- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
That is what makes political backdrops good when it's more than just some window dressing. Keeping things ambiguous and deciding what is the right side helps one wonder if they really did make the right choice, whether it's merging with the internet rather than blowing up Area 51 or choosing post-apocalyptic tribals LARPing as Romans over all other factions. Any game that tries to go overt in saying "this is the right side" isn't really gonna be as good as what Deus Ex or New Vegas has.More or less, what makes the political backdrops in games like Rockstar games, New Vegas, Deus Ex, and Bioshock work is that they leave shit ambiguous and let the player decide which is the “right side”, it fails horribly in games like Gone Home and Life Is Strange because there’s only one “right side” and the writers will remind you of this fact over and over again
Everything's political being like a mirror is rather fitting since one can imagine all sorts of spergings seeing one thing in a game and they think it means something they don't like such as handful of Twitter tards sperging over Doom Eternal using "mortally challenged" or the lack of some right wing militia as bad guys in Far Cry 5 being some sort of statement from Ubisoft.The problem with the "everything's political" argument is that good art functions like a mirror, reflecting those who perceive it. You can see whatever meaning you want in loads of well made things. Add a liberal arts degree & it's like throwing gasoline on a campfire.