As a means of conveying information, media is power.  Our games can entertain us and even teach us – what’s keeping them from being used to influence us as well?  With Alex Gibney’s recent short documentary When Mitt Romney Came To Town taking heat for using the medium of film to do just that, this possibility does not seem to be too far off in gaming’s future.  Many, including Gibney, view the project as a form of exploitation of the medium:

“It worries me because it pollutes the form,” he said. “People could marginalize something that I made by saying that it’s no different than some other piece of paid propaganda that is out there.”

Could Gibney’s self-criticism be applied to games as well?  If political messaging has been used to lace the medium of film, isn’t it reasonable to think it could soon be gamified as well?  Some could argue that games like the Call of Duty franchise or, more notably the US Army-funded America’s Army are already exploiting the medium of videogames. Whether or not you agree, videogames seem to be gaining greater artistic relevance and cultural significance, which can’t be a bad thing, right?

[via New York Times]

-Patrick Lindsey