Playing Yourself: The Rhetoric of Games

Mentally stimulate me, a game that reveals your true opinions and

thoughts. A multiple choice game with pretty controversial questions. In

this podcast episode, Ashley and I discuss the game in a new light,

exploring its hidden agenda, political stance, and

targeted audience. Tune in and get the tea (that was a pun based off the

fact that the game uses millennial language, you wouldn't know that

until you listen to the podcast, though).

In this episode, we discuss the widely-known game series:

The Sims.  We break down format of the

game to identify how this game series has managed to remain successful over the

years.  Additionally, although most

players may not put much thought to it, the game exposes the natural tendencies

of humans through their actions as players of this game, which are further

observed in this episode of Playing

Yourself. 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.304809-Sadistic-Things-Youve-Done-in-The-Sims

https://www.polygon.com/2013/8/26/4654086/the-sims-4-are-a-better-reflection-of-who-we-are-as-humans-today

Katie Ly, interview

In

this week’s episode, we have tried to touch on an unconventional game

structure. We will be talking about the college

admissions process and how this is a big game. Since, it is such a big

decision of everyone’s lives, everyone wants to cross as many stages as

possible: Resume, Essays, Grades, Standardised Tests etc. In doing so,

people forget the true importance of education-learning,

We end up focusing on the quantitative aspects of education like grades

and GPA rather than qualitative aspects like: learning, team-work, and

creativity. We will go deeper into this topic in our podcast and unveil

many more aspects of the admissions process

which contradicts the values the admissions committee tries to promote.

Stay tuned to learn the real values of education and see for yourself

what values you want to inculcate.

In this week’s episode of

Playing yourself,

Doraemon and The Kid will talk about Minecraft.

Minecraft is one of the most popular sandbox video game that allows

players to express their own creativity. Despite the negative

connotation on the video game, many schools adopted “MinecraftEdu” as

their learning tool. Therefore, this episode will analyze

the different aspects of Minecraft that opened up the mind of the

educator and the gamification of learning.

In this episode of Playing Yourself, Princess Peach and J explore the popular classroom game called Kahoot!. This game is frequently used by educators to test their students’ knowledge with multiple choice questions that are answered using electronic devices. This episode explores the benefits that come with playing the game (like increasing student engagement) juxtaposed with some disadvantages such as not being able to accurately assess how well the students understand the course content. Tune in and decide for yourself whether Kahoot! is an effective classroom learning tool.

Pokemon Go was

a phenomenal game the day it came out. Today in this episode of Playing

Yourself, we trace back the history of Pokemon Go and analyze how

this particular game influences people's lives. While a successful

implementation of augmented reality bring the game tightly connected to

the physical

space of the players located in the real world, the game's core values

of exercise, community, and exploration are actually intruding people's

everyday

lifestyle. Furthermore, we also expose how people can treat around the

system, bringing out the question of whether or not a game should

explicitly lay out its original

intention to get the players do what the game developer wants them to

do. But at the end of the day, attention should be payed to the closer

and closer relationship between the games and our lives. The game is no

longer only a form of entertainment, it's a part of how we live and how

we stay

alive.

Sources: 

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/why-pokemon-go-is-still-wickedly-popular-among-adults-two-years-after-its-debut

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Go

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/03/28/the-most-shameless-pokemon-go-rip-offs-so-far

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17562444/pokemon-go-ar-games-walking-dead-jurassic-world

https://www.webwise.ie/parents/pokemon-go

https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/what-is-augmented-reality/

Sound Credit: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG-L2wFrmm8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPzCJqhh1E

On this episode of playing yourself, we are talking about “Cards Against Humanity”, a really well-known game for a party and dirty jokes. However, Cards Against Humanity has more than that. We are going to examine what this game is, the pros and cons of this game, why people are attracted to this “party game for horrible people”, and the game that is similar to this.

Sources: 

In this week’s episode of Playing Yourself, Otis and Price will be discussing the most recent version of Monopoly: Monopoly: Cheaters Edition. This is a variant of the original game and as such, it has the same basic mechanics and rules. However, the twist is that everyone is allowed to cheat! While this is somewhat true, it doesn't paint the full picture. The game offers rewards to challenges that consist of actions considered cheating in traditional Monopoly. It is a fun change of pace from other board games and also asks important questions about how the rules of games affect our moral compass. We will be examining the implications of Hasbro creating this version of the classic board game. Thank you for tuning in!

In this week's episode of Playing Yourself, we are discussing the game “Red Dead Redemption 2” which is the third in the “Red Dead” series. This is an open world roaming game filled with seemingly unnecessary detail that is comparable to a western version of GTA 5. Its campaign mode is filled with crime, intrigue, and chaos which truly gives the player a taste of the wild west. We will examine how the inclusion of minute details such as the birds are used to make a statement about video games as a whole and whether this blockbuster game was designed this way for spectacle, or meaning.

On this episode of playing yourself, we are talking about “The Game of Life,” a board game meant to be a simulation of everyday life displaying the struggles of debt and common larger expenses. We examine the history of the game and its many faults both socioeconomically and in its overall structure. We question whether or not this game actually reflects life, especially in the 21st century, or does it sell a dream to adolescent kids, teaching that becoming a millionaire is as easy as spinning a wheel.