A well written and articulated article, but my two responses are a mix of "Well, I disagree" and that the kind of moral depth and weight being asked for is never going to come out of mainstream media baring a huge swing in the tastes of the typical media consumer.
I think that's an interesting angle to explore, regarding consumer tastes. I'm not convinced that the mainstream consumer is only interested in games where their only verb is to kill, but maybe that devs know how to make and sell that, so rarely attempt to make and sell something different on the same scale. In fact, games that are about more than just that have done very well -- the Elder Scrolls and Bethesda Fallouts, or Bioware RPGs. And of course, I don't think anyone here, myself included, is arguing that there isn't a place for games primarily about shooting badguys with guns, its fun, but there is always room to be critical and examine what a game is doing. The division is particularly interesting for that, I think, because the setting is one where being able to do more than kill people would make a lot of sense.
This is really cool, thanks @halexandra64. I've certainly struggled with stuff like that, in MGS in particular, but never really spent the time to think about it, and separate out the guilt from the rest of the game. Part of me wants to dismiss MGS as a "bad game" but so much is so well done, so I can't really do that.
The point about Destiny is an interesting one too, I think I am guilty of perpetuating the "bad game" idea. I think that's even something that gets perpetuated by games media as well, even on this site.
On the off-chance that nobody else has pointed it out yet, im going to be that guy and say that ghost in the shell was initially a manga, although the movie(s) and SAC are better anyway.
@sinjunb: now hold up my dude. These are personal lists, its not really about seeing your own favorites get recognition at all. Witcher 3 is also one of my favorite games of the year (probably #2 behind Undertale) but I think you gotta come into these lists with a different perspective.
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