Video games and propaganda

We have spent so many hours playing video games for the fun. We do it for fun, developers do it for the money - but is it just the money? After beating a military shooter, I started thinking that certain games might have serious propaganda potential, but haven't done more significant research until now. A simple Wikipedia search will show that propaganda use of video games is a very real thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoryropaganda_video_games .What are your thoughts about this? How strong would be their impact?

* Note: I play so much 18+ video games, and I do not think like some overprotecting parents and stupid politicians that like playing a GTA game would make you run over people with your car. On the other hand I would like to discuss the real and logical side of video game propaganda. I have red about people on the net who have joined the army because of military shooters for example.

 

Oh wow, I never knew candidates could do that. Seems very interesting and fun to do so if they really want to be voted.

 

Propaganda in games is really creepy, but you can't deny its existence. On a side note, do you think there's a distinction between subtle propaganda and blatant advertising like the Pepsiman game? Do you think either is moral?

 

Propaganda in games is really creepy, but you can't deny its existence. On a side note, do you think there's a distinction between subtle propaganda and blatant advertising like the Pepsiman game? Do you think either is moral?

I think one horrible form of blatant advertising in video game form are probably those Burger King games for XBox. I would like to know what the administrators of Burger King were smoking when they thought of it.

 

Three excellent examples of blatant advertising in video game form are these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash_of_Destruction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doritos_Crash_Course
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harms_Way_(video_game)
Three wonderful games, totally free, and seriously who can complain about the extreme presence of doritos in the first game when they're there because DINOSAURS LOVE DORITOS, DON'T LET THEM EAT YOUR DELIVERY TRUCK

e: thanks for eating the third link, IPB

 

They're a valid medium for sure, but the question then becomes one of usefulness. Video games are not a particularly direct (or cheap, most of the time) way of transferring a message, meaning that a given target demographic would usually be more effectively reached through other media. To then extrapolate further, the usefulness of those it would directly target is debatable; 'gamers' are usually young/ish, don't have a lot of influence and aren't known for getting socially involved. There's also the fact that most people hate feeling as though they're being made to think about anything that doesn't relate directly to gameplay while playing. Any message would require careful handling to avoid eliciting the wrong reaction and probably just end up not being worth it.