Why Japanese gamers love avenging Pearl Harbor

This leads to a surprising facet of game psychology: Really hard-core gamers often look past the cultural "content" of a game. They're mostly worried about a more prosaic concern, which is whether the game is fun. The geopolitics of a game melt away as players, like philosophers musing on their favorite platonic solid, ponder gameplay in the abstract.

Here's an interesting article more on the topic of politics in games. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun allows you to play as a Marine stationed in Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attacks, survive said attacks, and wreak havoc on the deployed Japanese troops. Interestingly enough, the game sold extremely well in Japan, where the reviews shined even brighter than those coming from the US.

The article itself talks about various reasons why this phenomenon is likely the cause of a "rebellious" streak or even, as the quote above states, a question less of the content of the game and more regarding the quality of the game and its ability to immerse the player. Effectively, it says much about our culture and its need for an alternate world, regardless of the type, setting, and otherwise defining qualities of the virtual world.