Games that Change Minds: Cultural Hegemony & Ideology

Cultural Hegemony and Ideology

• Struggle over cultural hegemony is prevalent in popular culture, involving shifting balances and configurations of power, rather than zero-sum domination.
• Every expression in popular culture is inherently ideological, reflecting deeper ideological structures through repetitive patterns of heroism and villainy.

The Dress Illusion

• The Dress Illusion highlights how individual differences and prior experiences affect perception, with 57% seeing the dress as blue and black, and 30% as white and gold.
• Perception is influenced by factors such as light exposure and daily habits (e.g., night owls vs. early risers).

Changing Minds

• Merely providing correct information does not necessarily change minds due to cognitive biases and prior experiences.
• The concept of reactance refers to a negative reaction to perceived threats to one's freedom of choice.

Ethical Frameworks

• Consequentialism is an ethical framework based on action outcomes (Utilitarianism).
• Deontology is an ethical framework based on duties and rights (Natural rights).
• Virtue Ethics focuses on inherent character.
• Ethical Egoism prioritizes self-centered consequences.

Cognitive Processes

• Assimilation involves integrating new information into existing models.
• Accommodation involves updating models to incorporate new understanding.
• Cognitive biases include confirmation bias, cognitive ease, belief bias, and the backfire effect.

Persuasion Challenges

• Debating often reinforces existing beliefs rather than changing them.
• Reaching an affective tipping point is crucial for real change.

Procedural Rhetoric in Games

• Games can change minds by using procedural rhetoric, emphasizing processes and systems over static messages.

Design Principles for Persuasive Games

• Theme is not meaning; meaning arises from gameplay.
• Player agency differs from real-world agency.
• Aim to change attitudes, not behaviors.
• Avoid identity tourism.
• Choose the right player perspective.
• Ensure meaningful choices.
• Address complicity in systems.

Examples of Complicity in Games

• Games like Middle Passage and Train explore themes of complicity and moral choices within systems, raising questions about blind obedience and moral standing.

Fun as an Insidious Element

• Fun can subtly influence players' attitudes and beliefs.

Cultural Hegemony and Ideology

• Struggle over cultural hegemony is prevalent in popular culture, involving shifting balances and configurations of power, rather than zero-sum domination.
• Every expression in popular culture is inherently ideological, reflecting deeper ideological structures through repetitive patterns of heroism and villainy.

The Dress Illusion

• The Dress Illusion highlights how individual differences and prior experiences affect perception, with 57% seeing the dress as blue and black, and 30% as white and gold.
• Perception is influenced by factors such as light exposure and daily habits (e.g., night owls vs. early risers).

Changing Minds

• Merely providing correct information does not necessarily change minds due to cognitive biases and prior experiences.
• The concept of reactance refers to a negative reaction to perceived threats to one's freedom of choice.

Ethical Frameworks

• Consequentialism is an ethical framework based on action outcomes (Utilitarianism).
• Deontology is an ethical framework based on duties and rights (Natural rights).
• Virtue Ethics focuses on inherent character.
• Ethical Egoism prioritizes self-centered consequences.

Cognitive Processes

• Assimilation involves integrating new information into existing models.
• Accommodation involves updating models to incorporate new understanding.
• Cognitive biases include confirmation bias, cognitive ease, belief bias, and the backfire effect.

Persuasion Challenges

• Debating often reinforces existing beliefs rather than changing them.
• Reaching an affective tipping point is crucial for real change.

Procedural Rhetoric in Games

• Games can change minds by using procedural rhetoric, emphasizing processes and systems over static messages.

Design Principles for Persuasive Games

• Theme is not meaning; meaning arises from gameplay.
• Player agency differs from real-world agency.
• Aim to change attitudes, not behaviors.
• Avoid identity tourism.
• Choose the right player perspective.
• Ensure meaningful choices.
• Address complicity in systems.

Examples of Complicity in Games

• Games like Middle Passage and Train explore themes of complicity and moral choices within systems, raising questions about blind obedience and moral standing.

Fun as an Insidious Element

• Fun can subtly influence players' attitudes and beliefs.

Explore the concept of cultural hegemony with Stuart Hall and how media reflects ideology with Slavoj Žižek. Learn about the Dress Illusion and its relation to popular culture.