Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
was needed again. In
WoW
, Dad ground through level after level, as one of
a select few who preferred to level by killing monsters, rather than complet-
ing quests or dungeons. However, when he felt he needed better equipment,
he let me know, and I pulled a group together to lead him to get the gear he
needed for his personal quest to eradicate the bad guys.
These three stories demonstrate various aspects of the discourse of video
games and part of what make video games special to me. Analyzing the
full context of video games requires taking a broad look at how they are
constructed as cultural objects. I argue that to do this we should use
word-
play
to analyze video games. Wordplay uses the tools of rhetorical criticism
to examine various elements of games, from the words found within and
around them to the design, play, and coding of them. By looking at these
elements, wordplay facilitates analysis of how games persuade, create iden-
tifi cations, and circulate meanings. Wordplay focuses on examining ele-
ments of video games with an eye to why specifi c aspects of the discourse of
video games matter. In the course of this topic, wordplay is used to address
three broad areas of how video games are made to mean: the
words
within
and surrounding video games, the
design
of games and society, and the
practices of
play
in games. Elements of these three core areas make video
games what they are as cultural objects. Wordplay is a critical approach
designed to better understand how video games work, what they mean, and
what factors frame how we think about video games.
An easy starting point for demonstrating how wordplay guides the anal-
ysis of video games begins with looking at the three things that help make
games special: a patch jacket, early mornings, and boss fi ghts. Function-
ing initially as promotional material, the patches on my jacket advertised
individual games and marked me as a gamer. Beyond that, they also estab-
lished a discursive environment predicated on playing games in a particular
way. To obtain, or earn, the desired patch, I was required to achieve the
benchmarks presented by the developers of the game. This encouraged me
to play in a certain manner, one that can now be seen woven throughout
the achievements integrated into contemporary games. Waking up early
functioned dif erently. To play a game in long, uninterrupted stretches like
I wanted, I needed to rearrange my life and sleep schedule to best utilize the
resources available to me. The way the game was designed shaped my desire
for longer play sessions, because I think
Final Fantasy
is best in extended
doses where I could develop the storyline and level my characters. However,
my ability to play was also formed by the larger cultural and technological
context in which my play was situated because I was living at home with
people far less interested in
Final Fantasy
than I, and we only had one
television. Finally, my relationship with my father is mediated through the
games we play. After many years of gaming together, it is the games we play
that give us a bond with which to address topics beyond gaming. Gaming
provides us with a platform on which to build identifi cations. We are far
closer now than we were in the days between
Zelda
and
WoW
when we
