In early 2018, there emerges a mobile game called “Travelling Frog” favored by the public. This stress-relieving game, released by the Japanese company Hit Point, has evoked great zeal for keeping frogs among players in Taiwan and China, with its elegant illustrative style, easy gameplay, and zenful user experience. What makes this simply designed “Travelling Frog” fascinating to all players? The reason can lie in the fact that the game deploys playful procedural rhetoric, persuading players to engage in resistance to modernity.
The article, after clarifying the concepts about “procedural rhetoric,” proceeds thereby to analyze the game “Travelling Frog.” We can see that the game, through the construction of regular gameplay space, allows players to obtain fun in the seemingly simple patterns of gameplay. Through careful preparations when the frog stays home and patient waiting when it travels, players may respond to the accelerating modern daily life and immerse themselves in certain moments of resistance and rivalry. Through the example, examined in the view of procedural rhetoric, players not only simply play but also participate in the expression of specific points of view. This also explains partly a key perspective of rhetoric studies in the digital age.