Newsgames: Do they take the seriousness out of the news?

 Image courtesy of newsgames.gatech.edu

Newsgames "can persuade, inform, and titillate; make information interactive; recreate a historical event; put news content into a puzzle; teach journalism; and build a community." (Bogost, Ferrari, Schweizer, 2010)

The progression of advancements in technology has allowed an audience to consume media in many different ways. For example, the gaming community online has grown considerably in the last few years with the introduction of games such as World of Warcraft (WoW). This has inspired games to be created with news stories as their theme.

By playing a game based on a news event, the user interacts with the issue. It could provoke them to find out more about the issue or it could do the opposite and take all seriousness out of the real situation. For someone who's just stumbled across the game it can be a good starting point for them to access a news story. After all, curiosity is something that strikes us all and we always want to know more. However, if you already understand the concept of the story then the game can become simply just a game as you interact and get involved in the game without thinking.

Many of the games that I have found have been biased. For example, there are many games circulating the internet opposing George Bush. These games allow people to express their views via the creator. This is somewhat safer than actually hitting George Bush with a shoe yourself (as one of the games allows you to do!)

So, are these games a good way of getting news across to various audiences? Yes and no.

Much of the gaming community is comprised of young people- often teenagers. Therefore, they'll be the ones much more likely to stumble upon these games. These games can then become viral as they're shared via social networking sites such as facebook. Furthermore, these games can then go on to reach an older audience if, for example, the gamer's parents are aware of the games that they're playing. So, these games can then reach a variety of people.