"MANUFACTURING MIND GAMES: GETTING TO KNOW NEW RHETORIC"
by: Shelley Jane Graff
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| (Cover of Ian Bogost's book -- Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Video Games)
The rapid
increases of interconnectivity and technological convergence have, and continue
to, dramatically change the ways in which people interact on a global scale. Computers have afforded humanity an entirely
new realm in which one is able to ‘exist.’
This realm is not a physical realm, but a technologically based realm
that seems to dramatically shrink space and reduce time; a place for new mediums
of expression which continue to redefine the practices of human beings
worldwide to flourish. One such new
medium is that of the videogame. The
videogame, though still often viewed as a toy, involves a highly complex system
of functions which appear to have the potential to be organized in some
extremely unique ways.
In the book Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames by Ian Bogost,
he discusses the notion that the human experience involves a great deal of
‘processes’ and ‘procedure.’ Bogost
writes: “The computer magnifies the ability to create representations of
processes.” (p. 5) Going on to note that: “The type of procedures that
interest me here are those that present or comment on processes inherent to
human experience.” (Bogost, p. 5) This approach makes a good deal of
sense. After all, this technological
‘realm’ is an arena with the ability to contain the ultimate “controlled
environment” that an intelligent subject could potentially interact with at
this time in history. Complete with its’
own procedural rhetoric.
I once
had the question posed to me: Does one interact with their friends on Facebook;
or does one interact with the Facebook software—which then interacts with your
friends? Or, as Bogost states: “This is
really what we do when we play
videogames: we explore the possibility space its rules afford by manipulating
the game’s controls.” (p. 43) His argument breeds many intriguing questions,
including: to what extent is an interactive computer system able to influence
human behavior? In this way, Bogost sees
a new territory that remains a conceptual ‘no-man’s-land’—while highly
thrilling, it is also riddled with potential hazards.
[Word Count = 335 words total]
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