Are Browser Games Filling the Same Role As Political Cartoons? 33
Amazon's Game Room Blog is running a piece asking whether modern browser games are coming to occupy the same purpose as political cartoons. The article was inspired by the variety of shoe-tossing games that sprung up after President Bush's recent run-in with an irate Iraqi journalist, as well as the games satirizing aspects of the presidential campaign and candidates. Quoting:
"The games are certainly no works of art, but they were not designed to be awe inspiring. They were instead designed to capture the moment, and immortalize it from a particular point of view that people in this particular time can appreciate, or at least recognize. ... just like the satirical editorial comics of our own past, these snippets of code will offer a window into the past, and the individually conceived past moments that it consists of."
Yes, but not always (Score:2, Insightful)
Some of the more subtle political satire can not really be made into a game, or if it was the game would be really boring.
Unnecessarily specific (Score:5, Insightful)
Doh. Not the same role as political cartoons in particular. This is called political satire. Yes, cartoons, web games, caricatures, it's all part of it. Why the comparison to cartoons in specific? Watch the big picture, please.
Not art? (Score:4, Insightful)
no works of art ... instead designed to capture the moment, and immortalize it from a particular point of view that people in this particular time can appreciate, or at least recognize.
Perhaps it's not beautiful or refined, but I'd say that's art, almost by definition.
Stuff like SockAndAwe? (Score:4, Insightful)
Political satire has always found enough outlets. The web is just the modern equivalent of a guy with a basement mimeograph churning out pictures of politicians with their heads up their parties. And lowering the barrier to entry and the increasing the exposure/audience just adds up in a way that the baby boomers aren't used to (IMHO). Yeah, web is basically a complex with a mansion upfront, a huge backyard & enough fences to slow down the more agile.
On a related note, I keep occasionally hitting Sock & Awe [sockandawe.com], just for kicks. Ironic that nobody jumped in front of the shoe.
Flash Won't Survive History (Score:3, Insightful)
I think Flash political games will unfortunately fall to the dustbin of history. Just the mere fact that technology changes and Flash (.swf, etc) will almost certainly become obsolete in favor of the latest and greatest file format of the future. Flash will become the .mov or .avi of the internet world. Will Flash games be preserved? Who will take the time and effort to convert them to the new file format? How many times have you encountered a Flash error even today?...Much less the future.
As for static cartoons in .jpg or .gif format, at the very least, these tend to survive because of their stability and wide-spread acceptance that doesn't seem to be waning.
Besides, those Flash games can be a little...childish(?). Whereas a cartoon has a long history of being "acceptable" to adults. Ironic, but true.