+1000 (Gaming)

by Malagate , Sea of Tranquility, Monday, February 22, 2021, 07:24 (1460 days ago) @ Kermit

We know only that they're not going to try to address the politics. That doesn't mean that the game can't have an impact on how people feel about war. That impact could very well persuade them to take a political position that many of the critics agree with. That's not good enough for some people--even though it might be more effective than making a game leaning into a political narrative.

We know that their goal is to attempt to show something close to the objective reality of what happened to certain people at a certain time in a a certain place. If such a thing is not possible, why do we bother to communicate?

Way late to the party here, but such a thing certainly is possible. The undeniably political issue here is the context from which they are attempting to render it. Even if the last thing the devs want to do is delve into the geopolitical (or boots-on-the-ground locally political) effects of the conflict; they are going to be doing so by default. This echoes a point Cody made up-thread.

It is quite the privileged (and I would go so far as to say bordering on ignorant) stance to take that rendering a contemporary conflict as entertainment could somehow be selectively done and not incur some serious backlash. All art is political, full stop. This is a fairly well-established school of thought. Anything a person (or company) creates and brings to life is an artifact of its context and the perspective of the creator at that time.

All they are doing by insisting that they aren't going to be engaging with the political aspects is leaving it up to everyone else that experiences their efforts within the context of the real world. Personally, I think that's kind of reckless, but if they want to handle things that way it's their perogative. I have a feeling they're going to come to regret it.

~m