No, I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Politics are good in games when done right, but they can also be nothing more than a distraction when the narrative has huge errors or lacks and depth in general.
I mean, yeah, good writing is good and bad writing is bad.
I think the article is going against the idea that politics should be kept away from games.
Politics in games isn’t the issue.
It’s the concept of pushing real world politics in games that is the problem.
Sometimes they can overlap, but they needn’t to. Some things are just obviously pushing the agendas of developers, instead of making it feel like a legit part of the game universe.
Games are not a fundamental right. Artists should make art that reflects their values.
I don’t really get this sentiment.
Elves being racist towards dwarves is acceptable in a game, but white humans being racist towards hispanic humans is “pushing agendas”?
I fault Bioware for a lot of things, but failing to invent a fantasy equivalent of the concept of gender is not one of them. Not everything needs to be moved to an otherworldly analogy just to avoid hurting the feelings of bigots.
Politics are irrelevant
Good writing is good and bad writing is bad
Yes politics are great in videogames, if the writers don’t share just 1 braincell like with many current AAA(A) games.
You’d think it’s common knowledge, yet they still churn out these depthless, one dimensional millenial writing slop.
Politics is not actual politics, its not normative womans, gays and trans people. Metaphor its ok because don’t have any of those (I’m only 20hs in)
I can’t explain why no one talks about baldur 3. I suppose its too complex for those people.
its not normative womans, gays and trans people.
Not broad enough. When “gamers” say that something is political, what they mean is that it contains politics they disagree with. The ones you cited just happen to be the things they easily recognize because their favorite right wing grifter is raging about them 24/7.
As you also said, they usually don’t have the media literacy required to recognize more subtle political messages, which can be pretty funny. I remember when Disco Elysium was first released and they were very confused because it contains some actual, pretty deep political reflections
I understand that half of the world is currently healing psychological trauma from the US election results but Atlus has been commenting on politics in their games for much longer.
