There is a web adress here for an online political game. The anti-Bush game. http://www.emogame.com/bushgame.html Without falling straight into discussing the merits/faults of George W. what do people reckon about exploiting the new medium of computer games to reinforce an ideology or a set of morals?

Whilst some games like Medal Of Honour reinforce a generally accepted view of history, some games like America's ten most wanted, or Grand Theft Auto, for the sake of entertainment can be more controversial, and perhaps de-sensitize you more so than a violent or biased film, because in these cases you initiate the action and become participant to it, rather than just observe like you would a movie.

I guess my question is, are computer games a new powerful medium which can influence our values and popular culture even more so than anything else we've had before.

It depends on the child playing it if you ask me. If you take a mature child who has a head on his shoulders and knows that it is just good fun then games like GTA are acceptable, on the other hand you do have nutty kids out there who re-play what they see on screen and you end up with pillocks (of all ages I might add) driving down the street and risking peoples lives for "fun" in stolen cars.
As far as political games are concerned, well first most of the games with the nature described come with age guidelines (I play one with Bush killing terrorists on the net, and it does come with a graphic content (1 warning).
Ok age guides work as well as burst condoms...I remember watching loads of films as a kid I was way too young for, and things haven't changed all kids do this.
Most of these games are aimed at adult audiences however!

Second some of these games (such as Medal of Honour) while brutal can be educational, allowing the child to experience what it was like. Stupid example but my nephew didn't have a clue whose side the Soviets were on in WWII till he played MOH on his 360.

Ok there are games which involve you killing the Queen and such but as I said these are mainly aimed at adult audiences, not children, I know children still play them but that's the parents fault...not the games producer!!!

I think the Keyword is Game, as long as children understand what the word Game means and they have a general understanding that the games should be left on the screen and not taken into real life they become fairly harmless. TV programs, and films can be more influential in a childs life and unfortunately this is the main focus of the capitalism movement and is far more influential in the teaching of morals... since tv has become more liberal the kids have followed, its down to parents to sit down with their kids and explain the real world teaching them to respect everyones views but not always to take them onboard.

I wouldn't take it so seriously. The comics of an earlier era such as the Eagle were more full of propaganda and moulding stuff than computer games. We don't as a result go around shooting Germans and indeed that generation overturned the establishment in the sixeties despite the Eagle type propaganda.

I was initially horrified when my kids played these games but on talking about it thought better to let them carry on - prohibition is a bad word!

The only people adversly affected by violent computer games will already have some sort of mental disorder.
The same was said with heavy metal music, dungeons and dragons, etc
What ever the new thing is that the older generation dosen't understand gets blamed.
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I didn't add that it was a primary school with a higher than ususal number of special needs children, children with a great many emotional problems due to their upbringing.

Tell me about it - my son was into all those big time and is now in final year of Masters Hnrs in Philosophy amongst other things - didn't numb his brain too much!!!

You are 100% right.

Maybe still no bad thing. Could be a weak cyber equivalent of boxing gloves and punchbag - great for letting out agression in the emotionally disturbed perhaps?

The media as a whole is used for propaganda......Its nothing new.

i agree vandal

and it aint gonna change either!

And thats without even going into it. lol.

All you can do is educate yourself.

All media success is populist. The best way to educate oneself is to avoid exclusive exposure to whatever is the next big thing or number one in the sales charts. That isn't to say the most popular stuff is bad in itself. Just that there is a whole spectrum of propaganda and missinformation out there to be enjoyed. To truly educate yourself about it, the only way is surely to be exposed to as many wide ranging influences as possible while remaining objective and only taking from it what you desire to take from it. Rather than allowing the populist view to wash over you and sublinimaly becoming deep set in your subconcious.