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Thoughts on satire?

A topic by sirdorius created 71 days ago Views: 122 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 3
(1 edit)

So I have 2 ideas for this year's jam, and they're both a very satirical take on the subjects. On one hand I like the idea of putting you in the shoes of the bad guy taking immoral actions; I think if it's done well enough it drives the point home better and in my case makes for better gameplay. But on the other I fear that if the satire is not done well enough, it might come out as endorsing those actions, or even making it seem like fun.

The experience I'm going for here is something like DEFCON (2006), where you get sucked in to the action and then at the end, it gets you thinking how horrible this all is.

What are your thoughts on this?

Submitted(+2)

It's a pretty common problem tbh. I think the textbook case might be Starship Trooper. In all honesty I might have missed the point if I hadn't been spoiled beforehand xD

It's especially tricky when it comes to capitalism cause it has the structure of a game. Basically almost all management games are some form of normalization of capitalistic mechanism.

I'd say you're pretty safe within the confines of the jam, the title is fairly explicit, it'll be pretty obvious that it's satire with context. But to be more safe generally, if I were you, I'd put a disclaimer at the start, either on the loading screen like South Park, or on the menu screen, or in the credits if you'd rather be discreet and have your satire be "believable". 

(1 edit)

Yeah I was definitely going to go for a South Park like a disclaimer and there would be tons of hints that this is satire, but my concern is that some weirdo would ignore all that and think "this is really fun". Thanks for he input!

Submitted

that unfortunately is something you'll never be able to prevent 100% i think =/ history of satire is riddled with examples xD

Submitted(+2)

Audiences often mistake satirical/reflective media as authentic (Starship Troopers, Fight Club, etc.). If you're seriously concerned about that issue, you either have to go the previously discussed disclaimer route, or just make it undeniably apparent (Spec Ops: The Line, Cabin in the Woods, etc.)