Video games provide space for the imagination When I was a teenager, I played a ton of Rollercoaster Tycoon. I was a theme park manager in charge of a slew of parks. It was my responsibility to keep the books in the green lest the stakeholders got antsy. This required planning for the future, considering the park’s design, and managing the experiences of my guests. … Continue reading Inventing Narratives as Gaming Practice
As a franchise, Far Cry has players take on the roles of protagonists who become heroes to specific communities–typically people who are presented as “primitive” in a variety of ways. The hero is capable of exceptional ideas and actions which in turn aid and lift local communities out from under oppressive forces. This is a common theme in video games. However, these relationships between “saviors” and “victims” can be problematic in Far Cry even if the last two games in the franchise make attempts to rectify or adjust such representations.
Continue reading “Unmasking the ‘Savior’: Narratives and Heroes in Far Cry”
