Persuasive Games: The Proceduralist Style

opus.kobv.de

2010

Using Ian Bogost's theory of procedural rhetoric, the paper analyzes simulated learning environments as persuasive devices. The conclusion is that realism of procedures determines successful persuasion.

2014

The evolution of the game industry and changes in the advertising landscape in recent years have led to a keen interest of marketers in using digital games for advertising purposes. Digital games specifically designed for a brand with the aim of conveying an advertising message, are known as advergames. The increasing interest in the use of digital games as a marketing strategy is undoubtedly related to the development of new technologies and the proliferation of broadband and mobile devices and the closely popularization of digital games. However, despite the increasing interest in this marketing strategy, marketers and marketing companies still need more knowledge about the potential of digital games as a medium to convey advertising messages. This thesis aims at broadening the understanding of how advertising messages can be embedded within digital games. In this thesis an interdisciplinary framework is used in order to outline a theoretical model aiming to structure the existing knowledge to help explain how persuasive communication works within digital games. This framework consists of theories from game studies, media studies and studies on persuasion undertaken from a humanities perspective. This interdisciplinary approach allows for a broadening of the understanding of how persuasiveness can be implemented within digital games. It does so by forging new interdisciplinary links within the area of game studies where the emphasis of this study clearly lies, while also taking up new subjects that are important to this field. Furthermore, this study explores contemporary design theories and their relation to games as well as how this relationship may be used in a practical context. By giving order and intelligibility to specific aspects of persuasive games the theoretical model developed in this dissertation renders visible how persuasiveness can be structured within digital games and identifies specific aspects of persuasive games that might not be visible at first glance. This thesis builds upon game scholars Salen and Zimmerman's (2004) statements about how digital games convey meaning through semiotic principles by claiming that persuasiveness can be implemented within digital games by making use of three persuasive levels: (1) the signs embedded within the game, (2) the system that allows players to interact with the signs of the game and (3) the context in which games are played. The theoretical model of this thesis explains how all the persuasive dimensions that can be used within digital games are structured according to the three levels of persuasion. This model thus facilitates the study and implementation of persuasive strategies within digital games from a new and specific perspective.

2008

Ian Bogost takes video games very seriously. Just do not ask him to use the expression 'serious games' to describe games with a reach beyond entertainment and leisure. He much prefers the label 'persuasive games', and he begins his 2007 book of the same name by giving video games a comprehensive rhetorical treatment, complete with carefully identified tropes and genres.

Games are increasingly used for purposes that stretch beyond their primary strength as medium for entertainment. The interactive nature of games provide players with various opportunity to deal with complex (societal) issues on a more involved and personal level, far more than any other medium affords. As such it is not surprising to see that games offer a great platform for persuading players to adopt a particular perspective on events that occur in the real, physical, world. Games for persuasion, or games for attitude-change, have been a topic of discussion over the past decade. Concrete design strategies however, to analyze persuasive gameplay or guide the designer in embedding persuasive messages in gameplay, are scarce. As such, to advance the discipline we have set our focus on the development of strategies that aid the persuasive game design process. In this paper we describe the Attitudinal Gameplay Model as foundation for the Persuasive Gameplay Experience. The model serves as an overview of what game elements can be utilized for persuasion, how they are interrelated and what mental processes of the player are important to take into account.

2021

The rapid developments in new communication technologies have facilitated the popularization of digital games, which has translated into an exponential growth of the game industry in recent decades. The ubiquitous presence of digital games has resulted in an expansion of the applications of these games from mere entertainment purposes to a great variety of serious purposes. In this edited volume, we narrow the scope of attention by focusing on what game theorist Ian Bogost has called 'persuasive games', that is, gaming practices that combine the dissemination of information with attempts to engage players in particular attitudes and behaviors. This volume offers a multifaceted reflection on persuasive gaming, that is, on the process of these particular games being played by players. The purpose is to better understand when and how digital games can be used for persuasion by further exploring persuasive games and some other kinds of persuasive playful interaction as well. The...

DiGRA 2013 Proceedings - DeFragging Game Studies, 2013

In this paper I propose a new theory for the study of persuasiveness within digital games. This theory aims to make visible how persuasiveness can be structured within digital games and to be useful to identify specific aspects of games' persuasiveness that might not be obvious to the naked eye, by giving them order and conferring them intelligibility. The theory that I propose here is based on the hypothesis that multiple persuasive dimensions can be used within digital games to convey persuasive messages. In order to defend this hypothesis I introduce the concept of 'persuasive structures', which I use to describe how persuasive communication works within digital games. The definition of this concept relies on a conceptual model that is based on the proposition that persuasiveness within digital games can be developed through three different persuasive levels and that in each of the three persuasive levels it is possible to find different persuasive dimensions.

Proceedings of 2012 DiGRA Nordic, 2012

Since the publication of Ian Bogost's two first books (2006, 2007), procedural rhetoric has been the focus of attention of many scholars working on persuasive strategies in digital games (e.g., Heide & Nørholm 2009, Flanagan 2009, Swain 2010, Ferrari 2010). This paper aims to demonstrate that other persuasive dimensions could complement procedural rhetoric to design games with advertising purposes. This paper initially explains the value of use for each one of the persuasive dimensions that could appear in an advergame: narrative persuasion, procedural rhetoric, visual rhetoric, audiovisual rhetoric and textual rhetoric. Then a framework to analyze and visualize the persuasive structure of advergames is proposed, explained and defended. Finally the model is applied to three case studies.

Discourse, Context & Media, 2017

The paper is aimed at proving the hypothesis that multimodal construction in video games can follow specific discursive aims in the process of persuading game players. In order to prove this, we have performed a multifaceted analysis which elaborated the ways in which different modalities in a representative video game combine so as to convince the player to act, play, and perhaps think accordingly. The multimodal approach employed in the paper combines the notion of discourse aims and the rhetorical and argumentative structure of Metal Gear Solid, and analyses different narrative strategies and verbal cues, as well as the overall interface, control, and gameplay. The results suggest that verbal and textual cues combine with audio-visual elements and highly specific gameplay strategies in order to refrain the player from killing enemies. This might indicate that video games are likely to possess a great persuasive power, as they are both multimodal and highly interactive.