This week's post- Part 1: Exercise (chp 10)

This week we were to read the last two chapter's of Bogost's book. So, I am going to do one post on Chapter 10 about Exercise and then will do a second post on the Purpose of Persuasion chapter.

Bogost opens the chapter talking about Dance, Dance Revolution (DDR). While I have never played DDR, I do have/play a newer version of an "exercise" game. I have a Wii Fit. It actually was my dad's father's day gift, but he has very kindly shared the Wii Fit with me, since the Wii lives at my house. Since I use the Wii Fit on a fairly regular basis, I was very interested to hear what Bogost had to say. On page 294, Bogost says "... I seek to understand their core rhetorics-- the ways that these games are authored to motivate their players to engage in physical activity." In Wii Fit, there are several ways the game designers have authored the game to keep you coming back. First, once you have created your Mii (your personal avatar in the world of Wii), you choose who your trainer will be- a man or a woman. Your personal trainer is always helpful and works to try to help you feel like you are making progress. If you do very well on your different exercises, your trainer is quick to tell you good job. If you falter, could be putting a foot down when doing a yoga move on the balance board or not keeping your balance centered on a balance exercise, your trainer will give you positive reinforcement about what you did wrong as well as how you can improve your performance. The program also reinforces the good behavior of doing exercise by giving you "coins" in the back for every minute you do exercise. The more you build up, the more exercises and activities open up for you to enjoy. It also opens up new stamps you can use on your Wii Fit calendar that shows which days you worked out on Wii Fit. I think it is fair to say these things the game does to make you feel good for working out are the "core rhetorics" that the game designers use to "motivate their players to engage in physical activity." For me... I guess you could say it worked. (with the added benefit that it is fun!)