05-08-2009, 04:56 PM
Quote:I think the intention to deliver involving gameplay/plot by introducing higher minded elements is fine, but I have a real problem with games that take themselves too seriously. Yes, books and movies have conveyed messages to the masses, and maybe video games are the 21st century method of diseminating political or social commentary, but I'm not buying into it yet. If you have a story to tell (a, singular), do it in a book or a movie where I don't have the illusion of cotrol. If you make a game, don't make me the lead character of your morality play, I don't play games to think (at least not too hard).I'm not sure I quite understand this perspective. Are you arguing that it's not really possible to use games as an interesting medium for transmitting political ideas? Because that's an idea as old as the hills, or at least as old as Monopoly.
Some people don't watch movies to think, either. Same with books. But that doesn't mean that the genre isn't/couldn't/shouldn't be used for that, at least by those who feel they can express themselves that way. If you're really not into games that go down that road, then obviously there is no requirement that you play those games.
Games have a power that movies, plays and novels do not: they put the player into an engaged perspective, often a first-person perspective. This can be used for interesting and powerful effects that can make people think through their assumptions in ways they would not otherwise do with more 'passive' media, because they have to directly engage with their choices, even if its only a fiction.
-Jester