The Message of Games

[Wolf Kanno]

I was reading an article from The Week today about whether Western powers had given up on the idea of Globalism in the face of the Brexit vote and the rise of Pro-Nationalist leaders like Donald Trump; and the first thing that came to mind for me was the Front Mission series. This is because the "big picture" drama of the franchise is a future where the world has been divided into major geopolitical unions in a hope of maintaining political and economic relevancy but now faces internal conflict as the various organizations face nationalist movements within that aim to wreak the balance of power. By the end of the series, one of the organizations has pretty much collapsed in on itself and one of the others is badly damaged from all the wars and terrorism over the course of the series. The series relevancy today is rather startling, but I appreciate the fact the series approaches the issue a bit more even handed than most stories dealing with political or moral messages.

This got me thinking more about the games I've surrounded myself with and the messages they wish to convey to us the player. So what messages have you loved from the games you've played? Which ones failed for you? Should games actually feature real world commentary or should it shy away from it because the medium is meant for recreational use?