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Campaign-Themed Video Games?
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.
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)
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
Electronic campaigning isn't exactly a new world for Mr. Ventura. Just see How Jesse Ventura Used the Internet to Win the Election. He certainly went beyond banner ads, folks. I guess his 'innovation' (I hate how that word has become so tired) has brought him into a new frontier of campaigning.
I really like Jesse Ventura. He shakes up things! And he usually has a good point of view. For instance, pointing out that he's disappointed in Bush because "Bush wants to control everything from Washington, never mind what the states think, or have voted for, twice; he said he was for federalism, but apparently he's not" (paraphrase) in reference to recent medical-marijuana and assisted-suicide laws.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
"Gov. Jesse Ventura has come up with a 'great' way to get his campaign message..."
"In the meantime, the video game idea is still in its talking stages, and Ventura hasn't yet been approached with the suggestion."
Shouldn't that say "...Ventura's campaign committee..."?
Just a clarification...
Jeremy Baumgartner
This can become a great example for the next time games are challenged in court. Political speach is at the very core of what the 1st Amendment is intended to protect. By censoring or banning games courts would now be placing prior restraint on political speach.
SlashDot writes "Too bad video games are not protected speech". Please don't put out negative, pessimistic vibes like that when it is way too premature, lest by propagating them they become true!
Video games ARE protected speech. Just because a single judge two days ago makes an unsupportable ruling like that is not sufficient to make it so. That is not enough to be settled law! It applies only in that small jurisdiction (St. Louis) until it is overturned on appeal, and then it won't apply anywhere in the US! It may be true that governments can place restrictions on minors access to certain forms of video games, but they also do so on books, magazines, and films without denying that those are protected forms of free speech. One judge saying so does not make it so.
So, project a positive strong attitude when it comes to our inherent rights, and don't let negative thinking undermine all the good work on rights you do here Slashdot!
The game of Go (Igo, Weiqi, Baduk) has the simplest concept and the deepest play.
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
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 |
Judge rules games offer no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech