To Persuade or Not To Persuade

Todays lecture was something I'd like to think about as frustrating. And not because it was difficult to follow (it was definitely not) but because of one of the ideas that came across. Kevin mentioned 'Procedural rhetoric' - games follow a procedure and figuring out these procedures leads to being able to understand the game. The idea that the player is in control and that agency is highly depended on. All I'm thinking about the whole entire time is Angry Birds. I will shamelessly admit, I am a fan of the game and it made me realise not just how frustrated and ironically angry while playing it I get but it also made me realise just how much agency is used during the game. I've watched my friends playing the game and seeing them sitting around for hours on end finding any possible action or way to be able to squash every single one of those annoying little green pigs in as little moves as possible fascinated me. And not because by the end of my amusing little live show that they would be ripping their own hair out in frustration at these little green pigs who sit there on the screen, not moving a muscle, slowly tormenting these players. But because todays lecture finally made me realise that even in a minuscule game such as Angry Birds, procedural rhetoric is valid. And its valid without players even realising they sit for hours on end, getting the perfect angle in order to shoot these fat little birds across a screen to squash a couple of pigs. Huh, sounds a lot less frustrating in words than it actually does to play it.

Jenni M.