A Week In Comments

After all, I play games because I am a child and only children play games. Regardless of what adult achievements, like degrees or occupations, I may have attained, I still remain a child’s mind within an adult shell, incapable of following the various rituals and traditions that grant passage into adulthood. It would be far too presumptuous of me to assume that I can make decisions from ratings based on the mere fact that I am, outwardly, an adult.

The Australian Classification Board, through their conservative, Christian background, have proven themselves to be much wiser and aware adults than us and therefore are entitled to make these decisions for me. They understand that, at all times, I must be protected from myself.

Admittedly, each of these factors deserves attention, but games are more than composite art forms. When determining whether or not a game is art, one must look at it’s rules, controls and play; the things that comprise the actual game. Anything can become artistic when it is dressed up with gorgeous art, carefully composed music, and an enriching story, but in the end, those are decorations (inherently artistic things). I think Totilo is on the right track with this interview by examining what the abstract game play represents. *inhale exhale* Artsy-gamer rant finish.

Why, you ask, as you rage at your keyboard? Because its a slippery slope on this topic.

We’ve seen the Propaganda games that get made in flash supporting KKKisms and Neo Nazis and shooting Mexicans, and some of you may even have seen the fully developed (although crappy) games that the middle east has regarding stupid Americans.

But we haven’t run into mass produced and funded console/PC games regarding a current ongoing battle yet, at least in North America.

Now this Six Days in Fallujah might have been quite the excellent ‘Survival Horror’ game (as described by the wiki), but once one gets made, whats to stop another from getting made? This game might have left out all the politics, but will the next game? Or will we get the equivalent of Americas Army, funded by the US army, teaching kids at home on their xboxes to kill iraqi insurgents because its the right thing to do. Throw in a bunch of cutscenes showing some Iraqi’s doing some horrible things to people, and voila.

Its already happening all the time with Television, but this doesn’t make it any better.

Stuff like this, thinking hard about it, makes me cringe because I’m unsure where to stand normally. I’m all for freedom of speech and a lack of censorship in society, but… our society is currently too fucked up to be able to embrace the idea of ‘You can make games, but leave the be all you can be shit at home’.

Of course, I largely think this would have all gotten completely ignored if it wasn’t for Konami willing to publish it. Which is completely stupid, because it just further points out the hypocrisy (and hopelessness of what I say here) of us regarding all this taboo subject matter.

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