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.

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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).
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Bogost, Ian. (2006). Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism.
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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
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Kelly, Tadgh (2012). Are Games Really That Persuasive? Techcrunch [Internet]
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Accessed April 2013. (Kelly, 2012)

Koster, Raph. (2005) A Theory of Fun. OReilly Media. Image. Pg 177 Chap 11.
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Maxis. (2013) SimCity. Electronic Arts. (Maxis, 2013).

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Poole, Steven. (2000) Trigger Happy: video games are the entertainment
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Rose, Jason. (2011) Emotion and Rhetoric in Bioshock. [BA Dissertation] Louisiana
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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)