Instead of just coming out and saying that video games are bad, Charles D. Knutson and Kyle K. Oswald use examples that the reader can relate to and that trigger an emotional response. In their article “Just a Game?” that appeared in the August 2009 Ensign starts to appeal to the reader’s emotions right away with the use of real life stories. The stories are about real people and reveal that they are not exhibiting normal behavior. As you read their stories you feel bad for these two people whose lives are virtually controlled by their online games and you can see that their alternate realities have a harmful impact on their lives. By establishing the universal fact there is something wrong with the behaviors of a teenage boy and girl in college, Charles D. Knutson and Kyle K. Oswald get across their point of the negative influence of video games. The authors effectively use figurative language to persuade the reader that video games as well as online games are harmful to a person’s spirituality, and relationships with other people, and halt personal growth.

Knutson and Oswald use words with negative connotations such as “hooked,” “addiction,” and “compulsive”, to create the feel that virtual reality games are harmful and dangerous to the mind and body. The authors enhance the “emotional weight” of phrases to strengthen their argument as well. For example, instead of saying that excessive gaming can contribute to divorce, lost jobs, and bad health, they say that virtual games can contribute to “broken marriages, lost employment, and failed health.” They also tie in a spiritual aspect that puts gaming and its consequences in a whole perspective. By expressing that playing online and video games is harmful not only to one’s health, relationships, and mental condition but in addition is harmful spiritually and does not please God also works to stimulate an emotional response.