Persuasive Games

The Expressive Power of Videogames

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Games, Video & Electronic, Computers, Entertainment & Games, Video & Electronic Games, General Computing
Cover of the book Persuasive Games by Ian Bogost, The MIT Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ian Bogost ISBN: 9780262261944
Publisher: The MIT Press Publication: August 13, 2010
Imprint: The MIT Press Language: English
Author: Ian Bogost
ISBN: 9780262261944
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication: August 13, 2010
Imprint: The MIT Press
Language: English

An exploration of the way videogames mount arguments and make expressive statements about the world that analyzes their unique persuasive power in terms of their computational properties.

Videogames are an expressive medium, and a persuasive medium; they represent how real and imagined systems work, and they invite players to interact with those systems and form judgments about them. In this innovative analysis, Ian Bogost examines the way videogames mount arguments and influence players. Drawing on the 2,500-year history of rhetoric, the study of persuasive expression, Bogost analyzes rhetoric's unique function in software in general and videogames in particular. The field of media studies already analyzes visual rhetoric, the art of using imagery and visual representation persuasively. Bogost argues that videogames, thanks to their basic representational mode of procedurality (rule-based representations and interactions), open a new domain for persuasion; they realize a new form of rhetoric. Bogost calls this new form "procedural rhetoric," a type of rhetoric tied to the core affordances of computers: running processes and executing rule-based symbolic manipulation. He argues further that videogames have a unique persuasive power that goes beyond other forms of computational persuasion. Not only can videogames support existing social and cultural positions, but they can also disrupt and change these positions themselves, leading to potentially significant long-term social change. Bogost looks at three areas in which videogame persuasion has already taken form and shows considerable potential: politics, advertising, and learning.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

An exploration of the way videogames mount arguments and make expressive statements about the world that analyzes their unique persuasive power in terms of their computational properties.

Videogames are an expressive medium, and a persuasive medium; they represent how real and imagined systems work, and they invite players to interact with those systems and form judgments about them. In this innovative analysis, Ian Bogost examines the way videogames mount arguments and influence players. Drawing on the 2,500-year history of rhetoric, the study of persuasive expression, Bogost analyzes rhetoric's unique function in software in general and videogames in particular. The field of media studies already analyzes visual rhetoric, the art of using imagery and visual representation persuasively. Bogost argues that videogames, thanks to their basic representational mode of procedurality (rule-based representations and interactions), open a new domain for persuasion; they realize a new form of rhetoric. Bogost calls this new form "procedural rhetoric," a type of rhetoric tied to the core affordances of computers: running processes and executing rule-based symbolic manipulation. He argues further that videogames have a unique persuasive power that goes beyond other forms of computational persuasion. Not only can videogames support existing social and cultural positions, but they can also disrupt and change these positions themselves, leading to potentially significant long-term social change. Bogost looks at three areas in which videogame persuasion has already taken form and shows considerable potential: politics, advertising, and learning.

More books from The MIT Press

Cover of the book Robot Sex by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Inter/vention by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Cannabinoids and the Brain by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Dirty Gold by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Site Planning by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Central Banking in Theory and Practice by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Gurus and Oracles by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Comparative Environmental Politics by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book The Greenest Nation? by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book What Is Landscape? by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Aluminum Dreams by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Digital Storytelling by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Gameworld Interfaces by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Music and the Myth of Wholeness by Ian Bogost
Cover of the book Algorithms Unlocked by Ian Bogost
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy