Persuasive Games - The Expressive Power of Video Games

Persuasive Games

The Expressive Power of Video Games

Ian Bogost

After listening too many times that this or that is a "game changer” I decided to go deeper in the idea of what is exactly a “game”?  Stepping back from my personal prejudices (I have to say I am not a great supporter of video games), I decided to understand more about it by reading this book written by Ian Bogost, associate professor in the school of literature, communication and culture at the Georgian Institute of Technology.

The book conducted me to ask very profound questions and a fascinating exploration of how games can be powerful tools for persuasion and learning! Key takeaways:

• 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰: Bogost introduces this concept, showing how games can make arguments through their rule-based systems.

• 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆: Games offer unique opportunities for education by allowing players to interact with complex systems and ideas.

• 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: Video games can create scenarios that challenge players to make moral choices, fostering critical thinking about real-world ethical dilemmas.

• 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Bogost demonstrates how games can be used in politics, advertising, and education to convey messages and influence attitudes. 

• 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆: The ability to understand and critique the underlying processes in games and other computational media.

This book has me thinking about the potential of games to tackle serious issues and promote meaningful learning.  My best quote to this book was about learning in different contexts:

“When schooling takes place in corporations or other enterprises, we usually call it training. Training in the pedagogical sense derives from the Old French verb trahiner, which had the sense of causing something to grow in a certain shape, usually a plant. Training always implies an external agent who sets the agenda for the desired growth, like a bonsai artist learner's roots and branches. It perhaps no accident that the verb school is used derogatorily in informal parlance to celebrate dominance of one agent over another: I totally schooled you. Conversely, education has been tethered unfortunately to the chain of schooling and training. “Education” derives from the Latin educere, to lead out. “True” educational systems draw their participants out of the very systems that support them by helping them see the undesirable features of those systems”.

The most important reflection of mine during this reading is the conflict between non-digital pressure and physical, outdoor and non-supervised play we must push our kids and the gradual moving into the digital world where every profession is being pushed. In other words, yes, it is true that having interaction with other kids in a free environment will nurture certain skills in children, and at the same time, it is true also that digital play (games) will help them too to interact online and reasoning with procedural literacy. 

What would be the best in the growing remote work environment? How should we prepare our children for the AI-Driven future? Would a mix between outdoor play and procedural literacy through games be enough to face the future challenges coming in which cooperative, global, multicultural and cyber reality will require?

This book is a profound philosophical reflection which helps us not only wipe out our prejudices, but reflect on our own limitations in terms of educational methodology as parents in respect to the best choice for our children. 

Have you experienced a game that changed your perspective or taught you something valuable?

João Pedro Paro - November 2024