History Channel, nope. FOX, nope. MSNBC, nope. Xbox, yes!

I completely agree with Gonzalo Frasca when he introduces the idea that games can gain a better understanding of real-life social and political issues and can help us think more critically about these things. Until I played Flight to Freedom rarely had I thought about the everyday hardships of slavery and how decision to escape would affect the life of a slave. I rarely considered what I would do without an education to help guide me through my decision making processes. But all these things and more are highlighted when Frasca asks us to take Boalian approach to games as is taken in theater. However, one must be careful with such an approach when it comes to learning about history (as Frasca states with an Anne Frank example). Because of the role that video games play in shaping a player’s sense of reality through immersion it is critical that video games not assume the role of documentary as espoused by Raessens. As Raessens quotes in his article, ” Documentary computer games are capable of opening the area of the historical documentary to a large audience and may become very popular judging from the enthusiasm with which computer games generally are played and discussed”. Because of the educational effect” video games can have it is important not to fill them with inaccuracies. If a video games about the JFK assassination is the only place a fourteen year-old learns about this tragedy in our country’s history let it not be an inaccurate game. Because video games can assume the role of documentary games, when they do, they should be accurate.