If the videogame is the ubiquitous, everyday cultural force that we often hear it is, then it is unsurprising that game makers and audiences have often turned to it as a kind of vernacular form to communicate political ideas. Making games to prove a point has a fairly long history, and as a practice has been embraced not only by game makers with something to say, but also by broadcasters, advocacy groups, festivals, and an audience willing to engage with serious topics. Making political video games is not always easy (and like many kinds of political speech, can be threatened with silence, as with Apple’s push to banish politics from their App Store), but they do exist, and historically, political games have even sometimes intruded on public life.
In the current climate of Australian politics, with its focus on election campaign talking points and slogans like ‘A New Way’, ‘Choose Real Change’ and ‘Stop the Boats’, it’s illuminating to consider that not only was one of the first—and still one of the most important—politically-focused videogames Australian, but that it confronted an area of political debate that still divides the nation: the fate of asylum seekers. In a neglected corner of Australian history—the nexus of videogames, political history, and the asylum seeker debate—lies the story of Escape From Woomera.
Obsession by Innerpartysystem