I''m in a strange state... I haven''t been working on game related stuff for about a week... side project is consuming too much time. So, I suppose that is why this ideal came to me... How about a game in which the player moves into a neighborhood where two rival gangs are fighting over "turf" (I have zero knowledge of any of this activity - except what I have seen from movies, tv and news ( of course the news is the same as tv)). The player must choose which gang to join. After that it would be played out like any RPG or a space sim in which the storyline is controlled and the choices the player makes affect the storyline. Of course, a MP version would allow greater freedom everyone that enters the world would have to choose which gang (I''m sure there would be many...), if any! This could be fun... but... I can see where it would be controversial... the media and some other groups would love to sink their teeth into something like this.... but, if you did it right... and tried to show that gangs aren''t all that great of a way of life... maybe you could get away with the concept. I know that in the past I have made some fairly bold statements about violence in games and about games (games not meant to be educational) not being tools of learning. Call it old age or whatever you like... but maybe games can be educational or games can influence behavior in a positive direction. What are your thoughts? Dave "Dak Lozar"Loeser

well fuck the media and fundamentalists. this would actully be a pretty interesting game. I have liked the idea of the main character not being the one big assed force in a game. it would be a nice change of pace. but the story would have to get bigger than that. its a good place to start a game but there has to be more or it will get boreing.

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games are very educational...the military uses war games to teach battle tactics..they even used a modified version of Doom to teach small force infiltration techniques and such...

There was an artical online some time ago [don''t remember where] that talked about how animals play games...lion cubs play mock fights, etc...it went on to state something along the lines that mammels are the only animal class that plays games..it seems to be a fundimental teaching technique that mammels alone use...very interesting read...

But anyhow, I live in a "hood" like enviroment...in fact there was a drive-by shooting last year that happened two houses down...6 months ago a girl was killed at a party a block over...this isn''t "south central"..just a midsize midwestern city...Mmm...honestly gang like activity around here seems to be vanishing and in turn replaced by drug dealers...er what I meen is that there are several rental homes in this area that are constantly moved into and out of on a near monthly basis...one trouble prone family moves in then gets kicked out for whatever reason and moves someplace else...the whole turf thing seems to have gotten fractured...but thats my point of view [the gangs wouldn''t be all that interested in me as I''m to old...and liveing in such a "hood" you tend to "stick to yourself"...if you don''t want trouble..you don''t cause trouble...that sort of thing]..yeah gangs are still around, but a lot more quiet then they used to be...I think that sense the media attention on gangs has died off, to some extent so have the gangs [that and as the gang members, present during the media hysteria, on the whole have gotten older...they have sorta imploded...some getting out for good...others just travel the drug dealing route...some inbetween]..by and large though the neiborhood is okay, containing poor people [like me] just trying to get by...

Sorry to hear your living situation.

I really think that it does not matter where you live these days... more to the point anywhere you live there is a chance of violence. You know the nice little guy down the street... he''s a mass murderer and his next door neighbor is a child molester. It''s everywhere.

As for games being educational... I know that some are meant to be educational, and that is why they were produced. But on the other hand, some games are just meant to be fun... Such as Doom and Quake etc... The military (the Marines to be precise) is using the Doom engine to create simulations. These again are meant to be educational. The Marines have rewritten alot of the engine to suit their needs, which is training.

FPSs off the shelf are (IMO) nothing more the fun ways to waste time. From my experience playing in the Arena''s it''s an Ego fest, nothing educational about that (LOL). Far from the type of training experience that a Marine playing the mod''ed version of Doom would receive

At any rate... Thanks for the feedback...



Dave "Dak Lozar"Loeser

I''m wondering... wasn''t Kingpin like this? It didn''t appeal to me (too crude) but the buzz about the game was that you built up a gang, kicked people''s butts, and used lots of swear words...

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Just waiting for the mothership...

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(or perhaps ''gangsters'')

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You want controversy try a game about dealing crack to pregnant women and then when they have their crack baby you collect them on spikes and the person with the most babies WINS! Now that could get on the news.

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Damn Mr Cup... Get off the caffeine and crack... It isn''t good for your sanity

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quote:Original post by Mr Cup

You want controversy try a game about dealing crack to pregnant women and then when they have their crack baby you collect them on spikes and the person with the most babies WINS! Now that could get on the news.

I know you''re probably joking (or half-joking???) but there''s a huge difference controversy and obscenity. What you''re talking about really is juvenile obscenity, in that it''s goal is to offend rather than provoke (like Maplethorpe''s cross in urine, which was more a hit at religion rather than a thought provoking statement).

To take your example, if you want controversy, cast the player as a young person of color an economically abandoned American inner city. Create an economic and cultural model that rewards killing, car jacking, and drug dealing to pregnant women. Make all other paths insanely difficult. Graphically show it all, especially the consequences, and offer it up as a defiant social protest.

Oh yeah, and make sure just about every gameplay option ultimately ends in poverty, prison or death.

Now __THAT__ would be controversy that you could defend in front of Lieberman and Capitol Hill.



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Just waiting for the mothership...