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Persuasive Games on Mobile Devices

In Mobile Persuasion: 20 Perspectives on the Future of Behavior Change, edited by B.J. Fogg and Dean Eckles

There are three ideas I want to share in this short piece on mobile persuasion through videogames. First, how do videogames express ideas? Without understanding how games can be expressive in a general sense, it is hard to understand how they might be persuasive. Second, how do videogames make arguments? Videogames are different from oral, textual, visual, or filmic media… read more

Videogames Go to Washington

The Story Behind Howard Dean's Videogame Propaganda. Co-authored with Gonzalo Frasca. In Second Person, edited by Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin.

Read the entire article in print in Second Person: : Roleplaying and Story in Games and Playable Media On December 16, 2003, popular web magazine Slate published an article by journalist and author Steven Johnson (Johnson 2003). Reviewing simulation games that engage problems of social organization, Johnson posed a question: â??The [2004] U.S. presidential campaign may be the first true… read more

Wiiâ??s Revolution is in the Past

On the potential to release new games for old consoles via Wii's Virtual Console. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.

Now that Nintendoâ??s Wii has finally hit the streets, we can really start assessing its potential impact on the future of video games in general, and serious games in particular. With all the fuss after Nintendoâ??s announcement of the consoleâ??s official name six months ago, itâ??s easy to forget that the company promised nothing less than a â??Revolutionâ? â?? the… read more

Playing Politics: Videogames for Politics, Activism, and Advocacy

In First Monday 11, no. 9., Special Issue #7: Command Lines: The Emergence of Governance in Global Cyberspace

Videogames have dominated popular culture for some time, but only in 2004 did they make a significant break into the world of politics, advocacy, and activism. This paper provides an overview of a variety of types of games used for political speech, from endorsed party messages to activist dissent. After explaining the state of the field, I discuss approaches to… read more

Videogames and Ideological Frames

From Popular Communication 4, no. 3 (2006)

Based on cognitive linguist George Lakoffâ??s notions of metaphor and frame as the principle organizers of political discourse, this article offers an approach to analyzing political rhetoric in videogames intended to carry ideological bias. I then argue for three ways games function in relation to ideological frames — reinforcement, contestation, and exposition — through examples of political games (Tax Invaders),… read more

The Right to Bore Arms

The social benefit of boredom of gunplay games. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.

At E3 2006, the U.S. Army hosted a spectacle of military excess outside the L.A. Convention Centerâ??s South Hall, in promotion of the new Special Forces edition of their popular title Americaâ??s Army. As part of this spectacle, they offered passersby the opportunity to pose holding a large assault rifle next to a camouflaged special forces operative and a Hum-V.… read more

Cruel 2 B Kind

A big public game of benevolent assasination. Created with Jane McGonigal.

Cruel 2 B Kind is a game of benevolent assassination. At the beginning of the game, you and a partner-in-crime are assigned a secret weapon. To onlookers, it will seem like a random act of kindness. But to a select group of other players, the seemingly benevolent gesture is a deadly maneuver that will bring them to their knees. Some… read more

Unit Operations

An Approach to Videogame Criticism

This book is available in digital or physical format. Buy from Amazon A book about comparative videogame criticism: games, philosophy, literature, and art. In Unit Operations, Ian Bogost argues that similar principles underlie both literary theory and computation, proposing a literary-technical theory that can be used to analyze particular videogames. Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond videogames: Bogost suggests… read more

Elementary Greek

Koine for Beginners

Elementary Greek is an ancient a Greek text that’s both simple and substantial. Designed to be used as a full course for teaching children as young as 2nd or 3rd grade, Elementary Greek may also serve as a self-teaching program for teens and adults. No previous knowledge is necessary and each concept is covered thoroughly and reviewed regularly throughout the… read more

Videogames with an Agenda

An exhibition of political games

In Fall 2004, Gonzalo Frasca and I curated an exhibition of political games called Videogames with an Agenda. The exhibition marked the UK opening of the documentary film The Corporation. The show ran from October 16 to November 7, 2004 at the exhibition space in the Curzon Soho, a theater in London’s Soho district. Featured games included work from Molleindustria,… read more