Political Speech in Games Greg Costikyan www costik

Political Speech in Games Greg Costikyan www. costik. com costik@costik. com

• In April, Judge Stephen Limbaugh ruled that computer and video games had "no conveyance of ideas, expression or anything else that could possibly amount to free speech“ • Overturned in June by the 8 th Circuit Court of Appeals. • Here are some games that convey ideas—and explicitly political ideas—the type of speech granted the strongest and most explicit legal protection.

The Landlord’s Game Boardgame. Patented 1904, published 1910. Design by Lizzie J. Magie. The original version of “Monopoly, ” which is a clearly derivative product. Magie was a “Single Taxer, ” an adherent of the political and economic theories of Henry George. “The object of this game is not only to afford amusement to players, but to illustrate to them how, under the present or prevailing system to land tenure, the landlord has an advantage over other enterprisers, and also how the single tax would discourage speculation. ” Design was later ripped off by Charles Darrow and Parker Brothers.

Class Struggle Boardgame. Published in 1978. Design by Bertell Ollman, a Marxist professor of politics at NYU. The players are “workers” struggling to survive in the face of oppression by “the capitalist. ” They gain power as the game progresses, and must ultimately overthrow capitalism, or “the capitalist” wins. Actually does teach some sociology, from an explicitly Marxist viewpoint. Pretty dull, though.

Capital Punishment Boardgame. Published 1981. You control four “prisoners, ” and win by maneuvering them until they are all on Death Row, the Electric Chair, or Life Imprisonment. Or the you may use your two "liberals" to spring the opposing players' criminals from the "Path of Justice" back to the Street often enough to turn all fifteen of each opponent's Innocent Citizens into Victims of violent crimes. Victims go to Heaven. I. e. , heavy-handedly pro-death penalty.

Hidden Agenda Computer game. Published in 1989. Des. By Jim Gasperini, prod. Ron Martinez Puts you in the role of a the leader of a mythical Latin American country. Clearly intended as a criticism of Reaganera policy toward Central America. Out of print, but Gasperini will send you a copy if you make a donation to one of several NGOs in Central America (details at http: //www. well. com/user/jimg/)

Balance of the Planet Computer game. Published in 1990. Des. by Chris Crawford Try to maintain economic growth, minimize death from pollution, the greenhouse effect, and exploding nuclear power plants. Designer’s political beliefs (green and liberal) are made explicit—but players are permitted to modify core assumptions to build a simulation that conforms to their own beliefs (e. g. , if you like nukes, reduce the costs and dangers of nuclear power and see how the game plays out).

Published 1999. By “Designer X, ” a thinly veiled pseudonym for Greg Costikyan. A tabletop roleplaying game. A lot like D&D… you kick down doors, kill what you find on the other side, and steal their ‘treasure’… only it’s the world of today, and the things you kill are normal human beings with normal human aspirations. . An explicit attack on game designers’ easy reliance on violence, couched in the form of a game itself.

Web game, ran in 1999 & 2000. Des. by Greg Costikyan Sponsored by the Markle Foundation as a way to educate the public about the Federal government. Over 26 weeks, examined every major federal program, asked players to vote on all. Results created fictional news stories (e. g. , “Congress Legalizes Heroin”). Results presented at a news conference in Washington.

Published 2003. Des. by Gonzalo Frasca. Shockwave game. Purports to be a ‘commentary’ on the war on terrorism; you launch missiles into a crowded souk, which kills some terrorists but mostly civilians; survivors wail in grief, and some portion become terrorists. http: //www. newsgaming. com/

(Under Ash) Published 2003. First-person shooter. You play a Palestinian “freedom fighter” working to overthrow the evil Zionist regime. “The main purpose of the game was originally filling the time of leisure which this section feels and previously filled with foreign games distorting the facts and history…” I. e. : The game is explicit pro-Palestinian propaganda. www. underash. net