- Oct 9, 2004
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Waypoint just put out a great article on Sierra's collaboration with former LAPD chief Daryl Gates on Police Quest: Open Season and what it says about police culture both then and now (hence why I'm putting it in P&N).
In essence, the game represented the 'perfect' world for not only Gates, but many other conservatives with an authoritarian streak. Police are the only ones standing in the way of total anarchy, where anarchy really means "anyone who deviates from my definition of normal." Are you non-white, non-straight or poor? You're a threat, or at least something to ridicule. Anything and everything the police do to maintain this order is justified; the press and politicians are nuisances with their dangerous concepts like "accountability." There is no Rodney King in this vision, but if there was he would 'deserve' the beating he got.
The sad thing, as the article notes, is that this mentality hasn't really changed in 25 years. The rhetoric of "Blue Lives Matter" and other apologists is basically the same: the police are above reproach, and it's really those pesky minorities and the media that are the problem. It's just couched in different terms, where they pretend that Black Lives Matter is an inherently violent group or cling to the fantasy that Mexican gangs represent an existential danger to the country.
I don't think games like the Police Quest series had that much of an effect on people. When I played Open Season as a kid, I didn't really understand any of the themes of the game -- I just thought it was neat to have 'realistic' police procedures. However, I do think it's a good thing that representations of police in the media have become more nuanced over time. You still get Gates-like power trips and their polar opposite (the "all cops are crooked" representation), but today the media's overall representation is more complex... now if only we could get more people to see the actual police the same way.
In essence, the game represented the 'perfect' world for not only Gates, but many other conservatives with an authoritarian streak. Police are the only ones standing in the way of total anarchy, where anarchy really means "anyone who deviates from my definition of normal." Are you non-white, non-straight or poor? You're a threat, or at least something to ridicule. Anything and everything the police do to maintain this order is justified; the press and politicians are nuisances with their dangerous concepts like "accountability." There is no Rodney King in this vision, but if there was he would 'deserve' the beating he got.
The sad thing, as the article notes, is that this mentality hasn't really changed in 25 years. The rhetoric of "Blue Lives Matter" and other apologists is basically the same: the police are above reproach, and it's really those pesky minorities and the media that are the problem. It's just couched in different terms, where they pretend that Black Lives Matter is an inherently violent group or cling to the fantasy that Mexican gangs represent an existential danger to the country.
I don't think games like the Police Quest series had that much of an effect on people. When I played Open Season as a kid, I didn't really understand any of the themes of the game -- I just thought it was neat to have 'realistic' police procedures. However, I do think it's a good thing that representations of police in the media have become more nuanced over time. You still get Gates-like power trips and their polar opposite (the "all cops are crooked" representation), but today the media's overall representation is more complex... now if only we could get more people to see the actual police the same way.
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