Animal Crossing, the video game.

Ian Bogost, video game researcher, theorist, and designer, analyzes the messages and claims made by video games and the rhetorical framework through which those messages are conveyed. In “The Rhetoric of Video Games,” Bogost unpacks the social messages that are framed in the video game Animal Crossing.

In Animal Crossing, players explore debt and commerce by interacting with a simplified model of reality. Animal Crossing players learn about “contemporary material property ideals” by carrying mortgage debt on their simulated huts and by interacting with a raccoon that represents the village’s “corporate bourgeosie.”

This link between debt and acquisition gives form to a routine that many mortgage holders fail to recognize: buying more living space not only creates more debt, it also drives the impulse to acquire more goods. More goods demand even more space, creating a vicious cycle. (Bogost, “The Rhetoric of Video Games”

Video games make claims, Bogost argues. So video games necessarily rely on a particular melange of rhetorical elements for their claims to be convincing. People won’t pursue gaming objectives without some persuasion that the objectives will be personally worthwhile. Thus, a particular claim about our contemporary economic reality made by Animal Crossing is wholly dependent on how persuasively well-crafted and challenging the gaming experience is for the player.

Animal Crossing’s ethos, for example, hinges on the particular values and subcultural identity of gamers. The ACC is a virtual group dedicated to discussing the game’s art and objectives; they don’t necessarily discuss the direct concepts of Animal Crossing–no topics relating to the concept of participating in a microcosm of contemporary economic reality, for example–but the fact that the group exists denotes that Animal Crossing is persuasive in its claims. It is an enjoyably challenging game with very realistic objectives.

Bogost’s main insight is that the rhetorical frameworks inherent to video games can be harnessed. Video games are able to be persuasive about many fantastic claims, about everything from zombie apocalypses to their ability to make players into better dancers. With planning and organizing, video games can gear up children’s interests in fields like computer programming–in effect, the same means and objectives that inspire kids to obliterate radioactive zombies with bullets can cultivate their interest in designing and building new video games.