STOP AVOIDING IT. POLITICS MAY JUST BE THE CHERRY ON TOP OF THE CONSOLE.
The game industry’s ‘no politics’ rule is a lie – and that’s good
We need politics in our games. There, I’ve said it. Death Stranding is the poster child for this social-commentaryas-entertainment. Its slow drag of delivering one parcel after another across a barren landscape under a ceaselessly grey sky had me reaching for my receipt and the phone number of the nearest CEX. I feel my eyelids drooping just thinking about Koj’s Amazon sim.
It’s no surprise then, that it’s taken me some time to finally play it. What I found is a game with something to say. Its plodding gameplay sheltered a political message, and the more I delivered, the closer I came to understanding Koj’s world view: teamwork makes the dream work and staying together is favoured over isolation. Those 60 hours spent delivering packages didn’t seem so daunting any more. I have fallen in love with the game and its blend of odd characters. Now I’m not the first to open Koj’s Marmite jar; this game has split opinion, friendships, and the OPM team since launch. It’s proof that we need politics in our games, but do they all have to divide to rule?
Just like Death Stranding, Sony’s other exclusive, Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human, wasn’t afraid to tell us a few home truths. Some bounced off its lecturing, but near-future Britain run by a totalitarian, Brexit-obsessed government. Watch Dogs: Legion may well be more fun than Death Stranding (after all, deadly grannies can’t fail to raise a smile), but it feels less honest than Kojima’s offering.
POLITICAL? PARTY!
So, in the book of gaming recipes where some of the main ingredients are entertainment, fun characters, and engaging storylines, a sprinkle of politics is good and should always be added, but just the right amount, enough to encourage us to think and ask questions, make us wonder and see the world through a different lens just like I found myself doing with Death Stranding and games like The Last Of Us, which included an openly gay, badass female protagonist who wasn’t portrayed as your typical ‘damsel in distress’. Even Uncharted: The Lost Legacy had two women of colour as their lead characters, fighting their own battles and straying away from the crappy stereotypes we all know and hear.
Politics in artwork is much appreciated, but it’s got to be done with some flair, to make us think deeply. Usually when I’m scrolling through Instagram comments on game posts, I tend to see the usual debate of “politics shouldn’t be in games” or “you ruined a good game by making Ellie gay!” Even though the topic of having politics in our games is a complicated one, my take on it is that politics is definitely a good thing to have as a way of provoking our thinking and getting people to talk about important issues.