What video games would you call the most important?
I'm not talking about those who are called "the best in their genre", the most commercially successful, popular or technologically breakthrough. But about those that convey important ideas and remind you of your values. I already have a small list, and I would like to add to it through collective efforts. And at the same time, find out what is important for those who are interested in this issue, both in games and in life in general.
The most important thing can only be what is quantified. And values and meanings differ qualitatively. Therefore, any well-made game contains meanings, messages, and values that will help you understand your game.:
(a) may be relevant to you, but not important to others
(b) can be interpreted quite differently by the gamer than by the author.
A simple example: The Witcher 3. Someone will see in this only action and heroics of the rescuer. Someone has a problem of communication between fathers and children. Someone has eternal difficulties with tolerance for the otherness in society. And someone – a complex reflection on what we can do with our lives and with the world around us, and what we should accept or give to the will of others (for example, our children).
I am sure that there are quite a lot of such games, each one carries at least a small part of valuable meaning. For me, such a game is the Witcher series of games, based on the multi-volume work of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski. The game, as in the books, discusses important issues of class inequality, humanity and the essence of man, love, friendship and fate, the willingness to sacrifice for a great goal. Andrzej Sapkowski reveals these and many other problems of society in a simple and understandable language.