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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.

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Playing Tragedy

by Ian Bogost October 7, 2004

categories: Newsgames

German developer Replay Studios has announced Survivor, a "3rd-person Disaster Survival Game." According to the developer, "anyone who likes to know how it feels being aboard the Titanic after she hit the iceberg, could go for a try."

Promised scenarios include the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, and 1999 hurricane Andrew (pictured at right).

With efforts like this, there is always a risk of offense. Interestingly, the designers have posted a simple disclaimer on their website, which reads:

We do not intent to play down neither the horrors of the events nor the sufferings of the victims. We dissociate ourselves explicitly from any political aims pursued by terror acts.

We remain with full respect towards the victims and their families.

From the sound of things, Replay is still seeking full funding and distribution support for the game. I'll be curious to see if they find it, as such a precedent would be interesting and important.

(via Kotaku)

Comments (2)

Incidentally, it seems that the game will include a 9-11 level and the Paraguayan Shopping Mall fire. Man, talk about exploitation (keep in mind that this is being said by somebody who makes games about the war on terror, so, yes, it is a fine thread). But a game about the Paraguayan Shopping Mall, to be something with at least some decency, should explore the causes of the fire and not the fire itself. Again, this smells like snuff to me but I am not making final judgements without playing the games. People running on fire within a shopping mall with locked exit doors, that is certainly my idea of fun. But, hey, games are not supposed to be fun. But, hey, you are not supposed to play with fire. But, hey, you can as long as you don't mind being burned. We'll wait for the game and then judge. It is unfair to judge before release. But if they don't want people to make their minds before playing the final product, they should not tease us with screenshots, right?

Frasca on October 9, 2004 7:51 PM

But a game about the Paraguayan Shopping Mall, to be something with at least some decency, should explore the causes of the fire and not the fire itself.

I agree with this and would even generalize it: games about social issues and events -- events that are not random acts of God -- simply cannot be understood meaningfully from representations of the experiences themselves. This is also whence my beef with Kuma Reality Games comes.

Ian Bogost on October 9, 2004 11:41 PM