Hybrid interactive rhetorical engagements in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs): Examining the role of rhetors and audiences in generative rhetorical discourses
Abstract
The dissertation explores the emerging rhetorical practices in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) in general and World of Warcraft (WoW) game in particular. The study applies Kenneth Burke's rhetorical theories and concepts to examine the persuasive processes employed by both game designers and players at various stages of their gameplay experiences. The author argues that the analysis of these interactive rhetorical discourses during gameplay helps rhetorical scholars to understand the emerging rhetorical practices where the rhetors and the audiences collaborate to co-generate their hybrid intensive rhetorical engagement (H.I.R.E.). On the basis of the gaming sessions captured by the researcher as a participating gameplayer, the author explains the typology and the manipulative processes leading to the formation of H.I.R.E. The author contends that the examination of H.I.R.E. as a rhetorical domain helps game rhetorical scholars to explore a broader rhetorical phenomenon, "the rhetoric of experience."
Subject Area
Communication|Multimedia Communications|Rhetoric
Recommended Citation
Kang, Yowei, "Hybrid interactive rhetorical engagements in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs): Examining the role of rhetors and audiences in generative rhetorical discourses" (2011). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI3489982.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI3489982