Vincent Carguillo

Professor Dieterle

ENC 1102

25 March 2020

Introduction

Microsoft’s Xbox recently released a blog style platform on all Xbox One consoles.

Called Looking for Group, its purpose is really in the name itself. The idea was to make it easier

for players to connect with other players by creating posts in order to form a group. The creation

of this platform is an example of a participatory culture. Henry Jenkins describes a participatory

culture as one that has low barriers, mentorship, social connection, and communication. The

LFG includes these and is accessible to any person with an Xbox One console; however it is not

required to be used and it can remain in the shadows for however long. These characteristics

exemplify the new age of communication that people can access to share and connect with one

another (Jenkins, 2006). As well as participatory culture, the LFG also represents rhetorical

situations, with the players as the rhetors and the posts as the discourse. Examining this platform

was interesting because different types of posts received more attention while others hovered

around, and I wanted to know why. My research was aimed toward figuring out why some posts

received more attention. Each post has a fully customizable options menu that allows players to

pick out the structure of their post. The structure is often created in a way that will only attract

specific players. Within LFG there are players who tend to play more seriously or more casual.

Due to this difference, there are distinct comparisons between these kinds of posts. Players will

purposefully design, organize, and structure a post a certain way in order to achieve the ideal
players. The existing research provided gives reasoning to why posts are either effective or

ineffective by highlighting emotional attitudes, persuasive argumentation, and linguistics.

Researchers LuMing Mao, Tadeusz Pawlowski, Frederic Wells, Henry Jenkins, and Keith Grant-

Davie all contribute to different, but some common, themes that help understand why this

happens. Discourse is very persuasive-oriented, meaning it’s brought forth to get what you want

or to invoke change. Mao and Pawlowski insist that emotions play a key role in the persuasive

component of rhetoric, with ethos, pathos, and logos at the core. Moreover, Pawlowski continues

by considering the audiences response as emotively active or emotively indifferent, often

underlined by ethos, pathos, and logos. Above-average linguistics, touched on by Wells, can

evoke emotions (Mao, 1990) within an audience that may trigger an emotively specific response

(Pawlowski, 1968). Wells’ research builds upon persuasion by actively arguing that linguistical

ability is associated with elevated intellect (Wells, 1906). In other words, by expressing achieved

linguistical ability, an audience may become more captivated or more intrigued. This is so

important to understand because within rhetorical situations, Grant-Davie insists that rhetor’s

create discourse to persuade and fulfill. Without proper linguistics or persuasive argumentation, a

rhetor may not invoke the correct emotive response out of an audience, which leads to ineffective

writing within this particular community. Poor persuasive strategies can be expressed by a lack

of linguistic ability and/or intellect; which also can prohibit the rhetor from understanding an

effective use of ethos, pathos, and logos. The existing research will help explain why some posts

were full earlier than others by highlighting the connection between emotive responses and

persuasive ability.

Methodology
 Approaching my research, I wanted to capture three specific types of posts: the good

post, the bad post, and the casual post. Once I had navigated to the platform I observed for a

while, noticing the patterns and habits of posts and players. When I was ready to select a good

post, I clicked refresh, set a timer, and waited for a post to disappear. The first post to disappear

would have acquired teammates the quickest, meaning it was effective. Next, I wanted to focus

on the bad post, which would usually remain on the feed for a much longer time considering it

did not acquire teammates quickly. Lastly, I wanted to note a casual post, one that was there for

all audiences to join. This type of post usually didn’t have many constraints and would disappear

quicker than the bad post but not quicker than the good one. Once all posts were acquired, I took

note of the time elapsed and used these times to further analyze the differences within the posts.

Then, I analyzed the texts by comparing them, what was different, what was similar? The idea of

posting to acquire teammates is a perfect example of a rhetorical situation. If a player lacked

teammates, that is the exigence and the post is there to solve this through linguistic discourse.

Through the research and rhetorical analyzation, I want to show the audience which posts were

most effective while also indicating why that is.

Results

After I had accessed the community, I navigated to the LFG platform and readied my

timer. The posts by Gifkp, PurityYT, and lx Comatose xl all appeared on the feed when I hit the

refresh button. 29 Seconds in Gifkp’s post acquired all its teammates and went on to disappear.

Following Gifkp was lx Comatose xl’s post, which disappeared 44 seconds in. And lastly,

PurityYT’s took a whopping 1 minute and 56 seconds to acquire its teammates. Gifkp’s post was

an all-around good post, it had descriptive tags, a linguistically simple description and a good

design which led to the short disappearance time. Gifkp also did not incorporate any negative
aspects within his post, at no point did any section of his post invoke negative emotions. On the

other hand, PurityYT lacked an efficient description and descriptive tags leading to the much

longer wait time. Also, Purity YT included a few sentences that would invoke negative emotions,

resulting in a longer time on the feed. Lastly, lx Comatose xl shot for the middle, it wasn’t great

but that wasn’t the idea for it. The post had fun intentions, one that would apply to all audiences,

not specifics. However, I find it interesting that a post that applies entirely to the community

remains on the feed longer than the good post directed toward a specific audience. I can only

assume that majority of players on the feed were, at that time, looking for a group that was ready

to play seriously. These differences are vast and to explore them more in-depth I must analyze

and compare every post and their quirks.

Analysis

The post to the left, created by Gifkp, was very

effective due to its simplistic design and efficiency.

Gifkp posted this in order to get teammates specific

to the tags (constraints) and succeeded in doing so.

Every player who posts on the LFG has a specific

exigence, audience, and purpose because not every

player has the same idea. In this case, Gifkp’s

exigence was the fact that he lacked teammates who

could handle themselves or win a game. Considering

Gifkp’s post was on the feed for only 29 seconds, he

satisfied the discourse and did it efficiently. Gifkp is

part of a genre of people who participate on this platform, however he differs by leaving ethos
and pathos out of his discourse. Instead, Gifkp incorporates aspects of logos which leads to

positive results. Gifkp does not fluff or invoke severe emotion, instead he presents constraints

that are straight-forward and important to the exigence. As a rhetor within this community, one

must understand the influence that constraints can have on the discourse. In this case, Gifkp’s

post is the prototype for effective posts because he provides correct constraints and an exigence

that resulted in this post disappearing in two minutes (Grant-Davie, 1997). The linguistical

simplicity that Gifkp chooses to implement evokes a sense of collect and poise within a player;

in fact, Wells argues that having a command over language can show close correspondence with

general intellectual efficiency (Wells, 1906). This association can evoke various emotions within

players, such as trust and safety. Within this particular community, if the host can create a

feeling of trust or safety through the post, they are likely to receive positive results, just as Gifkp

has done. The tags included in this post can portray a host who will be calm and collected while

also remembering the task at hand.

The next is Purity YT’s post, very ineffective. Purity

YT created this post with the intention of acquiring

teammates who wouldn’t let him down. Earlier, I

presented a good post, effective in appearance, that

illustrated good word usage, design, and audience

targeting. In contrast, Purity YT did not consider the

audience that he was addressing. Compared to Gifkp,

Purity YT did not have the suitable constraints for

collecting the correct audience, leaving his post too

broad for players’ interest. Gifkp included a tag,

“#USplayers,” (Gifkp, 2020) which indicated which region he wanted players from, however

Purity YT did not. Purity YT also failed to maintain a non-hostile attitude as he requested for

teammates who, “…have game sense” (Purity YT, 2020). Pawlowski illustrates an interesting

concept that applies wholly to this post, “Emotive attitudes are expressed by those linguistic

terms and phrases which are emotively active,” (Pawlowski, 1968). What Pawlowski is saying is

that emotive attitudes, or feelings towards something, can be inhibited just by the linguistics or

phrases involved. Purity YT’s linguistic phrases commonly evoke negative emotions within the

community, which results in negative attention. By stating that players must, “Know how to

aim,” is condescending and is often negatively perceived, as reflected by the longer time on the

feed. Mao (1990) defends this stance through his paraphrase:

In The Development of Writing Abilities (11-18), Britton et. al. characterize

persuasive discourse as part of the transactional use of language that attempts to

overcome potential resistance or opposition in order to effect some change in

action, behavior, attitude and belief through reason, argument and strategy (146).

Elsewhere, they argue that the persuasive use of language amounts to a

"deliberate assault," be it recognizable or disguised, "on other people's behaviour

or attitudes or opinions" (98), (Britton et. Al., 1975).

This “deliberate assault” is like Purity YT’s condescending requirement of the players he

hopes to get. The “potential resistance” and “opposition” above may refer to the other

posts on the feed. Within LFG, there are many posts up at once, up to 2500. When

refreshed the newest ones arrive and compete to nab their desired players. Purity YT does

not do a good job at competing and falls short, as seen in his wait time. His use of

language within the discourse did not overcome the oppressors are both Gifkp and lx
Comatose xl disappeared quicker than his. Purity YT’s strategy for persuasion was not

nearly as effective because he took the stern route and chose to almost scorn players

already even though they weren’t a part of his group yet. This strategy is so ineffective

because it nearly pushes players away.

lx Comatose xl’s post, through linguistics,

emoji’s, and tags, gave off a friendly

atmosphere, one that would be accepting of any

player regardless of skill level. In this case, the

post is not “effective” enough to achieve the

skilled players, however this is not the target

audience. Unlike the other posts, this one did

not focus too much on requirements or serious

play. Based off the linguistics, this player was

hoping to have fun and relax with a few people

while playing. The incorporation of emoji’s and tags like, “#DontBeToxic,” (lx Comatose

xl, 2020) indicate that he wants to just be social and interact. Much like Jenkins

participatory culture, it’s almost as if he has created a sub-division of culture within the

LFG. By asking for players to come beatbox he has created a culture that can be

participated in. It has low barriers and I assume he would’ve been the mentor (Jenkins,

2006). It’s interesting to see the change in persuasion amongst these three posts, why is

this? Pawlowski argues that, “The Structure of a persuasive definition varies according to

the tasks which it is intended to perform,” (Pawlowski, 1968). The structure that lx

Comatose xl decided to incorporate embodied a friendly atmosphere, one that would be

welcoming of whoever fit the requirements. The use of his emoji’s goes on to create a

vibe that one may want to beatbox in. The rhetor used these emotes to give his post an

upper hand on the competitors (other posts) and create an eccentric mood that no casual

player would want to pass up, resulting in the relatively quick wait time.

Conclusion

After analyzing multiples primary sources from the community itself, I believe

there is a clear connection between effective posts and emotive attitudes, persuasive

argumentation, and linguistics. The sources gathered show that emotive response to

rhetorical persuasion can result in positive or negative attention towards the discourse. If

the discourse does not satisfy the emotions of the audience, then the discourse itself has

become ineffective, resulting in a longer time on the feed. Factors such as linguistics or

intelligence has a littler effect on time elapsed due to the low possibility to perceive

intelligence through a post on the LFG. Moreover, linguistics does have an effect as seen

between Gifkp and Purity YT’s post. The simplicity involved in Gifkp’s post is more

effective than the sloppiness of Purity YT’s. This study can help further understand the

role that emotive response has on rhetorical situations. For example, in an online

community it is difficult to understand the emotions of people as they sit behind a screen

however, if you look close enough you can begin to decipher the exigence based upon the

emotive response acquired. Emotions play a huge role within persuasion and using ethos,

pathos, and logos to help with that can be the deciding factor when deciding if a post is

effective or ineffective. Most competitors have similar posts but the ones who went away

the quickest tend to have the most attractive features, such as good emotive attitudes and

linguistics. Not much is known about intelligence through online LFG communication so
further research on the connection between linguistics and persuasion can be done to

decipher which specific persuasive strategies are more effective when figuring out

intelligence.

Works Cited

Gifkp. (2020, February 18th). Plat 3 1.1[Online forum post]. Looking for Group, Microsoft.

https://imgur.com/a/a0SrrWf. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/xbox-console-

companion/9wzdncrfjbd8?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab.

Grant-Davie, K. (1997). Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents. Rhetoric Review, 15(2),

264-279. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/465644

Jenkins, H. (2006, October 20). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media

Education for the 21st Century (Part One). Retrieved April 3, 2020, from

http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2006/10/confronting_the_challenges_of.html

Purity YT. (2020, February 18th). Looking for gold 2-gold 1 Know how to aim and have game

sense… [Online forum post]. Looking for Group, Microsoft.

https://imgur.com/a/mR0FcyX. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/xbox-console-

companion/9wzdncrfjbd8?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

lx Comatose xl. (2020, February 26th). Just casual and some beatbox. [Online forum post].

Looking for Group, Microsoft. https://imgur.com/a/02gu4pc.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/xbox-console-companion/9wzdncrfjbd8?

rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab
LuMing Mao. (1990). Persuasion, Cooperation and Diversity of Rhetorics. Rhetoric Society

Quarterly, 20(2), 131-142. Retrieved February 27, 2020, from

www.jstor.org/stable/3885902

PAWŁOWSKI, T. (1968). Persuasive Definition and Persuasive Argumentation. The Polish

Sociological Bulletin, (18), 31-49. Retrieved February 26, 2020, from

www.jstor.org/stable/44815431

Wells, F. (1906). Linguistic Ability and Intellectual Efficiency. The Journal of Philosophy,

Psychology and Scientific Methods, 3(25), 680-687. doi:10.2307/2011616