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Can Games Address Serious Social Issues?
Thanks to AVault.com for its editorial ruminating on whether games can or should reference the more serious social issues of today. The piece starts by noting: "Only a very few computer offerings have anything resembling any form of probing social critique... In contrast, other entertainment media - including movies, music and books - all address these issues on a regular basis without raising eyebrows." The author concludes by suggesting it's "conceivable that games would reap greater societal acceptance and more legitimacy as a medium for presenting important concerns of our times", although mentioning the worry that "increasing the respectability of gaming might reduce the pleasure of the pastime" if done in the wrong way.
increasing the respectability of gaming might reduce the pleasure of the pastime
There's a simple answer to this: for the people who would be negatively affected by this, simply play less respectable games. Just like not all books printed are respectable, there is something for everyone.
Books have been lucky though. After the awful things that people have done to suppress thought (expressed in book form) books now enjoy a special place in our culture. To burn a book is seen as a very bad thing all over the Western world.
Computer games, in comparison, are relatively new, and don't have the stigma of free speech attached to them so much. Some would argue that they don't qualify as free speech at all. Perhaps enjoyably inappropriate games such as the Grand Theft Auto series might eventually allow games as a whole to enjoy the same protected status as books? Time will tell.
Mostly the games reflect society rather than address serious social issues. The best they can do is poke fun at stupidity ("Backyard Wrestling" for example). But games have already tried in the past.
Games like Ms. Pacman recognize the need to appeal to both genders back in the 80's. Clothing styles of characters also show this. In fact, the abstract games of the 80's showed great creativity and artistic flair of sorts. Today, the rise of the music game is demonstrating the digital age of music and remixing.
Games have tried to tackle serious social issues. Time Traveller and N.A.R.C. (apologetically) had "Winners Don't Use Drugs" messages overtly in them. And more recently, the ratings system with good intentions while paving the road to Hell attempts to match content to the appropriate age group as a guideline.
So it's there, but it's always been a sort of background thing. I believe the nature of games being entertainment, it'll be hard to put a serious message in.
(I also felt there were a lot of big psycho-babble words in the article that made it a little too unreadable.)
1. Game X has done this successfully
2. I play games to escape => this shouldn't be done
3. This is just a whiny, Liberal, politically-correct issue.
As a mature (read: over 30) gamer who has played a lot of games, my general position is that, in the right genre, done correctly, socially-relevant games can showcase some of the best ideas and talent in the medium. I'm not talking about arcade games with the FBI's "stay away from drugs" splashscreen or making the blood in Mortal Combat green for the kids at home.
I *am* talking about some of the most emotionally powerful moments in gaming, such as the child-abuse cutscenes that explain character motivation in The Longest Journey, or the brilliant handling of a variety of social issues in Planescape: Torment (IMHO the best CPRG of all time), or the socially-relevant and mind-blowing puzzles in IF such as Infocom's classic A Mind Forever Voyaging. In games like these, the social commentary was relevant and important to plot and character, and did not distract from the escapism in any way. Moreover, the player does not come away from games of this sort feeling like s/he has been lectured at.
Remember, one of the things that makes novels, films, and, yes, games, great is there ability to engage the viewer/player emotionally. Ultimately, it is the games of this sort that will be remembered in the gaming "canon" as the steps that moved the gaming from a "fad" in the post-Atari '80s to a "fine art" in the future.
It was also very interesting playing that game in 2003. My wife, who hates video games with a passion, was actually interested in the game's plot and actually started studying in my office so she could hear the dialog whenever it happened. This usually led to me pausing the game and discussing politics with her, because often some aspect of the game directly related to current political goings-on.
So, yes, I think that games can address social issues. Games can be used to tell stories. Some of them are interesting and thought-provoking, like Deus Ex. Other games tell entertaining stories, or no story at all. Games are an avenue for expression, just like painting, music, writing, or film. What creators (be they painters, composers, or game designers) chose to do with their medium is entirely up to them. Can they "address serious social concerns?" Sure. Can they be purely for entertainment and fun? Absolutely.