Exercise: write your reflective entry

In this exercise you need to first watch the short video of a ForaTV Talk by Ian Bogost titled “A Five-Year-Old in Debt: Learning With Video Games”, where he introduces his initial analysis of the game Animal Crossing through the lense of what would later be developed into the concept of procedural rhetoric. Remember to keep the two questions in mind when watching the video.

1. While watching the video, keep these two question in mind. You might want to take notes for the reflective entry exercise at the end of this page.

1. What is Bogost’s core argument of what digital games are capable of, when we approach them through the lense of procedural rhetoric? What becomes clear in such an approach, even in games made for entertainment uses only?
2. Why is this important to you when working with and designing digital games?

A Five-Year-Old in Debt: Learning with Video Games (YouTube)

Secondly, you need to read the chapter “The Rhetoric of Video Games” (focus on the first part of the chapter - pp. 117-128) , in which Bogost fleshes out and develops the concept of procedural rhetoric.



Thirdly, we ask you to test your knowledge by writing a reflective entry at the end to test how well you understand Rhetorics and proceduality as they are introduced by Ian Bogost, and also the combination of these two as Procedual Rhetorics.

Reference

• Bogost, I. (2008). “The Rhetoric of Video Games." The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Edited by Katie Salen. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, pp. 117–140.