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.

Comments

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

The title of my post was "mod parent down." Modding your post down to -1 doesn't prevent you from exercising your freedom of speech. First of all, Slashdot is a privately run forum. You don't have freedom of speech on Slashdot. Second of all, if your post is dropped to -1, it still exists. You're still allowed your piece. I just believe that you should be punished by a karma hit for your post.

"Games are not considered sacred examples of free speech in the same way that books are. This was the topic of the post that I replied to (hence it's title)."

Yes, this was the premise of your post. You believed that in order to gain a foothold in the protected speech realm, pornographic games had to be released. I refute this idea and I refute the idea that video games are not protected under the freedom of speech. In the U.S. this is the case. In the future, don't reply to my posts. You are merely trying to change your argument after being pointed out as an imbecile.

By the way, why don't you just import some "porn games" from Japan and quit your whining?

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN

[nelsonal]

Better yet, make all the smart -1 ers your friends and apply a +5 mod to friends. Then read the jounal's of your new friends to find other smart types who don't karma whore. That way you get most of the intelegence that get's supressed, but you can avoid the GNAA and what ever has replaced goatse links now.