Gamasutra - More Politics (and Economy) in RPGs
This editorial by Felipe Pepe discusses why RPGs should have more politics and economy in them.
Should politics be in games?
This odd but recurring controversy was covered extensively by Errant Signal, Cool Ghosts, Kotaku and others, usually following the line of thought that everything has political undertones - from Civilization's winning conditions to Sonic's eco-friendly tone - so there will always be implicit politics in games.
But I'm here to defend the inclusion of explicit politics, of actively debating issues that we face daily in our democratic coexistence. Especially in RPGs, where having an interesting setting that enables thoughtful choices is highly desirable.
And let me tell you, after playing +200 RPGs for my CRPG Book Project - most of which I simply BATTLE EVIL! or make color-coded binary choices - I am desperate for games with a better (or SOME!) sense of economics & politics.
Sadly, when people think about "Politics in Gaming", what comes into mind aren't open debates, but rather political messages ill-disguised as choices... which leads to this poorly articulated controversy.
Because propaganda usually sucks.
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (2001)
Arcanum's world was a cookie-cutter Tolkien-ish realm. Elves in forests, Dwarfs in mines, Orcs in the wild, humans lock in power struggles, mages casting fireballs, knights in armor, etc...
Yet, instead of an Ancient EvilTM, it got a steam engine.
Its creator, Gilbert Bates, didn't use it to create an army of steam-punk robots to take over the world or anything - he started an industrial revolution. And the developers went crazy figuring out how one of the biggest events in human history would change a fantasy world.
Plagued by roaming tribes of barbarian, Orcs and Lizards, Arcanum is a dangerous and large land, so mercenaries escorted trade caravans while mages offered safe teleportation at a high cost. The technological progress and creation of railroads have since put mercenaries out of work and undermined the Mage's influence - after all, who will study Fireball when any idiot can throw a grenade?
The revolution began in Tarant and was embraced by its King. But the rising bourgeoisie soon overthrew him and turned Tarant into a democracy, capital of the newly formed Unified Kingdom; The King of Cumbria rejected technology as blasphemy and saw his kingdom crumble economically, while the Kingdom of Arland embraced it and it's now petitioning to be a part of the UK - all these events are explored in interesting side-quests.
Racial relations also changed - Gnomes, the weakest race around, began investing in this new technology and found themselves enriching and rising in power... which upset other races and lead to one of the best side-quest in RPG history (and believe me, I've played A LOT of them) - the Gnome Conspiracy.