There’s a burgeoning movement that entails the intersection of video games and documentary, especially in light of human rights. The portal Games For Change showcases a series of games with social issues such as human rights abuses, Poverty and global conflict.
A good example of a simple yet effective flash game is Against All Odds, created by UNHCR where you have your avatar go through the refugee’s experience of persecution, imprisonment and torture, and eventually escape. No specific country is mentioned, but it could be Zaire, Bosnia or Cuba, anywhere Human Rights are abused.
A more ambitious 3D effort is Latin America, by Danish company Serious Games Interactive. The playable demo is informative, looks good, but is a bit dull. With the bigger budget comes a price, the consumer version is $20, the educational version is $100.
Having worked in commercial video games, the challenge that comes to mind is how to make entertaining games about serious issues. Are they self-contradictory terms?
Many of these games will not find an audience due to them being too didactic and with dull game mechanics. Now, these kinds of games have the benefit of being used as educational material in schools and institutions, wherein the players are in a sense obliged to sit through a game they might have dropped of their own volition.
If you’re going the interactive route, which has so much potential for making an impact on people, it better be something you’ll want to sit through. There has to be realization on part of the creators that once you’re in the realm of games there are certain truths that must be taken into consideration. A bored player will drop the controls faster than you can say “ADD” no matter how noble the subject matter.
So how do you make an interesting, good-looking and yes, entertaining games about social issues without the millions of dollars that commercial games often use to mask their deficiencies in those areas? The developers of social issue games must study the game designs that worked brilliantly back when pixels were in short supply and which can be made today on the cheap thanks to technology advances.
In the end there are no bad stories only bad storytellers. Good storytellers will be able to make good games about the issues they care about as long as they don’t ignore their audience.
