Videogames of the Oppressed focused on many ideas but one interesting point was the lack of video game simulation of social and/or political context. The article itself was written back in 2004 so the author might be surprised by the ongoing maturity of video games. While many big blockbuster video games of late focus on saving Earth from intergalactic villains or running over pedestrians, online flash games and indie games have show unique story-telling.
Two flash games, whose names are impossible to find current, come to mind. One of them has the user playing as a soldier escorting a citizen through a beautiful South Pacific landscape. At the end of this lengthy walk similar to that of Passage, the user must decide whether or not to kill the citizen or let them free. If the user allows the citizen to live, his character returns back to the village to be killed. The purpose of the flash game was to educate about the horrors of genocide that also took place in the South Pacific in the 1970’s. Another game starts off as man getting ready for work. The player plays as a middle-age man preparing for work in New York City. The player can make a wide variety of small decisions throughout the journey. However, no matter what, the player arrives at work only to realize that the date is September 11th, 2001 and the man works at the World Trade Center. Both games has the user active participate in the simulation of the game; however, the ending of both games has the user sit back and critically assess life. Whether it is about the tragedies of genocide and war, or the fragility of life and how short it can be, the user is forced to come to a conclusion about his or her own life. As games continue to mature as well as the progression of the modern day gamer, it would not be surprising to see simulation and critical thinking to fully merge in the future.