Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames [Hardcover]

Ian Bogost (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bogost's book provides a new lens—procedural rhetoric—to use in the analysis of games and an excellent survey of the history of games of this ilk."
— Steve Jacobs, American Journal of Play

"Bogost creates and writes about serious games, seemingly simple diversions that deliver educational political and advertising content alongside entertainment. In Persuasive Games, he offers an academic but accessible introduction to their potential, and it is very meaty reading for anybody interested in where the interactive arts meet real-world topics."
— Scott Colbourne, The Globe and The Mail

"Videogames lack the cultural stature of 'legitimate' art forms because they are widely perceived to be trivial and meaningless. But Ian Bogost makes a powerful argument that they are capable of informing and persuading as well as entertaining; in short, that they possess the power of rhetoric. Backed by numerous examples from the fields of politics, advertising, and education, Persuasive Games is an important addition to the debate over what games are, do, and can be."
—Ernest W. Adams, game design consultant and educator

"Analyzing the power of video games to mount arguments and influence players, Ian Bogost does again what he always does so very well: thoroughly rethink and shake up a traditional academic field—rhetoric—while lucidly building the foundations of a new one—game studies."
—James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies, Arizona State University

Product Description

Videogames are both an expressive medium and a persuasive medium; they represent how real and imagined systems work, and they invite players to interact with those systems and form judgments about them. In this innovative analysis, Ian Bogost examines the way videogames mount arguments and influence players. Drawing on the 2,500-year history of rhetoric, the study of persuasive expression, Bogost analyzes rhetoric's unique function in software in general and videogames in particular. The field of media studies already analyzes visual rhetoric, the art of using imagery and visual representation persuasively. Bogost argues that videogames, thanks to their basic representational mode of procedurality (rule-based representations and interactions), open a new domain for persuasion; they realize a new form of rhetoric.

Bogost calls this new form "procedural rhetoric," a type of rhetoric tied to the core affordances of computers: running processes and executing rule-based symbolic manipulation. He argues further that videogames have a unique persuasive power that goes beyond other forms of computational persuasion. Not only can videogames support existing social and cultural positions, but they can also disrupt and change those positions, leading to potentially significant long-term social change. Bogost looks at three areas in which videogame persuasion has already taken form and shows considerable potential: politics, advertising, and education. Bogost is both an academic researcher and a videogame designer, and Persuasive Games reflects both theoretical and game-design goals.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262026147
• ISBN-13: 978-0262026147
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #458,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars *Invitational* Game Criticism..., August 23, 2007

By	C. Poremba - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames (Hardcover)

Although Ian Bogost clearly has a vested interest, as a game designer and critic, in the ability of games to communicate powerful, evocative messages, Persuasive Games seriously challenges some pervasive assumptions behind games, reception and interactivity-- taking a run at how games communicate all the wonderful (or terrible) things they are assumed to communicate. Bogost makes several rather clever moves in this book, including linking the development of a 'procedural rhetoric' to the theorization of visual rhetoric-- of course games use both, but such nitpicking isn't the point of this book. Persuasive Games isn't an instruction manual for making compelling games, but it will start to the kinds of discussions we need to make more compelling games possible.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable for critical evaluation of games and other designed interactions., January 22, 2010

By	Ian J. Bellomy - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames (Hardcover)

At the heart this book is how phenomena can be expressed, with a bias, though the simulation of said phenomena. Designed processes contain an idea about how their real life counterparts work. These assumptions (conscious or not) carry an implicit point of view analogous to traditional rhetoric. Bogost successfully situates this procedural rhetoric in a historical context that elucidates the nuances with with games and other media make arguments about the way world works. The content is invaluable if you're interested in critically assessing or deconstructing games and other designed interactions.

Most of his examples were enlightening, particularly the ones concerning his game Dean for Iowa, which unintentionally painted political action as a process of human-wealth accumulation removed from any form of actual ideology. Less helpful was his characterization of the infamous escape game as a game that "operationalizes the sensations its services seek to countermand" and how it proceduralizes the "anxiety of office work". I'm far from convinced that any procedural argument here has anything more to do with mountain biking than it does with Klondike bars. This argument struck me as so odd that I'm convinced I misunderstood something.

Personally I found Bogost most interesting when proving details that contextualize his arguments; historical perspectives on rhetoric, educational philosophy, advertising, and even references to old school non-traditional physical input devices that I had never heard of (Joyboard anyone?). On the other hand, I feel like I'm still struggling to get a complete grasp on his concept of a "unit operation", based on the "count as one" concept of Alain Badiou (who I'm less than acquainted with). I'll likely have to pull Unit Operations (also by Bogost) off my shelf for some better grounding.

It can be a little dense in places, but not without cause. (I agree with a previous review that Bogost crafted his points very carefully to make specific statements and avoid ambiguity, however they may require multiple reads to parse). This book contains wealth of condensed and relevant knowledge along with carefully made insights.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking, October 7, 2008

By	E. Raskob (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames (Hardcover)

As a University lecturer, I found this book very useful in showing the applications of Bogost's theories (from "Unit Operations" onwards). Some of the examples are better than others, but reading Bogost's work you have the sense that he really "gets it," as in he understands the game-changing (forgive the pun) new ideas behind the culture, audience, and especially the software that makes video games tick, and exactly why they are different from established media like cinema. This book is directly applicable to all sorts of modern media, and although the title has "Games" in it I would recommend this to any person with an interest in modern media theory.

I do agree with the other review that this book can be very thick at times, but my impression is that you are expected to re-read sentences more than once. The words seem to be carefully chosen and parsed for meaning, something I appreciate, even if it doesn't make the book a speedy reader.