Analysis

Here are the elements which will help you with your analysis of William Collis’ TED talk “How video game skills can get you ahead in life”. 

The rhetorical situation is that the speaker is William Collis, a college professor and an esports expert and entrepreneur who is also the author of a book on esports. The receivers are mainly people who do not know much about video games and/or people who might have a negative opinion of videogames and esports. 

In terms of composition, the TED talk consists of three parts, in which Collis talks about the development of esports, presents the three main skills required in gaming, and shows how these skills would fit in today’s digital workplace. 

Collis’ language focuses on explaining key gaming concepts to people who might not have vast gaming experience. In general, he relies on parallels to traditional sports and activities to expand the potential audience for his TED talk and to make his ideas easier to understand.

Some of the rhetorical devices that Collis uses are enumeration, direct address, rhetorical questions, and humor. The rhetorical devices help Collis structure his ideas and show readers that esports deserve the same respect given to traditional sports. 

When it comes to logos, ethos, and pathos, Collis uses all three forms of appeal in his talk. He appeals to logos when he presents data that justifies the esports industry’s earnings and audience, and he builds ethos when he uses his own experience as a parent to illustrate his ideas. Collis also appeals to pathos when he tries to make the audience feel of nostalgia and recall their connection with their loved ones. 

You can read a full analysis of the TED talk on the following pages.