Pederasty

Keys of a GameSpace is a short Adventure Game Studio title that rather pretentiously labels itself an "expressive game;" a sort of artist's statement on the site explains that the game is an attempt to explore games' expressive potential and that "games are not a trivial medium of expression." Doubtless some would find this an impressive claim, though I expect most readers of PTT! would respond "well, duh."

But, as most readers of PTT! would also doubtless agree, what's important is the game, not any claims made for it. Keys of a GameSpace has merit.

I Have Candy Get In The Van is a game about touching the lives of young people. It wobbles in an uneasy, feverish, barely restrained balance between trying to paint a humane and serious portrait of the psychology of abuse, and between being a shock-baiting TIGS contest entry. If you read the author's forum thread, you get a fairly interesting journey of difficult passion and ultimately, ambivalence.

The Baron is a provocation, both in form and in content: in form, because it requires the player to choose not only actions but also an ethical philosophy; in content, because it asks what moral options remain for a person who recognizes himself as monstrous.

The design uses -- and takes full advantage of -- the text adventure format. Many parsed commands are followed by a multiple-choice question, asking us why we've made the choice we made. The motivation then colors the description that follows. Killing a small animal out of sadism is shown as a very different from killing it as an act of mercy.

A while back, in the wake of my article Why You Owe the Columbine RPG, I had the pleasure of being shat on by an old conservative game designer who was convinced that a) games that tackle uncomfortable issues are hurting the ability of upstanding game designers like himself to make entertaining product and market it; and b) I was shamelessly hogging the spotlight.