I had the same uneasy reation when the trailer showed how you can "rally local villages or force them into submission." Hopefully roleplaying colonialism will eventually feel as gross as roleplaying something like racism.
Part of the appeal of games is harmlessly doing things that shouldn't/can't be done in real life. I think the millions of 'people' I've 'killed' across various bloodsport-themed FPSes over the last couple decades is a greater evil if we're talking about shoehorning IRL morals into consequence-free virtual spaces. And if you disagree, why? Is mass murder not worse?
Maybe I'm just oversensitive to moralizing in video games, but this line of argument was no less tired over a decade ago.
I think it’s because we all know murder is wrong and the FPS genre wouldn’t exist as we know it without that factor.
In contrast, colonialism and racism, unfortunately, still garners support.
There is no support for video games glorifying rape. There shouldn’t be support for video games glorifying colonialism or racism.
Part of the appeal of games is harmlessly doing things that shouldn't/can't be done in real life. I think the millions of 'people' I've 'killed' across various bloodsport-themed FPSes over the last couple decades is a greater evil if we're talking about shoehorning IRL morals into consequence-free virtual spaces. And if you disagree, why? Is mass murder not worse?
Maybe I'm just oversensitive to moralizing in video games, but this line of argument was no less tired over a decade ago.
https://i.imgur.com/3e1obaF.jpeg