The affairs of men: Politics in games

_{[ImmortalWaster takes a look at games that use politics in an interesting way. Should politics have a place in games, and if so, how can they be enlightening without being totally obnoxious? Want to see your own writing on the front page? Write something awesome and put it in the C Blogs. -- Kauza]}

There's no getting around it. Politics manages to seep into almost every aspect of our lives, whether we welcome it or not. Art, philosophy, warfare; they've all been used to promote one political ideology or another. Turn on your TV and it won't take you long to find a political discussion, or even politics in action. Go to the pub with your mates and there's a good chance someone will start a dialogue pertaining to it. Online, the political pundits are out in force, on blogs, on youtube channels and in dedicated websites and I can't remember the last time I visited a forum without seeing at least one political debate. 

So it's hardly surprising that it's present in our beloved hobby, gaming. Why shouldn't it be? If authors, artists and musicians can use their work as a platform to promote, criticise or simply discuss the subject, why should games be any different? However, games are still trying to find their feet as a serious medium. Literature, art and music have all been part of human culture for as long as we have recorded our exploits. While individuals working in these spheres may have no grasp of the concepts they are trying to express, the mediums they work in have seen thousands of years of evolution which offers them a more solid base to spout their rhetoric or inspire discourse. 

That does not mean that game developers should not attempt to do the same, nor does it mean they can't be just as, or indeed, more successful. Games are interactive though and this creates completely new problems for the politically motivated developer. But it also creates new and exciting opportunities for them, as the player is taking part in the world they created, it isn't a passive experience and I think that opens new avenues for expression. 

Republic: The Revolution was one of the first games I played where I knew I was interacting with a political game. It was right at the games core, it was a political simulator. Set in the fictional ex-Soviet nation of Novistrana, the player takes the role of a man determined to fight the nation's “President-For-Life” by adopting a plethora of tactics: from simple grass roots political stuff like rallies, leafleting and protests, to more insidious measures like slander, election rigging, vandalism and assault. The media, the orthodox church and organised crime are all at your disposal as you attempt to rise to the top and overthrow the nation's dictator. 

The game was flawed and had some serious pacing issues, but it was unique and ambitious. While it obviously denounced tyranny and communism, your own party could be just as bad as the totalitarian bastard you are trying to oust. Even if you choose to play as a more peaceful, democratic leader, you were going to end up using less than savoury tactics a lot of the time. The developers tried to recreate the desperate situation of a nation in political turmoil and I frequently made difficult decisions which I justified with “the ends justify the means”, a statement I personally loathe in reality. While I wouldn't say the game influenced my political beliefs at all, it did highlight how pragmatism can come out of perceived necessity, and there is no single perfect political ideology that works in every single situation. 



Politics in gaming is far from restricted to political simulators, though. Bioshock is probably one of the best known games in recent years to tackle political ideologies, though from a much more philosophical and critical stand point than a game like Republic. It was a lot more focused as well, with the player being slowly introduced to the objectivist dystopia of Rapture. The player is a silent witness to all the worst elements of an absolute philosophy, while the obsessed ruler of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, explains what he hoped to achieve with his social experiment, his utopia, as he saw it. 

But there is no middle ground in the game, it's an entirely subjective experience. Rapture failed, Ryan was a mad dictator, the rich prospered while the poor were powerless and the player traverses a ruined city haunted by psychopaths. The game's creative director, Ken Levine, has given several detailed interviews on the subject of how he tackled objectivism and what he wanted to explore by using this ideology as one of the core aspects of the game. At face value the game might appear to be a rather long criticism of objectivism, in reality Levine was more interested in it's creator, Ayn Rand and the notion of absolutes and black and white morality. He wanted to take pure philosophy and apply it to a real person, a flawed individual; like Andrew Ryan. While I personally disagree with his analysis of Rand and believe that he left no room for the player to come to their own conclusions I still think that he tackled the subject with a maturity that I rarely see in games that attempt to portray philosophies or ideologies. 

I believe Bioshock's largest problem, in terms of how it deals with objectivism, is that without understanding where Levine was coming from, the player is led down a straight path to the conclusion that objectivism is bad. But that's not what Levine was trying to say at all (nor was he saying it was good, either). In the end the game could have been about any number of ideologies, the danger that Andrew Ryan personifies is not objectivism, rather it is extremism and absolutism. But that isn't necessarily clear from playing the game alone. That said, I do think it's a flawed ideology, but I don't think the game encourages players to find out why, other than how it destroyed a fictional, underwater city in a popular video game. 



While Republic is a broad simulator, letting players experiment with different ideologies and Bioshock is an exploration of absolutism and a specific ideology; my final example takes a different route. Fate of the World is a political and environmental simulator. It focuses on the theorised effects of global warning in the future. The player essentially acts like a globally funded dictator, although dictator sounds a bit dangerous so you're actually the CEO of an imaginatively titled Global Environmental Organisation. While that sounds a little more friendly the reality is you act as the sole decision maker for the direction of whatever nation you happen to be controlling during the scenario. 

However, while it definitely feels like you are playing a dictator, it's a liberal one whose goal is to “save the world” rather than simply amassing power. The majority of the policies which you will research and enact are things like improving drinking water, saving endangered species, creating a solid education system, bringing in your own foreign private army... wait, what? Ok, so you aren't going to be fielding an army and conquering the nations you are meant to be helping, but amidst all the positive actions you can take there are more insidious or aggressive actions you can take, such as black ops missions for instance. 

Once again it comes down to “the ends justify the means”, you are, of course, trying to save the planet. But at the same time you are the CEO of an environmental organisation, it seems like shady actions like that ought not to be in your mandate. While you can go about acting like a dictator, though a generally benevolent one, there is still a major different between your role and that of a real de facto leader, you are still at the mercy of public opinion and the media. You can fail the scenarios if you don't please the citizens of the nation you are trying to help. But at the same time, as long as you manage to keep a countries HDI (Human Development Index) up, or fulfill whatever goal you were given at the start of the scenario, it's all good, even if you are a bit of a cunt. 

Red Redemption, the developers, clearly have strong views when it comes to global warning and international governing bodies. They use a hell of a lot of research to back up how they think the future will play out and what is needed to fix the mess they believe we have got ourselves in. Although it's great to see game developers taking advantage of academia and research to make their game more realistic and challenging, they clearly selected their research just like politicians do. By choosing the research that backs up what they already believe. It means that people who already agree with the hypothesis will probably find a lot to like about the game, those who don't might find the game a tad preachy and the actions you are encouraged to take, morally questionable. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, it's good to be taken out of one's comfort zone on occasion. Fate of the World is a great way to explore these ideologies and academic theories, even if you don't agree with them. 



These three games in no way represent the entirety of politics in games, they are merely three examples I have played which all have different goals. They show the various ways developers can get their opinions out there, or simply encourage people to actively think about politics. While they are all flawed, they are still incredibly interesting and diverse. I believe that they show that games are just as valid platforms for political exploration as any other art form. Their interactivity puts you in the shoes of a politician or someone being effected by political fallout, you're not simply hearing about someone's views, you are experiencing them first-hand. 

There is a whole plethora of games either dedicated to, or involving politics. Sid Meirs Alpha Centauri, Galactic Civilizations, Tropico, Masters of Orion; and to a lesser extent games like Baldurs Gate II, Dragon Age II and Red Dead Redemption all contain political views that have a significant impact on the game and the characters you interact with.

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Gears of War 3 Teaser Trailer Released

Microsoft and Epic Games have released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Gears of War 3. Don’t expect to get too much out of the first Gears of War...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.videogamesloop.com/gears-of-war-3-teaser-trailer-released

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The top ten ends-of-the-world in videogames

According to a man in a place, the world as we know it is going to end today. Good little Christian boys like me are waiting to go to Heaven, while you rotten sinners are going to stay behind and get roasted over a hot fire by Jeffery Dahmer and Ike Turner. 

You'll need something to read while the Four Horsemen cut your families to ribbons, corruption spreads throughout the realm of man, and all those cute little animals starve to death for the crime of being designed to not have a soul. 

Why not read this? It's the best Armageddon scenarios in videogames. Topical, fun, and videogame related. See? Getting your balls chewed off by Cerberus isn't so bad now, is it?

Darksiders

Just because the Rapture is rooted in nerdy Christianity, that doesn't mean it can't be badass. Darksiders proves this, by creating a modernized version of the Rapture legend. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are now musclebound grimdark warriors hellbent on ripping the wings off giant bats, smashing zombies apart, and swinging around swords that are taller than they are. 

Darksiders was an excellent game with a fantastic aesthetic, courtesy of comic book artist Joe Mad. Incredibly spiky, snarling, turbo-cool demons faced off against gold-armored, gun-toting angels. Only an idiot would be sad about the Rapture if it kicked that much ass. 

Fallout

In Fallout, the end of the world was brought about by a nuclear attack after decades of war over natural resources. America and China got embroiled in a conflict, Canada got annexed, and people still listened to fifties crooners -- by far the most horrifying aspect of Fallout's apocalyptic scenario. 

In the post-nuke world of Fallout, we have giant scorpions, violent mutants, and renegade robots to deal with. Not only that, but a dark sense of humor permeates the entire series, proving that you can still have a fun after civilization has been decimated and 99% of the planet's water supply is irradiated. 

The other trade-off is that we each get a PIPBoy, which is like an iPhone but cooler. That's definitely worth nuclear devastation. 

Majora's Mask

Who would have thought that a charming Nintendo game could bring with it one of the most nightmarish apocalypse scenarios in all of interactive entertainment? Majora's Mask is the dark follow-up to Ocarina of Time, set in a world where the Moon is destined to crash into the planet within three days. And just to make things worse, the Moon has a face. A horrible, leering, demonic face that will rule your nightmares and kill your dreams. 

I know people who won't play Majora's Mask because of that damn Moon. Can you imagine if the Earth's Moon looked like that? We wouldn't have a civilization right now. Those of us who hadn't killed ourselves before we were five-years-old would be insane from the paranoia of having that ... thing ... looking into our windows are night, watching us sleep, eat and have sex. It'd be the Hitler of Moons, and we'd all be its bitch. 

But anyway, if you don't stop the Moon hitting Clock Town in Majora's Mask, it does exactly as promised. Its grinning, terrifying visage inexorably crushes everything below at an excruciating pace. Imagine having the Moon slowly bearing down on you, knowing you cannot run, but knowing it'll be at least five minutes before you actually get squashed, and there's nothing you can do about. And the last thing you see is that ... face ... that terrible, terrible face. 

Sim City

Being the victim of an apocalypse isn't always fun. Being the cause of one, however, is never anything but awesome. Sim City lets you be the author of your own world's destruction -- and let's face it, that's what we all played Sim City for!

While you can be a benevolent deity and build a Utopian world where everybody lives in peace, it's much more fun to create your own end times, and Sim City lets you do that in a variety of malevolent ways. Earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns, meteors, aliens and monsters -- you've got a treasure chest of classic world-enders to make your dream of humanity's termination come to life. 

It's always better to give than to receive. 

Chrono Trigger

Classic Square RPG Chrono Trigger had its own end-times scenario -- as nearly every Square RPG used to have. The Day of Lavos is the day in which an eponymous volcano rises from the planet's crust and erupts, bathing the world in molten death and destroying all human life. It's prophecies to appear in 1999 at 1:24 on an unspecified date. 

Of course, that was 1999, and it's now the year 2011, so it never happened despite all the prophecies. It's said that the nutjob who predicted this particular apocalypse did some impressive backpeddling on his radio show the following Monday. 

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

When one thinks of the end of the world, one typically imagines darkness, dreariness, and general misery. The post apocalyptic world of Enslaved bucks trends, however, by presenting a world where nature has taken over after most of humanity's been destroyed. Yes, there are murderous robots who are out to enslave or kill anything left alive but ... but look at all the green!

Blue skies, lush forests, and pretty flowers dominate the landscape, seeming to hint that the decimation of humanity was actually pretty good for the planet as a whole. Pollution is down and trees are up. It might be a lose for us, but it's a win for the people who made Fern Gully. 

Primal Rage

Primal Rage is set on a planet Earth that was hit by a devastating meteor strike. Civilization has crumbled, technology no longer exists, and the remaining humans have become tribal morons, barely above the status of cavemen. Oh, and giant monkeys punch dinosaurs in the face. 

Wait, what!?

This fighting game's personal take on the end of the world sees bipedal snakes, fire-breathing dinosaurs and farting primates battle for dominance, with humans being little more than snack food for their oversized animal Gods. If that's not one of the greatest ends of the world in videogames, I don't know what is!

Apocalypse

With a name like Apocalypse, this PlayStation One shooter's inclusion was pretty much assured. It provides a classic end-time scenario, too -- plenty of gun, heaps of rock music, and Bruce Willis saying "Suck on this!" over and over again. God damn I loved the nineties!

A mad scientist established a theocracy and artificially manufactured his own Horsemen of the Apocalypse in order to bring about the Rapture. Willis steps up to the plate as the brilliantly named Trey Kincaid, ready to take on the legions of the damned. Oh, and when you beat the game, you turn into a demon for no reason. 

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

Fragile Dreams is my favorite game that I don't really like. A very odd case of bad gameplay being covered up with a genuinely heart-tugging narrative and engaging atmosphere, there's so much that this game does wrong, and yet so much it does right. It's definitely one of the strangest games this generation, and one worth checking out if you're the very forgiving type. 

In any case, the post-apocalyptic world of this Japanese adventure game is mysterious, evocative, and more than a little sad. Weird characters such as chicken-headed merchants and sexually ambiguous androids populate the world, and a pervasive theme of extreme loneliness colors every event. It's a truly beautiful world, and thoroughly depressing to boot. 

I love this game, even though I don't like it, and it's all thanks to the wonderful apocalypse that it paints. 

Left Behind: Eternal Forces

Oh shut up, you knew this one was coming, as obvious and trite as it is. 

For those not in the know, the Left Behind franchise is a controversial series of books, movies, albums and games written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, two men who spend their lives thinking about their deaths, typical of certain Christians who are obsessed with the Book of Revelation and wish that the world would end because apparently it's so just so horrible here. LaHaye is also a noted homophobe, who believes gay people are "militant" and "vile." Charming. 

Left Behind: Eternal Forces is based on the Biblical notion of the end-times, as players join the Tribulation Force, a Christian organization who apparently didn't go to Heaven when the Rapture came. Players have to battle the Antichrist and convert sinners ... or kill them. With stereotypical views of ethnic groups and a gender-based class system deemed misogynistic by some reviewers, it's hardly surprising that the game sells quite well in Texas. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get my suit pressed. Don't want to look scruffy when the Big G comes for me.

While I'm getting ready you can check out Flixist's post on the worst apocalypse films from modern times and Japantor's on their friend world endings.

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Daily Interweb Mash-up: 5/21/2011: Graphic
Adventures, Flash CS5.5, & Hype

Sorry, we missed a couple days there, but we had some special reports.  Let’s get back to the news, shall we?The Guide To Classic Graphic Adventureshardcorgaming101.com has a new book that covers nearly every graphic adventure game ever made.   Here is what they say about it:“The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures is an ode [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.8bitrocket.com/2011/05/21/8bitrocket-com-semi-daily-interweb-mash-up-s
aturday-may21-2011/

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Empty Parking Lot Highlights Minecraft's Mundane

Sure, you can create amazing things in Minecraft, but you could also spend hours building an empty parking lot.

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Cover to Cover: Virgin Games 1992 Catalog (pp.
19-20)

We have just a few more pages remaining in Virgin Games' 1992 catalog, which has spanned quite a few genres and platforms.

Page 19 features another early CD-ROM-enhanced title, and one of the last commercial text adventures:



Spirit of Excalibur, an Arthurian party-based RPG with detailed one-on-one combat, had been around for a year or two, but was now being released in a CD-ROM edition, offering an enhanced soundtrack "with real actors' voices," unlike, one supposes, those fake actors' voices heard in inferior products.  The engine was designed to allow characters developed in this game to be used in upcoming series entries; only one such sequel materialized, Vengeance of Excalibur.

Wonderland was yet another computer game inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass -- it was also the last full-blown illustrated text adventure released by Magnetic Scrolls, creators of The Pawn.  The classic text adventure genre was dying out, at least commercially, despite Magnetic Scrolls' quality interactive storytelling and considerable success at modernizing the interface.  The company would turn its attention to adventure/RPG games before ceasing operation.

Page 20 continues Virgin's home computer game lineup, with some unsurprising entries:



We saw Corporation earlier, in its Sega Genesis incarnation; the console and computer markets were distinct enough at the time that Virgin clearly felt some gamers would peruse certain pages and ignore others completely, so it's listed again here.

The Magnetic Scrolls Collection is an incomplete sampling of the Magnetic Scrolls library, with three older games updated to run in the company's newer window-based (not necessarily Windows-based) environment.  Go Fish!, Corruption and Guild of Thieves are included in this package; all three are quality efforts, but if CD-ROM had been the standard this might have been a more comprehensive collection.

And Vengeance of Excalibur is the sequel to Spirit of Excalibur, which gets less play here as it has no snazzy new CD edition in the works.  It's also very similar to the first game, which may be why no third series title was produced; Virgin already seems a little bit unenthusiastic about this as a continuing series.  It seems odd that the catalog entry for Spirit doesn't even mention the existence of the sequel, and that the two games are not listed closer together.

I think we can wrap this up next time -- just a few more pages of product to cover, and then the usual legalese and back cover to round out the catalog.

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Discover Why Ico Became a Novel Through Short
Excerpt

If the idea of an Ico novel confuses or intrigues you, its publisher is offering a short excerpt that exposes what the book is all about.

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Legend of Zelda timeline exists, Nintendo keeps
it secret

One of the most hilariously controversial debates surround The Legend of Zelda is the question of whether or not there's an official timeline. More fuel's been thrown on the fire with Nintendo's Dan Owsen revealing that Nintnedo has a timeline, hidden away under lock and key. 

"You know, at one point we had drafted a timeline and wanted to make it available online," he said. "We showed it to the guys in Japan and they basically told us that it would be best if we didn’t post it. They do have a timeline that has continuity between the games but they wanted to keep it open for how each player views the chronology of the series. There are a lot of connections between the games, but they do have a timeline that has continuity. It’s up to the player to place all the pieces together.

"... The developers feel that posting a full narrative would take away from the players’ imagination. Part of what makes the series so special is the legend that spans across the series and they wanted to preserve that in the players’ vision. It’s also why they have never given Link a voice. The story is told as if the player is Link. Giving him a voice would eliminate that attachment."

So there you go. Timeline exists. Confirmed for the billionth time. Not that it'll stop the debates, as certain sectors of the Zelda fanbase continue to question its existence with as much enthusiasm as Koichi Sugiyama denying the Nanking Massacre. 

Dan Owsen Talks Zelda Timeline [Zelda Dungeon]

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Dinosaur King D-Team Adventures video game -
iPhone iPad

Dinosaur King D-Team Adventures is now available on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Based on the...

Read the full post at www.gamezplay.org use the search option if there is no link above...

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New screenshots for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3
video game - PS3 X360

Set in the future, chaotic warfare has engulfed the universe. The world is ripe with strife as...

Read the full post at www.gamezplay.org use the search option if there is no link above...

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