What a great post; I could not agree more. I think that many people do not want to face many of these heavy and relevant issues in their own lives let alone in something that they consider entertainment. Perhaps the gaming industry should be a medium for relevant, important issues such as these, but it would probably fall prey to the same thing that happens in real life: it will get ignored. What Josh mentioned would essentially be changing an entire culture, not just the nature of video game entertainment.
Personally, I would love to see games on the market that tackle issues such as capitalism, class-conflict, genocide, racism, sexism, and heterosexism. However, I take an active role in advocating understanding and acceptance in my daily life already. Much to my disappointment, many other people do not feel the same way. Most games have clear moral and ethic boundaries and are not concerned with the advocation of critical thinking; in fact, we as a society are not either. I think this is why you see the prevalence of mindless "good" and "evil" media such as basically any fantasy computer role playing game (such as the Lord of the Rings) or any World War II game (where the Nazis are the clear and imminent "evil" and the Allies are the "good guys").
I think there are ways to perhaps ease people into these issues though. Implementing these issues into small bits and disguising them might be enough. Or, maybe I am being entirely too pessimistic. Perhaps people are ready for these types of games and video games can be seen as more than just mere entertainment. Either way, I am glad to see that a top class designer is bringing these issues to the table and opening dialogue about them.
Phoenixus_01: I could not disagree more, though this is not the time or the place for that discussion
