Would you like to see more religious/political issues in games? (Gaming Q of the Day 11-6-10)

Certainly, if the developers are mature enough to address such issues without making their game into an insipid sermon.

I am not into religion, but what I would love to play is a game where you are a good guy on the side of religion,,, battling against the evil atheists... LOL

" Games are art. Art is for entertainment, and for exploring complicated issues and ideas. Therefore, yes. Not all games need to, but I think that more games should touch on social issues. And, though this process is slower than I like, they are. "

Yes, but I'd like it to be done well, and to be able to present some actual genuine debate instead of the standard "herp durp free will, religion sucks, etc".

More of both. Stop castrating art, selling art, shifting copies and sequels programmed for inoffensive 'fun'. Say something. Offend someone.
 
On a side-note, this is never going to happen. The games industry is by design business-oriented; universality is a business key-stone. They'll never risk a demographic split.

Now that I think about it, World of Goo did get kinda politically tainted towards the end. And I liked the way they executed that very, very much.
 
And the Silent Hill series shows that you actually can do thematic depth in video games properly.

I want to see more well-designed games instead of just games that use hot topics as a kind of crutch, which I think is what would happen if developers more willing to do some kind of ambulance-chasing emerge, so no

Sure, why not?

More Xenogears-level of stories and symbolism would be great. I don't think that necessarily means I want to see more political or religious subject matter in my games... just more well-written stories, regardless of whatever subject matter they tackle.

Heck no, why stir up more controversy to make games and gamers look bad

Heck yes I'd like to see more political/religious statements or criticisms in games! It would make them far more interesting. Far more controversial, for sure, but also far more interesting.  
 
I don't think many developers would dare go there though. Imagine a game that criticised aspects of Islam directly or the GOP directly, for instance - few developers would be courageous enough to ever do something like that, because of the sheer amount of hatred/death threats/lost sales that would result. 
 
I hope they do it, but I'm not hopeful, if that makes sense.

If it fits the game, like a fictional issue, sure go for it, I love deep complex games with their own worlds and rules.
But keep real problems out of the games, they're GAMES.
 
You don't see them making 9/11 monopoly or suicide bomber board games. 

I would personally welcome a game from time to time test the grounds of free speech, and attempt to give us something compelling which tackles the tough questions within these topics.  However since games are still seen as a new medium,  I would say just wait a little more for our society to completely adapt and accept games wholeheartedly as just another medium of creative entertainment.  Then we can see some really interesting attempts at this with way less chances of any media or political bashing (this is not to say it won't happen, as any attempt at doing this will spark opposition somewhere).

I could take it or leave it, I don't really care whether a story is good in a game or not.   I will only care if preachiness begins to dampen my enjoyment of the gameplay, which is the only thing I can see definitely happening if video games begin to take firm stances on real-life political and religious grounds.

I'd like to see more games that handled these issues well. Most of the time it just doesn't work.

There's enough of that shit hamfistedly put in video games so more would probably be a disaster.

" Heck no, why stir up more controversy to make games and gamers look bad "

No. I think they should stay as far away from those issues as possible. Video games aren't a good platform for issues like those, or any issues, really.

Are political and religious issues going to make the game any better? Not really. Such topics can certainly enhance the fiction of the game, and therefore can make the experience a lot more interesting if done right. Games that involve world history certainly need to pinpoint these topics to give them a sort of authentic appeal, don't they? I haven't ever played Civilization, so I don't exactly know what I'm talking about, but wouldn't that game be a different experience if it didn't have any of its politics like conquering stuff and being a world leader/power? Would it be Civilization? Also, Freedom Fighters: that's all I'm going to say for that. And then, on the other hand, you got Gears of War, where I guess I'm supposed to care about Dom finding his wife in a war-torn society, when certainly, I just play the game for its shooting. But even then, I'm not supposed to get a political message from Gears, I'm just supposed to enjoy playing it. 
Do I ever want to play a game solely for the purpose of getting a political or religious message as a book like Frankenstein or the Bible? No, I don't ever want video games to be to the point of writing essays or basing my sermon about and around them. That isn't the point of video games, in my opinion. But, if implemented creatively by the developers to make the game seem more interesting, then yeah, sure, why not. As for whether Doubt the Video Game should ever exist, well, I'm wondering that myself.

Wow I'm surprised by the results! I agree with this:  
 
@jukezypoo said:

" Games, like any other medium, can handle topics maturely, and present them in a new light that causes one to think differently about them.  Or they can let you tear open someone's chest with dual chain-blades. If developers want to handle it in a mature manner, then they have all the right to. If they want to use them for cheap attempts at emotional engagement, then they should keep them far away. "

Only if it's done as part of a well crafted story and doesn't completely dominate the game. I just cringed every time anything to do with Yevon came up in FFX. 

yeah, i would like that in more games. like something like the government is being becoming to powerful so somebody has to take down the government. 
 
something a long the lines of god of war is the best there is. i don't want to hear things like god bless you from a character.