Thursday, October 9, 2008

Serious Games

http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/serious-games-issues.ars

This article takes a deep road in to the subject matter behind different video games. What happens when people take a controversial topic and turn it in to a video game? How could that affect an individual psychologically? This type of game is something that needs to be considered for the future of gaming.

With the RPG Maker 2000, Danny Ledonne created one of the most controversial, yet thought provoking, games of all time. The game was called Super Columbine Massacre RPG!. Now i know this may sound like an extremely sick and twisted thing to do, but a lot of people didn't look at it that way. Before that there were films and books made about the tragedy but not a video game. Something that could force the viewer to play the role of the shooters on that tragic day. "The media tried to play the shooters off as inhuman monsters after the shooting, but the game proves one thing better than anything else: they were human." Why hasn't an idea like this been explored before? The article states that most people play video games just for the guts and the glory, not the experience of a true story that wasn't even close to fun. For example: every single WW1 or WW2 game ever made. It makes you think...how could something be so fun, when it wasn't fun at all.

This brings up the topic of war and its future in the gaming world as well as our own. The article brings up two games, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Army of Two, both being examples of games showing the growth of PMC's, or Private Military Companies, in our world. In Metal Gear Solid 4, these PMC's are the enemy, and a threat to the United States. In Army of Two, the main characters are contractors associated with the PMC's, who go about their lives killing for money. These two games attempt to foreshadow into a world where war rules all.

I thought this article did a great job of showing the possibilities of the future of video games. An industry that is exponentially growing, and one that I think is very important to our world. We'll see what happens.

5 comments:

ervolsen said...

"Super Columbine RPG" was just made to be controversial and get attention. It was a pretty lame attempt.

War games are appealing because it involves a certain level of skill and strategy. But walking into a school and shooting unarmed students?

Matt Dudek said...

I agree with Eric in his comment about "Super Columbine RPG." I think this game is a sick and twisted way to make money by the gaming industry. I wouldn't be surprised if any of the Columbine victem's familys were to protest the release of this game. This would be comparable to a video game that mimicked the Virginia Tech shooting. I would put my foot down if the video game industry ever attempted to exploit this tragedy.

Catherine Malcolm said...

I can understand the idea of creating something which allows users to experience the "story" behind an event, but school shootings, really? Sorry, I don't mean to sound too condescending on the idea of games like "Super Columbine RPG", but creators should really think about the feelings of those really hurt by these real life violent acts. I feel as though shedding light by making shooting 'fun' is the wrong image to portray, especially kids who are the targeted audience here. There is a fine line between games like this and Bonds' 007.

ervolsen said...

This game wasn't ever released by the gaming industry - it was just an independently made game that was put up for free download online. If it was oficially released, that would be a completely different story -- Want a controversial game that was actually released? - Check out "JFK Reloaded"

And you mentioned the VA Tech shootings -- Well heres a statement by the creator of the game regarding it: http://columbinegame.com/vtechstatement.htm

Tim Goodloe said...

I think that as far as the future of gaming goes, there will always be violent games that involve killing and war and whatnot. Although these games will exist i believe making these games after real, small, terroristic events just touches too close to home for some of us. In today's culture there are all of these war games that exist but none of them really connect on a personal level. This is just a horrible idea and i hope no one expects to make any money from it. Those who were not even involved or touched by these events would be offended.