Can Plain Language Effectively Stand Alone?

By Peter Hliqaim

Society has an obligation to write in a manner so that the complexities of writing can be understood without hard analysis followed by long hours of frustration. Plain style is straight forward, clear, and when used correctly, can be very effective. It is a tool for reaching a range of audiences and providing easily understood information. The use of strategies such as metabasis, exemplum, and active voice can make writings straight forward yet still interesting and keeps the reader intrigued when used effectively. Though some pieces can appear written in the official style, it may not necessarily be considered official style by merely adopting formatting styles and using complex words.

Imagine Games Network (IGN) is a media outlet for gaming news, reviews, and walkthroughs; This professional platform influences IGN writers to pull from the official style format, but that is as far as it goes. Dan Stapleton, IGN’s Executive Editor of Reviews is a 18 year gaming journalist veteran and is in charge of the gaming reviews that are published through IGN. His expertise as a journalist influences the many writers at IGN such as Mitchell Saltzman, the author of the article Elden Ring Review to write in similar taste. The article only uses official style strategies such as prepositional phrases to appear professional, but in reality, is straightforward and uses more plain text strategies to convey the message, “To set the stage, all you know from the outset is that you play as a “Tarnished” of no renown, blessed by grace, and are compelled to make the journey to The Lands Between and become an Elden Lord” (Saltzman, 2022). The structure isn’t complex and Saltzman sticks to the idea of explaining who the Tarnished is. This is one way to mask plain style in a way that is higher level writing, and not incorporating too many different ideas in a sentence. Plain text can be at times uninteresting and dry, but Saltzman is able keep readers engaged through writing in the active voice and relating his experience to the readers.   

Saltzman begins with a first-person approach to give the audience an understanding that this is his experience, and this is his opinion:

In the 87 hours that it took me to beat Elden Ring, I was put through an absolute wringer of emotion: Anger as I was beaten down by its toughest challenges, exhilaration when I finally overcame them, and a fair amount of sorrow for the mountains of exp I lost along the way to some of the toughest boss encounters FromSoftware has ever conceived.

There is no “they” because this is a personal level Saltzman is trying to relate with the reader. When reviewing a game for the public, point of view matters because the audience wants to learn what the good and the bad is directly from the person, someone to relate to. If what Saltzman experienced is relatable by writing in the first-person view, we as an audience are more likely to feel a connection because there is an attempt to connect with the audience rather than just spewing information for us to absorb. Saltzman does a good job staying in the first-person and tells his story well to the audience. In this way we get a better understanding of what he went through and what we can expect or have already similarly experienced. To further increase the readability of Elden Ring Review, Saltzman makes it easy to follow each new idea introduced.

Saltzman makes it a point to make sure his audience understands what is to come next from one  idea to the next by using a plain text strategy known as metabasis. This helps the reader follow the article more easily and helps them understand what to expect, “you can equip Ashes of War to your weapons and completely change their affinity and skill…The Ashes of War system essentially combines two elements of prior Souls games – weapon affinities and weapon skills – by making them items that you can freely equip to your armaments” (Saltzman, 2022). All of his ideas transition smoothly, helping readers have an easier time understanding his thought process and explanations. This leads into the next strategy that is used in every new idea, and that is exemplum. Saltzman makes the effort to explain every idea as if the reader has no prior knowledge. This helps in the reader’s understanding of concepts they are not familiar with yet, “‘Freedom’ is the word that every aspect of Elden Ring’s design connects back to. From the moment you set foot in Limgrave, the first of many interconnected regions of The Lands Between, you are completely free to go wherever you want” (Saltzman, 2022). He introduces the idea of freedom in Elden Ring and then proceeds to explain why that is the case. Saltzman continues this strategy when explaining systems in the game regarding weapons, skills, and so on. Normally, these plain strategies would be very uninteresting as it tends to be too straightforward and dry, but Saltzman has achieved a good balance in his article by also pulling from creative strategies as well.

Possessing the skill to effectively blend different styles into an individual's writing makes a big difference when deciding your audience and what type of writing you want to achieve. Official style and plain styles can be dry and uninteresting, but Saltzman is able to pull from creative styles by using elements of hyperboles and creative word choice. In this instance, Saltzman exaggerates his time in Elden Ring to describe to the reader how he felt after his long 87 hour playthrough, “Even after 87 hours of blood, sweat, and tears that included some of the most challenging fights I’ve ever fought, and innumerable surprises, there are still bosses that I left on the table…” (Saltzman, 2022). Besides the sweat and tears, blood is definitely an exaggeration on Saltzman's part, as well as choosing to say “innumerable” to explain the many secrets found in Elden Ring. Saltzman uses strategies such as the ones mentioned above to effectively deliver his message and it proves to be an intriguing read throughout.

Plain style strategies shine best when paired with other writing strategies such as official and creative. It’s not a standalone strategy that works well on its own unless the text is strictly informative to the point of simplification for the audience's understanding. There are many things that plain strategies can do well even if at times it can be too vague. By blending different effective writing strategies, plain style can be made to shine well in any given situation.