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My First Blog Post

“Her Story”

Rhetoric is not just speech and language, but also body language, and tone. Bogost constantly mentions about visual and digital rhetoric in his work “Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames”. I think it is very interesting that in ancient Greece, they related rhetoric to language and speech, but now exists visual and digital rhetoric. Visual rhetoric leaves it to the audience’s interpretation and creates such ambiguity that nothing is known for sure. Bogost’s text states, “images are more ‘vivid’ than text or speech, and therefore they are more easily manipulated toward visceral responses” (Bogost 22). In “Her Story”, the videos contain some kind of persuasion. As players play the game, they try to figure out what happened by watching the suspects’ videos and who committed the act. The videos are trying to persuade the viewer to form their own opinions and conclusions. The interview cannot be watched in their entirety so the viewers are forced to watch clips of videos in random order. In addition, the questions that are being asked are not presented so it is left to the viewers to decipher the dialogue and its context. By doing so, the viewer is able to form its own explanation and point of view of what happened because the storyline is not entirely clear.

Bogost states, “images may lack the kind of deep analysis afforded by textual interpretation, a sentiment that resonates with concerns over the use of images in propaganda” (Bogost 22). In the videos, viewers are persuaded to be in the shoes of the detective and try to solve the murder mystery by watching Hannah and Eve’s clips. Rhetoric is embedded throughout the videos, especially in Hannah and Eve’s responses and body language. Hannah and Eve create their perfect alibis to prove that they could not have been the murderers. Their tones suggest that they are innocent women who could not possibly commit such an act. There are contradicting stories that show their violent thoughts, and also evidence that make them sound caring and cordial. Both of them sound suspecting yet not, at the same time, thanks to their rhetoric.

During the videos, I kept having a recurring question of whether Eve and Hannah were the same person with a split personality disorder or they were actually twins. I believe that this was the intent of the creator. It is never evidently stated whether they were twins or one person with a disorder, therefore, the viewer can believe either of the theories since the videos can be interpreted to support either. I thought this game was very interesting in the way the game-maker created this game. The game contains multiple clips to try to solve a murder mystery, yet it contains rhetoric and other tools to try to confuse or cause the player to think more critically about the situation.

Third Blog Post: Keywords Presentation

I found each of the presentations to be very interesting filled with new information that I did not previously know about. The most interesting thing I found about all of the presentations was that everything is connected to each other. All of the presentations overlapped with at least one other presentation, and mentioned similar topics that applied to both. For example, I remember that there were two presentations that talked about the critical play game design model and how the model is a basis for designing goals and, in the case of the class’s topic games. I found it very interesting how much value goals are in our lives on a daily basis. Our value goals have guided our lives and influenced the decisions we have made and I did not even realize that until the presentation. Value goals are what make us who we are and shape the morals that we have today. Another presentation that I thought was very interesting was the one about critical play. I thought it was particularly interesting when they connected critical play to a psychological aspect and how it could negatively impact individuals. For example, mind games focus on plausible relations between individuals while involved in gameplay. They are used to conceal individual motivations to create an apparent advantage as seen in the game of poker. Another example of critical play in our everyday lives is the game of hopscotch for children and its role in child development. How the game is designed and presented to the audience carries implications for the social group. Some people may choose to play the game, some choose not to, some choose to play by the rules, and some choose to cheat. Those who choose to cheat are presenting a negative example to others, and on a psychological aspect may show to the others that it is okay to cheat. Social interactions, such as the game of hopscotch, builds interaction and teaches social skills to young children. Therefore, the way the game was played and the different rules that were applied when played becomes the social rules for them and how they would interact with the world in the future. I did not previously connect a game as simple as hopscotch to such a complex understanding of how the game is played and how it shapes the way I think about societal rules, as introduced in the presentation. It was captivating hearing presentations about two different keywords and how each one was similar to my group’s presentation on design goals. Value goals and design goals have the same purpose, which is to get to a goal, using either a specific design or the values you have. Critical play and design goals both are important in a way that they shape how we view something. Overall, I think the biggest takeaway for me was how design goals, value goals, and critical play, along with the other keywords, all have a critical part in leisure activities, such as game play, and in more serious matters, such as child development.

Second Blog

Images can persuade and compel a person to do something without them even knowing it because it affects them on a deeper level. Bogost states that according to Hill, “images are more ‘vivid’ than text or speech, and therefore they are more easily manipulated toward visceral response” (Bogost 22). I agree with this quote because images are a quicker way to connect with the audience. Images are more ambiguous and interpretational than text or speech so they can be perceived in different ways depending on how the viewers see the image. Images lack the textual support and analysis, and can be manipulated to how the viewer wants to see it. They connect to a person on a deeper level, rather than just intellectually, without the person being actually conscious of the connection. For example, advertisement is a big genre of visual rhetoric. An effective ad, in my opinion, would have enlarged images with little to no text. The goal of advertisements is to quickly connect with the viewer on an emotional level. If there was a person on the advertisement smiling, it portrays a happy emotion, and when the viewer sees the happy emotion, hopefully they too will feel happy. Not only the emotion that is portrayed on the advertisement, but also the colors and the font can have an impact on the viewer. Advertisers want to persuade the viewer to think and feel a certain way without explicitly doing so. In addition, another example of this duality within advertising can be found within album art. A cover with bright colors and unique visuals can influence some to want to try and listen to the album, while others may view the cover as silly and ridiculous. Another tool of visual rhetoric is doing certain actions or deeds that convey different meanings or messages to onlookers. For example, something as simple as a public kiss can be perceived in different ways by different people. Some could argue that it is just a greeting between friends and others could think that it is a display of affection between two people in a romantic relationship. The interpretation of the kiss will depend on the person performing the kiss and the onlookers’ perspectives.

Visual rhetoric is a part of a communication process, just without text or speech. Like the other types of rhetoric, visual rhetoric is controllable. The creator of the visual decides which image they want to communicate out to the world or what they want the message to express.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
What topics do you think you’ll write about?
Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.