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POLITICAL GAMES
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By
Scott Macaulay
November 09, 2006
A number of very clever Flash animation games provide post-Election Day fixes for withdrawing political junkies.
POLITICAL GAMES
Gathering evidence on corrupt politicos and issuing subpoenas on Capitol Hill... making one's way through an airport security system in order to expose the insanity of our war on terror... figuring out how oil prices are manipulated on the world stage. The political agenda of the incoming Democratic congress?
No, just the challenges presented on Jay is Games, a blog that reviews and links to scores of insanely clever web-based Flash-animation games, many of which embed solid lessons about politics, culture and history into their gameplay.
For example, here's the blog's Jay Bibby on NoEvil's Subpoena Power (pictured): "Watch and listen for lobbyists prowling the halls of Capitol Hill, then pounce and serve them a subpoena to force them to drop their cash. Each briefcase of money you find decreases the corruption meter on the left side of the screen, preventing sycophants from getting paid to do their dirty work and allowing politicians to function on their own.... NoEvil has done a great job turning a complex political topic into an entertaining game that still manages to educate while you play. It's an eye-opening fact how easily corruption seeps into politics, but fortunately there's a system in place to keep things in check. Subpoena Power reminds us that government is run by laws, not people, and at the end of the day that's what will hold it together."
Or, boot up Persuasive Game's Airport Security in which "you play the role of an airport security agent screening passengers at a security checkpoint. As they pass through your scanner you can see what they are wearing and carrying, and what is packed in their carry-on. You must confiscate the banned items before you allow them to pass through.... The catch is that in the game, as it sometimes feels like in real life, what is banned can literally change by the second.... In this simple package Persuasive Games has managed a scathing indictment of our current state of 'security theater.'"
In another Persuasive Game, Oil God, "you have five years and eight godly wraths to wield on the puny world below you to double the cost of fuel in a target country." And in The Cost of Life, a game created by Global Kids and the Gamelab and hosted on the UNICEF site, you take responsibility for saving a Haitian family of five from poverty. Jay is Games has plenty of other links -- there are the usual Tetris clones -- but this week, while our minds are focused on politics and policy, the games above might just function as a fun and informative chill-out room for post-Election day political junkies.
No, just the challenges presented on Jay is Games, a blog that reviews and links to scores of insanely clever web-based Flash-animation games, many of which embed solid lessons about politics, culture and history into their gameplay.
For example, here's the blog's Jay Bibby on NoEvil's Subpoena Power (pictured): "Watch and listen for lobbyists prowling the halls of Capitol Hill, then pounce and serve them a subpoena to force them to drop their cash. Each briefcase of money you find decreases the corruption meter on the left side of the screen, preventing sycophants from getting paid to do their dirty work and allowing politicians to function on their own.... NoEvil has done a great job turning a complex political topic into an entertaining game that still manages to educate while you play. It's an eye-opening fact how easily corruption seeps into politics, but fortunately there's a system in place to keep things in check. Subpoena Power reminds us that government is run by laws, not people, and at the end of the day that's what will hold it together."
Or, boot up Persuasive Game's Airport Security in which "you play the role of an airport security agent screening passengers at a security checkpoint. As they pass through your scanner you can see what they are wearing and carrying, and what is packed in their carry-on. You must confiscate the banned items before you allow them to pass through.... The catch is that in the game, as it sometimes feels like in real life, what is banned can literally change by the second.... In this simple package Persuasive Games has managed a scathing indictment of our current state of 'security theater.'"
In another Persuasive Game, Oil God, "you have five years and eight godly wraths to wield on the puny world below you to double the cost of fuel in a target country." And in The Cost of Life, a game created by Global Kids and the Gamelab and hosted on the UNICEF site, you take responsibility for saving a Haitian family of five from poverty. Jay is Games has plenty of other links -- there are the usual Tetris clones -- but this week, while our minds are focused on politics and policy, the games above might just function as a fun and informative chill-out room for post-Election day political junkies.
