Public Service Games

A mini-meme seems to have caught regarding government funding and 'public service games':

• Serious Games Source
  David Rejeski kicks of a meme about government as potential funding source for games 'in the public good ... (tags: GameBiz Games game-development Culture)
• Wonderland: On public service gaming
  Alice posts some thoughts that are, well, thought provoking, on the 'public service games' meme. ... (tags: games gamebiz game-development funding publishing)
• Raph’s Website » Wonderland: On public service gaming Raph posts a good follow-up to Alice's piece on 'public service games'. His point on the fight for visibility with increasingly choice-innundated consumers is a good one. ... (tags: gamebiz games Culture publishing funding)

All three are good reads. While I'm tempted to post a lengthy follow-up, I haven't the time right now. Here's the short version:

• Terms like "enlighten the public" and "public good" are pretty loaded terms. No different than with other mediums, except perhaps that the decision about 'whats good for you' is likely to fall, in the short term anyway, in the hands of the non-gaming generation. That aside though, there's still a values issue here.
• I'm curious to see if the meme spreads, and what the different take will be country to country. e.g. We've already seen US and UK PoV's. Any canucks ready to chime in? Chinese?
• Related to the above, and I guess this holds true for TV in the age of internet broadcast - when a gov't agency makes a choice about making content in the 'public good' - who's public are they looking at? What you produce will be consumed in other countries as well...

Finally, if anyone at the CBC is listening, I'm all for their funding games, and would imagine there are a ton of game scenarios that could be wrapped around the Beachcombers license. And I for one, would be first to sign up to develop the "Toronto Maple Leafs Sweatshirt" animated vignette into a game. (This won't make sense to most, but somewhere, a Canadian is giggling).