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The picture above is the cover of the December 1982 cover of PC Magazine:
https://archive.org/details/PC-Mag-1982-12/mode/1up
The December 1982 cover of PC Magazine, showcases the power of images and color to attract a popular audience. Comparing this to other advertisements around the same time, it is clear that the audience of this advertisement is a much more casual group of people. The image is trying to gear people towards buying a PC because it now includes fun games. Now buying a console sounds outlandish when a PC has all the games you would ever want to play. Games are leisure spaces. They were often excluded from representations of PCs as they were used for military of business. This is one of the first advertisements portraying PC gaming.
The concept that the PC is for everyone is a huge part of the advertisement. It is not just for people who will use it to code or for jobs, but to have fun. The advertisement even says “The PC Loves to Play.” The advertisement uses both text and images to evoke feelings in the audience. The color is a particularly attractive part of the advertisement. It highlights everything that someone can do on a PC. From the flying dice to the gambling machines in the back of the image, it attracts people to look at the picture, especially younger people who are more likely to play games. For example, looking at the football player at the front of the image conjures the image of the popular game of fantasy football. That is a game with a largely young male audience. This PC advertisement looks like it wants to attract young people from young ages to those who are older. The colors evoke very playful feelings. It makes the audience want to look at the pictures and analyze everything occurring. It also makes the PC look fun. It adds a new side to the PC that maybe was not known before. “The PC Loves to Play.”
Now, there are various texts in the picture. The ones at the top of the magazine just depict what will be in the magazine, one of them being “How to Write (Or Sell) Computer Games.” This shows that computers were up and coming at this time. Games began to be introduced to computers and people would be able to not only play them but sell them. This makes computers even more attractive to a buyer. “Blackjack Software Goes to Market,” is another particularly enticing text. The publishers and editors who wrote the magazine cover used it to attract a very popular audience. Gambling machines and blackjack are ways to show people how useful computers are. They are not just to work, but to have fun, to enjoy. Everything you do in real life can be done from the comfort of your own home. This idea is one that is very appealing. It is the reason that people buy laptops instead of a P.C. Due to the fact that they are more comfortable. This advertisement highlights that.
In terms of the images, the imagery is very clean. I can clearly see everything and understand why it is placed there. Although it is busy, I do not believe that it is particularly complicated. There are a lot of pictures, but they all go particularly well together to convey this theme of play that is seen throughout the advertisement. The PC is fun! The PC is comfortable! And the “PC Loves to Play.” That is what the images convey to me through their vibrant colors and display of fantastical creatures. The font for the words “Games! Games! Games!” says a lot about what the advertisement is focused on. It is in large, yellow letters, making it the first thing one sees when looking at the magazine. This embodies the theme of “Fun” for the advertisement.
I believe that this advertisement greatly displays play at home. Although the magazine may contain information about office work, the cover page is focused on play. Playing games with dragons, gambling, and sports. The text at the top “What To Tell The Taxman,” “The Federal Reserve Discovers the PC,” and “PC on Campus: A Lab for All Seasons” tell me that the magazine is not just geared towards fun, but rather business.
Zork I is a game advertised in the magazine. It has multiple pages devoted to the description and appeal of the game. It describes the ease, hilarity, and jocose of the game. A PR Newswire by INFOCOM, INC describes this game as “the best-selling entertainment software” in 1988. Due to advertisements like these, which spread and invited people to play the game became famous just 6 years later. In 1985, a similar article was published by Newsweek, written by Bill Barol. There, he speaks about the great success of Zork. How its creation led to new games Zork II and Zork III. The author speaks about the general audience of the game, mostly male teenagers. Not only that, but he spoke about the appeal of INFOCOM. How seductive it was because of the game. How people began to lose sleep. This advertisement inspires male teenagers to do the same.
Works Cited
BILL BAROL. “Zorked Again”. Newsweek. December 23, 1985, UNITED STATES EDITION. https://advance-lexis-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a3SJ4-G190-0008-X3XV-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=QW3CVQ54612.
“INFOCOM, INC. PRESIDENT JOEL BEREZ RESIGNS”. PR Newswire. August 11, 1988, Thursday. https://advance-lexis-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a3SJB-2WK0-000D-B105-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=QW3CVQ54612.
Cultural History of the Internet 