Erika's "Playing Politics Workshop Response"

1. Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the Internet?
For this workshop, I had a look at the September 12 and Donkey John games. The games were rather different in terms of how they’re played but they are both trying to convey a particular opinion to the player. I believe that the games are effective in that they put across an issue in a way that is at the very least entertaining.

2. Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?
In regards to September 12, I did have to read the intructions in order to find out what the message intended was as it wasn’t immediately obvious. Once I found out the point the makers of the game were trying to put across, the game took on a whole other meaning.
For Donkey John I think the message and how it was delivered was a little easy to understand at first glance. Although with this game it was also very helpful to read the instructions.

3. If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (Just give a very brief outline).
That’s a tough question to answer on the spot. The first idea that’s come to mind is one of those shooting duck games where the ducks come across the screen randomly and the object of the game is to shoot down as many as you can. I guess an obvious point that one can make is the way in which civilians in Iraq are being killed and, in the western media at least, we can’t really identify with the victims as they are kind of a faceless one of many. Perhaps a trick with the game is that you’re only meant to kill a certain type of duck, I guess it’s in the same vein as the September 12 game.