Playing Politics Workshop Response

No doubt, there are more and more political simulation games coming out in the internet, which aim to inspire players’ critical thinking towards current political issues. However, as games used to provide entertainment for players, what if political issues are involved? Will the players still enjoy the games and have fun? After examining the game September 12 and New York Defender, the answer is quite sure, at least to me. Ostensibly, both games do entertain the players, as the traditional aesthetic is adopted. However, I wonder if anyone will be interested in a game that you can’t win? Although the messages of both games are clear that players understand it is about 911 attacks at the first glance, since it is obviously talking about the incident. The message is more explicit in September 12, while “This is not a game. You can’t win, and you can’t lose. This is a simulation. It has no ending. It has already begun. The rules are deadly simple. You can shoot. Or not” is indicated at the beginning. When you shot to the terrorists, it will destroy the building and innocence will die, which causes more terrorists. Thus, it is clear to indicate the message the violence makes more violence. But, if players tend to avoid shooting, the situation that a few terrorists will still appears in the town. Interestingly, it is found that if you’ve shot certain times, then stop generating further violence, the number of terrorists will decrease automatically. But, it seems no really no way to make terrorists disappear. On the other hand, New York Defender is a simple game, compared to the September 12. You shot the flight to prevent it collapse, or you don’t shot just let the flights make it collapse. Both options will lead to the collapse anyway. Thus, the messages of both games are clear that violence is not an intelligent way, as it can’t make terrorism disappear.

However, I will claim that the games fail to communicate with players in an effective way, even the message is clear. As a player, usually we have no patient to keep playing a game which cannot win. If I can’t win, what do you expecting me to do? Evidences have shown that players lose interest to play these games, as the goal of the game is implicit. The terrorists will still exist in September 12. And the tower will collapse. If the result is unchangeable, it gives players no reason to explore the game.

If I had to write a political simulation game, I intend to talk about the demonstration of WTO. While the media portrayed the demonstration as riot, I will like to invite players to think about the issue in a critical way. Since the anger of demonstrators is due to the exploitation. They are the victims who try to speak out and stand for their right. However, mainstream media tend to neglect the fact, but view them as mob.