Summary: This initiative is put forth by America's history teachers in hopes of correcting the falsehoods surrounded around World War II-based first-person shooters. If this initiative passes game developers will be forced to throw in the horrible truth of what actually happened during "The Last Great War" (tm).

Reason to Vote: Pop Quiz: How many different World War II games have you played in your life? Okay, that was a trick question, nobody expects you to remember the hundreds and hundreds of different World War II games that you've probably sat through. A recent study determined that the average person's day includes 8 hours of work, 6 hours of sleep, 1 hour of eating and 9 hours of playing World War II. In fact, I saw a report on 60 Minutes the other day that claimed that 42% of our high school students thought that we were living 1940. It's true. You can look it up.

But I digress. Here's an easier question: How many of those thousands of World War II games that you played touched on Adolf Hitler or the concentration camps? Not very many, that's for sure. Most World War II games seem to focus on only a few popular skirmishes, all while ignoring the reasons why we were there in the first place. If you go by these games then World War II was nothing more than a rollercoaster ride where you occasionally get to shoot at faceless people. Where is the reality in that? Can you imagine how much more impactful it would be to see the horrible side of the war? The parts that aren't all about running and gunning your way to victory. I say you vote for this so that our children can learn the truth about Hitler and the terrible things he did.

Then Again: On paper this bill makes a lot of sense; however do we really want our World War II games to make us feel even worse about what happened during the Holocaust? Can you imagine how much of a downer it would be to go from killing Nazis to having to run through one of the concentration camps full of sad, emaciated prisoners? Talk about depressing. Sure it's reality, but we don't play games for reality, do we? This initiative will force all of our World War II games to make us cry, and nobody wants to cry while taking on the Third Reich.

Summary: This measure is put forth in hopes of adding some sort of warning sticker to the game to indicate that it features overt political messages; including (but not limited to) anti-war themes, civil rights and immigration. This measure does not want to make it illegal for game developers to get up on their soap box, but rather warn people that their favorite game may turn into an eight hour lecture about the effects of war.

Reason to Vote: Do you remember the good old days when video games were about nothing more than shooing people and making it across the highway safely? Well, these values are being undermined by a new batch of story games that try to fill your head with political nonsense. One needn't look further than the Metal Gear Solid series, which in a lot of ways is Hideo Kojima's political soapbox. It's not just the subtle references either, Metal Gear Solid 2's entire ending feels like nothing more than a thirty minute lecture about the evils of war. All this would be fine if the actual story made sense, but in true Kojima fashion you're left with more questions than answers.

Unfortunately it doesn't just stop at Metal Gear Solid; we see these overt political statements in everything from Grand Theft Auto IV to Army of Two. These days we're seeing a lot more American-made games, which means that we're getting more of a taste of western politics in our games. This can be done well, there's certainly nothing wrong with tossing a political theme into your fantasy role-playing game or new Spider-Man adventure, but you don't need to hit us over the head with your beliefs. When it comes to sprinkling your political agenda, subtly is your friend. Overdo it and you'll find people bitching about your story for years to come (I'm looking at you Hideo).

Then Again: While I'm sure there are those who don't want to hear any kind of preaching whatsoever, the truth is that throughout history art has been the way for many to express their political views. How much different would Metal Gear Solid be if it wasn't some dude getting on his high horse telling us how we should think? Movies, television, heck, even comic books have been doing it for years, so why not video games?