Running head: GENRE ANALYSIS 1

Genre Analysis

The Effects of Video Games on Society

Daniel Ortega

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Ms. Navar

February 24, 2019

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Genre Analysis

Video games have had an interesting and ever-expanding influence and history behind

them. Recently, video games have had an enormous boost in popularity and recognition in

today’s societal mainstream. Video game nowadays are no longer widely viewed as an activity

that is considered a waste of time. However, video games are still shrouded in controversy

concerning their effect on the human brain, especially the youth. An article written by Hannah

Nichols (2017) on Medical News Today and an infographic poster created by

onlineuniversities.com both explain the positives and negatives on the effect of video games on

the mind.

Structure and Delivery

The structure of both the article and infographic have their information organized in an

easy to read and understand matter to better accommodate a general audience. The article

organizes its information first by explaining what video games are in general, their spread, and

who consumes them. Then the author begins explaining positives for playing video games along

with scientific information gathered from other sources. The diction the author uses is not too

advanced so the average consumer such as the intended audience, parents, can easily read and

follow along with the points she tries to make in the article. Visually, the article has around five

pictures that each show what each major section of the article is talking about. The infographic

poster organized information with picture and symbols displaying both positives and negatives of

video games on the human brain. The infographic is largely factual with many statistics listed

and their sources. The poster itself is vertically long so it guides the reader downwards as they

read, making it easier to understand. The major similarities between the structure of both genres

are their easy-to-follow organizational structure which makes reading them simple for any
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audience. The large difference between the two is the amount of detail going into many of the

facts and points in each genre; the article goes into more depth for each fact whereas the

infographic simply states the statistic with no further explanation.

Audience

Aside from a general audience with the easy-to-read vocabulary choice and structure, the

intended audience more specifically for both genres are for parents who are the most concerned

about the effects video games might have on their children. The purpose for both the article and

the infographic is to inform the reader on the effects of video games on society and on the brain.

The reason for the purpose being informational and the intended audience being parents is

parents seek validity on whether video games for their children are either harmful or not at all.

The authors are not trying to change the viewpoint of the audience but to simply provide facts so

that the audience can develop an informed opinion on the topic.

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

The ethos of both the article and the infographic are not entirely clear as the author,

Hannah Nichols (2017) and Onlineuniversities.com for the infographic but ethos can be gathered

from the structure and organization from their respective genre. Hannah Nichols in her article

display that she understands how to organize and structure her writing in a way that is easy to

follow and understand for any audience type. She first begins her article by giving basic

information on video games such as their rising popularity by sales over the years and what

genre of video games they are. She then begins summarizing results that scientists and

researchers have gathered on video games and their effect on the human brain. They have

concluded that video games can change how our brains perform and how they are structured. For

the rest of the article she talks about the different ways video games a beneficial to the human
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brain such as boosting memory and reversing age-related decline with the brain. The infographic

displays its ethos with its vertical design and organized descending information. It starts off with

parts of the brain that are affected by different video game genres. Below that it lists some

negatives of video games such as anxiousness and increased aggression after playing long hours

of violent video games. After negatives it discusses positives that come to the brain because of

video games. At the bottom of the poster, sources are listed where all the information was

gathered. This organization and flow of information proves good ethos from

onlineuniversities.com.

After ethos follows pathos, the appeal to emotion. The appeal to emotion is usually used

in persuasive essays and the most used appeal. Within the article and infographic, no pathos is

found within either as both are informative. Pathos was left out to maximize the emphasis on

non-biased views on video games so the audience can make their own decision on how they

perceive video games.

The final appeal is logos, the appeal to logic. In terms of facts and non-biased views, both

the article and infographic use logos throughout the article and poster. Both the article and

infographic do not use personal pronouns such as I or we to not show a personal view on the

topic. The logical decisions made between the two genres are their organization and structure

which allows the average reader to follow and understand their information as the issue in

question, video games, is not an academic or complicated topic.

Conclusion

To summarize, both genres use mainly logos as their appeal and they both achieved their

purpose, to inform. The article used an easy to read format for the structure and noncomplex

vocabulary to have an article accessible to the average reader. The infographic used a vertical
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orientation to have its information “flow” which naturally lends it good organization. With all

the previously mentioned characteristics in mind, the article by Nichols better conveys its

message as it goes into more depth with the information it provides. These genres aim to inform

within discourse with no biased opinions.

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References

Nichols, H. (2017, July 10). How video games affect the brain. Retrieved from

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318345.php

The Neurology of Gaming [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.onlineuniversities.com/