Rhetorical devices

Direct Address

Collis engages his audience through direct address. For example, he addresses his audience directly when he associates the skills necessary in esports with popular games that the audience might know: 

To give you an idea of how difficult this is, imagine a classic game like Super Mario Brothers. But instead of controlling one Mario, there are now two hundred, and instead of playing on one screen, you’re playing across dozens, each set to a different level or stage. (ll. 40-42)

Here, the pronoun “you” helps the audience picture themselves playing video games, and further strengthens Collis’ intention to show that playing video games is quite demanding. Collis also chooses to mention Super Mario Brothers, a game that even most non-gamers would most likely be somewhat familiar with. This helps make the direct address more relevant to the readers.

Towards the end of the talk, Collis addresses his audience directly when he says “You know, I think of my own childhood, you know” (l. 93). H...