Reality Is Broken Rhetorical Analysis

Nigel Dinh

Ms. Maloney

English II Honors

26 February 2023

Games Are A Distant Reality

The power of video games is helping with real-life problems and helping gamers escape reality. The phrase “reality is broken” forms the central thesis of Jane McGonigal’s story, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. In the book, McGonigal explains the idea that games have the power to fix real-life problems by giving players a sense of purpose, positive emotions, and social connections. As well as wanting to show the world what the future is going to be for those who gamers and are not familiar with video games. The argument Mcgonigal makes is games are a powerful tool in helping with mental and emotional health. McGonigal

An anecdote is a short story to make a larger point and engage the audience. This way of writing is to make a fact more memorable and brings the message to life. Jane McGonigal incorporates a story, “In the opening book of The Histories, Herodotus writes …”(Mcgonigal 6-7) This way of writing that Mcgonigal used is also a way to illustrate a concept and adds some emotional impact to the reader. This is important because it reaches out to the reader in different ways. By including an anecdote, McGonigal can make an emotional connection with the reader and persuade them. McGonigal states, “Herodotus invented history as we know it, and he has described the goal of history as uncovering moral problems and moral truths in the concrete data of experience.” (McGonigal 8). An added reason why anecdotes are so powerful is that it shares one's experience. By telling a reader a real event that happened, they could change their view, helping with illustrating the point or claim. Anecdotes could be humorous, serious, or sentimental but McGonigal used the story to make her point stronger to the

She also includes in her argument information that games have a positive impact on these gamers, “And we are creating a massive virtual silo of cognitive effort, emotional energy, and collective attention lavished on game worlds instead of the real world.”(Mcgonigal 6). Video games have the potential to make us happier, and more motivated, and maybe even could change the world. Games could as well help gamers gain confidence in progressing throughout the game. Jane McGonigal includes numbers that “Globally, the online gamer community–including console, PC, and mobile phone gamers–counts more than 4 million gamers in the Middle East, 10 million in Russia, 105 million in India, 10 million in Vietnam, 10 million in Mexico, 13 million in Central and South America, 15 million in Australia, 17 million in South Korea, 100 million in Europe, and 200 million in China” providing evidence for the claim and adding important backup assertions with evidence that is supporting the claim (McGonigal 5). Using numbers and statistics can help prove evidence and make sure the argument is more convincing. As “Economist Edward Castronnova calls it a “Mass exodus” to game spaces, and you can see it already happening in the numbers” (Mcgonigal 5). With numbers and stats, it helps prove information, establish credibility, and make a comparison which Jane McGonigal