Development of the “Hybrid Interactive Rhetorical Engagement” (H.I.R.E.) Scale

Abstract

Digital game is an essential part of digital creative industries around the world. This chapter aims to develop H.I.R.E. scales that can be used to explain and understand users' responses to digital creative contents. Although multiple methodologies have been used to study gameplayers' experiences and interactions with different genres of digital games that lead to their gamifications, this chapter is based on a rhetorical theoretical tradition by arguing that gameplay interactions are a rhetorical process in which players interact with game designers as well as other players in the same guild through a series of persuasive manipulations. H.I.R.E. scales are developed to explain how gameplayers have different experiences when playing a digital game that contributes to their gamifications. Because digital game is an important branch of contemporary digital creative industry, the development of the H.I.R.E. scales will help researchers and practitioners to study and develop better digital games and other digital creative contents.