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Matthew Josa Professor Cary ENGL 120 28 April 2014

"Video games are not mere trifles, artifacts created only to distract or to amuse. But they are also not automatically rich, sophisticated statements about the world around us. Video games have the power to make arguments, to persuade, to express ideas. But they do not do so inevitably. As we evolve our relationship with video games, one of the most important steps we can take is to learn to play them critically, to suss out the meaning they carry, both on and under the surface." -Ian Bogost, from "The Rhetoric of Video Games"

The Readers Video Game The rather objective statement of Video games are not mere trifles, artifacts created only to distract or amuse, by Ian Bogost, suggests that video games do not always serve the sole purpose of entertainment. Bogost is ultimately referring to a deeper video game that has a larger goal in mind, rather than just to entertainment. These video games may cause the gamer to think on a deeper level and comprehend a string of events to piece together a story. This in turn, makes the video game comparable to text, because the gamer must think in ways that are identical to those involved with

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reading a book, except on a magnified scale. As mentioned by Jeff Wheeldon, from Push Select Magazine in the article Video Games, Texts, and Interpretations, when thinking about video games as texts, we must replace the word text with work A work gives us a stronger sense of the authors involvement. We must view video games as works in order to fully appreciate and understand their place in present society. When this goal is accomplished, gamers begin to view the video game as something more than just a game. The video game begins to closer resemble a piece of art or book that is meant for the user to comprehend and depict the deeper meanings. More or less, labeling a video game a work allows the gamer to better understand and or rhetorically analyze a game. However, Bogost does not just say that all video games serve a purpose larger than entertainment. He mentions that some video games truly are used for amusement purposes only. These games, typically sports games, phone games, and some first person shooters, can be used to pass the time during a rainy day or entertain a group of friends. Shallow games such as these cannot be expected to provoke deeper thought within a gamer. Bogost goes on to say that Video games have to the power to make arguments, to persuade, to express ideas. But they do not do so inevitably. In essence while Bogost makes the statement that video games have the power to persuade, express ideas, and make arguments he succinctly states that this can only occur if the gamer applies critical thinking while playing these games. If the player of a game meanders on, only to play using the rote memorization of achieving objectives and finishing the game, he or she might miss the implied point of a video game that may have deeper meaning.

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As said by Ian Bogost in an article response towards his book, Persuasive Games from Bogost.com, Games represent how real and imagined systems work, and they invite players to interact with those systems and form judgments about them. Delving further into the argument, according to Bogost, games make arguments by allowing gamers to interact with these systems, while at the same time allowing the gamer to form his or her own opinion from an expressed notion of the game developer. In essence, the video game allows the gamer to take a point of view, twist it, form their own opinions, and retract a new point of view or even learn a lesson from the game. The same idea applies to reading a book or watching a film, however, video games take it one step further by allowing the participant to interact with the form of entertainment and take the games destiny into their own hands. Thus furthering the point made earlier that gamers are able to form judgments about the works presented to them. Gamers are able to create their own perspectives about the digital/gaming worlds surrounding them. However, this is only possible when gamers were to take the time to comprehend and enjoy every aspect of video games, while at the same time allowing these games to take their minds into a pleasurable, yet more developed form of thought, only then will these video games become meaningful. If players never take the time to slow down and learn to appreciate the video game like some might appreciate a book or music, comprehending the words, thoughts, meanings, and expressions portrayed, video games will remain only as a way to relieve boredom.

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When gamers commit themselves to fully understanding and comprehending video games, the results can be astronomical. According to research done by schools across the nation, E School News from the online article How Mainstream Video Games are Being Used as Teaching Tools, good video games can be used as teaching tools to help students develop an array of skillsfrom writing and physics to teamwork and problem solving. When writing the article, E School News conducted research on students playing games such as, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, and Angry Birds. During the experiment, students were effected positively by the gaming and improved reading comprehension and increased problem solving skills resulted. Not to mention, games can teach life skills and lessons that can be applied by gamers to their lives. Video games have the uncontrollable potential to change someones though t process and also to direct one emotions towards a certain set sequences or story. They are very similar to movies in of the fact that they can release buried emotions while allowing us to think in new and innovative ways. However, video games allow the player to change the world around them and, in some cases, reshape the story to their liking, rather than being subjected to anothers specific perspective. Bogost ends the robust statement by saying that one of the most important steps we can take is to learn to play them (video games) critically, to suss out the meaning they carry, both on and under the surface. This is perhaps the most important sentence within the statement, as it issues a challenge to all gamers. A challenge to not only play video games as a form of sport, but to play them with a more meaningful resolve by sifting out the lessons and hidden stories that they provide.

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By changing their perspective and looking at video games as an art form or a work gamers can begin to learn and derive skills from these games. This allows gamers to not only make more intelligent judgments during a game but can help to the gamer to attain new skills such as improved problem solving and increased reading comprehension. The practice of critically analyzing games can bring many benefits to the gamer, as it not only delivers increased enjoyment to video games, but allows to gamer to better depict the meaning of these games. We must analyze video games, according to Bogost, not superficially, but by weaving together unique perspectives and opinions, while at the same time determining their meanings for ourselves.

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Works Cited Bogost, Ian. "Persuasive Games." Bogost.com. Ian Bogost, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. "How Mainstream Video Games Are Being Used as Teaching Tools." Eschoolnews.com. E School News, 8 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Wheeldon, Jeff. "Video Games, Texts, and Interpretation." Pushselectmagazine.com. WordPress, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.