As exemplified in the Twine game, “Depression Quest,” video games can be a platform for spreading useful information and sparking change. The game takes the player into the life of a depressed person, allowing them to better understand the struggles of that illness. Video games are often depicted as monsters in the media because they are all violent and full of gore, but such reports are misinformed. Video games, like any other art platform, can be a medium through which to provoke change.
We live in an age where society is trying to better itself through increase in equality. Once we no longer see race, gender, or any other physical difference, we will all be equal. Unfortunately, we are not perfect and still looking to find the right balance that will lead to the desired result. Some people still struggle to treat others equally, and others go too far in the other direction. The game I created focuses on the latter.
The article, “How fear of offending has trumped freedom of speech among today’s young people” by Jenny Bristow, (http://theconversation.com/how-fear-of-offending-has-trumped-freedom-of-speech-among-todays-young-people-36392) explains the point my game is attempting to make. “Can You Make It Through Without Offending Anyone?” is a self-explanatory title of a game that attempts to help the player understand just how far some people go not offend. It also exemplifies how easy it is to offend someone in this day and age. The aforementioned article delves into this subject admitting that youth are much more conscious of racial and cultural sensitivity, but are offended by the slightest of unsettling images or harsh words. People are growing soft and overly sensitive to the point that it is affecting our nation’s freedom of speech.
An opinion contrary to popular belief today is setting a stage for an angry audience. The world begins to miss out on some valuable new points of view because of fear of offending those who may disagree. They don’t want to show up as the next bigot on the next Huffington Post article. The New York Times article, “Trump, Obama, and the Assault on Political Correctness” contains a quote from President Obama that adds to this argument, “I’ve heard of some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative. Or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive... I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.” This is the exact point my game is trying to get across. The energy spent getting offended or trying not to offend shelters people from what could be a great learning experience.
The point of this game is not to argue that we should never strive to be politically correct or never worry about offending someone, quite the opposite. What we say should be uplifting and contribute something worthwhile to the conversation. The article, “Civilities: The current rage about ‘political correctness’ is both wrong and rude” offers a fair counterpoint to those completely against political correctness. It reminds again to be careful of extremes. Derogatory terms for any group of people should be avoided. People should not be able to say anything. If ruffling some feathers is what it takes to express one’s educated opinion, it should be done.
Once we stop worrying so much about who we offend, we will make a large stride toward society’s goal of equality. Only once we stop worrying so much about being equals and looking past differences, will we be able to actually achieve this goal.
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