Gameplay Journal #7 — Playing Politics

I think regardless of intent or what a lot of studios say about their own games or what a lot of players say about games a large majority of story driven games have a political stance or at least a political lean. Its an inherent part of society and thus impossible to not have it trickle into stories made by those who experience it in reality. But regardless of how many players want to avoid ‘politics in games’ I personally believe that having something to say makes a game better and more interesting to play, which is one of the major reasons why I love the Dishonored series as a whole. The series is rife with political subterfuge, false accusations, and dismantling a deeply rooted system of politics and its funding. The whole game is focused around this, making every action the player takes a political act that they would probably never be able to experience in reality.

Its this sort of gameplay that makes me love games and stories like dishonored, because of how “they allow players to embody political positions and engage in political actions many will never have previously experienced”(Bogost, 2006). If it wasn't for this ability to step into roles and situations that we cant, or even wouldn't WANT to experience in real life, then videogames as a whole would be drastically less interesting. Theres no way that I would want to be framed for murdering an empress, and even less of a chance that I would be able to do any of the actions taking in the Dishonored series in response to an accusation like that. But as a videogame it allows me or any other player to take on those actions and in the case of Dishonored make decisions that affect the outcome of the story. And if it wasnt for the politically charged story, then doing those actions would have no impact on the player in return. If it means nothing to do it, it loses any reason to be taken seriously or be remembered. But if a game combines a story with its mechanics in a meaningful way, it very quickly becomes a memorable experience because players will remember the impact that their actions in game had both on the game and themselves.

Bogost, I. (2006). Playing politics: Videogames for politics, activism, and advocacy. First Monday. doi:10.5210/fm.v0i0.1617