Should Video Games get political?

Should Video Games get political?

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Only if it makes sense in the context of the game. If you have something like a Kirby game and somebody says something about tax cuts and budgetary proposals, then that shouldn't be political.

Based Godbert.

>naming your son Godbert

Either the most retarded thing or the most amazing thing

some always have been.

when your young it all just flies over your head.

Only if it agrees with my points of view

youtu.be/VbEan62z8RA

There's nothing wrong with including social commentary in your story, but it's annoying when they lay it on too strong, even if I agree with the message(s).

This better not turn into a stealth /XIVG/

In-game politics is fine. Referencing real world politics is cringe.

I just wish the people who are currently trying it were less inept.
yes I get it, nazis are bad, anyone with even slightly non-liberal viewpoints is bad, dissenters will be sent to the re-education camp and so on and so forth.

Scene a while back in xiv did it pretty well, speaking about the refugee situation going on in game and alluding to real world stuff.

If it serves the narrative and doesn't exist in a vacuum. Whenever a game presents hamfisted [ideology] as objectively correct and any challenger of it is defeated with what amounts to an I AM SILLY rebuttal, it should never have been done. So the majority of political messages in games.

Depends on the game.
It's cool if the game features these relationships between different groups/cities and their conflicts like say FNV then it's fine.
Not some garbage that goes HURR DURR FUCK REPUBS AND LIBERALS

This. if the writing is good it's good, if the writing is bad then it's also bad.

Having political intrigue within a game itself, with any semi-modern politics being treated in a variety of ways that are realistic to the game itself, is acceptable.
One such example would be Divinty Dragon Commander, with their handling of multiple races with their own conflicting views vying for your attention.
A bad example would be Bioware's modern handling of things, as well as some of GW2.
All of that said, Godbert needs to get back to Jewelcrafting and streaking through various biomes throughout the world, he's a terrible politician.

A game like FFXIV does it good because it references in-game situations, not real life situations.
Not to mention it doesn't push absurd SJW shit like gender identifies and all that stupid crap. When the few times it does though, it's clear that they're making fun of it like any person with their head on their shoulders would.

seriously though, fuck republicans and liberals

How did this not get 37 articles on Kotaku?

I don't get this argument.

Do we want games and books and shows to be a propaganda-fest that preaches how our ideas are shit and we should all vote one way or the other or believe X or Y and constantly shit on us if we think otherwise? Of course not.
But what's the point of a lolartform and media if it doesn't examine what is current and make commentary on it? Do you think movies that were popular in the 60's were popular just because, or because they reflected a mindset and told a story while also making remarks on what the mainstream ideas were? You can't have a work of fiction exist in a vacuum, completely detached from reality, or it won't make sense and won't be enjoyable. There's always going to be people struggling, things like honor or hate or kindness, and by the very nature of telling the story you as the author or creator will be making a commentary on those ideas and what they mean to the people in your work. And if there's a current issue in the real work, why wouldn't work made during that period want to include their own opinions and beliefs and arguments?
tl;dr artists tell lies to tell the truth, propaganda sjw writing is shit but politics done well in games is fine.

Godbert is literally beyond layman criticism, he's a man who can magically strip himself merely by willing it, on top of having enough strength to punch out a mountain.

I replayed Bioshock recently and was pretty surprised by how ham-fistedly it handled the political tones. I am by no means an expert on Ayn Rand, but Ryan was very much a caricature, and they really shoved it down your throat that this city was built on this ideology and look what happened. It was a bit jarring desu.

I don't know if I'd call Dragon Commander a good idea. The idea of having to deal with multiple factions with all their own ideas of what is right and wrong, and you having to choose between them, is a fairly cool idea. But when playing, it seemed more a platform for a very specific agenda as certain decisions were basically universally loved, and certain decisions would have your entire crew calling you a cunt. On top of that, there really wasn't any meaningful punishments or benefits to the decisions, you could win battles and the entire game with essentially negative reputation with every single faction, and not with much difficulty, so the entire concept falls flat with poor implementation.

On top of all THAT, seems a few too many times that some decisions have your character valiantly saying "YES, WE WILL SAVE THE ORPHANS BECAUSE THAT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO" while the opposite decision is written like "Mmmmyes, I'm a dirty jew, I will murder babies of course", deliberately skewing the response to what the author thinks is right and therefore only cunts could choose the other one.

>alluding to real world stuff

I seriously hope you are not this retarded

Nothing to clickbait with. If Godbert were a sexy female girl with big boobies now that'd give some clickbait.

This. The politics are relevant to the story and setting and aren't trying to push an agenda.

This is actually done well, provided there was someone equally reasonable or presented sympathetically giving arguments for the opposing side. You can get away with a LOT of shit in games if you just keep it fair and make your political shenanigans a discourse, and not a 'THIS IS RIGHT THIS IS WRONG OBEY'.

Maybe if it's like Morrowinds' politics.

Agree with this.

I have no problem with politics in games, but holy fuck do some devs take it way too far. I don't give a single shit about YOUR personal politics or opinions as a dev, so don't beat us over the head with whatever you think is right.

He's an old, white, heterosexual man. Plenty to get the old tempers flaring.

>One character says that they must help other people because it's the right thing to do
>Other character says that it doesn't matter and they must tear down that orphanage to build a new factory that shall use child labor to produce pig iron
Man fuck Fable 3 and how utterly binary the choices were. On top of how utterly shit the game was beside that.

This is deep in the main story of Stormblood and journalists don't actually play video games.

>Implying anyone could be mad at Godbert

Good point

The opposite side is Nanamo, the young sultana of Ul'dah who's spent the last expansion growing as a leader able to make decisions for her people without being a puppet of her advisers. She spent Stormblood attempting to help the Ala Mhigan refugees stand on their own economically when the city state gets liberated from its Imperial occupiers. The first thing she did was fund a jewelry company since Ala Mhigo's main draw is its mineral resources. In the patch where her main adviser (who is an Ala Mhigan gladiator who won a seat in the government by buying it with his winnings) is deciding whether to return to his home country or remain in Ul'dah Nanamo wants to start a larger scale economic program that she needs advice about. This scene in the screenshot was about how it had to be about getting them back on their feet and not making them reliant on charity.

It was honestly a great patch story. I love the economic and political stuff they throw around in FFXIV. It makes it feel more like a grounded setting than most MMOs. But if it was lost in my rambling, Nanamo's point was that she needed to help them at all cost. The patch story was about her being able to work with her advisers to make a deal that won't become either unsustainable or predatory.

The American box art of kirby is the angiest he's ever been.

There is more to it than having art be a message. Let me give an example: Django (the old Spaghetti-Western from 1966). Now we can all agree, that this movie is art. But would you find a message there? Actually, yes. The movie heavily criticises the American society at the time, by weaving racism, biblical references and pure cynicism into a perceived (by the director) equivalent of the US at that time. And all of that in a movie clearly made primarily for entertainment, mind you!

And now comes the difference to art nowadays: The movie criticises by depicting, not by complaining or moralising. The audience has to both make the connection themselves, as well as consider it to be a critique in the first place. Without this thought process, the movie is just that: a movie. Art nowadays apparently can't do that anymore. There is no subtlety, no thought process, no thinking involved anymore. The message has become self-purpose, the art is just a medium to transport it. In a way, that only reflects our current society again, in which actually stopping and thinking about different positions of opinion is no longer done. If a feminist performance is meant to criticise our society, it apparently can only do so by having the performer dance naked on stage, rub herself in her own menstruation blood, and then masturbate with a glowstick in the darkened room.

And if art can only carry political messages with such extremes nowadays, then I don't want there to be a political message in my art. Because I am capable of thinking, of analysing, of making the connections myself, without being told what to thing next. This disgusting form of infantile disability to understand even basic connections is not necessary, and I despise all artists that conform their art to this idea!

But the whole main story in Ul'dah was about how the poor refugees are being thrown out and exploited by the evil rich. Hell most of those fuckers even got away from betraying the sultana, buying up the crystal braves and temporally taking over with their private army

You missed the part where the 'poor' refugees have been begging in an alleyway for 20 years, are responsible for becoming bandits, selling drugs, and actually betraying the PC several times. You also missed where Lolorito sabotaged the attempted betrayal to save the Sultana and Ul'dah.

And why didn't the fucker just tell the sultana that the other potato fucking shit wanted to kill her instead doing this convoluted shit? And why isn't he and other potato fucking shit behind bars when they both admitted that they in on this and haven't told her or the authorities?
The story is so fucking shit in this game. The writers just make shit up as they go.

>And why didn't the fucker just tell the sultana that the other potato fucking shit wanted to kill her instead doing this convoluted shit?
To teach her a lesson about not doing stupid shit like suddenly dissolving the government in the face of an invasion, and to avoid Teledji's spies catching on. Are you fucking retarded?
>And why isn't he and other potato fucking shit behind bars when they both admitted that they in on this and haven't told her or the authorities?
The other potato got cut in fucking half. Good job showing you didn't even bother to pay attention. Lolorito isn't in jail because HE SABOTAGED THE BETRAYAL AND SAVED EVERYONE.
>haven't told her or the authorities?
Do you not realize they ARE the fucking authorities? The god damn Brass Blade are a PMC owned by Lolorito. He owns the god damn police.

>when the retard think he's smart
>To teach her a lesson about not doing stupid shit like suddenly dissolving the government in the face of an invasion, and to avoid Teledji's spies catching on
Yeah and immediately turning it a republic. She's fucking useless anyway she can't even put Teledji behind bars despite she knows that he was sabotaging Ul'dah and the whole country is corrupt as fuck.
>The other potato got cut in fucking half.
That's Teledji. I meant the yellow coated one in the syndicate
>Do you not realize they ARE the fucking authorities?
There are a shitload of other forces in Ul'dah and she's even the buddy of the WoL, the guy who fucking kills gods on a daily basis.
Back to /xivg/ with you fanboy

Yes

The Warrior of Light being a super strong god killer doesn't mean we can solve political problems.

inb4 muh boogeymen board and president

is this the ffxiv thread

Yes, because stories about war, international relationships and evil empires are always better when they're political.

It doesn't matter what they do because I vote with my wallet.

>Yeah and immediately turning it a republic
Yeah, shifts in government are completely peaceful and happen overnight with no fear of invasion from the empire that's been sitting there waiting for a chance to strike for 20 years now.
>She's fucking useless anyway she can't even put Teledji behind bars despite she knows that he was sabotaging Ul'dah and the whole country is corrupt as fuck.
That's the fucking point you mong. The Syndicate is the government and the Sultana is a fucking retard whose only idea is to just dissolve everything and hope it works out.
>I meant the yellow coated one in the syndicate
Dewlala, Prioress of the Order of Nald'thal, who was only overseeing negotiations and rules the church that literally writes Ul'dah's laws? I wonder why she wasn't fucking in jail.
>There are a shitload of other forces in Ul'dah
The only other forces in Ul'dah are the Stone Torches (owned by a Syndicate member), and the Immortal Flames. The Flames only have a few hundred actual recruits. The rest are adventurers and Ala Mhigans, and are heavily supported by Syndicate armies.
>the WoL, the guy who fucking kills gods on a daily basis.
Slaughtering people accusing you of regicide is a really good way to prove your innocence.

only if it doesn't represent actual IRL political parties

Yes, but only if I agree

No.

Except when they agree my agenda, then they are #based and /ourguy/ and not afraid of anything.

...

You have no control or influence.

Yes.

The hell is that?

Sure I do

based krillin

oh no, i was asking so i can tell people in this thread to fuck off to /vg/

Yorik from Divinity: Dragon Commander.

He's basically Sup Forums incarnate.

Just don't soapbox it and politics is fine
Most games writing sucks though so they end up soapboxing

Are the Paladins the Sultansworn?

Yes, and their influence has been totally fucked after having the Oathkeeper stolen. Nobody respects them, and there aren't very many.

Pretty much this.

Imagine a sitcom where the characters are a religious fundamentalist, a bourgeoisie snob, an asshole amputee war vet, a matriarchal feminazi, an alcoholic lesbian, a soyboy, a greedy CEO, a grumpy old woman, and a short nerdy guy from Sup Forums.

Then put them all on the same airship and watch the fireworks.

Divinity: DC was pretty thick and shitty with it's politics. Like how they needed to pass magical weapon control, give reparations to the kobolds for slavery, and allow gay marriage.

>wall is already built
>not sending them back

yeah but you don't have to do any of those things. You can tell any advisor asking for whatever nonsense to go fuck themselves.

In fact, some of the more "good" political choices in game have negative effects. Like agreeing to pay your female generals the same as male generals makes hiring the two female generals more expensive.

It would be nicer and more meaningful if the RTS segment of the game wasn't utter dogshit.

If it's justifiable within tha game's story and doesn't feel forced, sure. That screenshot is a great example since it's 100% about what is happening in the game's world.

probably not because it would wined up being unbearble leftist bullshit. Its already in our movies and comics. Far cry 5 is going to be leftist bullshit

...

Honestly the follow up to this is the best part, where Nanamo goes "yeah i guess this solution only seemed fine to be because i'm a very spoiled and sheltered individual, and i guess i did pity the refugees, but how don't you think it's heartless do to nothing?" and Godbert responds by saying you should talk to a person who is a business expert. Then that guy tells you that there is a huge salt mine in Ala Mhigo that Ul'dah could finance the reconstruction of and then in exchange get a cut of the profits it makes in the future (much like Europe could do this with Africa's ruined production systems that were left behind when colonization ended) and everyone goes "hey that's an amazing solution that doesn't undermine either country and allows for the refugees to become self-sufficent, that's a great idea!"

>much like Europe could do this with Africa's ruined production systems that were left behind when colonization ended
Too bad Africa is still mostly a shithole because the real world doesn't work like that.

The difference here is that the Saltery was already producing before Garlemald came in. The person in charge was the head of production there. This would be an apt comparison if the Garleans were the ones who were working the land but they weren't.

We need more games with conservative ideology and showing the true meaning of the constitution. Kids will grow up thinking leftism is ok otherwise.

If they want, but they can't expect others to enjoy political shit.

this times about 1000, millenials might bring communism over here.
After about 80 years of people starving to death everyone will remember its a shitty system