Visionary Seeks to Harness Video Games for Politics & Education
This guy gets it.
A report in today's Ha'aretz (Tel Aviv) profiles Gonzalo Frasca, a Copenhagen game researcher whose focus is on harnessing the power of video games for educational and political messages. Frasca also publishes Ludology, a website devoted to video game theory.
"If Cervantes had written 'Don Quixote' today," Frasca told Ha'aretz, "video games - and not books - would have sparked the imagination of its hero and caused him to realize that he is a knight waging a war for justice. Don Quixote was a reflection of fear of a new medium - popular literature - and over the years his fears were proven false. Today there is a big fear of video games."
Believing that games belong in schools, newspapers and political campaigns, Frasca stresses the learning potential within game tech.
"Unlike literature and movies," he said, "games encourage risk-taking, and learning the results of our actions. They force us to view the world from a different angle, and always be ready to learn something new. These are the skills required to create social change and to be better human beings. Sim City, for example, allows us to see what happens if a city is built with too many factories..."
Even Grand Theft Auto doesn't faze Frasca, who calls it "a wonderful game." He faults parents who allow young children access to adult-oriented games, comparing such behavior to screening a Quentin Tarantino movie for a toddler.
Nor is Frasca especially concerned with video game addiction. He offers a fascinating perspective:
"People also develop dependencies to chocolate, sex and love, and that does not turn them into bad people. Millions of people watch television like zombies and no one protests. It's obvious that it is better to sit in front of a computer, play a game, communicate with others and develop."
Frasca, who once created a game for failed presidential candidate Howard Dean, sees enormous political potential in games.
"Games are good for propaganda because they appeal to a young audience that does not take an interest in politics," he said. "And games manage to simplify complex issues. Although Dean lost the election, the game worked. It prompted a lot of responses in the media, and other politicians began putting games in their campaigns."
He cautions that games can be a tool for negative messages as well.
"Any type of medium can be used for provocation. Radical groups supported [Hitler's film maker] Lenny Riefenstahl and director D.W. Griffith, who created racism though ingenious propaganda films. In that respect, radical ideologists preceded the movie industry. (Palestinian terrorist organization) Hezbollah also uses games... It is impossible to stop the manipulative nature of video games. It is parallel to what is happening in the advertising world. The solution is to educate and learn how the manipulations work, what affects us, and develop a critical view of games from an early age."