Persuasive game
In short A game that makes an argument through the way its rules work.
Definition
A persuasive game is a game that makes an argument through the way its rules work. The term comes from Ian Bogost, who called this technique procedural rhetoric: instead of telling players that a system is unjust, the game lets them operate that system and discover its logic by playing it. In September 12th, firing missiles at terrorists in a crowded town kills civilians and creates more terrorists, and the rules make the point no caption could. A persuasive game may support a cause, criticize an industry, or sell a product; what defines it is that the claim is carried by how the game behaves, not by its words or images.
Not to be confused with
- Games for change
Games for change are defined by a social aim and may use any method, while a persuasive game is defined by arguing through its rules, for any cause or none.
- Gamification
Gamification uses rewards to change behavior without making a case, while a persuasive game makes a case and leaves the player to judge it.
- Serious game
Serious game is the wider category; persuasion is one of its purposes, alongside teaching, training, and health.
Where the game lives
- rules: used
- goals: used
- feedback: used
- uncertainty: dropped
- choice: used
- play: used
The argument lives in the rules and is delivered through the player's own choices. Many persuasive games fix the outcome, removing uncertainty so the system's verdict cannot be mistaken for bad luck.
used dropped · What the six structures are
Examples
September 12thGonzalo Frasca, Newsgaming.com, 2003
A toy-like simulation in which every attack on terrorists breeds more of them.
The McDonald's VideogameMolleindustria, 2006
A management game that asks players to run a fast-food empire, and shows the costs of doing it profitably.
Disaffected!Persuasive Games, 2006
A deliberately frustrating game about working in a badly run copy shop, made as a critique of service work.
Bogost distinguishes this from the behavior-change tradition of persuasive technology, which nudges people with prompts and rewards, a lineage closer to gamification. A persuasive game instead makes its case through mechanics the player can inspect by playing, and many games for change work this way.
In the essays
Gamification is not a game
Gamification usually borrows the visible parts of games—points, badges, streaks—and drops what makes them work: real choice, uncertainty and voluntary play.
Sources
- BookPersuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. MIT Press, 2007. Introduces procedural rhetoric and the persuasive game. Reading list
- ArticleSimulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology. The Video Game Theory Reader (Routledge), 2003.
- BookPersuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann, 2003. The behavior-design tradition that Bogost's procedural approach is set against. Reading list