Persuasion in real life essays
Before we move onto the next subject -and go back to a few as well- I thought it would be a good idea to see how persuasion worked in real life. After this batch on how people can be convinced of things, you will feel really smart for recognizing what is being shown. We need to see how it works in real life, and how it works on us at the same time. Then we can use this information, and apply it to videgames themselves.
The reason why I am bringing it up is because people often tend to look at things others do, and don’t apply it to themselves. I chose out articles that I believe are incredibly well written, and persuasive. The subject of the articles are unimportant, though you will notice a pattern within two of them. Finally, we will look at this as if it was a game on a board or computer.
The first article will introduce us to the ideas of persuasion both hitting the writer, and how they use it to explain things. It is a great article about the revolution in Turkey. The next set of articles will be about businesses refusing to serve gay weddings. There will be a blogger, a cartoonist, and Neil Patrick Harris. We could do a videogame, but that will be used for the next essay.
The first article is about a possible revolution in Turkey. It also asks whether we should consider the internet good or bad. The answer by the author is, yes. In her view, the internet allows governments to spy, and find out more and more information about people. On the other hand, it also means organizing revolutions, and getting back at those same governments.
This really is an amazing article, and yet the author herself is caught by her own persuasions. Her own politics are just as caught up in ideas and movements that do not work as those she opposes.
THE WORLD SHAKES WITH PROTEST AFTER PROTEST. Tahrir. Occupy. Syntagma Square in Athens, the 15-M movement in Spain. Now Ukraine. And these are just the spectacular street protests. Movements come in other forms, and not all of them are for causes that one may like: Anonymous, anti-vaccination, Slow Food, Tea Party. The ability to find like-minded people, to draw strength from them, to counter dominant narratives—these are things that make movements feasible. Just as happened in Gezi Park.
Note how her opinion covers Occupy Wall Street as very important, and the Tea Party as less liked. The reality is that there are just as many Tea Party supporters as there are Occupiers. Also, neither group is really evil or good, they are simply political movements within very stable countries. I actually had to look up Slow Food. In other words, she just gave us her opinion of who is good and pure, and who is unliked by all based on her own opinion. How did this opinion form?
The same tricks you saw within Social Proof movements are happening to her directly. Occupy was not a disorganized group of rebels. The organizers realized it would look better if there were people all over complaining, but no direct reasons. They created an enemy in the 1%, not letting on that technically all of the young protesters were part of the global 1%. The parties were organized over weekends, and food carts were used. It was better to explain to everyone that it was a random grassroots movement, rather than the organized well planned event it really was.
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| Hey look, your political opinion has chicken pox! |
If you really want to know, the Tea Party is organized, and moves in the exact same way. It is also just as dull. Why are you convinced that the Tea Party is somehow a hate mongering evil group compared only to say Hitler? Because it is easier to get people to oppose something this benign by saying it is evil.
It gets even weirder than that, the giant political movement you are imagining was happening, the rest of Istanbul moved on with its life. A country changing event would be marred by the realities of people going to work, so that part is not told in the story. The author did not take it out, she felt that she was part of a movement, and was supported online, and others all over the world.
The more you read the article, the more you see how her opinion was moved by various persuasions around her. Many of these things are not something she consciously realizes is there. She is taking it in the same way you or I walk around a street we enjoy. Most of the sights, and sounds are so familiar to us, that we don’t even take them in consciously. The path is so well known, that you may not even realize the changes around it.
The best way to persuade someone of something, is to make it seem natural or without need for a second thought. I used a -very well written- paper on the Turkish uprising, and how the internet helped it along as an example because most people reading this are not currently living in Turkey. It was actually the reason why I started this essay series. You have no idea where Gezi is, or if any of these protests have helped. But once you know something, you need to apply it to your own opinions. Now we need to look at subjects you likely do have an opinion on.
While preparing the idea of persuasion in videogames, and in real life, the subject of gay marriage and businesses came up. I chose out two articles that I thought were the best written of the lot. The first is from a political cartoonist in Vancouver, and tends to be somewhere in the middle. The second is from a conservative blogger. I couldn’t find a left leaning well written essay, but I think it has more to do with how the argument is being used.
The first article is from cartoonist JJ McCullough. He was a political science major in college, and currently lives in Vancouver. His cartoons are almost entirely on politics of the area, however his essays can cover stuff like Nintendo’s Censorship, and Mystical Ninja. Although he considers himself a conservative, he is also gay, and thus supports gay rights. In his opinion, the attempt to make laws to stop lawsuits against store owners who do not want to participate in homosexual weddings, are just as dumb as the lawsuits themselves.
His basic response is that the lawsuits are rare, and should stay rare. Thus, the need for a law is a knee jerk reaction, and bigoted. He uses within his argument the authority figure -which works since he is a political writer/cartoonist.
Matt Walsh is a conservative blogger. I tried finding something about videogames, but it is mostly negative. His argument is not that gay marriages shouldn’t happen, but that companies, and stores should not be forced to attend them. He uses Reciprocity as part of his argument, in that the store owners actually gave information on other stores more willing to help out. The owner personally disagreed with it, and thus said no, but was not going to be rude about it.
In Walsh’s blog we also find consistency with that he is saying. If he says he dislikes videogames in one article, he tends to stay in that opinion.
There isn’t a well written essayist about gay rights. Before I get angry emails, this is my own opinion. I have read articles on the subject, but none of them have been as persuasive or effective as McCullough or Walsh. On the other hand, the argument of Social Proof is being used without the need for good essays.
The best argument for gay rights has been Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Fry. Not by their own writing, but by being incredibly respectable in their chosen fields. Fry acts, jokes, and hosts in so many amazing things it is hard to keep everything he has done in one sentence. Harris is Legendary. The argument that they likeable is an understatement. This has been the best use of persuasion by those supporting gay rights, likeability.
So, we have discussed persuasion in real life, and gone through each form as it pertains to a videogame. It is time to look at a single game, and see how all of the persuasions can work at the same time. The example I will use, will be Half Life 2. But that will be for the next essay.
If you read the articles I placed, you will find that the authors are using persuasion to convince us of a moment. Although I did not go into it too deeply, they are just as effected by persuasion as those they write about. In fact, you will notice I showed some preferential treatment to those who supported videogames. I specifically worked to not show my own opinions, or ideas within the article. This essay was to show how persuasion works, both for you, and against you. Like all things, it is a stick, a thing that can be used for whatever your mind will give it. Seeing that people can actually have good arguments, and even write well on all sides of an issue should help you see that there is more to look at than just your own opinion. Most of the things that are affecting your opinion aren’t even noticed by you, and simply move under your feet like a well walked path.
The next essay will deal with how this all works within a single videogame. The attempt will be to make you like, know, understand, and agree with what the game makers showed you. Before you read it though, remember, it is good game design to do these things.
