Will we see more games serving as propaganda?

Here are some examples:

• The Global Islamic Media Front released a first person shooter called Quest for Bush, something that perhaps a lot of Americans would have been very pleased to play!
• On the other side there were Quest for Al Quaeda: The Hunt for Bin Laden Quest and Quest for Saddam.
• Rendition: Guantanamo is a game that has been cancelled because of pressure from journalists.
• Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a nutty extremist christian propaganda piece, that is probably the most distasteful of the lot. Far worse than any game that politicians and journalists complain about.
• Kuma\War is a first person shooter. Where it is different is that its frequent new episodes are drawn from current events, but from an American perspective.
• Hezbollah produced the game Special Force and its catchily titled sequel Special Force 2. In both you get to kill lots of Israelis.
• America’s Army is the big one. A series of games designed to foster the American Army view of the world on an unsuspecting public and also to work as a recruitment tool. This has been a remarkable success at promoting gung ho American militarism.
• Special Operation 85: Hostage Rescue from the Association of Islamic Unions of Students unsurprisingly reflects a world view opposite to that of the Americans.
• And just now the Iran National Foundation of Computer Games revealed several new games at Gamescom in Cologne. Which will reflect opinions and views refreshingly different from the usual American propaganda that the conventional media force down our throats. According to the BBC one is “an adventure game where you play the role of a girl called Sara; a young student caught up in events during the early stages of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.” Exciting stuff.
• Finally we have a pathetic British attempt which, as far as I am aware, nobody played. This involved taxpayers money being spent on a number ten Downing Street game. This now seems to have died off and of all the propaganda games I have found it is the only complete failure. Which is just so typical of anything Gordon Brown does.

 

As with any media, some groups view video games as a resource for their cause, instead of a form of entertainment. Just like books, radio, and television (including cartoons: Ever see Daffy duck in Nutzy land?), video games now are being used to foster support for various groups and ideals.

Fortunately, we, as gamers, have a few saving graces. First, a majority of the games being offered as propaganda are terrible, or at the very least, they pale in comparison to other titles of their genre. Also, while some still cling to the belief that gaming desensitizes those who play, we are generally all still sharp enough to recognize propaganda for what it is; honestly, half of the titles you mentioned made me think of banner ad games, where you are supposed to do horrible things to images of the president, or some archetype terrorist.

The only other game that stands out is "Left behind: Eternal Forces". The developers likely had the best of intentions, as I have come to understand that many times you are encouraged not to really do anything. Even so, I must say I was rather disheartened to hear they had made a video game based on a hypothetical series of books. Further more, the fashion in which they did so gave a bad name to anyone who enjoyed the books as the purely speculative read they are, as a first person adventure type like Myst would have averted the situation...even if it was still a poorly made game.

We are not likely to see the end of propaganda in gaming. For as long as there is media to use, very opinionated groups will use them. With any luck, though, we will continue to receive titles that are so obviously propaganda, that we can put them back down and go pick up something that is actually worth playing. Alternatively, if one of them manages to produce a game that IS worth playing, we can play it like we play any other game with a good mechanic and bad story: quickly, and skipping every cutscene that we are allowed to.

 

Small flash games and the like, sure.

It seems like a silly idea to try to make a "proper" game for propaganda purposes though, unless this scenario is appealing: You spend tens of millions of dollars, the game doesn't come out for two years, and nobody plays it anyway.

 

Propaganda or otherwise...

 

True, it seems silly to us. We have a different perspective. We see it as a waste of resources, like having a full gig of hello kitty wallpapers. It doesn't matter if we know that, what matters is if THEY think it's worth it. Truth be told, we already have TONS of non propaganda games that cost tons of money to produce, and nobody plays.