Tactical Media in Video Games
Video games have opened a whole new approach and canvas for tactical media artists. This form of media allows for a wide range of audiences to be informed on a specific issue or idea. Some examples of games that touch on Tactical Media are Darfur is Dying and September 12. One example of a game design studio that works in tactical media is TAKE ACTION games(TAG). The video game website www.newsgaming.com greatly embodies the idea of tactical media in video games. Newsgaming coins this name as a new genre that brings awareness to current news-related issues based on true world events, as opposed to fantasy worlds that other video games are based upon. This team of game developers contributes to the emerging culture that is largely aimed at raising awareness on important matters in a new and brilliant approach.
Another examples of tactical media within video games is The McDonald's Game; the author of this game takes power away from the executive officers of McDonald's and gives it back to the public by informing then, through rhetoric, on how McDonald's does its business and what means they use to accomplish it.
Chris Crawford's Balance of the Planet, made in 1990, is another example of tactical media, in which the game describes environmental issues.
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Famous quotes containing the words video games, media, video and/or games:
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)
“Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why—but the editorialists forget it—terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)