With the coming release of the highly popular game Halo 3, it occurred to me that all accounts of the future, whether in film, video game or book tends to refer to the future always engulfing a dooms-day type scenario. Why is that? Is human nature really such a one to always choose war over love? Do we really doubt that our humanitarian groups and environmentalist groups will continue to grow in order to save the earth? Why is it so unfathomable to see the earth and its people joining hands in peace as in those cartoons from the 60s?
I would have thought that with the popularity of such aid and conservation groups that the public opinion would eventually sway towards such an attitude on life. Clearly at the moment the big selling computer games target the violence of society. But, with the popularity of such games as Sim City and Civ City I ask games, why not develop a computer game in which we have the task as the UN to rebuild the infrastructures of those cities and countries which require it. The game could encompass going out to the occidental companies for donations. Game play could include role-playing in negotiation skills. If the game required a darker side, it could look into the corrupt underhanded ways of corporate behaviour over its employees and marketplace.
If the gamers were to factor into place costs, perhaps we could discover that to achieve a “perfect world” where there is no poverty or children dying of starvation or the hunting of rare or endangered species can be achieved given the current global economy and manpower!
So to all gamers out there, here’s a challenge I propose to you!
– Maestro di Amore