The Oxford English Dictionary states that rhetoric is 'language designed to pursuade or impress (usually with an implication of incincerity or exaggeration)'. This is often always true, take the Daily Mail article 'Ban these evil games' as an example, the information presented was exaggerated to imply that the boy's involvment with the game Manhun was more extreme than it actually was.
Rhetoric can be what is said about games such as in the Daily Mail article but also what is said or implied within the games themselves, this is the angle I have chosen to look at further.
The representation of sexuality is a good example to show how certain messages and ideologies are expressed through games. 'Heterosexuality is promoted to "evoke desire and identification"' Leena-Maija Rossi cited in Wolf and Perron (2003). Gives a clear example of sexuality being promoted from a certain view point, is the game The Sims, where 'the goal of the game is to develop a neighbourhood of healthy and happy simulated people' Freidman and Miklaucic, cited in Wolf and Perron (2003). They also suggest that the game provides 'ideological biases' as there are certain 'tasks' and arrangements that are fobidden.
As the aim of the game suggests, you are expected to find your 'sim' a mate, a partner with who they will fall in love and marry and have children. This is what is expected but is also the only option allowed by the game. Same sex couples are allowed but they can only live as roommates with their own bedrooms and are very rarely offered the adoption of a baby. As well as not allowing couples to live together unless married, your 'sim' is also not allowed to have a baby before marriage or adopt a baby on their own. Clear emphasis is put on getting married and having children to make the family complete and there are no options to stray from this set up.
Therefore then, the ideological messages being subconsiously omitted by the Sims is that a person should marry and have children to create a nuclear family that is healthy for a functioning society. Although this is also the concnesus in most 'real' societies' the fact that all other variations of living have been ingored or intentionally disallowed suggests that the creator (Will Wright) wants his players to follow a similar view on life, to promote heterosexuality as the 'norm'.
Word Count: 404
Bibliography:
Perron, B., Wolf, J., (2003). The Video Game Theory Reader. London; Routledge.
The Oxford English Dictionary (1933).
Wednesday 28 February 2007
Sunday 18 February 2007
Wittgenstein's Family Resemblance
It is almost impossible to give a definite definition of what a 'game' is as there are so many different types. "A game is a structured or semi-structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes also used as education tools." This was the best definition that Wikipedia could generate and still it is vague and doesn't tell exactly what a game consists of.
Since is is so hard to find a definition of a 'game' it is also difficult to find 'what is common to all these activities and what makes them...' Wittgenstein (no date). In his work Wittgenstein explains that games to not have a set of characteristics that they all must follow but that if studied you will find a mixture of characterstics that appear through games, that overlap with each other and that follow certain trends. He called this the 'family resemblance' as certain members of a family may hold a certain family 'trait' that connects them to each other.
This can be applied to two of the module games, Doom 2 and Manhunt. Although they were created at different times, by different companies and are based on a different 'plot' they both hold the characteristics of violence, menace, death, destruction and self gain by killing. They each have their own characteristics such as Doom 2 being set as a battle against creatures that do not exist whereas Manhunt is set against actual human beings.
Some characteristics here are unique to the game while others such as the level of violence overlap. Wittgenstein explained how these characteristics functioned as 'a complicated network or similarities, overlapping and criss-crssing' (no date).
Word Counts: 368
Bibliograghy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein
Since is is so hard to find a definition of a 'game' it is also difficult to find 'what is common to all these activities and what makes them...' Wittgenstein (no date). In his work Wittgenstein explains that games to not have a set of characteristics that they all must follow but that if studied you will find a mixture of characterstics that appear through games, that overlap with each other and that follow certain trends. He called this the 'family resemblance' as certain members of a family may hold a certain family 'trait' that connects them to each other.
This can be applied to two of the module games, Doom 2 and Manhunt. Although they were created at different times, by different companies and are based on a different 'plot' they both hold the characteristics of violence, menace, death, destruction and self gain by killing. They each have their own characteristics such as Doom 2 being set as a battle against creatures that do not exist whereas Manhunt is set against actual human beings.
Some characteristics here are unique to the game while others such as the level of violence overlap. Wittgenstein explained how these characteristics functioned as 'a complicated network or similarities, overlapping and criss-crssing' (no date).
Word Counts: 368
Bibliograghy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein
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