commonsensemedia

Published 10.04.2020 06:00

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Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You

A lot or a little?

Parents need to know Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You is an interactive storytelling experience for iOS devices. Taking on the role of a government agent assigned to investigate the online activities of suspected terrorists, players spend their time reading news stories, snooping on private citizens' conversations, and piecing together bits of information to determine involvement with terrorist events, such as a bombing. Violence is described in text and shown in occasional news-style still images showing, for instance, a body lying on the ground amid smoke. The point of the experience is to make players think about concepts such as privacy, security, authority, and power. Which of these are most important to you? Which have the potential to be abused? Is the risk of abuse a fair tradeoff for enhanced public safety? The game offers no explicit answers, but instead only the consequences of your actions. Put the pieces together wrong, and innocent people could suffer. Parents should be aware that the text conversations upon which the protagonist eavesdrops contains strong language -- including the F-word -- as well as references to alcohol and drugs.