Running head: Violence in Video Games- The What If Machine

Rhetorical Analysis on Violence in video games- The What if Machine

Erick Garcia
The University of Texas at El Paso

Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine

The Video entitled Violence in Video Games the what if Machine which was uploaded
to YouTube on November 12, 2012 by the videogame driven channel Game spot goes on
through detail discussing on the issue of whether violent video games cause aggressive behavior
on people. This video begins by explaining the issue of violent video games causing violent
behavior on people, it then proceeds to define what a violent video game is since there is also
some debate about that. And finally it wraps up by stating that there is no real concrete evidence
to show that violent video games. This paper will now proceed to examine the Intended audience
and purpose of the video along with the use of the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and
logos.
Since the video Violence in Video Games- The What If Machine is only available on the
website YouTube which is only accessible through the internet one can easily make the
assumptions that one of the audiences are people who are used to surfing the internet on a regular
basis. Another very probable audience for the video is either people who are avid gamers or
those who know of someone who is an avid gamer. This is most likely due because the video was
uploaded by someone whose YouTube channel is focused on uploading content that only focuses
on video games. Furthermore, the intended audience of this video are most than likely people
concerned with the issue concerning whether violent video games make those who play violent
video games exhibit violent behavior in real life situations, if it were meant to be aimed to people
who argue that violent video games do not cause people then it would not go to all the trouble to
gather the research and make the interviews with the people that it did. Therefore, one can
assume that the audience is meant to be those who oppose violent video games. Not only those
that oppose video games, but those oppose video games and have access and basic knowledge to
the internet.

Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine

In order to be able to direct the message of the video to an audience it first must have had
to have a purpose. At first glance the purpose of this video might seem to be to persuade the
audience to change their way of thinking when it comes to violent video games, but in fact the
purpose is more likely to be to inform the audience of why violent video games do not cause
people who play them to exhibit violent behavior. This is due to the fact that the video does not
say that violent video games do not cause violent behavior, but simply there is not actual
research or evidence to show that it actually does, The question is do they(they being violent
action learnt from video games) translate to the real world? The evidence is insufficient
(Game spot, 2012). The author does not try to convince people that violent video games do not
affect people, it simply tries to explain why it does not or better stated, why it cant be proven
that violent video games do affect people negatively. However, it can be argued that this video
might be biased towards the side in favor of violent video games since it was uploaded by a
YouTube user that only uploads video game related content, so one can assume that such a user
might be biasing the research found to only show evidence favoring his opinion. So one can infer
that the purpose of Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine is to inform people as to
why violent video games might not affect people.
In order to be able to fulfill its intended purpose the audience must believe what the video
is trying to explain. This can only happen depending on the credibility of the video. This video
has a pretty good credibility, and thus it has a good strong ethos. This can be clearly seen in the
fact that the author of Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine is not just a single
person but well known and organized website known as Game Spot which is owned by the
CBS which in itself is also really well known as a commercial television network. The video
itself provides a direct link to its website. The video shows an interview with Dr. Mark Coulson

Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine

who is credited to working as an experimental phycologist researcher in video games at a

university, which is the Middlesex University, it also shows someone talking directly to the
camera which shows that the author is confident enough about his information that they show
their faces and even show their names and where one can contact them in case one needed to.
This video also has good ethos because of the fact that despite the author being a gaming channel
it tries to remain neutral to the topic. It is simply coincidence that all the research that author
gathered pointed towards the point of violent video games not causing violent behavior in real
life situations. Another reason that the video has very strong ethos is that the video is up to date
having been uploaded on 2012. Since the author went through the trouble of researching and
recording interviews with credited individuals one can assume that the user fulfills his purpose
mostly through the use of ethos.
Since the author is not trying to entertain or persuade but he is trying to inform people, he
focused a lot on the facts and research. However, he did little to no work to appeal to the
audiences emotions, meaning that the video Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine
has very weak pathos. Since the topic discussed in the video is already very popular the author
might have taught it useless to appeal to the audiences emotions since they would be interested
in the video either way. Another possible reason that the author lack a good use of pathos might
be since the purpose of the video is to inform then it should focus more on research and data
(ethos and logos). This leads the video to focus a lot on the research done and presents it in a
very simple and informative manner. Thus, leading to having a very weak use of pathos which is
probably caused by the very strong use of the other two rhetorical appeals ethos and logos.
It is easily perceived that the author did a lot research and interviews to gather the
information to make the video Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine. Having done

Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine

all that research provides a daunting amount of information which the author must then have had
to put in a clear format in order for the audience to understand it. The author did accomplish this
and it lead to the video to have really good logos. The author has a very clear format to the video,
it begins by explaining what the issue is, which is whether violent video games cause violent
behavior on individuals who play those games. It then proceeds to present the interviews and
research. Between all of the information presented it shows clips from various video games that
are relevant to the topic. The strong use of logos can also be seen in the way the video is made, it
shows the author has a very extensive knowledge of the topic discussed in the video.
Furthermore, since the video at all times focuses on research one can assume that everything that
the author is trying to convey is veridical. This along with the simple yet effective format of the
video causes the audience to clearly understand what the purpose. Having the audience
understand what the author is trying to inform is in itself evidence of the strong use of logos that
the author used. The strong research evidence and clear formatting meant to inform the audience
are the reason why the author of Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine has a strong
logos.
As a whole, the video makes very good use of the rhetorical devices of: audience,
purpose, ethos, pathos, and logos in order to fulfil its purpose of informing the audience on a
topic of much discussion. This is clearly seen in the examination of the previously mentioned
rhetorical devices. With most of them focusing on the research data itself rather than opinion,
speculation, or appealing to the audiences emotions. In forethought, one can use the information
acquired from this rhetorical analysis of the video Violence in Video Games-The What If
Machine in order to be used to aid in the creation of a Public Service Announcement which is a
future assignment in the RWS 1301 course.

Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine

References
Game spot, (2012, November 12). Violence in Video Games-The What If Machine [video file]
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ToBUdRtes.