Answering the Call of Duty: Composition Pedagogy Problems, Multimodal Solutions, and Gaming Literacies
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ANSWERING THE CALL OF DUTY: COMPOSITION PEDAGOGY PROBLEMS, MULTIMODAL SOLUTIONS, AND GAMING LITERACIES BOBBY JAMES KUECHENMEISTER A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2011 Committee: Kristine L. Blair, Advisor Tim Messer-Kruse Graduate Faculty Representative Richard Gebhardt Lance Massey ii ABSTRACT Kristine L. Blair, Advisor Acknowledging calls for future research involving video games and rhetoric and composition, this dissertation project answers those calls and furthers our understanding about playing video games as rhetorical action, but more importantly, this dissertation shows how a writing pedagogy based on gaming helps students better understand traditional and multimodal composition processes if the playing experience and the writing experience are considered together. The dissertation situates video games within multimodal composition and as a result shows how multimodal principles are being demonstrated through an analysis of a variety of video games as case study examples. The dissertation reveals how students might realize connections between traditional and multimodal literacies easier and how instructors might solve common composition pedagogy problems through analyzing and adapting gaming literacy practices. The dissertation concludes with theorizing about how writing pedagogy based on gaming practices influences writing assessment with special attention toward student self- assessment and motivation. As a collection of five chapters, this dissertation will help rhetoric and composition scholars understand video games as a form of multimodal composition. The dissertation will also help scholars approach playing video games as a rhetorical action and explore how contemporary composition pedagogy benefits from understanding how players work through video games using a variety of resources in print and electronic media. iii Dedicated to Drs. Patrick Day, Joel F. Pace, Dennis G. Jerz, Patricia A. Quinn, and Monty Ernst, for discovering my scholarly talents and providing opportunities for my talents to flourish. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to Dr. Kristine Blair, Richard Gebhardt, and Lance Massey, who provided necessary guidance and support as well as encouragement throughout this project. Special thanks to Elizabeth, whose constant love, support, and encouragement helped me realize everything is possible and nothing is impossible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. GAMING AS MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION..….….. ........................... 1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… 1 Purpose Statement ……………...…………………………………………………. 3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 …………………………………………………… 5 Literature Review ……………………...………………………………………….. 5 Choice, Process, and Customization ……………...………………………………. 7 Games, Process, and Post-Process ………………………………………………… 8 Agency, Choice, and Rhetorical Situations …………………...………………….. 11 Transmission vs. Transformative Model of Education and Oscillation …………... 15 Video Game Learning Principles, Literacies, and Education Reform ...…………. 20 Writing and Gaming as Textual, Visual, and Aural Literacies ……...……………. 27 Chapter Breakdown ………………………………………………………………... 33 Conclusion ……………………………………...……………………….…………. 35 CHAPTER II. GAMING AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS TECHNOLOGY............................ ..................................................................................... .. 37 Introduction ....... ....................................................................................................... 37 God of War III ........................................................................................................ .. 39 Problem with Writing, Remediation, and the Late Age of Print ............................... 40 Computers, Composition, Commercialism, Consumption ........................................ 46 Process, Problem-Solving, and Tutorials .................................................................. 51 Process, Abstraction, and Observation ...................................................................... 58 vi Process, Play, and Surprise ........................................................................................ 60 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 63 CHAPTER III. GAMING AND ROLE-PLAYING AS LEARNING..................................................................................................................... ..... 65 Introduction ..... ......................................................................................................... 65 Fallout: New Vegas .................................................................................................. 67 The Problem with Writing Revisited ........................................................................ 68 Avatars, Students, and “Students” ............................................................................ 76 Navigating Hypertext, Problem Solving, and Completing Quests ........................... 83 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 92 CHAPTER IV. GAMING AS A STRATEGY GUIDE APPROACH TO COMPOSITION.................................................................................................................... 94 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 94 The Problem with Content ........................................................................................ 95 The Problems with Handbooks: A Brief Textual Analysis ....................................... 97 Problem #1: Content Organization ............................................................................ 98 Problem #2: Comprehensive Coverage ..................................................................... 101 Problem #3: Oversimplifying Information ................................................................ 101 Problem #4: Overcomplicating Information .............................................................. 103 A Strategy Guide Solution to Handbooks ................................................................. 106 Solution #1: Content Organization ............................................................................ 106 Solution #2: Comprehensive Coverage ..................................................................... 108 Solution #3: Oversimplifying Information ................................................................ 111 vii Solution #4: Overcomplicating Information .............................................................. 115 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 118 CHAPTER V. GAMING AS WRITING ASSESSMENT AND SELF- ASSESSMENT...................................................................................................................... 120 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 120 Call of Duty: Black Ops ............................................................................................ 121 Motivation, Feedback, and Assessment .................................................................... 122 Future Direction ........................................................................................................ 129 Conclusion: Limitations ........................................................................................... 132 REFERENCES ......... ........................................................................................................... 136 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 God of War III .......................................................................................................... 56 2 St. Martin’s Handbook / Writer’s Harbrace Handbook / McGraw-Hill Handbook . 98 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops ............................................................................................ 126 1 CHAPTER I. GAMING AS MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION Introduction The following dissertation project attempts to reveal relevant relationships between writing practices learned in composition classrooms and gaming practices learned from playing video games. The potential relationships between writing and gaming contribute toward designing a pedagogy intended to help students understand gaming as rhetorical action and a multimodal literacy related to traditional composition processes learned from writing courses. The first chapter is broken down into an Introduction locating video gaming as a popular entertainment medium deserving attention from rhetoric and composition as a field, which is begun with Cynthia L. Selfe and Gail E. Hawisher’s collection of essays titled Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections; a Purpose Statement; a brief introduction to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a case study example; a Literature Review containing sources situating video games as multimodal composition in a digital form with alphabetic literacy origins; and a Chapter Breakdown with narrative descriptions of main ideas about the remaining four chapters. For over three decades, video games remain an important popular culture medium embraced by a diverse population, mistakenly identified as young adolescents rather than a mixed audience consisting