurally in representation?
At any rate, VR links to digital rhetoric

Digital Rhetoric: Procedural media is video games--process takes over image through construction, sequencing necessary to show how traditional modes of persuasion are being configured in a digital context (25). It involves interaction and it involves feedback. Rather than work with the old to fit in the news, the digital process of procedurality makes room for that interaction. The computer then should be seen as the executor of processes that underscores procedure.. So what is procedural rhetoric then?

Procedural Rhetoric: uses process persuasively (28).
The argument; the procedural argument is authored through a process effectively. Procedural rhetoric involves rules and codes through programming. At issue is how things work. How does procedure plus vividness work?
In this case procedure represents dialectic. Procedural involves moving images, sound is interactive (users get involved) all vivid aspects of rhetoric.
Dialectically, procedural rhetoric mounts propositions, they make claims about function. Question is: can players change the rules?
Also emerging from Derrida: is speech central to language because it is (presumably) closer to thought?

Histories and foundations of Gaming

Games and the notion of play...started when scholars looked to see who had done what before them. This is about 8 years ago when the field called game studies began to take root.
Ludology.

Cybertext by Espinoza is the seminal foundation for game studies in academia. Reviewed here by Paul.

Play is different from gaming..
Here are key concepts and schemas of game theoryif you start with structure, play can come into it.
When computers were first in use, they were mostly brainiacs. However, with time, play, music got introduced into computers thus making them more adaptable. Play then elevated the status of the machine, placing it at a level where it was usable.
--------------------------------------

Hypertext links information in a page. Text-based adventure games--cybertext as first used by Espen J Aarseth. Ergodic--the concept of working with text to get something out of it.
The game offers you second chances, allows you to explore and take risks.

--------
Why is it that games...?
games require action, performance, involvement. Unless you act, no game can take place. Games are unlike movies that you can partake idly...
Characteristics of games: interactive, cyber, ergodic

Avatars give us the ability to become something other than who we are through games. While other elements such as drugs and alcohol can take us out of ourselves, games are different in that they do not altar us radically. We act with our faculty fully intact
The avatar is a representation of yourself inside of cyberspace. They are the adventurous figures that live the life in cyberspace.

Culture as play according to Huizinga

"To [my] our way of thinking, play is the direct opposite to seriousness"(5). This statement pretty much sums up my [heretofore] position on play. Some of you may recall as much from my introduction on the first day of class. However, there could not have been a better person to help me interrogate the place of play in the academy than Huzinger, because he begins off his argument by recognizing the place of play in general terms before advancing his own position on it.

Huzinger sets out to rehabilitate my conception of play as being of no sense by suggesting that play precedes society—it is "a significant function—there is some sense to it" (1). There is the element of civilization as play; of play as culture; play as nature or occurring from nature. And so it is imbued with tension, mirth, and fun (3) the last of which captures the essence of play. The dichotomy in play is that no matter the fun, there is in it the tenor of seriousness that defies logic. It appeals to the irrational (animalistic) aspect in man that then dates back to nature and play.

Characteristics:

• play as a social construction (4)
• play as a link between mind and matter (4)
• play as non-seriousness (6)—take for example, play as exacting laughter and abandon, while at other times serious (chess) but pleasurable nonetheless.
• play as beauty—brings to mind the athletic body—those Greek sculptured bodies
• play as voluntary (7) and this carries with it an element of freedom for it " can be deferred or suspended at any time" (8).
• play as a rite (now that erodes the freedom associated with play). That's because in this regard, play is bound up in myth, which elevates to a place of control and imposition as is wont to be with rituals.

Features—formal

• disinterestedness (9) as an interlude in our daily grind; a complement, a sideshow to allows us get on with the more serious aspects of our lives.
• play as festivals-->ritual-->sacred-->is of significance to humanity, who find in it the essence of their being.
• play as secluded and limited—"contains its own course and meaning" (9)
• play plays itself to the end (9)
• play becomes tradition in transmittal
• play within boundaries
• play as an ordered activity—containing rhythm and harmony
• tension—uncertainty
• play as bound by rules herein lies a paradox: it is free, voluntary and yet bound by rules. Breaking those rules renders one a spoilsport.

play is "a free activity that stands consciously outside "ordinary" life as being "not serious", but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means" (13).

Play and seriousness: absolute antitheses? ritual as play carries connotations? are priests in ritual solemn or playing? ritual transports people to different heights—making play superior to culture (in this sense) and yet inferior in another sense (18). In churches as congregants, we know that most acts are really symbolic and we attach a profound meaning to them. But we also know the priests are at play[ing] the part.

consciousness in play

make-believe

archaic ritual is sacred play at once indispensable for the wellbeing of the community and yet play nonetheless (25-26) without losing its potency, its holi-ness.