Ian Bogost / Persuasive Games, 2006 / USA

The work of Persuasive Games’ Ian Bogost owes as much to newspaper editorial pages as to other videogames. Their recent productions, such as “Oil God,” “Bacteria Salad,” “Xtreme Xmas Shop- ping” and “Airport Security” – which occupy three to five minutes of a player’s time and are made very quickly by very small teams in order to keep up with the news cycle – are commentary in and of themselves, just as an editorial cartoon is. In “Oil God,” for example, the player’s goal is to make petroleum prices rise, which is achieved by stirring up geopolitical instability and natural disasters. In “Airport Security,” the player’s job is to work the security check at an airport, but the rules are changing constantly. These games are important not only because they address serious subject matter, but also because they invite players to ex- perience the opinions of the game makers viscer- ally through the actual gameplay.