Bogost's "Persuasive Games"

I received a final review copy of my book review for the International Journal of Gaming and Computer Mediated Simulations a few weeks ago. Since we are getting closer to the release of the journal and I'm spending the weekend working on a kitchen project... Today and tomorrow I'm going to be posting part of my initial draft of the book review. The actual review has changed a little, but the content here is still a good summary of Bogost's book.

Bogost’s thesis and theory are ripe for a mainstream discussion, the emphasis on traditional theory and the creation of a theoretical framework limit the book’s accessibility. Bogost’s thesis that videogames use processes to effectively communicate ideas and persuade those exposed to them (procedural rhetoric) is a critical explanation of how and why videogames communicate ideas in a variety of settings. While the focus on theory may put off those who are interested in Bogost’s theories after his 2007 appearance on Comedy Central’s Cobert Report, his work is significant to those in the field and academics in various fields.

Bogost’s is an assistant professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at Georgia Institute of Technology, and his communication scholarship is evident in this work. He begins the text with a discussion using his discipline to set up the theories around rhetorical communication. This foundation in communication theory establishes his work as a scholarly discussion. Bogost uses his communication framework to launch a discussion about how videogames can not only teach and influence, but also to create a rhetorical domain (procedural literacy) to analysis and discuss games from. Bogost’s focus throughout his survey is the creation, application, and importance of how games influence player by putting them into a process and experiencing the values and choices of the results of that process creating procedural literacy.

Bogost’s contribution in this text is a framework to discuss games as not just simulations, or art, or metaphors, but as works of communication that can express specific ideas through gameplay. This communication can be overt or subtle, but the messages, experiences, and learning the player engages in make videogames a powerful tool.