PrepTest 148, Section 3, Question 8
In the earliest video games, the player typically(75 more words not shown)
The conclusion of the argument(12 more words not shown)
- AThere are no(20 more words not shown)
- BMost early video(24 more words not shown)
- CThe technical sophistication(26 more words not shown)
- DWhen players cannot(27 more words not shown)
- EIf some aspect(29 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Do players identify with a triangle? The old games' simple icons don't obviously feel more like the player than a detailed human figure does. But even accepting that the newer figures are hard to identify with, we have another question: does that make the game less compelling?
A game could still be fun even if I don't see myself in the character. Its challenges or story might hold my attention. The author moves from difficulty identifying with the figure to a reduction in the game's appeal without explaining that connection.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to make the conclusion follow. So connect those points: difficulty identifying with the controlled figure makes a game less compelling than it otherwise would be. Keep 'in this respect' in view. We aren't trying to establish that every newer game is boring or worse overall than every old game.
Working the answers
- A
Some newer games could still use simple icons without affecting the argument about the ones using detailed human figures. The passage says players often control those figures, not that every new game contains them. Eliminating all newer icon-based games wouldn't supply the missing connection to how compelling the games are.
- B
Other advantages of newer games could coexist with the disadvantage the author claims here. A game might have better sound or more interesting challenges while this particular feature makes it less compelling than it could have been. Comparing the games in other respects doesn't establish the effect of difficulty identifying with a figure.
- C
This says technical sophistication alone cannot make a game fully compelling, even for players who identify with the figures. But our evidence concerns players who find identification difficult. We need to know what that difficulty does to the game's appeal. C's claim about the limits of technical sophistication doesn't give us that relationship.
- DCorrect
This supplies the connection. When identifying with the controlled figure is difficult, players usually find the game less compelling than it otherwise would be. The passage says the newer technology often gives players figures that create this difficulty. Put the facts together, and the technology can reduce the game's appeal in the particular respect the author describes.
- E
This begins by assuming that a technical feature makes the game less compelling, then tells us something that follows. Reduced appeal is what we're trying to establish. Knowing what would be true if a game were less compelling doesn't prove that difficulty identifying with a figure makes it less compelling. We need the direction supplied by D.
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