Ian Bogost - Water Cooler Games

my affiliations

Ian Bogost - videogame theory, criticism, design

about me

contact

Water Cooler Games

Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.

You are reading an archived version of this article. The original URL was (loading...)

Have a Paris Riot

by Ian Bogost August 17, 2006

categories: Console & PC Games , Political Games , Social Games

I've been increasingly interested in so-called documentary games (or docu-games), such as JFK Reloaded and Escape from Woomera and Waco Resurrection. In fact, Cindy Poremba and I wrote an article on documentary games that should be out in the coming months (click over to her blog for more links on the topic, to which she is devoting her Ph.D. research)

So, I was excited to learn about a new game that sounded documentarian in nature. Paris Riots is a mod of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault in which the player takes the role of police mustered to respond to rioting in the Paris suburbs. The game draws from the actual events surrounding last year's civil unrest all over France, and like many documentary games it uses real-world photography and video as a supplement to the game.

All of this is very hypothetical, of course, because the game isn't really close to completion yet. You can download the demo, in which you are deployed with a truck full of police onto the edge of a community. Smoldering fires dot the empty alleyways. All you can do in the demo is find your way to a gate that would presumably lead to the heart of the local conflict, but that's where it ends. A video trailer for the game is also available.

Despite its incomplete nature, the framing of the game on the developer's site is interesting. They give it the tagline, "La première simulation des émeutes de Paris (the first simulation of the French Riots)," although from what I can tell, the player will be cast in the role of the state rather than the rioters. It's possible future levels or the finished game will turn the tables, but from what I can tell so far, the game follows in the footsteps of Kuma\War, which simulates recent news events (usually military) from the sole vantage point of American combat. Judging by some of the save screens, fire personnel will also make an appearance in the game. Again, there is very little information on the website, so all of these observations are speculative by necessity.

The Medal of Honor residue is likewise interesting. It makes for a polished look and feel, of course, but I couldn't help but chuckle as my van full of French police drove out to the Parisian banlieues, whilst Spielberg-style WWII hero music played around us.

(merci Olivier)

Comments (6)

You just opened my eyes. I can't believe I never thought/heard about this (except Kuma).

I've been playing games since I can remember but this is the first time I'm interested in creating a game/mod. Do you know where I can find more about this? Feel free to e-mail me :) Thank you.

joao on August 22, 2006 12:23 AM

Also check out 'Global Conflict: Palestine' [www.seriousgames.dk/gc.html]

Although I would suggest that to liken these games to the documentary form is wholly unsatisfactory; the form is more akin to an amusement park ride that attempts to recreate the experience of the wild west (or some other constructed history) spatially, rather than the cinematic discipline that assembles footage of actual events and images related to it in an attempt to make an argument for what is 'true'. There is nothing neccessarily true about any of these virtual constructions. (Or dare I call them 'representations'? Nay, I'm not here to ruffle any ludologists' feathers)

eben on August 27, 2006 3:47 AM

I tried to make one, in fact, I still work on it. My intention was to put emphasize on social aspect of MMORPG. The game suppose to mimic media missusing and hate speach before the crisis in former Yugoslavia. Breaking federal broadcast in radio and TV into separate republic networks was an introduction for wars in Croatia, Bosnia and finally in Kosovo. But requirements for something like that are realy imense. You can see an outline at below address.

http://www.vrinternal.com/tvrepublic

Zlatomir Zarkov on September 5, 2006 1:31 AM

milieu etrange http://www.milieu-etrange.0chattes.com [URL=http://www.milieu-etrange.0chattes.com]milieu etrange[/URL]

Carita on September 12, 2006 7:23 AM

I agree with Water Cooler Games on the upcoming "French Riots" mod for Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault. While I've personally never been a fan of Medal of Honor games, I like the idea of a simulation of the French (or any) Riots. I think it could provide a good insight into the events behind and during the civil unrest. I wasn't really paying attention to the news when the riots were happening, I just saw cars getting flipped and fires everywhere. Maybe now I can know what happened, without having to read long, boring articles that I'm generally uninterested in. While it is certainy a massive undertaking for the developers, I hope it comes out well. I may have to pick up a copy of MoH:AA when the mod is complete.

Russell Brooks on September 14, 2006 3:23 AM

Russell Brooks on September 14, 2006 3:24 AM