This is my workshop presentation on how I employ digital game-based learning methods to teach philosophy and rhetoric courses. A selection of assignments I have personally designed and implemented are included in this presentation. Some principles and theories covered are Derridian binary oppositions, Sartrian existentialism, Wittgensteinian seeing-that vs. seeing-as, rhetorical triangle, rhetorical appeals (logos and pathos), Nietzschean eternal recurrence, and more.

1. Sherry Jones
Philosophy, Rhetoric, Game Studies
COLTT 2014
August 7, 2014
sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com
@autnes
http://bit.ly/dgbl2014
Let’s Play a Game: Learn
Philosophy and Rhetoric via
Digital Game-Based Learning

2. WHAT IS A GAME?
● A game, whether analog
or digital, is a self-
contained system or
space designed for the
purpose of play.
● Play is an activity that
allows us to experiment,
repeat behaviors without
fear of failure, and make
a series of possible
choices to render an
experience meaningful.
Phoenix, the Ace Attorney, says . . .

3. WHAT IS DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING?
Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is a
teaching method that utilizes digital
games in instruction. DGBL involves
both instructional and participatory
acts:
1. Instructional Act - Instructors
reference digital games to teach
concepts, theories, system-thinking,
and design-thinking.
2. Participatory Act - Learners play
games and create digital game
systems for experiential learning.

4. WHAT GAMES CAN BE USED IN INSTRUCTION?
Many educators believe that only educational or serious games, designed to
be didactic, can be used in instruction. In reality, games from all genres can
support instruction.
Intentional or not, the design of game systems and game narratives is always
referential to or builds upon existing ideologies, and principles of logic,
mathematics, rhetoric, philosophy, psychology, physics, engineering, etc.

5. BEFORE WE PLAY . . .
Given time constraints, we will only play short digital
games that are rich with meaning in this DGBL Workshop.
I will share a few of my methods for teaching rhetoric and
philosophy with digital games.
LET’S GO!

6. LET’S PLAY! A DUCK HAS AN ADVENTURE
A Duck Has an Adventure
http://bit.ly/duckgame

7. AUDIENCE, ASSUMPTIONS, AND RHETORIC OF
A DUCK HAS AN ADVENTURE
Ex. Determine who is the audience for the
game, A Duck Has an Adventure.
1. Who is the audience for this game? What
would the audience need to know in
order to “get the joke”? What game
signifiers (texts, images) offered you
clues of who the audience would be?
2. While playing, what assumptions did you
make that were later subverted by
outcomes in the game? List your
assumptions.
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

8. LET’S PLAY STORY HERO
Story Hero
http://bit.ly/storyherogame

9. LOGOS OF STORY HERO
Ex. Analyze the game’s logos (order,
knowledge, reasoned discourse).
1. List the exact sequence (order) to
activate keywords. Explain the logic.
2. What pairs of words are binary
oppositions? Are the binaries stable or
culturally contingent?
3. According to the game’s logos, what is a
“hero”?
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

10. LET’S PLAY! NOTHING YOU HAVE DONE DESERVES
SUCH PRAISE
Nothing You Have Done Deserves Such Praise
http://bit.ly/praisegame

11. PATHOS OF NOTHING YOU HAVE DONE DESERVES
SUCH PRAISE
Ex. Analyze the game’s pathos (appeal to
emotions, empathy, relatedness).
1. Provide verbal, audio, and visual
examples that express the game’s
pathos. What kind of pathos does the
game express?
2. What is the main claim of the game? Do
you agree with this claim?
3. Does the game’s pathos support the
main claim? Explain.
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

12. LET’S PLAY! ATUM
Atum
http://atumgame.com

13. ETERNAL RECURRENCE IN ATUM
Ex. Friedrich Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence.
1. Eternal recurrence is the theory that our lives
will repeat infinitely (rebirth). Since the
number of objects in the universe are finite,
and the combinations of those objects are
also finite, events must recur ad infinitum.
Therefore, it is impossible for us to escape
the present world. We exist in loops.
2. How does Atum express this theory? As the
player, are you free from the recurrence?
Why or why not?
3. Why does Atum reference Henri Poincaré’s
recurrence theorem and “The Unbearable
Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera?
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

14. LET’S PLAY! TRIHAYWBFRFYH
TRIHAYWBFRFYH
http://bit.ly/rapture1

15. EXISTENTIALISM IN TRIHAYWBFRFYH
Ex. Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existentialism.
1. Sartre defines “facticity” as the givens
(language, environment, previous
choices, selves) that constitute our
“situations.” What facticity does one
face in the game situation?
2. How is one “condemned to be free” in
the game?
3. “Bad faith” is to adopt false value and
disown innate freedom. Explain the
concept in terms of the game.
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

16. LET’S PLAY! THE STANLEY PARABLE
The Stanley Parable
http://www.stanleyparable.com/

17. LET’S WATCH THE STANLEY PARABLE (2011 MOD)
The Stanley Parable (2011 Mod)
http://bit.ly/stanleyparable2011

18. FREEDOM & DETERMINISM IN THE STANLEY PARABLE
Ex. Which view describes the level of Free
Will in the gameplay?
1. Determinism - All events are determined
by causal laws; freedom is an illusion.
2. Compatibilism - All events are
determined by causal laws; humans can
be free via internal motivations.
3. Indeterminism - Some events may be
random; freedom is possible.
4. Libertarianism - Humans can exercise
free will fully; freedom is possible.
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

19. LET’S PLAY! PERSPECTIVE
Perspective
http://seewithperspective.com/

20. LET’S WATCH PERSPECTIVE
Perspective
http://seewithperspective.com

21. SEEING-THAT VS. SEEING-AS IN PERSPECTIVE
Ex. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s “Seeing-As.”
1. Wittgenstein explains we perceive
objects in two ways: Seeing-that
(reporting what we see), vs. Seeing-as
(noticing an aspect of what we see as
something). Seeing-as involves
recognizing the relation between the
object with another object or narrative
(i.e. context matters in perception).
2. How do aspects in the game affect our
“seeing objects as” something else?
“Deductive Reasoning Time . . .”

22. ALL GAMES CAN BE DIDACTIC
● Games are unique artifacts that can be interactively experienced.
● Games possess similitude to other self-contained systems, real or
conditional, and can be studied as models or analogies to concepts,
theories, and systems.
● Games are emergent new media that pervade our lives, and their effects
should be examined. ex. wearables, sensing machines, VR, AR.

23. QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Sherry Jones
Philosophy, Rhetoric, Game Studies
Writings & Webinars
sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com
@autnes
Access Slideshow: http://bit.ly/dgbl2014