Ave Randviir-Vellamo VIDEO GAMES AS NEW TOOLS FOR POLITICAL PERSUASION: WEB GAMES OF THE ESTONIAN CENTRE PARTY Master's thesis Digital Culture University of Jyväskylä Department of Art and Culture Studies Jyväskylä 2012 UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ Faculty Department Faculty of Humanities Department of Art and Culture Studies Author Ave Randviir-Vellamo Title Video Games as New Tools for Political Persuasion: Web Games of the Estonian Centre Party Subject Level Digital Culture Master's thesis Month and year Number of pages May 2012 124 (+ 12 p. appendices) Abstract This thesis studies four web games that have been released in Estonia in 2004-2011 and have been sponsored by the Estonian Centre Party. Using video games in political campaigning is a recent and not very widely spread trend. Therefore, these web games provided an opportunity to examine the ways how political messages can be inserted into video games and how the qualities that are unique to video games can form political arguments and persuade the players. The main objective of this thesis was to identify the persuasive components of Centre Party's web games and to compare the persuasive arguments that were found from the games' representative layer to those that were formed on the games' procedural layer. In order to do that, the Centre Party's web games were placed in the wider context of political videogames and analyzed with semiotics, gameplay rhetoric and procedural rhetoric. Ultimately, the goal of the thesis is to emphasize the uniqueness of video game representative qualities which seem to be superseded by the studies of rhetorical potential of game rules and provide means for "reading" and understanding ideological content in video games. Keywords game studies, Estonian Centre Party, serious games, political video games, procedural rhetoric Depository University of Jyväskylä Additional information JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta Laitos Humanistinen tiedekunta Taiteiden ja kulttuurin tutkimuksen laitos Tekijä Ave Randviir-Vellamo Työn nimi Videopelit poliittisen vaikuttamisen uutena välineenä: Viron Keskustapuoleen verkkopelit Oppiaine Työn laji Digitaalinen kulttuuri Pro gradu -tutkielma Aika Sivumäärä Toukokuu 2012 124 (+ 12 s. liitteitä) Tiivistelmä Työssä tutkitaan neljää Viron keskustapuolueen tilaamaa nettipeliä, jotka on julkaistu Virossa vuosina 2004–2011. Videopelien käyttö poliittisessa kampanjoinnissa on uusi suuntaus, joka ei ole vielä levinnyt kovin laajalle. Keskustapuolueen nettipelit tarjosivat siis mahdollisuuden tarkastella tapoja, joilla videopeleihin voidaan lisätä poliittisia viestejä ja kuinka videopelien erityiset ominaisuudet voivat muodostaa poliittisia argumentteja ja vaikuttaa pelaajien poliittisiin käsityksiin. Päätavoitteena oli löytää Viron keskustapuolueen nettipelien retorisesti vaikuttavat osat ja verrata pelien esittävän tason retorisia argumentteja pelien toiminnallisella tasolla muodostettujen argumenttien kanssa. Tätä tarkoitusta varten keskustapuolueen nettipelit sijoitettiin laajempaan poliittisten videopelien kenttään ja niitä analysoitiin semiotiikan, pelattavuuden retoriikan ja proseduraalisen retoriikan keinoin. Lisäksi työn tavoitteena on tuoda esiin videopelien esittävän tason ominaisuuksien erityispiirteitä, jotka ovat aiemmassa tutkimuksessa jääneet pelisääntöjen retoristen mahdollisuuksien tarkastelun varjoon ja tarjota näin keinoja videopelien ideologisen sisällön "lukemiseen" ja ymmärtämiseen. Asiasanat pelitutkimus, Viron keskustapuolue, hyötypelit, poliittiset videopelit, proseduraalinen retoriikka Säilytyspaikka Jyväskylän yliopisto Muita tietoja Randviir-Vellamo iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 2. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 5 2.1. Video Game Analysis ...................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Roland Barthes' Myths and Semiotics ............................................................................. 8 2.3. Video Game Rhetoric .................................................................................................... 12 2.3.1. Ian Bogost's Procedural Rhetoric and Its Critique ................................................. 16 2.4. Research Strategy .......................................................................................................... 18 3. VIDEO GAME TYPOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION .................................................... 20 3.1. Serious Games ............................................................................................................... 21 3.1.1. Advergames ............................................................................................................ 26 3.2. Casual Games ................................................................................................................ 29 3.3. Political Video Games ................................................................................................... 31 3.3.1. Video Games and Propaganda ................................................................................ 35 3.3.2. Election Games ...................................................................................................... 43 3.3.3. Political Web Games in Estonia ............................................................................. 49 4. PERSUASIVE PROPERTIES OF THE CENTER PARTY'S WEB GAMES ....................... 56 4.1. The Ant Game ............................................................................................................... 57 4.1.2. Semiotic Analysis ................................................................................................... 59 4.1.2. Gameplay Rhetoric and Procedural Rhetoric ......................................................... 65 4.2. Drive like Ansip! ........................................................................................................... 67 4.2.1. Semiotic Analysis ................................................................................................... 69 4.2.2. Gameplay Rhetoric and Procedural Rhetoric ......................................................... 77 Randviir-Vellamo v 4.3. Kick Out the Minister! .................................................................................................. 80 4.3.1. Semiotic Analysis ................................................................................................... 83 4.3.2. Gameplay Rhetoric and Procedural Rhetoric ......................................................... 93 4.4. Ansip Raises Prices! ...................................................................................................... 97 4.4.1. Semiotic Analysis ................................................................................................... 98 4.4.2. Gameplay Rhetoric and Procedural Rhetoric ....................................................... 104 5. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................ 108 REFERENCES: LITERAT U R E ............................................................................................ 115 APPENDIX A: E-MAIL INTERVIEWS ............................................................................... A-1 APPENDIX B: PUBLICATIONS OF THE CENTER PARTY ............................................. B-1 Randviir-Vellamo 1 1. INTRODUCTION Among the videogames that are designed mainly to entertain there are also games that are designed as a means to an end. They are often referred to as serious games and have many subgenres like an election game that despite of its entertaining appearance is a tool for political marketing, tailored to be a part of a political campaign. Ian Bogost, the author of a book Persuasive Games that is one of the cornerstones of the current thesis, have proclaimed the year 2004 as the one that saw a great rise in the development of election games: 2004 was the year political videogames became legitimate. For the first time, candidates and party groups created officially endorsed games to bolster their campaign in the U.S. for U.S. president, U.S. Congress and U.S. State Legislature, and even in Uruguay for the president of Uruguay (Persuasive Games 103). The first election game that was created in Estonia seems to be an appropriate addition to that list: in 2004, the web game was designed in order to support the candidacy of the young Estonian Center Party's (Eesti Keskerakond) politician, Mart Viisitamm, to the European Parliament. The web game can be found from the internet1 even eight years after its release, but it is not located on the official site of the Center Party. The game that was introduced to the public in 2004 became known as the Center Party's Ant Game (Keskerakonna sipelgamäng). The Estonian Center Party has been remarkably active in producing varied digital content for its marketing purposes in recent years. Their will and skill in exploiting the 1 http://www.aegmaha.ee/games/13567/keskerakonna-mang Randviir-Vellamo 2 possibilities of digital media exceeds greatly the similar interest or attempts of any other Estonian political party. According to the public relation specialist Raimond Kaljulaid who was interviewed for the thesis, the party's chairman Edgar Savisaar was a first top politician in Estonia to open a blog (Appendix A-3). In addition to