Playing Politics workshop response

Both September 12 and Donkey John employ traditional game strategies to make a political statement and I thought they both worked well in complementing other forms of media in their criticisms of Western politicical influences in Iraq and East Timor. The crying of the woman every time you shot a civilian in September 12th was almost heart wrenching and the fact that you couldn't actually hit a "terrorist", only civilians, is resonant in some ways of the pointlessness and ineffectiveness of war. With Donkey John, John Howard becomes the barrel-throwing, tyrannical villian an obvious allusion to Australia's greed and lack of care when dealing with the East Timorese and their precious resources. While I'm not a game player I thought that the messages of these games might make political messages more accessible to some people who are. ie. not everyone appreciates detailed news stories or journal articles on important issues but here the messages were clear and thought-provoking. Various elements of both games such as costuming, character depictions and point scoring (in $ in Donkey John) made the political message clear or at least if someone playing hadn't picked up on the message then these elements would intice them to question the "hidden" meaning or agenda.

If I were to make a game I might explore the issue of Aborginal land rights or culture alluding to the lack of respect some Australians continue to show. Aboriginal art could be used in a fantastic visual way if this were appropriate. Perhaps some kind of electronic monopoly game where characters can buy up land and encumber ethical dilemmas??