Zach Seyko 3/21/2016 Media Analysis Weimer “Neo-Aristotelian/Traditional Analysis of Madden NFL 13’s Introduction Video (2012)” Since I was seven-years-old, I have been playing one of most popular football video games ever invented, Madden NFL Football. I love the game of football; I enjoy watching, explaining, analyzing and playing virtual versions of the sport. Madden 13 was one of my editions of the game, part of which was due to the introduction video. It stuck with me for four years because it was inspirational. National Football League (NFL) great and future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis’s words were magnificently organized in a speech that would give any listener shivers. It was jaw dropping the first time I watched it seeing the various graphics and allusions on my television screen. The memory of the video resonated in my mind heavily when the class was deciding on topics to research and write about. Madden NFL Football is a video game created and developed by Electronic Arts that has been in existence since 1984 when Trip Hawkins and legendary NFL head coach John Madden teamed up to produce a game that accurately depicts 22 players on a field trying to score and prevent touchdowns (Gaudiosi, CNN Money). The first Madden game I purchased was their 2004 edition that featured former Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback Michael Vick on the cover. I have watched the video game evolve over the course of 11 years and have enjoyed each copy. Lewis was a former middle linebacker who played 17 years in the NFL, spending all of them in Baltimore as a member of the Ravens organization (Bio, Lewis). Subsequently, Lewis retired after earning his second Super Bowl victory, the same season Madden NFL 13 was released. It almost seemed like Electronic Arts predicted that Lewis and his Raven’s team would win the championship because he was placed in higher prestige than any other player and coach involved in the NFL during the sport’s fiscal year. Madden’s message was clear and concise in communicating that the video game was going to be defensive oriented. By using Lewis as a spokesperson and including images of tough, brutal tackles made on defense, Madden gives the same feeling of playing football in reality and demonstrates that it takes determination and hard work to be good at the video game, similarly to real life. Madden NFL 13 effectively conveyed their message to multiple audiences while simultaneously overcoming constraints of their rhetorical situation by using the rhetorical strategies ethos, pathos, and logos within the invention canon of rhetoric, as well as organization, and delivery. In summary, the rhetorical situation is the first part of the Neo-Aristotelian Approach that includes multiple points of analysis: discussing the details of the rhetor, explaining the significance of the exigence, describing the audience, analyzing the occasion, detailing the medium, and identifying important constraints that the rhetor overcame through their message through these different points of emphasis (Weimer, handout). In the analysis of the rhetor, background must be provided in order to understand the overall decisions that they are making. “Look for information about the rhetor to discover links between the rhetor’s history, experience, and character and that person’s efforts to persuade” (Weimer, handout). The next subject to discuss is the exigence, the purpose that the message was called into being. Following the exigence is the occasion, or purpose of the rhetor’s message. Then, the audience that the rhetor is communicating must be detailed. Within the audience, the target audience must be identified, as well as other potential audiences, and must describe what the audience knows and does not know about the rhetor (Weimer, handout). Finally, the medium must be explained and why the rhetor chose the specific outlet for their message. All these aspects of analysis include constraints, which are also limitations and opportunities. Through the rhetorical situation, the rhetor experiences limitations through their personal background information, the content of the artifact, the audiences, their purpose behind the message, and the medium. The limits bring a host of opportunities that help the rhetor communicate their message effectively. First, the rhetor of the video is Madden NFL, a company that is a product of Electronic Arts Inc. Specifically, Madden NFL is developed each year in Orlando, Florida by the Tiburon team of EA Sports (EA Sports Careers) who are the rhetors of the designed message. In each game produced, EA Sports presents its logo and its tagline, “EA Sports, it’s in the game.” Madden NFL has also established a contract with the National Football League that permits the franchise exclusive rights to anything the league owns. EA presently holds the license and continually renews it to limit competition from other businesses with the desire to market a football video game. Some have argued that Madden’s unfair domination of the market hinders them from producing a better video game (Florio, NBC Sports). This is a constraint of the rhetor because some believe that Madden does not produce a quality video game. It reflects poorly of the inartistic ethos, the knowledge of the rhetor’s character/credibility that the audiences already possesses, of the company because they have eliminated other gaming companies from using the items of the NFL that are copyrighted and players. Madden is the only video game that is released every year that has access players, team names, logos, stadiums, etc. While this is a limitation of the business, it also provides Madden an opportunity to corner the market. Even though Madden is criticized for this, it is a way to persuade die-hard football fans to purchase the only playable football video game for next generation consoles that is on the market. Another constraint of Madden NFL was their drop in approval and popularity ratings over a four-year period. After the 2010 edition, fans and gamers felt that Madden took a step backwards in the development of their video game. This second point of inartistic ethos presented a spectacular opportunity for Madden to improve their image as a declining video game by focusing on where they seemed to go wrong with changes they made to the game in prior years. Correspondingly, Madden NFL’s introduction video was called into being because the company wanted to emphasize defense in its newest edition in 2012. Madden tended to favor offensive gameplay and strategies, making substantial changes to the gameplay’s offensive features and neglecting the advancement of the defensive controls. In previous games, players were easily capable of scoring lots of points against their friends, online opponents, and the CPU because defense was not challenging. Users could pass the football all over the virtual field with no contest from opposing defenses. Typically, NFL games have 60 minutes of allotted game time for teams to try and score, but Madden games are roughly 20 minutes long and players were able to score close to 100 points combined between each other in a single match. Madden took an initiative to improve the defensive aspects of the game and make it more entertaining for the fans and game players by revolutionizing the game (Taormina, Game Rant). To symbolize the video game’s focus on the defensive side of the ball, Madden developed an introduction video with one of the most feared, respected and admired defensive players to make their way into the NFL that was Number 52, Lewis. One constraint within the exigence of Madden NFL’s introduction video is Madden’s admiration for a defensive oriented video game became a hindrance??? to their introduction message because it led to the use of Lewis as a spokesperson. Is this risk not an opportunity and limitation? Their decision was bold and different because Madden had not focused on specific players in previous opening scenes for their games. Past clips included narration by individual players, but they were not seen talking and footage from the clip consisted of teams and action from around the league. This decision gave Madden the opportunity to create and develop a different type of introduction behind the motivational speech the Lewis presents. Madden NFL has been mass-producing their video game since 1988 (EA Sports, Museum Exhibit). The occasion is the time and place when a speaker presents their message. Every year, EA Sports is expected to release the newest edition of Madden when August rolls around. The National Football League, which the game is entirely based around, begins their regular season shortly after the release of the game. The game corresponds with the NFL’s schedule and gives football fans and individuals who enjoy Madden an early start before the actual season starts. The constraint of the NFL’s scheduling is a limitation because Madden video games are only relevant during football season. It would not make sense for the company to release their newest game during the start of baseball season. Although, their timing is opportunity because anxious football fans are starving for a new game that puts the NFL in their hands. In addition, Madden’s timing alleviates them from other competition; other well-known sports video game franchises do not release their games until other parts of the year, therefore the attention is all on Madden. As I mentioned before, Madden is the only company eligible to produce a video game representing the NFL. Therefore, it is the company’s duty to develop and release a newer version of the game each August to meet the demands of their audiences. Madden NFL always sets its release date for mid to late August, leaving most fans deprived of their favorite game, which means a delay in viewing the introduction clip.