Date of Award

5-2025

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Committee Chair(s)

Lynne McNeill (Committee Chair)

Committee

Lynne McNeill

Committee

rylish moeller

Committee

Stephen VanGeem

Abstract

Video games are becoming an increasingly relevant aspect of modern culture, both shaping discourse around topics of labor, play, and art, and being shaped by the society they are created within. Scholars have examined the link between video games and player behavior since the 1990s and found that there is little concrete proof that video games alter behavior on their own and are simply one part of a much larger context. But with video games increasing in complexity and accuracy, it becomes necessary to examine whether video games are capable of convincing players about truths of the real world through play. This thesis focused on a specific instance of simulational rhetoric—systems of police and criminal justice—within a specific video game—Cities: Skylines II—in order to see whether realism in a game impacted the beliefs of the players who experienced it. Ultimately, I discovered that while simulational rhetoric plays a role in convincing players about how accurate a game is compared to real life, players will prioritize their own experiences and pre-existing beliefs over that of the video game, which casts doubts upon the current ways that game developers create games meant to promote positive social change or handle negative playerbases.

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