The blog post that I read was named "Good Stories in Games? Sometimes it happens!" It was written by Cosmos T. Mouse or "Cosmos The Mouse," and just by the title of this post and the name of the blogger, it is already apparent that this person has a distinct voice when writing online. While this blog post does not talk about how games tell stories or even "if" they do; that is not even a question. It's all in the title of the post. Cosmos The Mouse knows that games tell stories and this post consists of two game reviews that he thought told a good story. The post is not too lengthy, but the tone of the blogger is most apparent and it is easy to see that he is just a normal gamer like everyone else who is just sharing some thoughts with other fellow gamers. In the first lines of Cosmos the Mouse's post we get an intro into this blogger's voice and writing personality.
"Thanks to the good people at CheapAssGames.com I found a few games I wanted to get that are normally cheap.... but a little cheaper. I grabbed "GUN" and "Indigo Prophecy" for 9 bucks each new. That's right. New. And I do have to tell you from what I played today (and I had a lot of free time), I enjoy both. And both actually have some pretty decent stories & gameplay."
The first indicator of voice are the "dot-dot-dots" in the first sentence. Just a slight and subtle pause to show that this person type's the way he speaks. The next indicators of voice are in the next couple of lines where he mentions he bought the games for "9 bucks each new. That's right. New." This entire phrase, when reading, brings out that thought, "Whaaat? No way!" Because as both you and I know, no games in this day and age can be bought new for nine dollars. Then again, that's the whole purpose for Cosmos The Mouse typing, "That's right. New." because he probably couldn't believe it either.
The next paragraph of this blog post is basically a casual review of the game, "GUN," where Mouse mentions some of the game's basic features and compares it to two other games, "Grand Theft Auto" and "Red Dead Revolver."
"The game plays a bit like Red Dead Revolver (that I really enjoyed) mixed with an old west GTA style. [...] Riding horses to get from point A to B is a bust as any fan of GTA knows... you must jack a car. Er, I mean horse."
In these two sentences, we the reader, see a couple more context clues that inform us to the voice of the blogger. The parenthesis show us that Mouse has probably played many games since he is able to reference games as a side note when talking about another. The second sentence has the short pause once again like the first lines of the post, but because Mouse references "Grand Theft Auto," he says, "you must jack a car." He then realizes his mistake being that his review is about the game, "GUN," and goes on to say a short phrase, "Er, I mean horse." This is a humorous little phrase that tells the reader so much about the voice of this blogger. So far the blogger, has a conversational voice, meaning that he seems to type the way he talks. He also can be humorous and use short sentences. Such as the instance in which he bought nine dollar games or "GTA" and "GUN" mix-up.
Mouse's last review is that of "Indigo Prophecy" where he actually claims that the game is like, "Alfred Hitchcock meets X-Files meets Silent Hill." and that, "You would really have to play it to know what the hell I mean," because there really isn't another game like it. For the rest of the review, Mouse explains what the game is like and how you can tell one story, but play the game through three different characters/perspectives so that you get a different part of the one story. He then ends the blog post with, "If it werent so late I would go on about it. But I'm tired." Which does make sense being that he posted this at 1:36 in the morning. Yet again, humorous with short sentence structure.
In another post that Cosmos The Mouse wrote, but at a much more recent date
(August 14th, 2010) than the post I analyzed (June 15th, 2006), we see that Mouse has kept his sense of humor and despite his hiatus due to being ill, he never lost his voice.
"For all the people wondering....No i'm not dead, i've just been out a while. Aside from being out, sick with colds / flu's and other fun things, I've been working on a few of the games i've had that I didn't get much time with."
In the first sentence and the sentence after the "dot-dot-dots," there is a sense of short sentences even though they are one, maybe two (whatever). In any case, this area seems to go along with Mouse's conversational style of speech. Short phrases. And being funny. At the same time. I chose to compare his early post to a later one just to see if there was any change that took place in his style of writing. Only to be fair, I looked for a small part that showed as much personality as his earlier post did so that they would be comparable. Since he has been posting for years now, people like his stuff.
Cosmos The Mouse uses a mix of things to characterize his blogging voice. When he is explaining something in detail he will use medium to long sentence length. It seems when he types the way he talks or wants to be funny he will use short phrases or even just words and then a period. Mouse also feels the need to pause between to phrases or sentences just because it gives more feeling into a sentence, especially when that sentence is read aloud in the right tone of voice. His style of speech is also conversational and he places asides, noted with parenthesis, to show his train of thought at the time.
"Thanks to the good people at CheapAssGames.com I found a few games I wanted to get that are normally cheap.... but a little cheaper. I grabbed "GUN" and "Indigo Prophecy" for 9 bucks each new. That's right. New. And I do have to tell you from what I played today (and I had a lot of free time), I enjoy both. And both actually have some pretty decent stories & gameplay."
The first indicator of voice are the "dot-dot-dots" in the first sentence. Just a slight and subtle pause to show that this person type's the way he speaks. The next indicators of voice are in the next couple of lines where he mentions he bought the games for "9 bucks each new. That's right. New." This entire phrase, when reading, brings out that thought, "Whaaat? No way!" Because as both you and I know, no games in this day and age can be bought new for nine dollars. Then again, that's the whole purpose for Cosmos The Mouse typing, "That's right. New." because he probably couldn't believe it either.
The next paragraph of this blog post is basically a casual review of the game, "GUN," where Mouse mentions some of the game's basic features and compares it to two other games, "Grand Theft Auto" and "Red Dead Revolver."
"The game plays a bit like Red Dead Revolver (that I really enjoyed) mixed with an old west GTA style. [...] Riding horses to get from point A to B is a bust as any fan of GTA knows... you must jack a car. Er, I mean horse."
In these two sentences, we the reader, see a couple more context clues that inform us to the voice of the blogger. The parenthesis show us that Mouse has probably played many games since he is able to reference games as a side note when talking about another. The second sentence has the short pause once again like the first lines of the post, but because Mouse references "Grand Theft Auto," he says, "you must jack a car." He then realizes his mistake being that his review is about the game, "GUN," and goes on to say a short phrase, "Er, I mean horse." This is a humorous little phrase that tells the reader so much about the voice of this blogger. So far the blogger, has a conversational voice, meaning that he seems to type the way he talks. He also can be humorous and use short sentences. Such as the instance in which he bought nine dollar games or "GTA" and "GUN" mix-up.
Mouse's last review is that of "Indigo Prophecy" where he actually claims that the game is like, "Alfred Hitchcock meets X-Files meets Silent Hill." and that, "You would really have to play it to know what the hell I mean," because there really isn't another game like it. For the rest of the review, Mouse explains what the game is like and how you can tell one story, but play the game through three different characters/perspectives so that you get a different part of the one story. He then ends the blog post with, "If it werent so late I would go on about it. But I'm tired." Which does make sense being that he posted this at 1:36 in the morning. Yet again, humorous with short sentence structure.
In another post that Cosmos The Mouse wrote, but at a much more recent date
(August 14th, 2010) than the post I analyzed (June 15th, 2006), we see that Mouse has kept his sense of humor and despite his hiatus due to being ill, he never lost his voice.
"For all the people wondering....No i'm not dead, i've just been out a while. Aside from being out, sick with colds / flu's and other fun things, I've been working on a few of the games i've had that I didn't get much time with."
In the first sentence and the sentence after the "dot-dot-dots," there is a sense of short sentences even though they are one, maybe two (whatever). In any case, this area seems to go along with Mouse's conversational style of speech. Short phrases. And being funny. At the same time. I chose to compare his early post to a later one just to see if there was any change that took place in his style of writing. Only to be fair, I looked for a small part that showed as much personality as his earlier post did so that they would be comparable. Since he has been posting for years now, people like his stuff.
Cosmos The Mouse uses a mix of things to characterize his blogging voice. When he is explaining something in detail he will use medium to long sentence length. It seems when he types the way he talks or wants to be funny he will use short phrases or even just words and then a period. Mouse also feels the need to pause between to phrases or sentences just because it gives more feeling into a sentence, especially when that sentence is read aloud in the right tone of voice. His style of speech is also conversational and he places asides, noted with parenthesis, to show his train of thought at the time.
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