Bogost’s examples make me think even more about the blurry line between games and life. simulations of work environments or political situations or prison infrastructure? simplified and gamified, sure, but like Sherri says in her post, it isn’t hard to see the “serious messages about corporations and politics” in these kinds of activities. I wonder if that should help us feel more able to do anything about the real procedures and issues that we face in this world, or what. recognizing procedural rhetoric in a game is cool. do we recognize it everywhere else, too? maybe the simplification gets in the way.

I’m about to teach my 420 students to write proposals and argue for small changes in the imaginary business contexts they’ve chosen to work in this semester. written proposals are one thing… boring, maybe, but conventional. if I had more time and were a more gamer-y type of person, it might be cool to ask my students to re-mediate their proposals into a game. maybe it would be a fun thought-experiment, at least.