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'Rhetorical Analysis Of Steven Johnson's Essay Games'

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World War Video Games In Steven Johnson’s essay “Games” (2005), he constructs his argument by saying that playing video games is no better or worse than reading, it is simply exercising different skills. What kept my interest in this short essay was the fresh take on the subject on how video games effect young adults. He addresses the audience knowing they will agree with his contrast of the two subjects or take it to be completely true. His explanation of it allows him to reach even the biased of readers to accept the rest of his argument. It also allows him to present the resistance, then belittle the inaccuracies of it to further build on his own argument. Through citing Dr. Spock and Andrew Solomon, Steven laces bits of ethos into the essay. Using these expert’s words, it proves that he has done research on the topic and is fully aware of the subject. His shifts from third to second person turn the essay from informative to accusing. It allows Johnson to personalize the argument and include us in the population of those who think games are a "colossal waste". So through this shift, he is able to reach readers on a more personal and emotional level as he completes his argument. In the parallel …show more content…

One thing that surprised me was the lack of benefitting evidence that doesn't necessarily harm nor help the argument, but information about the benefits of gaming could have greatly supported his claim. Throughout the essay, Steven assaults the belief that "games are a colossal waste of time" while books are full of "intellectual nourishment". He writes “Games are good at novelistic story the way Michael Jordan was good at playing baseball” (Johnson) to hammer his argument into the thicker skinned critics that video games are not trying to replace books, but they are part of our modern world and do have benefits for young

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