Playing Politics Workshop

1. The game was small enough to download quickly and could easily be emailed as an attachment. It’s the kind of thing that everyone can play because the rules are so basic and usually very familiar. I think most people would play the game if they received even if they didn’t really realise what it was or that it contained a political message, but I think if the same message was forwarded in essay form, it is less likely that people would read it. So I think it is an effective way to communicate something important that is really accessible and perhaps more interesting to people that may not be so interested in reading about the same issues. I also think the potential for distribution is huge as people would play the game and then forward it on to others.

2. The first game I played was September 12th and its message was evident immediately. The instructions stated that you could chose to shoot or not, so initially I didn’t shoot, and nothing seemed to happen. So then I began to shoot… and it all came clear. Next I played New York Defender, which I thought I was pretty good at for the first 20 seconds, until I realized I might be in some trouble. I think from the interface it was obvious that the game was not going to be light hearted and the serious nature of the game became evident as the planes increased. The idea of ‘I lose, therefore I think’ is very clearly shown in these examples and is a really easy and effective way to get across a point. In September 12th it was easy to stop shooting as you could see that you were just making things worse, whereas in New York Defender I felt like I really had to try and stop the planes. In both games however it was clear that you were essentially powerless to what was occurring.

3. I have no idea what kind of game I would make…sorry Tama. But I do really like Saywood’s idea, so maybe I could help her:) I can however recommend some other games that I’ve played at http://www.futurefarmers.com/home_feb_2003.html , if you look in the section entitled ‘stimuli’ there are quite a few cool things there. Anyway there is one called Pinga which is an anti-GMO game where u have to stop the pollen from floating over to the non-GMO field, in the next round the pollen and butterflies and so on… there is another game called Kosovo elf and a thing were u can deface president Bush and also look at the ways other people have defaced him.