Is it wrong for a game to have an agenda?

[Mallus]

I doubt anyone here would think that a roleplaying game with the agenda 'blacks are inferior to whites'* is okay.

Don't you mean "I doubt anyone here would admit to thinking such a game was okay"??

 

[Turjan]

I'm not sure whether I like games with an agenda, and I suppose this is mostly due to some kind of oversaturation in this regard. The SF literature of the 70's and 80's was full of books that promoted agendas (like gender or racial emancipation), and these topics simply don't interest me anymore. I don't like the new Star Trek series because of this point. It's as if they try to use a battering ram on a fully open door with me, so I'm simply bored at the effort.

Though, regarding oozes, a slight bit of convincing might still be necessary with me !

 

[Gundark]

I guess the question is " is the agenda a real world one or a fantasy one?" For example is the agenda your pushing a real world religious, political, sexual ideal? Then yes I would be very very careful with this, and may not do it at all.

OTOH my sister in law ran a game a year or so back and it had a strong elf agenda...which she has had ever since she saw Orlando Bloom as Legolas ....Everywhere there was elves...dwarves and humans were bad...elves good....it got irritating, but not offensive.

 

[Faraer]

Within the gaming aspect, something nuanced and interactive might serve the oozes better than a rigid agenda. As a GM/player, I would tend to be put off by a treatment of oozes that seemed crude or propagandist even if I liked them; if I didn't, I might still respect that more than a game that went out of its way to dodge the ooze issue and other important themes.

 

[Doug McCrae]

A good example of a game with an agenda would be Blue Rose, from Green Ronin, which I assume must have the same agenda as the fiction it's based on - pro-environmentalism, pro-feminism, pro-diversity, anti-Christian.

And very strongly pro-pony.

 

[Mallus]

The SF literature of the 70's and 80's was full of books that promoted agendas...

Ummm, SF literature has been doing that sort of thing thoughout its entire history (consider H.G. Wells).

Heck, by the 60's that kind of SF was on network TV (consider Trek).

 

[Crothian]

I guess the question is " is the agenda a real world one or a fantasy one?" For example is the agenda your pushing a real world religious, political, sexual ideal? Then yes I would be very very careful with this, and may not do it at all.

Well, many fantasy elemets actually are real life parralles, like my Ooze books could be seen as support for the two toed sloth to seen as importnat and equal to the three toed variety. And we all know what a politcal hot button their cursade was. (yes, I'm avoiding real world politics as much as possible with these outlandish examples).

 

[taliesin15]

I'm just wondering whether these Ooze-preservers would be offended by the publication of that Arcane Book of Lore, The Joy of Jello...

 

[Psion]

This is about Blue Rose, in'it?

To answer the question: it would really depend on the agenda. Someone running a "all religion is evil" game or a game of RaHoWa (a racist game) would put me off.

Edit: For that matter, even if it is an agenda of which I approve, when it is presented in a "bonk you over the head" fashion, and/or the agenda is illustrated in an exagarated characture of reality ("One wizard discarded a staff and animals started dying over the WORLD and a massive greenhouse effect started!"), it makes me wrinkle my nose a bit.

 

[WayneLigon]

It would depend on the agenda, the setting and the rules. If the setting and rules are easily ported away from the agenda, then I probably would have little problem with the agenda either way unless it was something truly distasteful (and something I found that distasteful is probably something illegal to produce anyway).