The Rhetoric of Games

After playing in class Animal Crossing I feel that I have a better understanding of Bogost article. Seeing the game being played and reading about it’s a whole different experience. Now I realize that every single component of a video game actually has a meaning behind it and that sometimes video games are a reflection on society.

 He started comparing Animal Crossing to the real world which at the beginning did not make much sense.  But as the game develops you start seeing what Bogost was saying in his article, the Animal Crossing world is like the “real world”, full of responsibilities.  I was surprised how we were able to analyze so much with just the beginning of the game, and that the simple task of putting a name and selecting an answer determines the gender of our Avatar.

Although I think that Bogost article makes a great argument for analyzing video games and seeing the arguments that many video games make, I also think that it cannot be applied to all videogames since not all of them create a statement about society. Furthermore, I realized that compared to a book or movie a video game is harder to analyze because every little feature whether it’s visual, verbal or procedural they all make a different statement and it depends on how the player interacts with the those features. With this article we have a template on how we as players can analyze videogames and realize it has more to offer to the audience than just entertainment.