Slashdot Mirror
The Politics of the Video Game
illuminata writes "Can the video game industry keep its mittens out of the political slugfest? According to Kevin Parker's article Free Play, they sure can't. In it, he cites Dreamcatcher's Gore and Sega's Legacy Online and Jet Set Radio Future as main offenders. He even goes on to point out how some people want video games to convey their favorite political message in the future. Are there any particular titles or game companies that you think lay on the politics too thick, or is it all just a bunch of foof?"
Is this the one where you invent your own Internet?
The only computer game that makes me think of politics and politicians is Thief. Not because of the gameplay...
Trolling is a art,
The plot really jived with my strong anti-hell demon political stance.
How about the COPS in GTA3? ;)
They seem an accurate portrayal of police in the US, especially now that we have the PATRIOT act. Do you ever see the cops hand you a warrant?
quote
Or was it all just a bunch of foof?"
quote
I thought that was a Pentium bug?http://www.x86.org/errata/dec97/f00fbug.htm
a) The stuff that comes out of your ears when you have a cold.
b) An inane, repetitive joke on /. (see In Soviet Russia...)
c) A totally made up word with no actual meaning.
It is my understanding the NRA sponsored the development of the BFG9000. In fact, without their influence most games today would look like the Sims or Animal Crossing.
t
5 billion people survived the destruction of ALL agricultural plants? What did they eat, the other 5 billion?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I loved Knights of the Old Republic --- I grabbed it as soon as the PC version came out. However, I felt the "Big Evil Corporation" thing was a bit lame; it was like the plot to a Captain Planet episode in a galaxy far, far away. You know, where the evil corporate barons are polluting the environment just for the sake of doing it and being evil? I half expected the kid with "Heart!" and his monkey to show up.
Oh, thank God! I was worried. So, I must have missed the finding of the WMDs. Where did they find them?
God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
Pong is considered a metaphor of modern society's struggle with nuclear waste.
:)
In the game, the waste is represented by a tiny dot with the major political players tossing it back and forth until one slips up, thereby accepting the waste within their district. Defeat comes to the player that proves they are unable to protect their constituants, with 21 being the threshold required to lose re-election.
You didn't really think it was a simple game of table tennis, did you?
This is not my sig.
Mephistopheles and a 7th level Hell Demon(tm), I'd like to protest the knee-jerk Hell Demon bigotry that panders to the lowest common denominator here on /.. Considering how many of you will eventually be residing here because of your AD&D, pr0n, and video game usage, I'd think you'd want to be on better terms with your eventual overlords.
Then they came for the hell demons...
I'd always heard it as:
Power corrupts.
Absolute power....is actually kind of fun once you get used to it.
...America's Army: Operations is little more than a thinly veiled recruiting tool for the U.S. Army.
True, but it doesn't always work for them. Just look at that OTHER DoD game, America's Navy: Paint Chipper/Latrine Scrubber.
>But to be fair, they do let you randomly drop nukes on people.
:-)
And thank you Sid Meier for that! Playing on low difficulty and then nuking their knights and catapults is always good for a quick power trip.
Most political game ever is Civilization III! I always play as the Communists...
Sim City also teaches that trains are better than cars (agree), nuclear reactors will eventually melt down (disagree), and that Godzilla will smash your city (undecided).
There's also something in the premise of the game that's unavoidable -- the assumption that a planning body should dictate the zoning of the land.
-Dave
I heard they wanted to release America's Air National Guard: Missing Inaction, but Karl Rove nixed the idea.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
so why can't the gamining industry get up the politicians butt??
Too crowded.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
NARC had a plot?! Come on. Narc had about as much of a plot as Final Fight or Double Dragon. That's not to say that NARC didn't have an anti-drug message, but I don't think it was preachy so much as ridiculous. I mean did anyone really think that there were junkies running around the streets throwing giant glowing hypodermics at people?
I have it on good authority that Frogger is set in the year 2012, by which time almost all trucking, driving and piloting jobs had been replaced by more productive robotic systems. :)
--
Power to the Peaceful
and the hell demon community. When someone dares to say anything negative, or heaven for bid, Shoots a hell demon, you guys get all up in arms, indignant about the shabby treatment you get.
But where are you when your demonic hordes are defiling bleak hungarian villages? Where's your statement urging restraint from fellow demons?
I haven't seen such hypocricy since the great zombie protest on the Washington mall in 97, and we all know how that ended.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
In a contest between Cthulhu and Bush Jr, old Mr Tentacle Face is the lesser evil. They both want to subjugate humanity and destroy the planet, but at least one of them has the decency to be HONEST about it.