Playing Politics Workshop Response

In response to 'September 12th' and 'New York Defender'.

Question One
There are two aspects to the effectiveness of these online games when communicating over the Internet. One is a question of who would play the games. I did a quick search on google of "september 11 game politics" to see how readily they would come up in a search. 'Newsgaming' came up within the first few listings. But I think most people would probably find the game by word of mouth. So blogs are probably a key place for disseminating this kind of political critique online. I would normally ask if the games may end up being played by those who are already liberal-minded. But Tama assures me that in the US there are just as many conservative bloggers. So Id say they probably got quite a few hits from people on all sides of politics (and worldwide).
Secondly, I believe that the formats of these political messages make them very effecttive. The newsgaming press release states that political games are "a 21st century equivalent to traditional printed political cartoons: short, controversial satirical pieces that convey biased ideological messages". However, I think that the potential of video games moves beyond the political cartoon because of the interactive element. When playing 'September 12th' I had to get over the intital horror of the role I was expected to take in order to get the message. Viewing the video game as a model or simulation, I detached myself from the horror in order to experiment - to find out what would happen if I aimed at a 'terrorist' or a civilian or a building or even a dog. The game did not allow me to coldly experiment without being reminded of the horror of my actions, as the civilians scream and cry. Only by repeatedly overcoming this sick feeling in my stomach did I discover that my violent actions were generating more terrorists. In the capacity of reader, viewer or audience it is easy to detach yourself. Afterall, this is happening somewhere far away. But when you become implicated in the politics of the situation it is quite disturbing - very effective. This is also true of 'New York Defender'. The guilty and inevitable sense of loss that this game provokes is very effective in making the player think. Even if the player only thinks "why did I lose?" or "its not fair, you can't win", the game has effectively passed on its message.

Question Two
I thought the messages were conveyed pretty effectively, especially the longer you played. But they created such an impression that Im sure I would have looked for more context, or even just more games of a similar nature. Ill definitely tell my friends about them! I think that, even if people dont actively seek for more information or context, they will approach related issues in their everyday life from a different angle. I know that they will have a lasting impression on me that will persist when I come to think about related issues.

Question Three
This is hard! I think I would probably do something about the extremely dissapointing result of the federal election. I think its important to focus on local events sometimes because its too easy to critique things going on in other countries. There would probably be an element of Howard-bashing... But seriously, I think I would try to incorporate some culture jamming - use their own politics and campaigns against them. As for the interactive element... maybe the player would be Howard and their goal would be to use as many low tactics as possible to destroy principles and key institutions such as health and education. Maybe, the more principles you destroy, the more decayed society becomes... I dont know, not feeling very creative today!