LogFAQs > #953724246

Ok, I actually just talked about this with someone yesterday.

Let's take two games, Fallout: New Vegas, widely considered to be one of the best games ever made, and The Last of Us 2, which is not.

Neither are apolitical, but FNV is still held in such high esteem despite this. And I'll use two of my favorite quotes to explain why.

When you enter freeside, a slum full of violence, drug abuse, and dehydration, if you speak to the gun salesman in the area and convince him to show you his full inventory, he'll say, "An armed society, is a polite society." Which is ironic given his living situation. It's a critique on American gun culture, and how guns don't always benefit those around them. Congratulations, you've made a political statement while not pushing an agenda saying, "Guns are bad" outright.

Another example of this is when you must meet the Boomers. The Boomers are people who live on an air force base. And are incredibly xenophobic. If anyone approaches the base, they are blown up with artillery. Once you reach the entrance, you have the chance to ask, "Are you going to confiscate my weapons?" And they say, "Now why would we do that? Personal armament is the cornerstone of building trust in society." Which is ironic given the fact that they murder everyone who gets close to them because they are scared. They're all just a bunch of scared people themselves. It shows that maybe these people shouldn't have access to such weapons. Again, it makes a political statement without pushing an agenda. It says that maybe everyone shouldn't have weapons because people are scared and twitchy. It doesn't outright say, "Guns are bad."

Now take this logic and push it all across the game. It constantly makes political statements across the entire spectrum, without pushing an agenda.

The Last of Us 2 is not so subtle.

(This might get me modded but I've gotta risk it to make my point.)

Let's take Abby. Why is she transgender? What does that offer to the story? Why doesn't Ellie kill her in the end? It makes no sense. Ellie has just murdered tons of people to get to Abby, just to come to the conclusion, "Revenge is bad, I shouldn't kill people for revenge." It's incredibly forced and awful for the story. Now if I may put on my tinfoil hat, it's because killing a transgender person in a video game would've been transphobic. And we're trying to encourage transgender acceptance, it's why we had you play as Abby for the second half of the game.

They're doing more than making a statement, they're pushing an agenda, and the story of the game suffers for it.

Hopefully this will help some people understand the difference between making a political statement in a video game, and pushing an agenda.


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The best advice my dad ever gave me was, "Life's full of idiots, don't be one."