A little game told me so

[clyde]

Name a game and something that it successfully expressed to you.

Here is an example:

Stacking expressed what it is like to be a child looking at adults in social situations. Not only does it communicate the reductive Richard Scary view that adult-identity is mostly a job with a uniform, but the simplistic fantasy of "If I looked like an adult, I wouldn't have these specific, arbitrary rules imposed on me."

As a bonus it expresses that such impersonation would reveal hierachies among adults, to a child.

[elmuerte]

Max Payne 3

 

It's ok to drink a lot and use painkillers constantly, as long as you kill a lot of people/

[clyde]

Mount & Blade

If you are on foot and they have a horse, you're fucked.

[Squid Division]

I feel like Crusader Kings II, Civilization, and the Total War series all express their intended goals very well:

 

Crusader Kings shows the absurdity and complexity of Medieval politics, families, and the effort it takes to wrangle them into a stable entity.

 

Total War (on higher difficulties) shows the difficulties (or lack-there-of in some cases) generals and nations have in exerting their power. My favorite Total War game is the Barbarian Invasion expansion for the original Rome because it showed just how fucked the Roman Empire was, and how fluid all the tribes and their boundaries were.

 

Civilization shows the extent of humanity - from the stone age to the nuclear, from nuclear war to artistic and cultural achievement. For me, it also showcases the importance geography and resources have on a civilization and their growth/decline.

[melmer]

Sonic all star racing transformed:

If I manage to successfully barrel roll my car during my daily commute I'll get a sweet speed boost! Got to hit that curb just right

I have written off seven cars this year

[Ucantalas]

Surgeon Simulator 2013 has taught me all the medical science I could possibly need. I don't have a medical license yet, but if you need a surgery done really cheaply, well, I'm your guy! (butnotreally)

[clyde]

Little Big Planet

I don't actually want to build cool stuff, I just want the ability to do so.

[clyde]

Surgeon Simulator 2013 has taught me all the medical science I could possibly need. I don't have a medical license yet, but if you need a surgery done really cheaply, well, I'm your guy! (butnotreally)

Surgeon Simulator 2013 reminds me of those local news human-interests stories that you find on Youtube that are like "After losing both arms in a car-crash, this local man learned to paint with his feet."

[Patrick R]

Little Inferno expressed a keen understanding of addictive gaming, connecting it to the addiction of consumerism and, ultimately, the destructive end result of myopic capitalism.

 

Spelunky expressed that you can be as offensive and racist as you'd like as long as you're really really fun, and Patrick will try to defend you.

[Henroid]

"Want some rye?"

[tegan]

Even without proper context, Ace Attorney successfully conveyed its message of "the Japanese legal system is fucking broken as hell."

 

99% conviction rate, no juries, and one of the most successful and prominent defense attorneys in Japan has only had 5 wins in a 25 year career.

For extra credit, look up the infamous case of Issei Sagawa.

[Gormongous]

I'll always bring up King of Dragon Pass as the most educational of any game I've ever played. To be successful as a leader of tribes, you have to take into account the ebb and flow of the season, the superstition of your people, and the power of tradition. Only by looking backward constantly can you lead your tribe to something new. Better than any historical game, it answers the question I always get from my students, "Why didn't ancient people all just settle in cities and invent steel?"

[Merus]

I wrote a thing about this a few years ago because expression in games is the only reason I'd ever want to get into the game industry, given how generally awful it is, particularly around these parts.

 

 

Cashflow is a board game by Robert Kiyosaki, the Rich Dad Poor Dad guy. The idea is that it's a "fun" way to learn the mechanics of the economy (at least enough to quit your job), but its structure makes it super-easy to just go from paycheck to cool-but-pointless expense. It was inspired by Monopoly, a game that also could have used some playtesting and perhaps a warning to avoid the Free Parking kitty rule unless you want the game to go all night.

 

This kind of didactic design fascinated me, as did the experience of going around the board unable to keep up with the Joneses -- a cautionary tale, all the more effective because it's you in the driver's seat getting increasingly upset. But then my young mind proposed a question: I already knew that games could tell stories; I'd grown up on adventure games, after all. But could they put me into the game, so I felt the heroes' triumphs and heartbreaks and everything in between, like this silly pastel boardgame had made me feel middle-aged and poor?

 

 

I ended up finding games that showed me ways I could see that question answered, Super Metroid and Ico, but I would probably have glossed over them -- or given up gaming altogether -- if it wasn't for Kiyosaki's game.

 

Wow, this does read like something I wrote a while ago.

[BadHat]

Bioshock Infinite taught me that revolutionary minorities are just as evil as their oppressors because any extremist position is automatically bad regardless of the circumstances.

Spelunky taught me that if you hurt a damsel, it's only because you're ultimately trying to help them. They just need to be guided onto the right path, that's all. They'd be lost and afraid without you. They need you. It's only right that they be put in their place every now and again.

That may have gotten creepy.

[Zeusthecat]

Bioshock Infinite taught me that revolutionary minorities are just as evil as their oppressors because any extremist position is automatically bad regardless of the circumstances.

 

 

Bioshock Infinite taught me to search dead people's bodies and eat whatever food I find on them. Because it's healthy.

[Gormongous]

Bioshock Infinite taught me to search dead people's bodies and eat whatever food I find on them. Because it's healthy.

 

Bioshock Infinite taught me that violence is always bad except when prompted by ethical or moral shortcomings, in which case you saw their goddamn face off.

[Tanukitsune]

Until I played the latest expansion of Civ V, it never really hit me how much power religion can have over the world

[Ucantalas]

Bioshock Infinite taught me that violence is always bad except when prompted by ethical or moral shortcomings, in which case you saw their goddamn face off.

Bioshock Infinite taught me that its okay to sell relatives to strangers in order to clear up outstanding debts.

I have yet to find a bank that will accept this form of currency, however.

[Henroid]

I'm disappointed in the lack of people knowing that of course they do.

 

ANYWAY

 

Dwarf Fortress taught me that no matter how hard you try to please people, they will eventually enter fey moods and start wrecking shit, which will set off chain reactions of depression as members of a fort are torn to pieces by a berserking dwarf, who is eventually (hopefully) put down by the military.

[bakelite]

Stalker taught me that vodka cures radiation poisoning and that bread and sausages constitute a healthy diet.

[Sno]

Old-school Sim City definitely pushed a very green worldview, it's like a systemized lesson in protecting the environment from your growing city.

Now Sim City pushes a worldview of consumption = happiness.