Hidden messages in video games?

Well i came across an interesting read the other day which got me wondering about a few points:

Are there hidden messages in video games?

Are video games being used to corrupt or recruit our young?

Heres a link to the original page i visited which started me thinking about this:

www.gamesradar.com...

This i feel probably just skirts the surface of what could be many many different messages being sent out subliminally.

I mean really what is the purpose of some of these things.

Now on to the point of armed forces (trying to recruit?) hosting national tournaments in the U.S.A for a game you may of heard of called Halo 3. Now really why else would they be doing this apart from to recruit and/or influence young people. This game is supposed to only be played by adults but i know for a fact that minors play it.

Onto the UK armed forces, in a recent tv advert a young soldier is seen pioliting an unmanned aircraft on a reconnaissance mission with of all things an xbox controller!

Is this fair to target our young people like this, would other industries be able to behave like this?

Are games companies and the releasing of games policed adequately?

Are there more good or bad hidden or subliminal messages?

I for one am not sure of the answers, but with the technology involved in these games getting more and more complicated surely there must be a better policing of these things.

The whole subject certainly leaves me with many many questions unanswered.









[edit on 25-3-2008 by ioweagle]

I am a firm beleiver of subliminal messaging. Busgh admitted to his party using it. And I can only think of one thing better than a TV subliminal messages and that's video games. No doubt it's possible.

I've been playing a game called Assassins Creed. In the game my name is _____ and I have been detained by a pharmaceutical company, somehow. They detained me because an ancestor of mine was one of the last people to see the Ark of the Covenant. So they put me into a coma, or some sort of a dream, where I'm reliving my ancestors life of fighting against the Knights Templar and other missions they put me on. Thought that might fit in with your post.

Although subliminal messaging is proved to exsist, I think it's mostly used by advertisers. I don't think there is much government subliminal messaging around (at least not in single frame words... in other ways I do believe it's around).

Some things are also not very likely, I mean some people see a conspiracy in everything. A lot of games use dark symbols to build an atmosphere fitting the game. That doesn't mean it's related to anything conspiracy like.

I am myself a hardcore gamer, and have seen a lot of odd things, however most of that I consider to be easter eggs or advertising.

Read the book, “The Marketing of Evil”.

This book will explain the whys and the hows of tactics like subliminal messaging and other tactics designed to get you to do what they want you to do.

The government has used single word phrases on T.V. In an attempt to influence voters. Buerocrats flashed across the screen then just RATS. Fact it happaned. FCC banned it from happeneing again. The fact that they tried to use it or just got caught using it once shows that a lot of people with money to research thought that it would work. Why waste money on something that's not guaranteed to work?

Originally posted by ioweagle



.....Are games companies and the releasing of games policed adequately?

..... surely there must be a better policing of these things.


[edit on 25-3-2008 by ioweagle]

Please, leave the government out of my games! I don't need them to "police" them for me.

Today they police them to eradicate extreme violence and tomorrow they police them to eradicate "subversive" thoughts.

I've worked in the video game industry for 10 years now and I have to admit that I have put subliminal messages in a few pieces of my art work. IF by subliminal you mean writing your initials in your textures or an homage to your favorite movie/character.

Most of the what people in the game community call "easter eggs" are harmless little hidden things that we think are funny. Most are put in without your producer's, director's, or lead's knowledge. After all, if they knew about them they'd probably tell you to take them out for fear of a lawsuit These little hidden messages/easter eggs more times then not are an artist or engineer's way of leaving their mark on their hard work and definetly are not a tool used by the government. Of course, I can't speak for everyone, just myself and those close to me at my work.

reply to post by ioweagle


Finally!

star and flag for you my friend.

Here's my rant about video game symbolism:

- Let's look at two new games, guitar hero and rockband. Both are 'rivals' of each other. Gibson vs. Fender. Guitar hero has TONS of pentagrams, snakes, a saturn symbol, devils. (most of them appear on the 'fretway to heaven' when you play the game).

Saturn image - oct 4 2006 - 2nd picture from the left
What does Saturn have to do with Rock?

In Rockband, you have the opposite. You have nice beautiful white doves. What do doves have to do with a rock band? I was in more than one, and never associated doves with rock.


- Another game, for the PS3, is named Axis of Evil.. well, we all know it's from Bush's speech. Other interesting things I noticed about that game are that the bad guys are called 'evil legion of Terra'. Terra means Earth.

In this arcade shooter, players join the heroes of the Alliance of Free Planets in their white-knuckled, frenzied struggle to free the Solar System from the tyrannical grip of the Legion of Terra.

Another interesting issue is that your unit is 'saved' by a space ship shaped as an X. Any reference to planet X?

There's a character in the game, blond hair, blue eyes (Aryan race?), and his line is 'I don't think, I just shoot everything'.



- Another game is called flow (PS3). The game's logo features something that can be interpreted many ways:

a sun with two snakes on either side; a vibration eminating from the center going outwards, ala sound; or two sperm on either side of an egg.



The whole game is based on light/sound interaction, and your 'creature' just ascends/descends worlds.




There is also reincarnation symbolism in the game, as each 'level' you finish allows you to come back as a 'new' creature.

All the creatures are made from 'sacred geometry'.

The motto for the game is : Life could be simple....

The credits mention George Lucas, and my own beliefs is not because he provided the industrial light and magic. I urge everyone to get it.


- Another game is called 'Blacksite - Area 51'. I've only played the beginning, but the first level start you off in Iraq, looking for WMD's and you end up finding an alien stargate instead. Sound familiar?

In BlackSite, you're cast as Aeran Pierce, a silent badass who leads a team of military grunts into battle on a daily basis. On a mission to Iraq, you come across a fragment of alien origin.

They also have a clip of an Alex Jones radio show during the game... Why?


Anyways, I have lots more, and I really believe those symbols/titles/logos/images are not there accidentally. Even if it's disinformation, it's still there for a reason

Take a nap. You are reading into things way too much. So much so that you failed to see that the article you linked to was being sarcastic about the 'evil' parts.

Removing letters from a title ... aBOveTopsecreT.cOM ... no ATS did not intentionally put bottom in their title, or maybe they do have a fascination with the part of the body that we all sit on, thought that is a stretch.

The GTA stadium doesn't need to be 'flown over' to see, you can see it through the gate across from the parking lot. It is a pun, just like the college team GameCocks ... well that is a sports stadium, and the local team goes by that name. Intentional pun. It is a game for ADULTS.



So now, in a music game, they can only have notes? If I put a kimodo dragon in a game ... what praytell would you think of that?


Seriously people, you are reading way too far into this.

I do personally enjoy a 'easter egg' in a game. It makes for a nice giggle. Not everyone finds them, or not everyone understands the reference/pun/joke.



If kids are reared properly by their parents, and the ratings on the games are adhered to by the parents, then there is absolutely no problems of negative influences and subliminal messages to children, I have played games all my life and I have never been in trouble with the law, am not a satanist, not a sexual deviant, and don't harbor any violent tendencies.


I mean, I don't get mad at Colbert for his satire of news stations doing advertising in their shows. He is funny about it, spicy sweet chili doritos ftw!

A lot of people mod PC games to have real life adverts instead of the fake ones. For GTA as an example, some people spend lots of time making skin and texture packs to add ferrari symbols to the cars, change the soda from sprunk to pepsi or sprite, etc.




This is as bad as the people who thought one of the games had a pot leaf in it ... turns out it was just a japanese maple.



So, the real question is, why do people see things like sperm and egg when it is just an artsy way to draw something ... whose mind is really in the gutter?

I would say the one looking for and seeing all these negative things is the one who is a bit obsessive about it and sees things that may or may not be there.

It is your mind that is naughty, just like a disney movie, it has jokes that kids don't understand in it for the parents, since their minds are not as innocent as they used to be.


Art does mimic life and vice versa. Star Wars is quite on topic with overbearing imperialists trying to 'force' peace through threats of violence against 'rebels' who oppose their tyrannical rule. So I guess the Star Wars movies and games are bad by the standards being put forth in this thread? What about the Lego Star Wars games Pieces of plastic! Oh noes!


Once again I would just hope for people to relax a bit and find their playful side. Not everything is 'evil', in fact, most things are what you make them to be. Even in GTA you could stop a criminal from fleeing the police and get a good citizen bonus, though most wouldn't play it that way


The stuff is there either because it relates to the game, it is a funny, or an easter egg. It is not there to 'blow your mind, man' or take it over either.

Next people will be saying that there are subliminal messages in books, nature walks are bad for you, and Picasso and Poe were trying to sell you anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. :facepalm:

Originally posted by ioweagle
Now on to the point of armed forces (trying to recruit?) hosting national tournaments in the US for a game you may of heard of called Halo 3. Now really why else would they be doing this apart from to recruit and/or influence young people. This game is supposed to only be played by adults but i know for a fact that minors play it.

Of course it's too recruit young people, not that the military is behind Halo, but rather they are attaching themselves to it because it's popular. And it has a positive, pro-military message, something that the Armed Forces are all to happy to associate themselves with.

The game isn't "supposed to only be played" by adults. While Halo 3 does have a M-Rating (17+) The ESRB ratings are just a suggestion, to let parents know the content of the game. It is not a restriction on who can play the game. And not every game carrying such ratings are the same; one would find the "objectionable" content in Halo 3 to be quite different than that in Grand Theft Auto. While there is no way I would let my son near a GTA game, I have no problem with him watching certain parts of Halo, as I feel the messages therein are very positive.

As for any symbols, messages, etc within video games, you have to remember that these game designers are every day people like you and I (albeit, they have very cool jobs). And chances are, since they are into video games, they have many of the same interests as you and I. As such, they know about conspiracy-theories, UFOs, the occult, and the like. With writers, they say, "write what you know;" the same holds true for game designers. They write and design games around things that interest them. They put symbols and "messages" into their games to add an air of authenticity, not because of orders from "secret masters."

[edit on 25-3-2008 by SaviorComplex]

reply to post by SpaceCase017


SpaceCase. Nearly everything contains symbolism and it is definitely useful for determining the true meaning of the whole. Not just video games, but movies, books, religious rituals/texts, and so on. I mean, your name alludes to either you liking space, or that you like SpaceCase brand grinders.

reply to post by italkyoulisten


I also wanted to add that if you look at websites such as Symbols.com, which contains more than 1,600 articles about 2,500 Western signs.

You will find a huge amount of symbols that we see every single day in various logos without realizing it. I think it boils down to the level of perception.

Besides, this is a conspiracy site, and can we not expect to talk about things that seem 'way out there'? Or can we only do that if we have 'proof'?

Just because I work in IT, doesn't mean I'm building servers to run the world; BUT, can I say that there's no 'hidden' computer technology I don't know about? or maybe symbols in different operating systems?
infrastructure designs? I can't say that either... so again, it's just perception

I'll start by adding that I play video games and have done for the past 20 odd years, i dont think they have done me any harm. I enjoy them as a form of entertainment. Now had the army used spectrum 48k's to advertise then maybe i'd be elswhere!

I understand that a great deal of the things we see in computer games are just litle hidden easter eggs or artistic license used by the games designers. Imagine though if the technology has or will advance to the state when it can be used to influence people. What better way to get into peoples heads, an unmonitered access to millions.

I myself have had experiences when ive played a video game for hours on end and then gone to bed and dreamed about it, im not saying ive been interfeared with. Its the same as dreaming about work or anything that you spend long times doing, but it does leave me with the "what if" question.

Could there be a more sinister plot? would people be interested in using this technology to influence people? Of course there could/would be!

Children can often spend many hours alone in there rooms playing these games, now i mentioned "policing" of these games earlier which in highnsight was the wrong term, but what if anything could we do or would we know should this be possible.

I wanted to say a couple of things.

First of all i'm surprised you are pointing out a lot of doubtfull and none-existant pieces of evidence. Doubtfull in the way that most of them are not even bad, satanic or anything , and some like the Mr Gay it's just unexistant.

Now, don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to invalidate your post, in fact i chuckled when i saw mario's face on that sonic temple.
What i'm saying is that there are a lot more games oriented to lead the young populations towards ideas i find bad.

Just look at the super hyped Call of Duty 4. The 3 stage of the game is a cut-scene view from the eyes of a "will be killed at the end of the cut-scene guy".
The scene takes you arround a stereotipical midle eastern warzone and you can move your head arround and see how this midle eastern men ravage through the country side...
That sounds like propaganda to me.
Americas Army. Counter Strike. Almost forgot Comand & Conquer generals and the terrorist worker's coment "can i have some shoes?". There are other examples, i'm just really tired to continue

Now we have seen this for a long time, almost since the end of 2D games. (you know, when Play station arrived)
I'll never forget a line from Hitman "Remember, the reds are always the bad ones". Which is more like a joke in this game than a message, but is also a good way of poiting out how, for several long years the blue side used to be the "good" side on RTS, and remember the allies, or USA, is allways blue.

BTW: it's my first post here and i expect to post a lot, so Hello everyone .

[edit on 26-3-2008 by Bluesession]

can I say that there's no 'hidden' computer technology I don't know about?

How would you know if there was? I mean, if it's something you don't know about.. are you saying there's no technology in the Universe that you don't know about? Are you omni-scient, or do you admit that the Majic-12, Military Industrial-Complex, NWO, Illuminati, TPTB, or someone -could- very well have computer technology you absolutely don't know about? If not, why not? At least you do admit there's some computer technology somewhere in the Universe that you don't know about, don't you?

What a weird thing to say in any case.. there's always hidden things an individual doesn't know about - whether technological or otherwise - because no human individual can know everything. (The ones that can, can no longer be called 'human beings' with wisdom)

reply to post by ioweagle


I am not so sure about this. Maybe you are seeing things you want to see, reading more into it than there actually is to it. You can see messages all over the place, in everything if you want to. Advertising is about delivering messages, by words, voice, music, pictures. We have become attuned to messages because of advertising. Sometimes I think we see messages that in fact were never intended, not really put there, we just see them becuase we have become attuned to messages theough advertising. But I am sure the military is allowed to get away with far more than other companies could get away with.

Yes, there is a subliminal message in video games : Work, Consume, Play, Obey, Stay Asleep.

reply to post by ioweagle

Are video games being used to corrupt or recruit our young

Could be my son plays xbox and i regulary hear him shouting
Die Die Die or Kill Kill Kill he gets very animated
S+F

Cran