Whether they seek to educate or persuade, “serious games” only occasionally succeed commercially or even appear in game stores. But they are becoming increasingly prevalent, and more mainstream titles are picking up their new approach to gaming.

Simulation games, which seek to accurately reproduce real world systems, educate the player on those systems. Sim City demonstrated all the variables necessary for a city to function properly and rewarded efficient urban planning. Flight Simulator allows the player to fly a plane with all the controls and obstacles that a real pilot would encounter.

These games sacrifice fun and gameplay, the two essential aspects of most commercial titles, in favor of realism. Similarly, games such as Brain Age and the recently announced Wii Fit are designed for more than just fun: They are intended to improve the player, either through physical or mental exercise.

A recent slew of serious games intend to influence the player’s opinions, taking the realism of simulations and applying it to a message. Orwell Today’s simulation of JFK’s assassination challenged players to reproduce the shots which killed Kennedy, shooting from Lee Harvey Oswald’s position. While notably morbid, failure would prove that there was more than one shooter.

Even governments have seen the persuasive potential of games. The US military uses America’s Army, a realistic first-person shooter, as a recruiting tool, and Iran’s Save the Port promotes Islamic beliefs.

The utility of games for arguing a point has been picked up by commercial games as well. For example, Army of Two designer Chris Ferriera commented in an interview with Gamasutra that the very modern issue of private military contractors is an important part of his game’s setting.

Ian Bogost, the author of Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames who recently appeared on the Colbert Report, comments in his blog that many commercial games–such as Sim City and Grand Theft Auto–consistently reference and provide allegorical insight into real world events.

These examples take games in a new, more meaningful direction, hinting at a future where an argument or theme is at the heart of any good game.