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Are Browser Games Filling the Same Role As Political Cartoons?

Posted by Soulskill on from the pointing-out-our-leaders'-flaws-with-flash dept.

Amazon's Game Room Blog is running a piece asking whether modern browser games are coming to occupy the same purpose as political cartoons. The article was inspired by the variety of shoe-tossing games that sprung up after President Bush's recent run-in with an irate Iraqi journalist, as well as the games satirizing aspects of the presidential campaign and candidates. Quoting: "The games are certainly no works of art, but they were not designed to be awe inspiring. They were instead designed to capture the moment, and immortalize it from a particular point of view that people in this particular time can appreciate, or at least recognize. ... just like the satirical editorial comics of our own past, these snippets of code will offer a window into the past, and the individually conceived past moments that it consists of."

3 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Unnecessarily specific by Jugalator · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Doh. Not the same role as political cartoons in particular. This is called political satire. Yes, cartoons, web games, caricatures, it's all part of it. Why the comparison to cartoons in specific? Watch the big picture, please.

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    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  2. Not art? by subreality · · Score: 3, Insightful

    no works of art ... instead designed to capture the moment, and immortalize it from a particular point of view that people in this particular time can appreciate, or at least recognize.

    Perhaps it's not beautiful or refined, but I'd say that's art, almost by definition.

  3. Stuff like SockAndAwe? by Gopal.V · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Political satire has always found enough outlets. The web is just the modern equivalent of a guy with a basement mimeograph churning out pictures of politicians with their heads up their parties. And lowering the barrier to entry and the increasing the exposure/audience just adds up in a way that the baby boomers aren't used to (IMHO). Yeah, web is basically a complex with a mansion upfront, a huge backyard & enough fences to slow down the more agile.

    On a related note, I keep occasionally hitting Sock & Awe, just for kicks. Ironic that nobody jumped in front of the shoe.

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    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur