March 18, 2008 -
Over at Water Cooler Games, game designer and Georgia Tech prof Ian Bogost takes a look at ICED! (I Can End Deportation), the immigration issue-oriented game from human rights organization Breakthrough.While hailed by some, the game has come under attack by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which claims that ICED! "teaches kids contempt for U.S. immigration laws."
So what does Bogost think? While sympathetic to the project's goal of educating the public to the plight of immigrants, Bogost terms ICED! "a missed opportunity, demonstrating both the promise and problems with social issues games in general..." Here's more from his review:
The game clearly takes inspiration from open world games like Grand Theft Auto... ICED takes a strong, clear position on immigration, one that amounts to something like, "the current legal process for immigration is broken." This is a valid and even a compelling position, one that differs from public discourse about the topic, which usually decays into panics about border laws and legal work programs...
But the result doesn't match the subtlety of the organization's position. As a game, ICED is a mixed bag... I couldn't help but feel that the game's budget could have been adjusted away from a basically empty 3D world and toward a more detailed, 2D one with more living texture. This would also have remedied the game's numerous technical glitches...
The player isn't really making choices that affect his fate, rather he is being steered through an elaborately dressed-up fact quest... In the past, I have argued that many social issues games need not worry about quality, since their main impact is likely to come in the form of publicity anyway.
Bogost also frets that anti-immigration reactionaries are getting as much mileage out of criticizing ICED! as Breakthrough is for producing the game.
Comments
Everythings broken in this damn country.
You can tell this is not a professionally developed game. It could have been developed better. Considering that immigration is a continuous debate, they could have taken more time to develop it. It seems that they rushed it a bit.
Still the message is clear if you are willing to play through the bugs.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Or willing to play at all.
that was what would have made the game a bit more better,
Sadly the big 3 (Nintendo I would name because it does not want to trace any sybject matter about the horrors of the Hollocost for one DS game I should mention...) are almost scared to even support a game like this for the commercial market.
Sadly, many social issue games may never get to see any comerical release because of the risk of the current market not liking the game and also because of the political situration of Videogames that is beyond our own control.
Games such as this one are not really meant for retail though. When you have a strong political message you want people to see, you can't really be charged for it. Most people don't like to pay to be preached to.
Releasing this type of game for free and trying to get as much media coverage as possible is the best way to go.
Now there is nothing wrong with commercial games having strong social and political messages, just as long as they are not preachy. Commercial games have to be fun first. This one doesn't really achieve that.
As for the Holocaust game, you must have missed the memo. Nintendo is not blocking it. They have not even reviewed the game. The game is still in preproduction and has not been sent to Nintendo for approval.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Not to mention a retail release means the game could easily be lost behind all the hyped up ones.
True. A retail release means that you are now competing with games that don't discuss your message or any message for that matter.
Why go through all the trouble of gaining a license and competing in the retail scene, when it is a heck of a lot easier to get just as much if not more face time by releasing these game for free.
Also you have to remember that games such as this one are not developed with the intention of turning a profit.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower