Why

is Procedural Rhetoric so limited in AAA games?

Advanced Games Studies http://jessmagnusgad.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BA6%20CS It has often been a topic of debate for critics and academics whether

games influence players. This can mostly be in a negative light concerning how games are creating a violent immoral generation however game designer Ian Bogost is looking into how games have a much greater influence on the player, through persuasion, in a positive light. Just as photography, motion graphics, moving images and illustrations have become pervasive in contemporary society, so have video games. (Bogost 2010) Ian Bogost is one of the key figures researching games beyond entertainment in particular persuasive games. His main theory for persuasive games is the idea of procedural rhetoric that videogames make arguments and influence players (Bogost, 2013) he states that this is achieved through the mechanics, plot and events within the game. Games of all types use Procedural Rhetoric from simply getting players interested in playing, an idea that is presented as The Pull by Jesper Juul (Juul, 2010) or referred to as a Lusory Attitude [SIC]. However it is starting to become apparent how procedural rhetoric is growing and changing to become a more considered element in games design.

Over the last decade video games have been evolving from their original purpose as entertainment to phenomena that hold vast narratives, sophisticated visual design, and "many behaviorist game designers who see games as persuasive tools for change (Kelly, 2012) With games interactivity and the ability to easily connect and communicate with a player it is understandable that many game designers, advertisers and other graphic communicators are creating games to deliberately persuade. It is interesting to consider why game designers use procedural rhetoric in games differently one idea in particular is the contrasting use of procedural rhetoric in AAA games compared to the Independent or Indie games being produced.

A growing trend can be seen in many media: independent production is producing games that are tackling controversial, political or provocative subject matter whereas AAA titles seem to be quite tame and almost safe with their subjects by keeping to tried, tested (and profitable) content. This is something that can also be seen trending within the film industry large blockbuster films are rehashed versions of different films, sequels or prequels they refuse to attempt anything new. In contrast the Independent market is creating interesting, compelling films. With respect to this within video games I want to delve into why AAA

games limit themselves with content and procedural rhetoric, considering that some games are full of violence, death and war what is considered acceptable content, acceptable persuasion and why?

In a (Western) world troubled by addiction, attention deficiency and random violence stories are morally and aesthetically acceptable. (Aarseth, 2004) With games that contain such violent narratives it is interesting to consider why game designers are so hesitant to include issues that could be controversial or with any slight suggestion of opinion: Games are always considered more dangerous than other forms of culture developers are under pressure to err on the side of acceptability. (Juul, 2010.) Jesper Juul touches on this idea briefly, considering that game designers for large studios are concentrating on quarterly numbers (Juul, 2010.) they will be quite cautious about including any subject matter that may offend the player/audience and deter others from playing/purchasing the game causing a loss of profit. However this seems like quite a trivial idea, and not true for all games. So it could be that there must be a higher reason for AAA games limiting procedural rhetoric aimed at serious subject matter. Lets consider the elements of procedural rhetoric used within AAA games

compared to Indie. When you look into some Indie games, like those created by Persuasive games, such as Fat World (Persuasive Games, 2008) or other titles by the same company, Oil God, Killer Flu or Wind Fall. The company itself advertises its games by saying: to push the envelope of traditional game design while demonstrating the power of games as a persuasive medium. (Persuasive Games, 2013) You can see a trend within these games; the issues are quite political and provocative topics that you generally wouldnt see within a AAA game such as obesity, oil crisis, energy crisis etc. These games tackle issues on a wider global scale.

Taking another example Papo & Yo (Minority, 2012) - the game in itself is

portrayed as a puzzle solving platform game, however underlying in its narrative, the game is actually a controversial look at the relationship between the main character Quico and the Monster who is a metaphor for the childs abusive alcoholic father. A game of this nature would not be something you would generally see on the shelf in a typical game store (for this particular games distribution it was released online) as most people would shy away from its hard hitting topic. This type of content in game is unacceptable and on such a personal level to discover its true meaning can be uncomfortable for the player. Here we have outlined two themes of Indie games personal harsh story lines, and political or cultural global issues. AAA games however, as mentioned, steer clear of these types of narrative, however they keep their procedural rhetoric to a personal level but a different personal level to that of Papo & Yo (Minority, 2012). This can be seen with the example of Bioshock (Irrational Games, 2008) which outlines one main point to consider within this essay AAA and procedural rhetoric through embedded morals. The embedded moral message that I am referring to within Bioshock (Irrational Games, 2008) is that of Harvesting and Rescuing - within the game the player is given the choice of whether to Harvest or Rescue Little Sisters, by Harvesting they will receive more Adam, the currency of the game, therefore will be able to purchase better weapons and upgrades to aid them. But by Harvesting they are presented with a disturbing and guilt ridden scene as the Little Sister screams and flails as you drain of her as Adam, your response to the Little Sisters was the feelings of sympathy and care for the little girls. (Rose, 2011) You feel personally

guilty about your actions and it forces you to question your morals as a person as well as a player. The game also offers the choice of saving the Little Sisters and later in the game you will be given rewards and aid that would not have been given if the Little Sisters had been harvested. This display of morality outlines the idea of choice within AAA games the mechanics of choice force the player to query what choice they should make and how moral that could be considered in reality. This element of morality is not only evident in games like Bioshock but many others. One genre of game in particular has this as a core aspect of their

procedural rhetoric the God Game. The God game outlines a separate idea of morality within games as it has a specific rhetoric outline of good and bad - The procedural rhetoric of good and evil recurs frequently well know for its use in Black and White (Bogost, 2010) which outlines one example where morality is evident within its game play as you have the choice within the game of whether to take a path of good or evil. These actions reveal a basic moral outline and shows how games are forcing us to consider our moral obligations as players. This point outlines my second theory of AAA and their limitations. `Games

are forcing us if you take this statement you can twist it and turn it but it will always relate back to the designer. The game designer has put in place certain mechanics and plot twists or events that as a player force us to question things, whether this be about ourselves or the world itself. Even though Ocean Quigley the designer of SimCity (Maxis, 2013) (another God game filled with moral choice) states that: We're not preaching to anybody. (Nutt, 2013) you have to question his statement as these morals within games are predefined as good and

evil. Even if game designers arent deliberately trying to preach to anybody through what they design in games, they in fact are. Game designers are responsible for the creation of computer games what types of morally driven decisions they take when creating computer games. (Poole, 2000) Games can influence players more than designers intend put across by Raph Koster in his book A Theory of Fun (Koster, 2005) with the metaphor of a plant growing up a trellis a plant grows to the shape of the trellis, just like a gamer will grow with what they have learnt within the game. The trouble with games is that as much as game designers like to think they are giving the player choice this choice is an illusion therefore any choice within the game is still fixed as the narrative, mechanics and final outcome are all determined by the game designer therefore all meaning that can be drawn from the game is decided by the designer. Thus the decisions the designer makes in fact have a direct impact on what the player learns from the game morals included. Therefore is it justifable to question that game designer limit the level of

procedural rhetoric within games particular that of a AAA game, as they are aware that they have a moral obligation within their games and that they can unintentionally include their own opinion or views within a game. By limiting the level of procedural rhetoric to only simple levels of morality and emphasising levels of good and evil games designers stay neutral by not forcing their own influence or opinion on the player. As pointed out this cannot be said for the Indie game as designers feel no

moral obligation to remain neutral their aim is to create a game that forces you

to question world issues and bring about change from it the AAA game however remains in a struggle for profits and entertainment. The power of the medium has gone untapped because the market has focused primarily on entertaining players, rather than engaging them in important topics.(Bogost, 2006) referring to the medium to persuade. These points can not be considered as completely accurate for all games as mentioned, games are constantly evolving and it could easily be said that AAA games will alter this outlook and create games that contain more provocative content rather than being just entertaining. To consider this point we can take Spec Ops: The Line (Yager, 2012) as a key example. The game itself can be analysed as not entertaining almost boring in fact. The game includes many different mechanics that the current conventions for games. Firstly the game breaks the 4th wall it talks directly to the player forcing them to feel guilty and personally responsible for the events that take place (in this case the mindless and unjustified killing of others). There is moral choice within the game but unlike that of the typical AAA the game itself has a unique mechanic whereby there is a third choice that is not immediately or obviously presented to the player you have the ability to go against the narrative by questioning you moral choice within the game and acting against the choices given. (Extra Credits, 2012) And finally the game itself is presented as the typical military First Person Shooter that is currently a common genre on the shelf but is in fact filled within underlying messages similar to the way that Papo & Yo. (Minority, 2012) has underlying meanings that are not immediately obvious. Spec Ops: The Line (Yager, 2012) has put into question two main themes: Post Traumatic

Stress Disorder and how far modern shooters are from the truth of the real thing. (Extra Credits, 2012). Putting across these harsh subject areas is quite unusual for a game of this type. In conclusion at this current point in the history of games we can see a trend evolving large companies produce games that lack controversial or opinionated messages and mainly focus on the aesthetics of the games and entertainment: they support the current political and cultural status quo. They do however include a small element of procedural rhetoric by creating a personal connection, fitting in with the promotion of a capitalist individual world, rather than a collectivist version, and also by portraying morals within the game. Whereas current Indie games are able to include a wide variety of topics that may be considered provocative or unacceptable to certain players. Reasoning behind this can be seen in many lights, like the pressure that game designers face to be acceptable, the aim for games to be successful and profitable. But it also could be considered to relate to game designers moral obligations and the ethics of including your own opinion or idea within large AAA games we can see how games are taking some initiative and taking a stand at how games show unrealistic portrayals of events and starting to portray realistic world events and problems in games evident in Spec Ops: The Line. (Yager, 2012) Word Count: 2,198

Bibliography. Aarseth, Espen. (2004) Genre Trouble: Narrativism and Art Simulation. In : Wardrip, N. Harrigan, P. (2004)First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game. Massachusetts: Institute of Technology. (Aarseth, 2004)PG 45 Chap 2. Bogost, Ian. (2010) Persuasive Games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, London: MIT press. (Bogost 2010) PG 29. Chap 1. Bogost, Ian. Ian Bogost Video Game Theory, Criticism, Design, (2013). Persuasive Games Books. [Internet] available at , Bogost, Ian (2013) Persuasive Games. Available from < http://www.bogost.com/books/persuasive_games.shtml. > Accessed April 2013 (Bogost, 2013) Bogost, Ian. (2006). Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Massachusetts: Institute of Technology. (Bogost, 2006) PG 120 Chap 8 Extra Credits (2012) Spec Ops: The Line (Part 2) [YouTube Video] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZIhcCA2lk > Accessed May 2013 (Extra Credits, 2012) Irrational Games/2K Boston. (2008). Bioshock. 2K Games. (Bioshock, 2012) / (Irrational Games, 2008) Juul, Jesper. (2010) A Casual Revolution: Reinventing video games and their players. Massachusetts. MIT Press. (Juul, 2010.) PG 151 Chap 8 Juul, Jesper. (2010) A Casual Revolution: Reinventing video games and their players. Massachusetts. MIT Press. (Juul, 2010.) PG 212 Appendix c Kelly, Tadgh (2012). Are Games Really That Persuasive? Techcrunch [Internet] available at < http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/10/are-games-really-that-persuasive/ > Accessed April 2013. (Kelly, 2012) Koster, Raph. (2005) A Theory of Fun. OReilly Media. Image. Pg 177 Chap 11. (Koster, 2005) Maxis. (2013) SimCity. Electronic Arts. (Maxis, 2013). Minority. (2012) Papo & Yo. (Minority, 2012) Nutt, Christian. (2012) How Do You Put Sim in SimCity? Gamasutra. Available from: < http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/172835/how_do_you_put_the_sim_in _simcity.php?page=4 > Accessed May 2013 (Nutt, 2013)

Persuasive Games. Website. Available at < [http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/ > Accessed April 2013 (Persuasive Games, 2013) Persuasive Games. (2008) Fat World. (Persuasive Games, 2008). Poole, Steven. (2000) Trigger Happy: video games are the entertainment revolution. Arcade Pub. (Poole, 2000) Rose, Jason. (2011) Emotion and Rhetoric in Bioshock. [BA Dissertation] Louisiana State University. (Rose, 2011) Yager, (2012) Spec Ops: The Line. Berlin. 2K Games. (Spec Ops: The Line, 2012)/ (Yager, 2012)

Research Bibliography: Aarseth, Espen. (2004) Genre Trouble: Narrativism and Art Simulation. In : Wardrip, N. Harrigan, P. (2004)First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game. Massachusetts: Institute of Technology. Chap 2 Page 45. (Aarseth, 2004) Quote: In a (Western) world troubled by addiction, attention deficiency and random violence stores are morally and aesthetically acceptable. Bogost, Ian. (2010) Persuasive Games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, London: MIT press. Quote: Just as photography, motion graphics, moving images and illustrations have become pervasive in contemporary society, so have computer hardware, software and video games. (Bogost 2010) Pg 29. Chap 1. Bogost, Ian. Ian Bogost Video Game Theory, Criticism, Design, (2013). Persuasive Games Books. [Internet] available at , Bogost, Ian (2013) Persuasive Games. Available from < http://www.bogost.com/books/persuasive_games.shtml. > Accessed April 2013 Quote: videogames make arguments and influence players (Bogost, 2013) Bogost, Ian. (2006). Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Massachusetts: Institute of Technology. (Bogost, 2006) pg 53 chap 4. Quote: video games reveals what it means to be human. Bogost, Ian. (2006). Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Massachusetts: Institute of Technology. (Bogost, 2006) pg 120 Chap 8 Quote: The power of the medium has gone untapped because the market has focused primarily on entertaining players, rather than engaging them in important topics. Bogost, Ian. (2010) Persuasive Games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, London: MIT press. Quote: Videogames often enforce moral values through ideology. (Bogost, 2010) Pg 284 Chap 9 Bogost, Ian. (2010) Persuasive Games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, London: MIT press Quote: The procedural rhetoric of good and evil recurs frequently used in Black and White (Bogost, 2010) Pg 284 Chap 9 Davis, Jeffery D. (2005) Video Games An Escape from Reality? The Real Truth. Available from: < http://realtruth.org/articles/346-vgaefr.html > Accessed May 2013 Quote : Computer and video games are often used to help people focus on something other than lifes daunting problems. (Davis, 2005)

Extra Credits (2012) Spec Ops: The Line (Part 1) [YouTube Video] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjaBsuXWJJ8 > Accessed May 2013 (Extra Credits, 2012) Extra Credits (2012) Spec Ops: The Line (Part 2) [YouTube Video] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZIhcCA2lk > Accessed May 2013 (Extra Credits, 2012) Errant Signal. (2012) Spec Ops: The Line. [YouTube Video] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlBrenhzMZI > Accessed May 2013 (Errant Signal, 2012) How Games Saved My Life. Available at < http://www.gamessavedmylife.com/ > Accessed May 2013. (HGSML, Website) Jenkins, Henry. (2004) Game Design as Narrative Architecture. In : Wardrip, N. Harrigan, P. (2004)First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game. Massachusetts: Institure of Technlogy. Chap 4 Page 126 (Jenkins, 2004) Quote: narrative comprehension is an active process by which viewers assemble and make hypotheses about likely narrative developments on the basis of information drawn from textual cues and clues. Juul, Jesper. (2010) A Casual Revolution: Reinventing video games and their players. Massachusetts. MIT Press. Quote: games are always considered more dangerous than other forms of culture developers are under pressure to err on the side of acceptability. (Juul, 2010.) Chap 8 Pg 151 Juul, Jesper. (2010) A Casual Revolution: Reinventing video games and their players. Massachusetts. MIT Press. Quote: developers dont want to take a lot of risk due to quarterly numbers. (Juul, 2010.) pg 212 Appendix c Kelly, Tadgh (2012). Are Games Really That Persuasive? Techcrunch [Internet] available at < http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/10/are-games-really-that-persuasive/ > Accessed April 2013. Quote: " There are many behaviourist game designers who see games as persuasive tools Quote: "The root of the persuasive-game idea is that interactivity is better than passivity, and so by encouraging users to do stuff you likely imprint them with an idea more successfully. " (Kelly, 2012) McGonigal, Jane. (2011) Reality is Broken. US: Penguin Group. (McGonigal, 2001, Introduction) Quote: Gamers have had enough of reality

 Nutt, Christian. (2012) How Do You Put Sim in SimCity? Gamasutra. Available from: < http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/172835/how_do_you_put_the_sim_in _simcity.php?page=4 > Accessed May 2013 Quote: We're not preaching to anybody. (Nutt, 2013) Persuasive Games. Website. Available at < [http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/ > Accessed April 2013 (Persuasive Games, Website) Petitte, Omri. (2013) Will Wright and Ocean Quigley talk about Sim Citys guilt- driven experience. PC Gamer. Available from: < http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/22/simcity-will-wright-ocean-quigley/ > Accessed May 2013 One of the things I wanted to do with SimCity was to make you feel more Quote: because you can do all these horrible things to them, explains Quigley. You can poison them, burn down their houses, and because of your crappy economic decisions, they go homeless. (Petitte, 2013) Poole, Steven. (2000) Trigger Happy: video games are the entertainment revolution. Arcade Pub. Quote: game designers are responsible for the creation of computer games regard their responsibility of what types of moral driven decisions they take when creating computer games. (Poole, 2000) Rose, Jason. (2011) Emotion and Rhetoric in Bioshock. [BA Dissertation] Louisiana State University. (Rose, 2011) Quote: response to the Little Sisters was overridden by the feelings of sympathy and care for the little girls. Figure 1. Image from A Theory of Fun. Koster, Raph. (2005) A Theory of Fun. OReilly Media. Image. Pg 177 Chap 11. (Koster, 2005) Games: Irrational Games/2K Boston. (2008). Bioshock. 2K Games. (Bioshock, 2012) / (Irrational Games, 2008) Lionhead Studios. (2001) Black & White. Electronic Arts. (Lionhead, 2001) Maxis. (2013) SimCity. Electronic Arts. (Maxis, 2013). Minority. (2012) Papo & Yo. (Minority, 2012) Persuasive Games. (2008) Fat World. (Persuasive Games, 2008). Yager, (2012) Spec Ops: The Line. Berlin. 2K Games. (Spec Ops: The Line, 2012)/ (Yager, 2012)