This document summarizes a talk on procedural rhetoric and games given by Sebastian Atay at the University of Chester on December 11, 2014. Some of the main points made in the talk include that procedural rhetoric refers to using processes persuasively, games are a form of procedural media and legitimate art form, and the meanings and messages of games emerge from complex interactions between the game system, materials, individual player experiences, and player community over time. The talk also discusses using board games as an example of procedural media and how their rules can make claims about the world.

1. Games & Meaning:
the rhetoric of Puerto Rico
and beyond
Faculty of Education,University of Chester
th
11 December 2014
Sebastian Atay (@bizarrelaughter)

2. ●
“a historian”

3. An anecdote!

4. he h
eh
heh

8. “Procedural rhetoric”

10. “Procedurality refers to a way of creating, explaining,
or understanding processes.”

11. “processes define the way things work: the methods,
techniques and logics that drive the operation of systems,
from mechanical systems like engines to organizational
systems like high schools to conceptual systems such as
religious faith.”

12. “Rhetoric refers to effective and persuasive
expression.”

13. “Procedural rhetoric, then, is a practice of using
processes persuasively.”

14. Procedural rhetoric as design
philosophy
● Procedural rhetoric as tool for
critical analysis
● Games are a subset of procedural
media
● Games are a legitimate art form
● Computers are perhaps best suited
to procedural rhetoric
●

15. Why aren't we talking about this more?

19. “In 1493 Christopher Columbus
discovered the eastern-most island of
the Great Antilles. About 50 years
later, Puerto Rico began to really
blossom – through you!”

21. Minimises the West's oppressive practices (#4)
● Denies the achievements of non-Europeans (#5)
● Reproduces a Whig version of history which
renders the West as principal catalyst of progress
(#2)
●

22. Another anecdote!

24. Racism doesn't exist

25. “The great majority were free
people who went there voluntarily
for the economic opportunities”

27. How do you think anyone arrived there if
not by boat?

28. “These are just little brown tokens, nothing
else. They don't symbolise anything else than
"workers" as they are [...] that's why we never
considered a color change - and we won't also
in future.”

29. intent
doesn't
matter

31. What are the rules of the system?
● What is the significance of these rules?
● What claims about the world do these rules make?
● How do I respond to those claims?
●

33. “In 1493 Christopher Columbus
discovered the eastern-most island of
the Great Antilles. About 50 years
later, Puerto Rico began to really
blossom – through you!”

35. Repurposing

38. board games as procedural media

39. BONUS CONTENT: UNLOCKED

40. These are just little brown tokens, nothing
else. They don't symbolise anything else than
"workers" as they are [...] that's why we never
considered a color change - and we won't also
in future.”

44. Another another anecdote!

47. “I believe that most of the meaning of a game,
ethical or otherwise, emerges as the result of play
but in a complicated way.”

48. “I don't think you can locate the meaning in some
formal or structural qualities of the game rules or
materials, nor can you locate it solely in the
performance of the players.”

49. “The meanings emerge out of a complex network of
interactions between the formal qualities of the
game system, the explicitly representational aspects
of the game's materials (theme, images, language,
narrative), the experience of an individual player,
the way the game is used within the player
community, the way the game evolves over time as
players explore it, etc.”

52. Thank you!