Unit 1

For this assignment, you will have to choose and rhetorically analyze one serious videogame. To understand what I mean by this, you'll need definitions for a few words:

  • Rhetoric: Rhetoric is both the study of persuasive speech, and the study of how language is used for particular purposes. You can find a more in-depth definition here: What is Rhetoric?

  • Analysis: Analysis is the process of breaking something into its parts in order to better understand it. With texts (written, digital, video), analysis is the process of identifying and discussing the effects of various pieces of the text. The specific way that the text is broken down varies according to the type of analysis. You can find more on analysis here: What is Analysis?

  • Serious Games: Most videogames have a commercial or entertainment purpose. Serious games are those which strive to be something more. They might be training games for a variety of fields (medicine and business use these most often). Or they might try to express some social concern (we'll look at one of these games more when we try out the McDonald's Game). Or they might just strive for a deeper artistic or emotional statement. I'll provide a list of places where you can find some of these games at the end of this assignment page. You can read more about serious games here: Serious Games.

Ok, so let's put these three ideas together. Rhetorically analyzing a serious game is the process of pulling apart a game that has a purpose and trying to understand how that game goes about trying to achieve that purpose. So, you might take a game that makes a claim about the social reality of Darfur and try to understand how that game convinces the player of the point through graphics or written text, through game play, through interface (the means by which the player interacts with the game), or through any other means.

Before beginning to work on the essay, you should play the game. Keep notes while you are playing. Think critically about what you are doing while you play. If you get stuck, or run out of time, you might also look at play through videos that can be found on Youtube.

Some things to think about while you analyze your chosen game might be:

  • How is the serious game effective or persuasive?

  • Does the medium fit the message? Would the text be more persuasive if it wasn't a game?

  • How does the game play differ from the actual experience the game is trying to emulate?

In your essay, you will want to:

  • Clearly identify the game being analyzed.

  • State the purpose of this game.

  • Briefly describe the game.

  • Identify particular techniques used by the game to make its point. (Techniques are specific to the game, but more general than exact examples. A technique might be something like "Using bright colors in order to show happiness." An example would then be "One character, Susie Sunshine, is dressed in bright pinks and yellows. This accurately reflects her upbeat persona.")

  • Find and discuss examples of the techniques.

  • Analyze the specific examples in order to show how they support the purpose of the game.

I'd highly recommend taking a look at this assignment as it might help you identify some areas to explore in the game you choose to analyze: MIT Game Analysis Assignment