Videogames and Politics : give examples

[He_Is_Legend]

I have been, and still is, a big movie, game and music lover. I've looked at games and movies especially without thinking too much and always seen on it as JUST entertainment. I've always known that some directors, actors and such has tended to input som sort of political statement in some of their movies, but I've never actually put too much thought into it, until now(these later 3-4 years).

Now, I am taking a course in England called "multiculturalism" and our lecturer stated that NOTHING is without political conflict and messaging. This scared me a bit, but I'm not sure if she overexagerated. I know that there are visable facism mockings in "Starship Troopers", and that certain movies are favourable towards the republican audience and so on.

My question is; Have you guys or girls noticed any political involvement in any games you've played? Do you find any modern world political conflicts in video games? Is Mario actually a "commie"?

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Mario spends all of his time defending monarchies so I do not think he is a communist. More like a royalist. A lot of people still believe today that all of their problems would be solved if we just had a "good king" who would take care of us.

I don't know if it is more interesting if these political messages are more interesting if they were put there on purpose or not. Some games are pretty open about their political or philosophical inspirations like Alpha Centauri and Deus Ex. You can read a lot into Pac-Man but really it is about a character who eats a lot of food in a maze.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

Well you could take the recent trend of re-tooling Russia as the next politcal threat in video games as a form of commentary. I've now played several war games (black, modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2 to name a few) where russia is once again a militant power capable of threatening the united states. (in Modern Warfare 2 they actually invade our country Red Dawn style). I guess with people getting tired of the image of america stomping on underdeveloped nations developers feel that Russia seems like the most likely military might to start shit with us. Russia as i recall was rather pissed with the UN after we invaded Afganastan so i guess thats all the excuse you need to make them villians again.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

Oh, Yeah i got another one. The BioShock games are chalk full of politcal commentary. The first one is basically a cautionary tale of the evils of consumerism if left unchecked. Rapture is suppose to be a haven for those who only care about greed and in no time flat the city turns on it's self and becomes a living hell.

The second one is a look at the dangers of communism. Lamb the new villian preaches that "the self" or ones indivualism is evil and that only by unify together for the greater good can we evolve. what you end up with is a crazy cult thats just as bad as unchecked greed. you actually can hear the two ideals battling it out with each other in the auido tapes.

if you look at the games as a whole your left with a sense that no politcal extream can exist with out balances and checks.

 

[Omegatronacles]

Mario spends all of his time defending monarchies so I do not think he is a communist. More like a royalist. A lot of people still believe today that all of their problems would be solved if we just had a "good king" who would take care of us.

I don't know if it is more interesting if these political messages are more interesting if they were put there on purpose or not. Some games are pretty open about their political or philosophical inspirations like Alpha Centauri and Deus Ex. You can read a lot into Pac-Man but really it is about a character who eats a lot of food in a maze.

Please elaborate.

How does anyone twist Pacman into a political message?

OT: Nearly every game has some form of politics in it, from Discworld [http://www.romulation.net/files/screenshots/roms/PSX/24109/s_3.jpg] (Where you have Patrician Vetinari, Patrician under the one man, one vote system. He's the man, he has the vote.), through to Dawn Of War (We are the Space Marines, The Emperor's word is law, we are xenophobic to the extreme, Crush Kill Destroy).

I think it would be a lot harder to find a game made in the last 10 years that doesn't have a political or ideological message hidden within it.

Games tend to avoid "Current" world conflicts, as the amount of flak the companies that make them would cop would be insane. Take the invasion of Iraq, regardless of any personal feelings on the issue.. No matter how they make it, there would be people calling for their blood.

If they make it a game about liberating an oppressed people, it becomes propaganda. If they leave out any reference about oil, it becomes an attempt to cover up the facts/re-write history. If they make it a game where an American is the hero/protagonist, it becomes yet another excuse for CNN to make a big fuss over video games corrupting the youth of today.

 

[He_Is_Legend]

That is what I meant, "more fun to compute". Are any of these political issues experienced in games of any real issues? Can any of these "threats" or issues be seen on as real or actual?
Obviously, the political issues in Fallout-games are portraied in a humorous way, but could there be some deeper meaning to it?

I've also noticed that american games always target certain countries as their enemies of the games. Now, this is fair when it comes to historical games concerning WW2 and so on, but when Russia is the "new" enemy of MW2? How does a country respond to that?

One might say that : The cold war, actually, isn't, and never were over.

IS it still something going on between Russia and The USA?
Is it a message through the media of Game to show children and young adults that no-one messes with USA?

Are there any similarities between Mario and modern day USA, sweeping into countries and relieaving them of their leaders and stealing the resources at the same time(coins)? Just a thought, and not at all ment to be harmful; I want to keep this discussion going.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

mario isn't a communist, Bowser is. Bowser represents the down trodden working class of the proletariat fighting against the bourgeoisie mushroom kingdom.

It's all in the game design. Bowser's troops are clearly an industrial nation of workers while the Mushroom Kingdoms seems to be nothing but the monarchy and it's subjects.

Mario is actually a mistake. He's a misinturpritation of the japaness. They looked at the idea of communism and like everything else decided to inject crazy into it, thus you have a character that looks like he should be the hero of the people's republic fighting on the wrong side...ironically he seems to fight for no reward making him seem all the more like a communist.

Or since the japaness are capitalist mario could be their own commentary on commuinism. That if an average communist joe (or mario in this case) we're to be shown what Imperail capitalism had to offer, they would immedaitly switch sides and fight to overthrow what they now see as a corupt and flawed system of government.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

How does anyone twist Pacman into a political message?

Well the starting point is that Pac-Man obviously represents consumption. You can take that to mean food or maybe drugs. If you take it to be drugs then the ghosts can symbolize cravings where you need to take a bigger dose to feel normal. The maze like walls represent the feeling of being trapped in an addiction. Pac-Man becomes a political diatribe against recreational drug use.

 

[Omegatronacles]

How does anyone twist Pacman into a political message?

Well the starting point is that Pac-Man obviously represents consumption. You can take that to mean food or maybe drugs. If you take it to be drugs then the ghosts can symbolize cravings where you need to take a bigger dose to feel normal. The maze like walls represent the feeling of being trapped in an addiction. Pac-Man becomes a political diatribe against recreational drug use.

Wow, that would never have occurred to me in a million years. Thank you for taking th e time to explain.

And yes, I do believe that anyone who could seriously offer up such a proposition needs to have his/her head examined.