Video Games: The Next Generation of Soap Box
October 11, 2006
For years, the entertainment industry has felt a certain obligation to push civic awareness. Through music and movies, artists express their concerns about humanity and social responsibility. Now, for the first time in it's 30 year history, video game developers have taken up the torch; building games intended to connote a specific message, empathize with other viewpoints, and underscore overall social awareness.
Three years ago, my university was chosen to judge for the "Independent Game Festival Student Showcase". As judge, the faculty was responsible for picking one finalist among several hundred games, entered by students around the world. One shocking entry came from a group of students in China. They put the player in the role of a newspaper photographer during the 1930's Japanese massacre in Nanjing, with a mission to capture these atrocities on camera and get the word out. This particular game did not make the final cut; but it did make a large impression on the judges, myself included. I didn't realize it at the time, but this game was my first exposure to a new genre, rapidly gaining popularity and influence: "Activist Gaming"
For example, Darfur is Dying, a game in which the player takes the role of a Sudanese villager, has been played by over 700,000 users. Food Force, released by the World Food Program, has players use food aid in an effort to rebuild countries. The game was downloaded one-million times during the first six weeks. Since none of the Activist Games out right now are a Triple-A title, you can’t pick them up at your local Best Buy. Still, their 'for-download-only' status doesn't prevent them from generating some powerful word of mouth.
Private industry, non-profit organizations, and international organizations are giving money to help develop and distribute this new genre that provides a portal into directly into a younger generation. Video games are Gen-Y's media of choice. Their word of mouth propagation has been so effective that the spread of Activist Gaming has caused a backlash by U.S. enemies. In response to "Hunt for Sadam", an American released game, the Global Islamic Media Front (a radical organization that has ties with al-Qaeda) released a game titled, "Hunt for Bush". According to Dennis McCauley who runs the blog - Gamepolitics.com:
"There is a game design war taking place, at least in the sense that today's games are a mass communications vehicle for reaching young people. The Defense Department distributes 'America's Army' for free as both a recruiting tool and a way to market the image of our armed forces. The game is hugely popular. It's no surprise that Islamic extremists are trying to achieve the same goal and imitate that success."
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