Toby Miller- MGP Reflection

I would say my thesis for this project is, as stated in piece 1 is, “[e]veryone, young or old,

should at least try playing Animal Crossing for both [a better grasp of] basic financial ideas and

to better connect with those around us.” (MGP Infographic) But one thing I would want to add to

that would be, that I would recommend Animal Crossing for people who want to connect with

their friends over long distances either due to quarantine or just physical limitations of daily life,

as it promotes an ease of connection for anyone.

To quote my work from Studio 9, “[m]y target audience is those who have not yet played

any title in the Animal Crossing series. This would be a group with a wide margin anyone from

ages 8-80 or even older or younger. I think their background would have to be those who do not

play video games often. But even then, I would want to suggest it to those who do play video

games, but specifically more violent games. Where they live would not matter but if they have a

family to play with, they could easily make it a family pass time. Either in older titles visiting

each other’s towns, or in the most recent title, building up an island together, each with their own

house to build. An important value they would need is patience, or a will to develop a stronger

sense of it. Another important value could be an appreciation for community, even artificial. Any

pre-existing knowledge is valid for this audience, even if they think they may dislike it, at least

trying it can change your viewpoints. One thing I think I would want for them to know coming

out of my MGP would be how Animal Crossing can help teach about stocks through the weekly

“stalks” system in the game. Another thing would be the understanding of the importance of

savings and money planning. The only thing I hope to change about the audience’s viewpoint by

the end of it would be gaining a sense of patience, a decrease in stress levels, and an increase in

serotonin production, because everyone could use some of the happy chemicals.” (Studio 9)
Toby Miller- MGP Reflection

I chose to do an infographic for one of my genres because in high school most of my

work in my graphics classes all four years was making infographics. It's something I find

calming, even though this one was not my best work. I was getting used to re-training my old

habits with a new program and ended up frustrated and just kept it super pre production. I chose

to do a text conversation for my second one because I think writing modern dialogue is really fun

but I struggle to write context around it so a SMS conversation was a perfect style to cut out the

middleman.

The infographic would exist as an online either article or as a post on a social media

platform such as Twitter or Instagram, as it’s resolution at least as of now is pretty high for mass

production. This would be workshopped in a professional print setting. The text conversation

would be as a text exchange between friends, one who is already an active player, and one who is

not yet. It can definitely change in flow and verbiage depending on who is being messaged. If

anything they should be ordered as the text conversation first to hook the subject and then the

infographic to either sell the point to skeptical people or those who would want more information

before purchasing a game. But again, it could be the opposite as someone who sees the

infographic first might spark an interest, but worry that they wouldn't have friends to play with.

The mode of communication I relied most heavily on I feel was linguistic. I feel I used

language in two different ways across both pieces to appeal to different sectors of my audience.

The infographic was more informative and appealed to a more traditional, perhaps older

audience. The text conversation was definitely more geared towards a younger audience, with a

lot of simplistic language and modern word choice.

I feel at this point the effectiveness of the text conversation would hold up for at least the

next while especially with the reference to “coronacation” though that particular word choice
Toby Miller- MGP Reflection

definitely would date the piece overall. I think now would be a good time for that piece in

particular however, and would be especially successful with the younger half of my

demographic. The infographic I would say is the weaker of the two pieces. It is wordy and not as

well broken up as I would like. I believe this piece will hold up longer overall however, as it is

more traditional in verbage and appeals to a wider audience.

I appealed to my audience through Ethos the least as I did not really establish myself as a

presence in either work. Pathos however I feel was my most prevalent appeal in both pieces.

The reference to Audrey, the Animal Crossing Grandma, appeals to the older generation through

a personal connection with a figure in their same demographic. The entirety of the text

conversation was based in pathos, as the figure who was already a player appealed to the

emotions of their friend. Logos was used mostly in the infographic, as the entire section on the

stalk market was meant to appeal to the logical side of the audience in saying the Animal

Crossing is a good baseline learning introduction.