Ban These Evil Games

Rhetoric refers to persuasive language, the art or study of using language effectively and persuasively (Dictionary Website). Rhetoric is more than just language; it can be verbal, visual, behavioural and written. Within most games the background music plays a key role: “The tempo increases as the computer plays more and more games faster and faster.” (Mannix, 1992 p.68) This demonstrates that there are many factors that make up the rhetoric within the game not just the language used. The clothes and behaviour of the characters also play a key role.

Many games released are seen as very controversial, as they contain a lot of violence and swearing. There have been many games that people have tried to get banned. Manhunt, released in 2003 by Rockstar for example caused huge controversy. In February 2004 Warren Leblanc killed his friend Stefan Pakeerah in a park, the victims parents believe that it happened due to Manhunt. The Daily Mail reported this claim and due to the negative publicity many games stores withdrew the game from the shelves. However, due to the media hype surrounding the story the game then became more sought after and ended up being put on sale for £100. Rhetoric can be related to Manhunt as after watching the trailer it is evident to see the message that it is conveying, that it is acceptable to kill. Not only as a player do you have to kill as part of the mission, the deaths are extremely brutal. Games can often be seen to promote brutality and disagreement within friends, and is seen by some that there are not many benefits of playing games.

Nonetheless, games can also be seen to have positive rhetoric. I played a game called ‘Buzz’ with a group of friends. Rhetoric can be related to it as there is a male host who speaks in a light hearted comedic way talking the players through each level. Visually it was bright and colourful giving a fun feel to the game, and is just played to have fun rather than to relieve stress or have any form of violence. This shows that not all games have a negative rhetoric, however through the media they are the only games that we hear about more due to the controversy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mannix, P. (1992) The Rhetoric of Anti Nuclear Fiction: Persuasion Strategies, Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press: London and Toronto.

Unknown Author (Unknown Date) Rhetoric, Retrieved on the 28th February from the World Wide Web.
http://www.dictionary.co.uk/rhetoric

Further Reading

Koch, E. (1998) Pascal and Rhetoric: Figural and Persuasive Language, Rookwood Press: Charlottesville.