Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now, and I think one way to further clarify what's different about this sub-genre is its relationship to the information it conveys. Whereas a game like Airport Insecurity tries to make us think about something familiar in a different way, The Prison Life takes something we already know about and repeats it back to us in a funny way. A further sub-genre might be one in which new information is presented to us in a way that is itself compelling -- something more like Frontline in my analogy. I would think of Darfur is Dying like this, because it does contain a point of view (like Airport Insecurity), but the compelling nature of that game comes from its content and subject matter. If Airport Insecurity compels us to any action, it does so through a persuasive, editorial voice.

So back on this third category, tabloid gaming, what's left over from the above two definitions are games that happen to use a current event, but that don't present new information or new opinions on it. So You Think You Can Drive Mel might edge toward actual commentary, but most of the GSN games just take the popular opinion and regurgitate the punchlines. I watched the Tonight Show last night, and it's all formulaic -- you can see the joke coming from a mile away.

I think a designation like tabloid games might be helpful in terms of distinguishing the very different kinds of games currently listed, for example, under the NewsGames Category at AddictingGames.com. That category groups together Darfur is Dying with Zidane Head Butt, El Emigrante, and various political figure dressups and smackdowns. Besides some questions of quality, quite a few of these are also distinguishable for their lack of engagement with the issue, event, or people that they're mocking. I would consider these tabloid games, whatever that amounts to.