What are your views on putting a political message in video games. Because games like Mario and Monster Hunter obviously don't need to stress this, but do all story driven games need a political message or can they still be an enjoyable story on their own merits?
I think not all games intentionally have a political message in them, but I do feel all creation is reflective of our culture and worldviews - and as such our politics too. That means that every game has those personal reflections in there, and every story has them too.
Some of my favorite games have an enormous amount of politics involved in them. Deus Ex, Bioshock 1, Papers Please, Metal Gear Solid, Braid or Assassins Creed are highly political games that I thoroughly enjoy playing. Honestly, I think a game can be much richer for having a political core, but that core can also be cultural (Farsh), or a relationship (Gone Home), or an elaborate spreadsheet (Starcraft), or mastery (Super Meat Boy).
Personally, I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing games while wondering what the intent of the creators was for the game, or the mechanic, or the level, or the character, or whatever - seeing where they succeeded or failed to do that, or where they diverged or tried to cut corners. Sometimes, you can even tell a little bit about the team dynamics of a production by looking at a rough version of a game. It's a way of looking at games you have to learn if you want to give good feedback to students and other developers, and it's how I enjoy playing them now too.
But when you do that, you suddenly see that there's a bit of politics in every game. Vlambeer games don't feature alcohol because I'm muslim. It's no grand statement, but it surely is a socio-political one. Every game makes a statement about what games are, or could be, or should be. Every creation tells you how the creator views the world, themselves, in some cases how they see social structures or heroism or life or death or politics.
I read this article on Polygon the other day (http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/30/8297515/africa-draft) in which an African developer discussed their thoughts on RPG's - and I thought it was a great quote.
"American RPGs are based on conquest or saving the world for justice or peace," says Meli. "European RPGs, even if they draw upon Greek or Nordic mythologies, are often based on Christian philosophies and focus on prophecies of a chosen one. Japanese RPGs are based on the Hiroshima trauma. The hero tries to avoid a big explosion."
While that is, of course, a simplification - there's a truth there. We tend to base what we make upon what we know, and what we know is colored by what we -and those around us- believe and feel. If I were to argue that games weren't by definition a reflection of our cultural, political and personal beliefs, I wouldn't be comfortable arguing that they are a personal expression.
If games are a creative expression, they are a reflection of their creators as a whole. That includes the political. If the creator wants to make that, all power to them. If they don't, that's awesome too - there'll still be a bit of their political views there in the background noise of creation - but it won't be the focus. That's cool too.
Some of my favorite games have an enormous amount of politics involved in them. Deus Ex, Bioshock 1, Papers Please, Metal Gear Solid, Braid or Assassins Creed are highly political games that I thoroughly enjoy playing. Honestly, I think a game can be much richer for having a political core, but that core can also be cultural (Farsh), or a relationship (Gone Home), or an elaborate spreadsheet (Starcraft), or mastery (Super Meat Boy).
Personally, I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing games while wondering what the intent of the creators was for the game, or the mechanic, or the level, or the character, or whatever - seeing where they succeeded or failed to do that, or where they diverged or tried to cut corners. Sometimes, you can even tell a little bit about the team dynamics of a production by looking at a rough version of a game. It's a way of looking at games you have to learn if you want to give good feedback to students and other developers, and it's how I enjoy playing them now too.
But when you do that, you suddenly see that there's a bit of politics in every game. Vlambeer games don't feature alcohol because I'm muslim. It's no grand statement, but it surely is a socio-political one. Every game makes a statement about what games are, or could be, or should be. Every creation tells you how the creator views the world, themselves, in some cases how they see social structures or heroism or life or death or politics.
I read this article on Polygon the other day (http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/30/8297515/africa-draft) in which an African developer discussed their thoughts on RPG's - and I thought it was a great quote.
"American RPGs are based on conquest or saving the world for justice or peace," says Meli. "European RPGs, even if they draw upon Greek or Nordic mythologies, are often based on Christian philosophies and focus on prophecies of a chosen one. Japanese RPGs are based on the Hiroshima trauma. The hero tries to avoid a big explosion."
While that is, of course, a simplification - there's a truth there. We tend to base what we make upon what we know, and what we know is colored by what we -and those around us- believe and feel. If I were to argue that games weren't by definition a reflection of our cultural, political and personal beliefs, I wouldn't be comfortable arguing that they are a personal expression.
If games are a creative expression, they are a reflection of their creators as a whole. That includes the political. If the creator wants to make that, all power to them. If they don't, that's awesome too - there'll still be a bit of their political views there in the background noise of creation - but it won't be the focus. That's cool too.
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Arjun SIngh Lotay
