Argument 55 范文

tesolchina_RAUID: 3675555

Argument 55
Arg 55sales of video games will increase

The following appeared in an editorial in a business magazine.

"Although the sales of Whirlwind video games have declined over the past two years, a recent survey of video-game players suggests that this sales trend is about to be reversed. The survey asked video-game players what features they thought were most important in a video game. According to the survey, players prefer games that provide lifelike graphics, which require the most up-to-date computers. Whirlwind has just introduced several such games with an extensive advertising campaign directed at people ten to twenty-five years old, the age-group most likely to play video games. It follows, then, that the sales of Whirlwind video games are likely to increase dramatically in the next few months.

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.


G1: Although the sales of Whirlwind video games have declined over the past two years,

C1: a recent survey of video-game players suggests that this sales trend is about to be reversed.

G2: The survey asked video-game players what features they thought were most important in a video game. According to the survey, players prefer games that provide lifelike graphics, which require the most up-to-date computers.

G3: Whirlwind has just introduced several such games with an extensive advertising campaign directed at people ten to twenty-five years old, the age-group most likely to play video games.

C2: It follows, then, that the sales of Whirlwind video games are likely to increase dramatically in the next few months.


A1 ( G2, C1):the excitement of lifelike graphics is the most influential and decisive factor when the consumers make decisions about which games to choose.

A2 (G2, C1 ):WW products are competitive in other areas

A3 (G3):the game users have access to the required hardware or are willing to buy the hardware just for the game


According to this editorial, the sales of WW video games are about to increase due to the recent introduction of lifelike graphics to its products and its rigorous marketing campaign targeted to active game players. A number of assumptions have been made implicitly in this prediction which need to be examined critically to assess the soundness of the argument.

To begin with, it is assumed that the excitement of lifelike graphics is the most influential and decisive factor when the consumers make decisions about which games to choose. While it is reasonable to believe that lifelike graphics would enhance the user experiences of the games, further investigation about user preference is needed before we know how important this factor is relative to a host of other factors that make affect the sales of the game, e.g. the storylines, the characters and the interface. If it turns out that the quality of the graphics does not carry significant weight in the decision-making process, the prediction may not be accurate.

Moreover, it is also assumed that WW products are competitive in other areas which I have briefly mentioned above when compared to major rival products. For a video game to succeed in the market, it has to offer arresting storylines, attractive characters and extraordinary user interface. If the WWW video game is as good as its rivals in all these areas and superior in graphics, its sales may stand out. Otherwise, the prediction may not hold true.

Since the WW video game requires most advanced hardware to display its lifelike graphics, an important question that remains unanswered is whether the game users have access to the required hardware or are willing to buy the hardware just for the game. Obviously the game is no good if the users do not have the hardware needed. So here we have to check the assumption about the availability of the advanced computers among the users.

With regard to the rigorous advertising campaign, it is assumed that the campaign will be effective in promoting the sales of the new game. However, given the diverse age groups (10-25) being targeted, it is natural to raise doubt about how appealing the campaign would be to the entire group. Obviously, a ten-year-old child and a 25-year-old young man would have different preferences in advertising. In addition, the advertising campaign will cost considerable amount of financial resources, which will increase the price of the product, another factor influencing the sales. So it is important to assess the cost-effectiveness of the advertising campaigns.

Finally, we do not know if the targeted group at the ages of 10-25 can actually afford the new games. Even if the teenage consumers find the product attractive, they still need to persuade their parents to buy it for them or use their skimpy pocket money. For consumers in their early 20s, most of them just start working and may not have much spare money for a new video game.

Overall speaking, the editorial author has made a number of assumptions about the relative importance of graphics, the overall quality of the game, the availability of hardware, the effectiveness of the advertising campaign and the purchasing power of the target consumers when making the prediction. If any of the assumptions do not hold true, the prediction about the sales is unlikely to be correct.



Argument范文与提纲目录(tesolchina)
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-2030117-1-1.html

vesuppiUID: 3826822

最明显的论点是设备需求那个，另外的论点我会这么论：

The survey asked video-game players what features they thought were most important in a video game. According to the survey, players prefer games that provide lifelike graphics
文章偷换了问卷的结果，只是说玩家倾向xxx的游戏，而并没有指明玩家最看重的因素是什么；于是我们可以推测该公司的游戏虽然具备lifelike的特性，但是在玩家最重视的指标上做的不行，譬如范文中所说的storyline，可操作性等

directed at people ten to twenty-five years old, the age-group most likely to play video games
这个和范文想法一样

the sales of Whirlwind video games are likely to increase dramatically in the next few months.
即使宣传达到了效果，销量是否在接下来几个月就会迅速飙升？
- 有可能学期刚好开始，10-25正好都是学生，可能到了暑假才会去购买
- 可能还需要存一段时间的钱才能去买