Although it deviated a bit from our identity section of the course, one of the most interesting things I believe we talked about in class on Wednesday had to do with the subject of tackling hard issues through video games. I know I’ve blogged about this before, but it is a topic that keeps coming up and I still have a hard time deciding where I stand on the subject matter.
The “fag” asteroids game was especially interesting and baffling all at the same time. I was really kind of disturbed by the idea that someone turned the complex issue of homophobia into an overly simplistic game like asteroids. At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking that maybe a simplistic game like this could make a pretty profound statement about homophobia if it had some kind of scholarly text or commentary to accompany it. I get what the creator of game was trying to say through the game, but I think a big reason for that is because I have a pretty strong background in serious games’ design and rhetoric. I just believe that by making the game overly simplistic and not explaining its point, homophobic people could twist the game and make it look as though itwas actually an attempt to promote homophobia.
It’s the same with games like Columbine RPG. While I know the creator of the game had the intention of educating people about the incident, most individuals just see this as a game that makes a mockery of the incident and promotes terrorism. I would argue that the reason for this is because of the games over-simplified visuals and lack of explanation to go along with the game. Part of the point of serious games is to make people search for the games’ rhetoric, but in sensitive situations like these I think it is necessary to have supplemental material to go with the game. I guess this is where I stand in general when it comes to serious games that illustrate very touchy subject matters.
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