I recently came across the post of another developer sharing their current prototype, the gameplay was about shooting a middle-eastern typed house with a mini-gun from a helicopter, in a realistic modern setting.

The tech and game-feel were cool, but something didn’t sit right with me. We are making games for kids and teens, do we really want to feed into the narrative that “war is cool!! destroying civilian houses yay!!!”?

Yes, there are tons of games like this and we’re not here to save the world, but what we do has an impact. Games I’ve played as a kid are burned into my memory and have, in some ways, participated to build who I am today. That is why I’m a big advocate for creating positive, uplifting and inspiring experiences that nourish values I want to see move forward.

I’m pretty positive that developer’s intent wasn’t malicious, but intent doesn’t matter. What matters is what we push to players and the meaning that comes with it.

The point here is not to make games more or less political, but I think it is important that we, as game developers, are mindful about the experiences we give to younger players.