Introduction - Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games - page 7

games. This dynamic may change as more is published in the fi eld, but some
scholars have addressed ways in which games should be analyzed system-
atically. Jesper Juul analyzes the dynamics of computer games, arguing that
the formal rule systems of games and programs make them dif erent than
traditional narratives. 18 In discussing analysis of games, Espen Aarseth out-
lines three keys: study of game design, rules, and mechanics; observation of
others; and playing the game as part of research. 19 These criteria are quite
broad, which makes them fl exible enough for many dif erent projects. Mia
Consalvo and Nathan Dutton refi ne these approaches, advocating four cat-
egories for qualitative analysis of games: Object Inventory, Interface Study,
Interaction Map, and Gameplay Log. 20 Each of the three articles is useful,
but they are aimed at identifying aspects of a game one should investigate
rather than providing a clear way to engage in analysis.
One of the ways many game scholars have worked around the lack
of established methodology is by importing approaches from other dis-
ciplines. Mia Consalvo 21 uses Gérard Genette's idea of paratexts, 22 the
texts surrounding a primary text, to analyze cheating in games. Consalvo
found that players have dif erent conceptions of what constitutes cheating
and that a player's personal defi nition shapes how they engage in play. She
contends that increasing amounts of information about games have moved
from “a trickle to a torrent” and that those texts all play “a role in shaping
our experiences of gameplay—regardless of the actual game itself.” 23 Nick
Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter fi nd their inspiration elsewhere, using
ideas from Empire 24 as a theoretical frame for the analysis of the sociocul-
tural factors surrounding the production of games, leading them to exam-
ine issues like the real world labor of gold farmers in online games. 25 Both
of these projects borrow from existing modes of analysis, which shapes
the kinds of questions asked and the results likely to be found. Rhetorical
analysis of ers both the fl exibility and critical force to attend to many of
the ways in which texts function. In so doing, wordplay adds a complemen-
tary, necessary resource for those seeking to analyze games and provides
another surface for rhetoricians to analyze. Rhetorical analysis fuels the
development of dif erent questions and, when expressed in wordplay, helps
us understand video games and why they matter, especially when consider-
ing questions about words, design, and play.
While Consalvo, Dyer-Witheford, and de Peuter focus on the processes
and texts surrounding games, Alex Galloway and Ian Bogost argue that we
must not lose sight of the special status of games as actions or procedures.
Galloway argues that games are special because they only come into being
when they are played. He contends that gaming is a process of both “mean-
ing and doing.” 26 For Galloway, games are actions that depend on the execu-
tion of software that exists “when enacted.” 27 Galloway posits that games
are distinct from other forms of media, as the activity of gaming “only ever
comes into being when the game is actually played.” 28 In line with Gal-
loway's position, Ian Bogost advances a conception of procedural rhetoric,