Persuasive Games Co-Founder, Dr. Ian Bogost to Curate "Video Games With An Agenda" Exhibit in Conjunction With the UK Release of The Corporation"

Persuasive Games works, and other noted games to be shown at Curzon Soho London exhibit now through November 7th

(PRWEB) October 20, 2004 -- To support The Corporation Season at Curzon Soho London throughout October Curzon Cinemas and Metrodome commission a unique, one-off exhibition about games that go beyond entertainment, VIDEO GAMES WITH AN AGENDA showcases the emerging field of videogames that strive to make a point, to share knowledge and to change opinions. Featuring the best specimens of game-based political and social commentary from around the world, the show demonstrates games' emerging potential as a tool for social commentary, persuasion, and activism.

Creators Dr. Ian Bogost and Gonzalo Frasca are internationally known as thought leaders in the field of rhetorical videogames. Together they edit WaterCoolerGames.org, an online resource about persuasive games. Their videogame design collaborations include the first ever videogame for a US Presidential candidate as well as numerous commissioned games for national political parties and organizations in the USA, Europe, and South America.

We are thrilled to be a part of this event. To have the opportunity to showcase our games and other notable games from this genre at a mass market event is a great opportunity for people to experience Persuasive Games," commented Gerard LaFond, Partner at Persuasive Games.

Dr. Ian Bogost added, This exhibit is meant as a small introduction, for a very general audience, to current ideas of using games explicitly for carrying political and social commentary, for the sake of that commentary as a principle goal."

VIDEO GAMES WITH AN AGENDA games will be available to play in the Curzon Soho mezzanine bar for ticket holders/ members/ upon request.

The Howard Dean for Iowa Game
Launched in December 2003, this was the first official videogame in the history of US Presidential elections. It started a trend that has been followed by both Republicans and Democrats: more than half a dozen officially endorsed political games have been launched during the current election.

Rather than aiming to convey the candidates ideas, this game was designed to show supporters the mechanics of a political campaign. The player has to go through three different mini-games portraying political outreach tasks such as sign-waiving, handing out leaflets and door-to-door canvassing. When the campaign was active, the game also included online multiplayer features that rewarded players for contacting other supporters/players through e-mail and instant messaging.

While Howard Deans candidacy was a failure, he contributed innovation to the US campaign landscape, especially on the Internet. Many of these techniques, including political videogames, are becoming more accepted as political tools in the United States.
By Dr. Ian Bogost and Gonzalo Frasca

Vigilance 1.0
Smile, you are being videotaped. Vigilance is an extremely effective reflection on control in our society. It features a series of monitors that cover a whole town where some citizens perform all sorts of devious acts and crimes. As a player, your goal is to play the role of Big Brother, identifying the immoral while taking care not to falsely accuse any innocents." At the most basic level, the game succeeds at modeling a society with hundreds of characters that behave (and misbehave) in real time. But because of its simple gameplay, the player surprises herself by enjoying the fascist activity of controlling other peoples lives, which may (or may not) lead to a critique of the source of that pleasure and the mechanics of vigilance. By appealing to the little fascist inside all of us, Vigilance 1.0 lets us play with the limits of moral, judgment and the role of privacy in our networked society.
By Martin Le Chevallier.

Over 18s only.
September 12th: A Toy World
The message is almost a biblical cliché: violence begets more violence. However, the games originality lays on the fact that its main idea is not conveyed through a story but through the inner mechanics of the system. Kill innocent civilians (collateral damage) while trying to kill the terrorists and their family and friends will become terrorists. There is always a delay between the moment that you click until the missile lands, making the smart bombs produce a very dumb carnage.

Part political cartoon, part videogame, September 12th aims to showcasing the mechanics of the U.S.-led War on Terror in a simple, yet effective way. Just like in the classic 80s film Wargames" there is no winning move in this game. Rather than providing answers, the authors want to encourage debate and make players think about reality while alienating some of the most common game design conventions.
By Gonzalo Frasca, Sofía Battegazzore and the Newsgaming team

TuboFlex
Videogames meet Modern Times." The main character in TuboFlex is not just a cogwheel within an infernal machine: it is a cogwheel within a system of infernal machines. A poignant critique of job insecurity and Human Resources Services, TuboFlex allows the player to experience not only the dreadful feeling of mechanized work but also the absurdity of the network of compartmentalized jobs that have made the factory mechanics that Chaplin complained about in the 1930s a reality.

Its simple gameplay makes it accessible to players, but it is this simplicity that forces them to take a distance from what is being simulated onscreen. The first activity that players engage in while dealing with a new game is figuring out its rules. TuboFlex effectively exploits that process by confronting players with both a game and a social work system that do not make much sense.
By Molleindustria

Horde of Directors
Horde of Directors puts the player in the role of an activist trying to advance a social agenda in the complex world of interrelated corporate and government interests. By creating simplified experience of corporate interconnectedness, the game embodies the challenges of overcoming corporate and government nepotism in the name of social causes.

Drawing on data from 2002 Ars Electronica Golden Nica winner They Rule by Josh On, players choose a real corporation or organization to influence, and set to work having heated arguments with those organizations actual board directors. But quickly, players learn that every board director leads to a whole new network of cohorts, who sit on other influential corporate boards and government organizations. The simple, sometimes repetitive gameplay gives the player a first-hand experience of the Sisyphusian struggle to be had.
By Dr. Ian Bogost and T. Michael Keesey

About Persuasive Games: (www.persuasivegames.com) With over 30 years of combined success in marketing, advertising, game research, and design, Persuasive Games is the natural choice of leading advocacy groups and lifestyle brands who want to communicate effectively through electronic gaming. Our games influence players to take action through gameplay. Games communicate differently than other media; they not only deliver messages, but also simulate experiences. While often thought to be just a leisure activity, games have also become rhetorical tools. Clients include: IL State GOP, Best Buy, Howard Dean for President, The Democratic National Convention Committee, Telecom Partners, and many others. Think games are just for fun? Think again.

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