Cultural Rhetoric within Left 4 Dead 2

When developing video games, cultural rhetoric is a positive component to include in any game design. It can help highlight details within a game design and make the overall game more compelling. In addition, cultural rhetoric within games helps recognize cultural distinction and allows gamers to interact with people of different cultures. The concept of cultural rhetoric within a video game is to make the components simulate objects that are familiar in the real world and also allow the gamer to be able to define cultural differences between different groups of society throughout the world. “Seeing games as a social contexts for social cultural learning acknowledges how games replicate, reproduce, and sometime transform cultural beliefs and principals” ( S&Z 516). Including cultural differences and objects within a game helps draw consumers towards gaming because shows a sense of reality that is seen through the mise-en-scene and the overall play experience. A good example of a game that contains cultural rhetoric and is portrayed by its game design is Left 4 Dead 2. Left 4 Dead 2 is able to exemplify the idea of cultural competence through the mise-en-scene, the representations of gender through the characters and the play experience through its online multiplayer mode.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter video game that is a sequel to first Left 4 Dead game. Set during the aftermath of an apocalyptic epidemic, Left 4 Dead 2 focuses on four new Survivors, fighting against crowds of infected humans, who have developed severe psychosis and many characteristics similar to a zombie. While the game is intended to be a continuation of the original, game designers actually decided to create a new group of Survivors d...

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...an male gamer as opposed to a foreign male consumer because of the different cultural ideologies. While most foreign countries oppress women, the American culture pushes for women’s rights. The American society allows women to obtain more powerful roles and they are accepted in those roles much more than other foreign countries. Online gaming allows for consumers to see these differences within cultures through the play experience.

Overall, “all games reflect the rhetoric of the cultural context in which they are designed or played” (S&Z 534). For Left 4 Dead 2, the cultural rhetoric is able to be seen through game design of setting, the representations of gender through the protagonists and the play experience through its online multiplayer mode. Together they exemplify how a video game is able to influence a social cultural learning opportunity and experience.