Video Games "Have It Harder Than Any Other Medium" says UK Prison Game Dev
Social issues are trickier for interactive media
True Dat (Innit)
Prison Architect (see the trailer at the foot of this tale) is a new game from Introversion indies - the team who brought us Defcon. It's about prison life. That could get complicated in terms of the portrayal of the generally adult, socially uncomfortable, violent and questionable behaviours that go on inside. Chris Delay, who came up with the idea, talks about it.
Once he's manoeuvred his way past Eurogamer's questions about whether there's going to be, you know, prison sex in a game set in prison ("Does that include sexual assault?") we get to some interesting meaty stuff.
Oh, the sexual assault question is met with, "Why are you specifically asking about that? I will tell you we don't have that occurring anywhere in the game currently. It might be a step too far. It might be too much. But that said, I don't know. I haven't made the final decision on that."
Delay then deals with the reasons that games don't deal with things like sexual assault, racism, prisons:
"Video games are a strange medium. You could write a TV episode where a character suffers a sexual assault early on, and then the audience would empathise with that character later. But it's a very different experience if you, the player, are on the receiving end of that. You're much more directly involved, and that does actually change the meaning of everything.
"In many ways video games have it harder than any other medium when dealing with difficult social issues. You can look at TV, a series like The Wire, and it's full of racist characters and race conflict. All the controversial issues of race are directly dealt with head on, and there are characters that represent every different viewpoint. But nobody ever feels uncomfortable that the TV show itself is racist or that the writers themselves are trying to push an agenda.
"But when you transport that into the video game industry and the player is the primary agent, making things actually happen, it's a whole different experience and it creates a very different feeling. If you want to deal with difficult social issues, like rape or race, you've got to be aware of that."
Fascinating stuff from the Indie sector (as ever, given that this is where most gaming imagination is now based). What's your take? Tell us in the comments or in our Free and Friendly Forum.
Check it out.
Once he's manoeuvred his way past Eurogamer's questions about whether there's going to be, you know, prison sex in a game set in prison ("Does that include sexual assault?") we get to some interesting meaty stuff.
Oh, the sexual assault question is met with, "Why are you specifically asking about that? I will tell you we don't have that occurring anywhere in the game currently. It might be a step too far. It might be too much. But that said, I don't know. I haven't made the final decision on that."
Delay then deals with the reasons that games don't deal with things like sexual assault, racism, prisons:
"Video games are a strange medium. You could write a TV episode where a character suffers a sexual assault early on, and then the audience would empathise with that character later. But it's a very different experience if you, the player, are on the receiving end of that. You're much more directly involved, and that does actually change the meaning of everything.
"In many ways video games have it harder than any other medium when dealing with difficult social issues. You can look at TV, a series like The Wire, and it's full of racist characters and race conflict. All the controversial issues of race are directly dealt with head on, and there are characters that represent every different viewpoint. But nobody ever feels uncomfortable that the TV show itself is racist or that the writers themselves are trying to push an agenda.
"But when you transport that into the video game industry and the player is the primary agent, making things actually happen, it's a whole different experience and it creates a very different feeling. If you want to deal with difficult social issues, like rape or race, you've got to be aware of that."
Fascinating stuff from the Indie sector (as ever, given that this is where most gaming imagination is now based). What's your take? Tell us in the comments or in our Free and Friendly Forum.
Check it out.
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