Released in 2008 for the Playstation 2, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a roleplaying game with a diverse genre pedigree. It is a combination of dungeon-crawling RPG and social interaction ‘‘datesim,’’ all wrapped up in the thematic trappings of occult mystery and Japanese popular culture. Using Ian Bogost’s (2007) concept of procedural rhetoric, this article examines how Persona 3’s use of genre conventions and gameplay-based rhetorical frames construct the game’s message, as well as how those structures can inform our understanding of genre for the digital game form.
Aarseth, E. ( 1997). Cybertext: Perspectives on ergodic literature . Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
2.
Aarseth, E. ( 2003). Playing research: methodological approaches to game analysis . Paper presented at the 2003 Digital Arts and Culture Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
3.
Altman, R. ( 1984). A semantic/syntactic approach to film genre. Cinema Journal, 23, 6-18.
4.
Apperley, T.H. ( 2006). Genre and game studies: Toward a critical approach to video game genres. Simulation and Gaming, 37, 6-23.
5.
Art of Persona 3. (2007). Irvine, CA: Atlus.
6.
Ashby, A. ( 2004). The history of Shin Megami Tensei. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www.atlus.com/smt/history.html
7.
Atlus. (2007). Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. Irvine, CA: Author.
8.
Bogost, I. ( 2007). Persuasive games: The expressive power of video games . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
9.
Charland, M. ( 1987). Constitutive rhetoric: the case of the peuple Québécois . The Quarterly Journal of Speech , 73, 133-150.
10.
Consalvo, M. ( 2007). Cheating: Gaining advantage in videogames. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
11.
Consalvo, M., & Dutton, N. ( 2006). Game analysis: Developing a methodological toolkit for the qualitative study of games. Game Studies, 6. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/consalvo_dutton
12.
Feuer, J. ( 1992). Genre study and television. In Allen (Ed.), Channels of discourse, reassembled (pp. 139-160). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
13.
Frasca, G. ( 2003). Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology . In M. J. P. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The video game theory reader (pp. 221-235). New York, NY: Routledge .
14.
Fürsich, E. ( 2009). In defense of textual analysis: Restoring a challenged method for journalism and media studies. Journalism Studies , 10, 238-252.
15.
Harper, T. ( 2006). Player agency and the intrinsic qualities of games: An analysis of video game textuality. Unpublished master’s thesis. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.
16.
Juul, J. ( 2005). Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
17.
Kalata, K., & Snelgrove, C.J. (2009). Hardcore gaming 101: Megami Tensei/Shin Megami Tensei. Retrieved January 14, 2010 , from http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/megaten.htm
18.
Kirkland, E. ( 2005). Restless dreams in Silent Hill: Approaches to video game analysis. Journal of Media Practice, 6, 167-178.
19.
Kücklich, J. ( 2007). Homo deludens: Cheating as a methodological tool in digital games research. Convergence, 13, 355-367.
20.
McAllister, K.S. ( 2004). Game work: Language, power, and computer game culture . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
21.
McKee, A. ( 2003). Textual analysis: A beginner’s guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
22.
Mittell, J. ( 2001). A cultural approach to television genre theory . Cinema Journal, 40, 3-24.
23.
Neale, S. ( 1990). Questions of genre. Screen, 31, 45-66.
24.
Newsgaming.com. (n.d.). September 12. Retrieved August 4, 2007, from http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm
25.
Schatz, T. ( 1981). Film genre and the genre film. In L. Braudy & M. Cohen (Eds.), Film theory and criticism (pp. 691-702). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
26.
Tate, H. ( 2005). The ideological effects of a failed constitutive rhetoric: The co-option of the rhetoric or white lesbian feminism. Women’s Studies in Communication, 28, 1-31.
27.
Taylor, T.L. ( 2006). Play between worlds: Exploring online game culture . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
28.
Wolf, M.J.P. ( 2001). Genre and the video game. In Wolf (Ed.), The medium of the video game (pp. 113-134). Austin: University of Texas Press.
29.
‘‘What is SMT.’’ (2009). Retrieved January 14, 2010, from Official SMT: Strange Journey Website, http://www.atlus.com/strangejourney/home.html
