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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The Mechanics of War: Procedural Rhetoric and the Masculine Subject in the Gears of War and Mass Effect Series

Snyder, Shane Michael
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440171929

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, English.
This thesis attempts to illustrate how war video games deploy their rules and mechanics to rhetorically reinforce or reconfigure the male-gendered (hyper-)masculine player-subject. Because video games enable player-subjects to interactively take part in simulations of war, video games have rhetorical power that scholars, video game developers, and players must learn to critically harness in order to tell imaginative narratives that value peace over violence. Split into three chapters, this thesis critically examines what I believe constitutes a small representative sample of influential or potentially influential war video games. The first chapter argues that the Gears of War series of video games reinforces the traditional hyper-masculine subject of war with a xenophobic narrative that glorifies violence against a feminized and reified enemy threat. By contrast, the second chapter argues that the Mass Effect series of video games responds to this violence by more imaginatively reconfiguring the masculine subject of war through its encouragement of diplomacy instead of aggression. The third and final chapter argues that the independently-produced September 12 and This War of Mine both further reconfigure and ultimately redefine the masculine subject of war by enabling the player to embody the subject positions of multiple civilians adversely affected by war. The thesis comes to the conclusion that critical video game studies must seek to access larger portions of the video gaming population in order to shift the public’s demand toward narratives of peace that nonetheless entertain.
Kimberly Coates, PhD (Advisor)
Kristine Blair, PhD (Committee Member)
114 p.
Gender Studies; Literature
Masculinity; Gender and Sexuality; Game Studies; War; Rhetoric; Procedural Rhetoric; Gears of War; Mass Effect; September 12; This War of Mine

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Snyder, S. M. (2015). The Mechanics of War: Procedural Rhetoric and the Masculine Subject in the Gears of War and Mass Effect Series [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440171929

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Snyder, Shane. The Mechanics of War: Procedural Rhetoric and the Masculine Subject in the Gears of War and Mass Effect Series. 2015. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440171929.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Snyder, Shane. "The Mechanics of War: Procedural Rhetoric and the Masculine Subject in the Gears of War and Mass Effect Series." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1440171929

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1440171929
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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.