# Video Games For Fun & Enlightenment **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 29, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-for-fun-enlightenment/702948 "2014-10-29T23:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-for-fun-enlightenment/702948/61 "2014-11-04T06:12:22Z")
I don’t think I agree with the idea that qualities such as “edifying”, “healing”, “pro-social”, or even “enlightening” are _alternatives_ to “fun”. Take, for instance, _Tropico 4_. It’s a simulation game where you assume the role of the Presidente of a fictional island nation during the Cold War. It plays much like a city builder (well, town builder), with bright cheery graphics, bright cheery music, and tons of humor and pop culture references. In my opinion, it’s a lot of fun. Gameplay also involves prioritizing the different needs of your citizens and the demands of different political factions. It can also get rather cynical; do you build a new hospital so that your people will live longer and be healthier and happier, or do you instead build an army base so that you can quash the protests of unhappy Tropicans? Bear in mind that if you build the hospital, there are bound to be other people who will oppose your rule for other reasons (maybe you’re not religious enough, or too much of a communist). Or you could build a mine to improve your island’s economy (at the expense of the environment, of course) and line your own pockets in the process. There’s a mission where the Fruitas corporation (a stand-in for the United Fruit Company) takes an interest in your island and starts meddling, and you need to find a way to stand up to them without them getting the U.S. to overthrow you. Plenty of the humor makes fun of the flimsy logic used by dictatorships (“El Presidente was the only one who _really_ wanted elections, so he was the only one who got to vote.”) or satirizes the Cold War powers. I think that it’s fair to say that the game is edifying, even enlightening, to many players. If nothing else, it can help hone the player’s planning and improvisation skills. I’ve never gotten the impression, though, that the game compromised fun in order to be edifying or enlightening. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-for-fun-enlightenment/702948/62 "2014-11-04T12:12:25Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > 1. Heroes are effectively immortal. Yes, you die, but you return to where you left off and so the threats are diminished. The negatives of this is most readily seen when watching someone play a survival horror game. They’re in the zone and freaked out when the monster is chasing them. Then they die. They can just try again and again. Then the spell is broken. Perversely, the best design would be a monster that only seemed like it could almost kill you, but never did – a rubber band threat. But if the player knew this then it wouldn’t be scary. This argument has never made sense to me. Yes, whether a video game protagonist lives or dies in the end is deterministic. But it’s equally deterministic whether a novel protagonist lives or dies in the end (except perhaps in a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book). There’s no version of Moby-Dick where Captain Ahab has a 50% chance of surviving. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-for-fun-enlightenment/702948/63 "2014-11-04T18:56:58Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “Music is the pleasure the human soul experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting." -Leibnez > > Drop me a PM when your book is published. I’d love to read it. Nice quote. We may use it. I’ve already got [a book on play](http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/aesthetic-play) coming out this spring. The collaboration with my wife is being written now. We’ve got a verbal agreement with our publisher, but no contract yet. It will probably not be available before 2016. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-for-fun-enlightenment/702948.md?page=3)