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Campaign-Themed Video Games?

Posted by timothy on from the bread-circuses-joysticks dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Gov. Jesse Ventura has come up with a 'great' way to get his campaign message to the younger demographics. 'The Ventura game -- or collection of games -- would be entertaining, 100-percent political and distributed free to voters as campaign literature, he says.' Wow, I can't wait, I haven't been this excited since Avoid the Noid from Dominos Pizza came out." Too bad video games aren't considered protected speech.

6 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Advertising in Video Games by Gizzmonic · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Avoid the Noid was hardly the most notorious fast-food marketing game on the NES. Let us not forget McKids, where you had to win Ronald McDonald's "magic bag" back from the Hamburglar, all the while collecting "golden arches" to gain extra lives. And yet, both games were pretty good as I remember.

    Nowadays, we have games that advertise for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson, boy bands, Britney Spears, etc. I think using video games in politics is actually a step up?

    PS: Does anyone know if Jesse Ventura is in the PS2 game "Legends of Wrestling"? This might mark his second video-game appearance...

    --
    (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
  2. Can a Video game be a Satire? by PhatKat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    After hearing about this new Britney Spears video game, I have become consumed with the idea of Video Game Satires. If one were to make a video game where, say, the objective is to traverse through America as Britney Spears, selling addictive pink bubble gum to urban teens, could I use her likeness without her permission?

    -- PK

  3. How's Ventura doing? by Galvatron · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Now, of course I know that this is going to be a controversial question, but are there any Minnesota residents who want to comment on Gov. Jesse Ventura's performace? Obviously he was all over the news when he got elected, and whenever he said something offensive, but I haven't heard very much about his actual performance in office, so I'm curious what people think of him.

    Anyway, to get back on topic, computers are definately great campaign tools. The amount of information that could be conveyed through handing out cd-roms (think aol) is enormous. I'm not sure games are the right way to go though; it's tough to make a fun game. It's harder to make a fun, educational game. It's damn near impossible to make a fun, educational game in the kind of time the programmers are likely to have before the election. A lame game seems likely to do a lot more harm than a fun game would do good.

    --
    "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
    1. Re:How's Ventura doing? by ghastard · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As a student in the Minneapolis Public School system, I think I'll comment on Jesse's performance.

      So far, he's ruined the education system. Minnesota used to be one of the leading states in academic performance, but apparently Jesse doesn't realize a good education requires money. A year or two ago he stated, and I quote "education is a black hole for money". Of course, after saying this, the state education budget was slashed. In the past year, I have seen average classroom sizes go from 20 to 30, numerous school closings, as well as drastic layoffs of faculty. Charter schools are losing funding, extracurricular activities are being cut, and the Osseo district was going to change the school week to four days instead of five (I think they've decided not to do this, but fire some teachers instead).

      Jesse, like President Bush, loves tax cuts and rebates. The two also don't realize that to cut taxes and give out rebates, you need money. Minnesota is now facing a giant budget shortfall in the upcoming year.

      Everyone was excited when Jesse was elected. We recieved attention from around the world. People had high hopes for him, but somehow he never delivered on them. He has made a mockery of our election system, and the governor's job itself.

      I'm sorry for going off into a rant, but it's very frustrating having him mess so much up. Everyone in the nation paid attention to him at first, but now apparently, people don't realize he was a big mistake (no pun intended).

  4. This could actually be good (in theory). by jcsehak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Image a Warcraft-like game where the resources (oil, forests) are modeled after their real-life counterparts. You'd gain a whole new perspective on drilling for oil in the middle east, africa, or alaska. You could use the buildings and vehicles to explain concepts about how our government works.

    If he used the game to educate people about the issues, then made analogies to the game to explain his stance on them, it would be a great way to get people more involved in elections. Granted, it'll probably be more like the fast-food games mentioned in other posts, and from the article, it seems like it'll be more like a collection of mpgs than a game, but don't knock it just yet.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:This could actually be good (in theory). by ShadowDrgn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Image a Warcraft-like game where the resources (oil, forests) are modeled after their real-life counterparts. You'd gain a whole new perspective on drilling for oil in the middle east, africa, or alaska.

      Except that in Warcraft-like games, there's never a disadvantage to deforestation and strip mining. The way to win is to take as many resources as fast as you can and deny your opponent access to them. You'd gain a whole new perspective indeed.