Torture – a nice festive theme but bear with me, this is not a post about violence as such. A blog post by Clive Thompson demands provocatively Why We Need More Torture in Video Games – sit on the fence why don’t you Clive. Now Clive has not lost his mind in an Xmas fog, nor does he appear to be a sadist. Rather, he thinks entertainment based video games provide a powerful tool for experiencing and learning from complex and difficult situations. He rightly cites the convoluted debate that has accompanied torture and rendition practised under the banner of the War on Terror as evidence as an unresolved public debate; and examples of torture being used without restriction by CTU in the Series 24 as evidence of people not fully understanding the political, societal, moral and practical consequences of using and condoning torture. Can games be a medium through which to explore, experience, debate and learn about these consequences?
Pot and Kettle
Posted by thinkingworlds 