|
|
Past Entertainment Articles. Article for the week of 1/20/08 Political Message Enters The Game World By, Grey Politics The advance of communications and information technology has left many behind, most notably the Recording Industry Association of America, but even politicians have been slow off the mark to embrace the Internet as a means of reaching the masses. Sadly they have now made that realisation and have decided to overcompensate while they are at it. Political spam has hit emails everywhere, starting with the US election. Theoretically none of it is sponsored by either the Republicans or Democrats, though that statement is largely thought to contain the backlash as mailbox after mailbox is deluged with thirty minute videos of Barak Obama harping on about this obscure “challenge of hope” or “hope of change” or “three quarters for a dollar”. If that was not insidious enough it appears that video games will be forever tarnished and dated by the inclusion of politicians and political messages. It was bad enough that the Master Chief in Halo 3 chugged a diet coke (through his helmet no less) and that the latest Pac Man running around chomps his way through Whoppers and KFC but is poisoned by Big Macs. Now in the World of Warcraft there are billboards, signs and even sandwich board wearing Pandarans hawking the candidates. One sad Orc is presently standing on a soapbox extolling the virtues of John Edwards. These sorts of things have seen less and less gold within the world being spent on weapons, items and mounts and more gold being spent on paint for graffiti and rotting vegetables for pelting. Administrators for WoW are now awarding experience points for these events. So far this shows a certain ineptitude, however the creep of political advertising seems destined to continue. The soon to be released Grand Theft Auto: Duckin, Wisconsin includes a number of political slogans, hastily snuck in after the plot was modified to take place in an election year. Characters such as Clint Hilary, helpful hooker, Hick Muckabee truth saying evangelist, Big B.O. and Grand Mayor Ruby Jeweliani pepper the setting, leaving one confused as to who exactly was paying money for this. Adding fuel, possibly of the aviation variety, is the recent release of a first person shooter featuring Michael Bloomberg blasting apart animated Taxes. What gain has been made on the part of the politicians is unknown, since the basic antisocial traits of game players mean they immediately resent the message, what gain has been made on the part of game manufacturers is unknown since this has to have a negative impact on sales. What is known is that soon enough you won’t be able to move in the World of Warcraft without having to wade through rotten tomatoes.
|
|
Really Pathetic Productions 1997-2007© Menu Bar By Albatross |