According to last Saturday's paper Guardian, the GCHQ has released a "CD-ROM-based recruitment package" aimed at promoting the work of the most under-publicised UK government intelligence agency, the Government Communications Headquarters. The content is yet to be determined (my order is in process), but the blurb from their website says that when it's installed in a trusty PC you'll be able to "take your place in the hot seat and - in a unique simulation - test your wits and judgement against an unfolding international crisis involving the smuggling of weapons and drugs, and the activities of a ruthless terrorist group." Enigma cracking here I come!
Increasingly games are being discovered by established organisations as useful avenues through which to test, promote, recruit and train. Their compelling interactivity is being adopted by bodies as wide-ranging as the US Army, political parties, Christian and Islamic groups, Neo-Nazis, the Hezbollah Central Internet Bureau and the liberal left. While arguably the first in the list has always recognised the usefulness of simulation (from the first games to their modifications of Doom to their takeover of virtual world There.com to contemporary mass-market products like America's Army), the latter few are new additions to groups using interactive entertainment as propaganda.
Admittedly these are niche titles, often accessed only via the internet. Few, if any, are available over the counter at your the local games emporium. However, this trend begs the questions, what role does propaganda play in this form of entertainment (in the beckoning era of advergaming and the questionable role of advertisers in games), and what political agendas are games involved with?
