Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games

Analyzing Words, Design, and Play

Christopher A. Paul

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781136343056
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Rhetoric
• Index: Social Sciences

In this timely new book, Christopher Paul analyzes how the words we use to talk about video games and the structures that are produced within games shape a particular way of gaming by focusing on how games create meaning, lead to identification and division, persuade, and circulate ideas. Paul examines the broader social discourse about gaming, including: the way players are socialized into games; the impact of the lingering association of video games as kid's toys; the dynamics within specific games (including Grand Theft Auto and EA Sports Games); and the ways in which players participate in shaping the discourse of games, demonstrated through examples like the reward system of World of Warcraft and the development of theorycraft. Overall, this book illustrates how video games are shaped by words, design and play; all of which are negotiated, ongoing practices among the designers, players, and society that construct the discourse of video games.

Part I

The Context

1 Socializing Gamers

Finding myself alone in a nearly destroyed train car, I notice the blood oozing out of my gut. The train shakes and I am left desperately hanging onto a railing—the only thing keeping me from plummeting into the chasm lurking below.

These two sentences could describe many things, but in this case they depict some of the earliest moments of a player’s experience with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. However, players could have also first encountered the game in a number of other ways. They may have carefully tracked information and news about the highly anticipated sequel to Uncharted through a variety of different gaming publications. They may have heard about the game from friends, perhaps even watching someone else play the game before they picked up a controller. Perhaps they saw the commercial Sony ran to promote the game where a twentysomething male ‘asks’ Sony’s “VP of Big Action Moments” what to do when his girlfriend wants to watch the Uncharted 2 ‘movie’ every night.¹ These moments are elements of the words, design, and play of video games that socialize players into a certain mode of thinking about what Uncharted 2 is and how it should be experienced. By introducing an audience to what the game ‘is’ these efforts form the context for the application of wordplay, constructing how games are played and how they are embodied as cultural products.

Starting with the specific elements of games themselves and moving outward into media like commercials, game reviews, and game walkthroughs, game design and external media construct preferred means by which people think about video games. Players are routinely educated about how to properly play a game, sometimes with an introductory tutorial or an instruction booklet and occasionally with relatively little instruction at all. All of these elements interpolate people into gaming, potentially on very specific terms, as in the case of the Uncharted commercial where the fairly well-off white, male, twentysomething is the one playing, and his attractive, popcorn-making girlfriend still believes the game is a movie.

In addition to the limited introduction into particular games, these efforts to socialize also take on a larger meaning because what it means to play games changes. Certain design elements are normalized over time, like the health system in Uncharted² or the questing system in World of Warcraft.³ These normalizations socialize gamers into games by leading them to have expectations about how video games work. Gamers learn from the games they play and lessons carry on to the next game, as certain elements of the discourse of video games teach them what it means to play games. In practice, this means that if the tutorials that teach players how to play the game are increasingly built into the game, the relevance of something like an instruction manual is marginalized. The limited importance of the instruction book is further degraded by larger industry trends, like the growth in the sale of used games and the emergence of a rental market, where games are unlikely to come with their instructions. As designers are faced with the reality that players may not have the original materials, the cycle begins again, because designers cannot assume players have the instructions and must develop the game so players do not need what they may not have.

The process of socialization into games means that, as the elements of the discourse of video games change, the context of gaming, including what it is to play games, who is playing games, and what is considered enjoyable, is altered. As an example, the approachability of certain games, like Ultima IV, has shifted over time as contemporary gamers are used to a different experience than the massive amount of reading and exploration necessary to succeed in Ultima IV. Instead of reading the two manuals provided with the game, a contemporary player may want to jump right in, only to find that the game “isn’t too much fun for them” and “they want a radar in the corner of the screen. They want mission logs. They want fun combat. They want an in-game tutorial. They want a game that doesn’t feel so much like work.”⁴ In addition to the potential for older players to reminisce nostalgically about the lack of appreciation for the classic games of yore, socialization also means that concepts like ‘video game’ and ‘gamer’ are malleable over time, changing in response to the overarching dynamics of design and economic trends in the industry. In so doing, the scene of what constitutes games and the players/agents who are perceived of as playing games are altered, potentially taking on new meanings, while prompting feedback on other elements of the discourse of video games that reconstruct the whole. In order to better understand what it means to socialize players into games and develop the elements of socialization more generally, it is instructive to look to a variety of games to examine how they use words, design, and play to socialize players.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Some of the introductory moments of Uncharted 2 have been sketched out already, but there is far more to understand how this game socializes players. A PlayStation 3 exclusive and the sequel to the award-winning Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2 was highly anticipated and critically acclaimed, winning numerous 2009 Game of the Year awards. Players are positioned in the role of Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter and descendent of Sir Francis Drake, who is approached by two former accomplices in an effort to track various parts of the voyage of Marco Polo and discover lost treasure. There are a variety of elements to how Uncharted 2 brings players into the game, but the most notable are the integration of the game play and story narrative, the out-of-game promotional blitz, and the tutorials within the game and the paratexts surrounding it that ‘teach’ players just how the game should be played.

Uncharted 2 starts like many other games on either the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. If this is the first time you have played the game or if you have taken a lengthy break in between play sessions, the game will likely instruct players that updates are required to play. This forces players to download new content, and possibly consent to new terms of service, before they actually start up the game itself. Upon boot up, the publisher (Sony Computer Entertainment) and developer (Naughty Dog) are announced before a ceremonial dagger begins spinning in the bottom of the screen, marking the loading screen for the game itself. Although these may seem like innocuous, regular parts of games, they are still key, constructive elements of the discourse of Uncharted 2. In requiring regular updates and downloads, console games shift from what were once seemingly complete cartridge games into the kind of impermanence and change that used to be exclusive to their compatriots designed for personal computers. This changes how games are constructed, making them updateable, like the roster updates frequent to sports games, and also facilitates the sale of downloadable content, expanding what constitutes a game and potentially extending its lifecycle by adding playable material over time. The ability to include additional content shifts the development and marketing for high-end console games because the package you buy at the store is not necessarily the end of what the game is. The typical inclusion of the developer and publisher works as a small ad, predominantly functioning as a matter of branding. High-profile, notable games that are played over several sessions offer both companies the opportunity to present themselves in front of a primed, receptive audience who can then track down other games made by those companies. The spinning icon for the loading screen has a dual function. In the case of the Uncharted series, the objects depicted on the load screen are central to the plot of the game.⁵ Simultaneously, the objects are sleeker than the screen on many games that simply states “Loading,” as they push players toward the larger narrative of the game. This eases the break between the mechanical, processing needs of the game system and the diegetic, story-driven interests of players.

When Uncharted 2 begins, players are presented with a menu that requires them to select from a list of options. Upon starting a new game, players are greeted with the introductory cinematic, which prominently features a Marco Polo quote, “I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed,” that cleverly announces to players that they are about to embark upon a wild adventure, while offering the game designers great liberty to integrate what could seem to be ridiculous narrative elements into the game.⁶ The game then reveals Nathan Drake bleeding profusely on a damaged train, with little context for why he is there or what he is doing. The train suddenly slides down the edge of a cliff, sending Drake hurtling out of the back toward his doom, except for the piece of railing to which he manages to cling. The player then takes over the controls, aiding Drake in his effort to scale the train and make it safely onto solid ground.

As Drake makes it up and safely off the train, a second notable piece of Uncharted 2 quickly becomes evident. Throughout the game, focus shifts from play where the player is in control of meeting some sort of objective, like scaling the train, to cinematics that are used to provide back story and advance the overarching narrative in the game. Once the player safely ascends they are treated to a flashback introducing Harry Flynn and Chloe Frazer, two former accomplices who are planning a new caper. These segments enable character development, as we learn that Drake can read and translate the thirteenth-century Latin found in Marco Polo’s journal in addition his proclivity to narrowly escape death. The segment closes with Drake quipping “What could possibly go wrong?” before being teleported to the snowy cliff where the player resumes control of the game. It is the whole of the game,

all of these different elements, along with the lighthearted story, [that] are mixed together perfectly, providing an intoxicating pace that continually builds upon the previous section. The incredible rate at which Uncharted moves is staggering, seamlessly urging players from one incredible experience to the next, without ever staying on one mechanic too long.⁷

By blending game playing content with narrative detail and offering a variety of different experiences, Uncharted 2 socializes players into a blended game where the pre-rendered cinematics add to the play in a manner that provides a sophisticated, complex gaming experience. These moments, where buildings collapse and a player needs to jump through a window to narrowly escape death are what “make Uncharted 2 so exciting and more importantly, make it feel just like a movie.”⁸ During the whole of this experience a variety of different, familiar narrative tropes are employed. Complementary game design elements socialize those witnessing the game into viewing it in a different way, likening the experience to participating in a film, rather than just playing a game.

A second component of being socialized into Uncharted 2 is the paratexts surrounding the game. Inextricably linked to its predecessor, Uncharted 2 is a AAA game⁹ with substantial development resources and the huge marketing push that typically surround a high-end release. Game publications were laden with previews to build anticipation for the game, which were followed by game reviews upon Uncharted 2’s release. All of these elements combine to create hype surrounding the game where gamers are able to revel in mere rumors about the game or a subsequent sequel.¹⁰ The buzz about the game socializes those fans to anticipate, want, and consume. Game publications need content to attract readers, which means that the information surrounding a high-profile game is widely reported and, potentially, widely read, forming paratexts that set the terms on which gamers will engage the title. In the case of Uncharted 2, the promotion of the game reached beyond the limited audience of gaming publications with Sony’s television commercial that ran prominently after the game’s launch. Depicting the game as an action-adventure movie that ‘your girlfriend’ would be happy to watch night after night moved awareness about Uncharted 2 from a core gaming audience who reads previews and reviews to a larger television audience interested in action movies. The ad targets men by presenting the aspirational opportunities offered by Uncharted 2. The ad implies that games like this are played by those who live in plush apartments and have popcorn-making girlfriends who look forward to seeing more of the ‘movie.’ By recontextualizing the game, the potential audience becomes broader, leading to three million copies of Uncharted 2 selling in a matter of months,¹¹ while raising anticipation for the game as a whole. All of these promotional elements frame what players expect and shape the image of who is ‘supposed’ to be playing the game by setting the terms for the discourse about how to perceive Uncharted 2.

In addition to the paratexts encouraging consumption of the game, a second group of paratexts surrounds the game and shape how players engage in play. This piece, the walkthroughs readily found online, form a particular way of playing Uncharted 2, one that some might call cheating, while others find it essential to their mode of play.¹² Walkthroughs for Uncharted 2 come with two primary aims: guides for navigating the story in the game¹³ and guides to acquiring the more than one hundred treasures spread throughout the game.¹⁴ The walkthroughs offer direction about what to do in the game, either in words, pictures, video, or some combination of the three. In so doing, they proffer a preferred, scripted means by which to circumnavigate the challenges faced by players. Guides construct an idealized means by which to play the game, socializing players into a different form of gaming, one based on following instructions, rather than exploring the context of the game world. There is a wealth of similar examples spread throughout the internet, which offers easy access instructions for the players of almost any game. By transforming how games are played, these paratexts shift socialization, creating a connection between text and paratext while crafting a potential dependence upon these guides in the minds of gamers. Put simply, for many gamers, game play is dependent on the paratextual guides and walkthroughs available online. These elements push words into questions of play and design, as guides become a key component of how many people are now socialized into gaming as a whole.

The final piece of socialization in Uncharted 2 is the means by which the game trains players within the game’s design itself. Although players can seek instruction from online guides or receive minimal guidance from the instruction book included with retail version of the game, Uncharted 2 trains players as they play. Early in the game, when left hanging on the railing, players must make initial decisions with the control sticks to move back and forth. When reaching a predetermined moment, they are instructed to “press X to jump.” Later they are met with other instructions about how to pick things up, how to open doors, and how to aim and shoot a gun. All of these moments are key to how gamers in Uncharted 2 are taught to play, a training regimen that prepares gamers for games where they can simply pick the game up and start playing without reading an instruction manual in advance. As players proceed through the game, they are also likely to notice less explicit forms of persuasion. Objects fall behind you in initial stages that function to block off your path and prevent you from backtracking or getting lost. Conveniently colored objects, like yellow pipes or white bricks, stick out from the background to indicate there is something interesting or interactive at that spot. These elements, both explicit and more subtle, interpolate gamers, encouraging them to pick up and play while offering them the ability to move smoothly without needing too much help. Stripping those instructions from the game would alter how it is played, forcing players to research how to play or requiring them to search harder for clues as they play, instead of simply pressing buttons on a controller and enjoying the ‘movie.’

Uncharted 2 is a strong example of how leading console games socialize players into games, from the blending of story and gaming to the promotional hype and means by which players are taught to play the game. These elements shape how players engage games and what they are likely to expect from future releases. In so doing, these practices of socialization are a key component of how games work. However, understanding the contextual force of the means by which people are brought into games requires looking beyond AAA console titles.

Wii Sports

In stark contrast to the high production value and slick visuals found in Uncharted 2, Wii Sports is defined by it...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The New Rhetoric of Video Games
• Part I: The Context
• Part II: The Texts
• Part III: Using Wordplay
• Notes
• References
• Index