This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)

#1 | Back to Top06-11-2013 12:43:22 PM

satyreyes
no, definitely no cons
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: 10-16-2006
Posts: 10328
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Super Obamacare 64: Video Games with Political Messages

Spillover from the Sharing Articles thread, where Nova got to wondering whether there were any good video games with political points of view, or whether games with things to say about politics are always awful.


Yasha wrote:

PETA Launches Game bahahahahaha Cage Fighters bahahahahahahaha Beat Up Lab Workers lolololololol

Holy shit, I'm going to go play this right now. PETA is a neverending fountain of hilariousness. http://ohtori.nu/forumstuff/emotes/emot-shivdurf.gif

Nova wrote:

Has there ever been a good "political message" videogame? I know there's been some real stinkers. It seems as if overly-earnest and/or humorless political views are incompatible with good gameplay and fun.

satyreyes wrote:

Well, famously, there are the BioShock games.  If you haven't played the first BioShock, you should; its politics are right up your alley, as in I couldn't have designed them better to appeal to you personally, and I don't want to say any more because spoilers.  (I can also guarantee that it's way more fun than anything PETA has put out.)  And while I haven't played it, Spec Ops: The Line has a reputation for being subversively critical of both war in the Middle East and video games that glorify those wars.

Yasha wrote:

Here's another awful "political" game for the list-- Ethnic Cleansing. It's so bad that even the white supremacist audience it targets thinks it sucks.

Do we have a thread for this? It seems like a thread-worthy topic. I've noticed that Mass Effect had some political comparisons in it, although Gio would be better at expressing them than I would.

So: good games with good politics?  Good games with bad politics?  Bad games with... well, you get the idea.  What else goes on the pile?  How have video games risen, or not risen, to the challenge of talking about politics?

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#2 | Back to Top06-11-2013 12:58:49 PM

satyreyes
no, definitely no cons
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: 10-16-2006
Posts: 10328
Website

Re: Super Obamacare 64: Video Games with Political Messages

And a quick early reflection: of the games we've named so far, the three "bad" games we've named have politics that are promoting something, while the two "good" games have politics that are critical of something.  (BioShock is critical of [objectivism/unrestrained capitalism].)  That fits with the sort of skeptical way we usually engage with ideology in video games in general.  If there's a character in an RPG who's like "I believe X and you should join me," the odds are very good that in a couple hours you'll be fighting the agents of X.  Put another way, we are much more likely to be smashing idols than erecting them.  Maybe that's more fun?  Or maybe just more in keeping with the tradition of a medium that had its genesis mostly in games where you fight things without much of an agenda?

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#3 | Back to Top06-12-2013 01:47:26 PM

zevrem
Banned
Registered: 03-23-2013
Posts: 387

Re: Super Obamacare 64: Video Games with Political Messages

If the ideology you're fighting for doesn't turn out to be evil, then how can there be any plot twists?

But more seriously, in the original Bioshock, the Objectivist Andrew Ryan turns out not to be the villain, and Fontaine only becomes dominant because Ryan is too reluctant to use his ownership of Rapture's media and infrastructure to turn everyone against Fontaine. The tapes show that he actually accepted Fontaine's gains in business (Don't whine to me if he's taking your business, you should provide a better product!) until it was clear that Fontaine was royally fucking everything up.

Last edited by zevrem (06-12-2013 01:47:37 PM)


The real purpose of elections is to make the people hate each other more than they hate their government.

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#4 | Back to Top06-13-2013 10:08:24 PM

Giovanna
Ends of the Fandom
From: Edmonton, AB
Registered: 10-12-2006
Posts: 8797
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Re: Super Obamacare 64: Video Games with Political Messages

Though I've not played the third yet, the first two Mass Effect games are loaded with political commentary, most of it pretty glib, more poking fun at the ridiculousness of certain stances. I know there were direct references to events in places, I swear Mass Effect 1 had something I was sure was a Bush joke, but it's mostly about examining the political versus military machine, and how, especially in the human species, the two tend to conflict a great deal. (Versus Turians, who have a more Roman approach to both.) The thing is, Mass Effect doesn't have a whole shitload good to say about either. The military is portrayed as sheep following an intensely secretive and manipulative officer class that often comes whining to Shep with a problem only for Shep to find out that she (SHE) has been sent to slaughter a bunch of babies, rape their mothers, and steal their puppies because the military wants it on the download. The political machine, namely the Council, is a bunch of rigid and ridiculously paranoid people terrified of change. Ultimately, the military comes across as more competent, but also more 'evil.'

In the second game it's all about Cerberus, which I'm guessing is like the future of super PACs. While very competent, Cerberus is portrayed as FUCKING EVIL AS BALLS, justifying it's atrocious behavior with 'noble intentions for the preservation of humanity.' When compared with the Council, Cerberus is brutal, efficient, and terrifying. It's in a sense, however, a political body--one driven purely by complete self-interest, however. Contrasted with the Council, who tries to juggle the interests of many and so makes little progress, but maintains peace.

Compared, the games seem to be of the opinion that you have two choices in how to run things: Either you can try to make everyone happyish, but you'll never get very far and that's almost the point, or you can kick ass, take names, and only give a fuck about your own agenda. Mass Effect, being ultimately about sniping the fuck out of everything (oot oot), seems to prefer the latter, even when being highly critical of it. That may in my case have something to do with being full on Renegade though. emot-tongue


Akio, you have nice turns of phrase, but your points aren't clear and you have no textual support. I can't give this a passing grade.
~ Professor Arisa Konno, Eng 1001 (Freshman Literature and Composition)

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#5 | Back to Top06-14-2013 08:36:52 AM

zevrem
Banned
Registered: 03-23-2013
Posts: 387

Re: Super Obamacare 64: Video Games with Political Messages

Cerberus realizes that it's not all-powerful, the Council does not. But seriously, Shepard should not have spent Mass Effect 2 fighting the Collectors, destroying the base woke up ALL THE REAPERS. Mass Effect 2 should have been spent doing things that wouldn't alert them. He was way too obedient to the Illusive Man.

Last edited by zevrem (06-14-2013 08:53:14 AM)


The real purpose of elections is to make the people hate each other more than they hate their government.

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