Self-study
A computer game publisher has recently released its latest adventure game. ███ ██████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████ █ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████████████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████████
Summary
The sales of a new game will soon exceed expectations. Why? Everyone who plays it wants to finish it, renters who purchase the game get a rebate equal to one full rental, and rentals currently exceed expectations.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes the game cannot be completed within the rental period. Imagine if players could finish the game during the two-day rental—renting is cheaper, so there would be no reason to purchase it. Instead, the author believes that players will rent the game, want to finish it but be unable to during the rental period, then go on to purchase the game.
The author also assumes it is cheaper to finish the game by purchasing it outright instead of renting it multiple times.
13.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███████████
a
The game can ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████████
Irrelevant. Even if the game can also be bought from the publisher, that doesn’t change the current sales figures or imply an increase in sales later on.
b
It takes several █████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████
This strengthens our argument by establishing that players can’t just rent the game, finish it during the rental period, and never play it again. If players want to finish the game—and the premises tell us they do—it’ll be much cheaper for them to buy it outright instead.
c
The publisher's games ███ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████
Irrelevant. We don’t care about how popular the game is currently. We instead need to prove that it will soon sell even more copies.
d
Most people who ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████████
Irrelevant. We want to prove that those who rent the game will soon purchase it. (D) instead talks about what happens after players complete the game, which does not affect the argument.
e
Some people buy ███ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █ ███████
(E) weakens the argument. If people are giving away the game to their friends after completing it, then their friends would have no reason to purchase their own copies, reducing sales.