How would you feel about a game with ISIS as the enemy?

[LordLundar]

What you mean another game?

Yes, I am being serious. What you're describing is really nothing new as the methods and military organization has been presented in games in the past (pretty much any "modern" FPS set in the middle east and even C&C Generals is like this) with the only difference is you're actively calling them ISIS.

It really is nothing new.

 

[DEAD34345]

Yet, this time it's pretty black and white: ISIS has proved themselves time and time again they are the most abhorrent people on earth. What would be so wrong with a game like this then?

You can't see what could be construed as "wrong" about declaring a group of people "the most abhorrent people on Earth" and then sitting around having fun by simulating their horrific and repeated deaths?

Nothing is black and white.

Why not? Gamers practically have orgasms killing Nazis in video games, so why would it be any different fighting a group of people who behead innocents, conduct mass executions, use women as sex slaves, forcibly recruit children, and murder people who aren't the correct religion?

No one complains when you kill Nazis that "Nothing is black and white.".

But they do complain, which is exactly my point. Some people think video games about horribly murdering people are... Well... Horrible. I can see where they're coming from, both with anti-ISIS games and anti-Nazi games (though again, I don't agree overall). The people who complain about violence in general in games will presumably be equally horrified by a game involving violence against ISIS. "What would be so wrong with a game like this" is the violence and murder in a video game, which isn't changed by the game being about fighting ISIS.

Edit: So basically, you're right about it not being different, but wrong that "No one complains when you kill Nazis that "Nothing is black and white."."

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I think it might be a little too soon for a game where ISIS is the enemy. I Mean, we still haven't used Al-Qaeda in any big name game, while the Nazi's and the USSR are a constant enemy in major games. Once ISIS is permenantly gone then I think It'll be good to use them.

 

[PinkiePyro]

only if I can get it modded so i can set them on fire while wearing a silly hat or shout them off cliffs I prefer fantasy or silly themed games ..there is a reason TF2 is the FPS game I talk about

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I guess I'd have trouble distinguishing it from all those other games that took place in the middle east against Arabic enemies.

Yeah, that's how I feel too. ISIS is crap, but it feels like us gamers have been killing them for a while now in games. Just change the Taliban, or OpFor in some games, to ISIS and there you go.

Now, I am liking some of the other ideas in this thread that have you play as a Kurdish soldier, or another Arabic soldier fighting against ISIS. That could be very interesting.

 

[L. Declis]

I would quite like a game like Far Cry 4 where perhaps you play as a native Afghan or a Kurd having to push the local extremists out of the area. Everyone is either Christian or Muslim, and you've got some invading Americans who are as likely to kill you as help you and the occasional out of nowhere drone strike.

That'd be interesting.

 

[DementedSheep]

I generally think making games of current events like that is in bad taste. Although I suppose the only difference from usual is that they would actually be calling it ISIS rather than just having a game against a middle eastern enemy.

 

[J Tyran]

It would be in bad taste I think, I mean those nutters are still publishing gruesome executions on the internet right at the moment. Sure it might be a bit cathartic for some people but I find making entertainment out of atrocities that are happening right now a little distasteful.

It would be interesting to play something different than the usual tropes and clichés, like others have posted here they could tell some interesting Human stories. Like how about instead of a minigun wielding unstoppable British or American juggernaut what about a game were you play an Iraqi civilian militia medic during the siege of Amirli? A stealth based game where you only have a pistol or at most a battered and well used AK-47 and a very limited ammo supply, were you have to help the wounded with a limited and ever decreasing medical supply and being forced into making triage decisions (like do you use the last of the blood transfusion supplies to help a young child or do you try to save the skilled militia fighter that's desperately needed defend the battered community?) and the focus is helping others not killing waves of "bad guys". Have a sensitive Human story, about survival and hardship and working together, it could be compelling. The siege went on for months before they took the town and it was weeks before a counter attack retook the town, telling stories about what happened there would spread awareness and open peoples eyes.

But no, we are talking about video games. If a game was made it would be someone from the SAS or Navy Seals gunning down hundreds of IS that are caricatures of the "evil Muslim terrorist" (because the horrific reality isn't enough for vidja games) and its a last ditch attempt to stop IS as they have found Saddam's lost WMDs (because Propaganda and the games would make out that he really did have them to inject that into popular consciousness) and they plan to destroy as much of the world as they can so its easy for them to set up their utopian Christian antithesis (shudder at the thought of that). The brave western warrior prevents them from activating the doomsday weapons, he fights the leader of IS in the WMD base and defeats him in a hand to hand fight and throws his body down into a missile silo.

I have little faith in the games industry to come up with something that isn't that, This War of Mine did it but bigger budget games wouldn't. Even Spec Ops: The Line kinda defeats its own purpose as despite the attempt at a deeper story it still glorified and made entertainment out an unstoppable one man super solider army gunning down hundreds of "bad guys".

Yet, this time it's pretty black and white: ISIS has proved themselves time and time again they are the most abhorrent people on earth. What would be so wrong with a game like this then?

You can't see what could be construed as "wrong" about declaring a group of people "the most abhorrent people on Earth" and then sitting around having fun by simulating their horrific and repeated deaths?

Nothing is black and white.

Why not? Gamers practically have orgasms killing Nazis in video games, so why would it be any different fighting a group of people who behead innocents, conduct mass executions, use women as sex slaves, forcibly recruit children, and murder people who aren't the correct religion?

No one complains when you kill Nazis that "Nothing is black and white.".

The horrific events of the second world war are almost out of living memory now, you can find the atrocities IS are committing right now with regular updates. The daily "beheading of the Infidels show", to me personally its just a bit distasteful to make entertainment out the situation when there are tens of thousands of people grieving right now over lost friends and loved ones. People living in misery and terror right now as we post here, there are probably even people dying at this moment.

I'm not one of the "I don't like it so this shouldn't exist" crowd but I don't think I would want to play anything based on the events in Syria and Iraq unless it was very sensitively done, perhaps "This War Of Mine 2" based on accounts from refugees and survivors? Tell their stories, but I can see people becoming upset and angry about it no matter how sensitive it was.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

EDIT EDIT: Actually, why not have it set in Nigeria against Boko Haram? It's a similar situation, but jungle warfare is so much cooler than desert/urban warfare. We would even have a charismatic and slightly eccentric antagonist there with ‎Abubakar Shekau.

That would actually pretty cool. I do like jungle environments.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Yet, this time it's pretty black and white: ISIS has proved themselves time and time again they are the most abhorrent people on earth. What would be so wrong with a game like this then?

You can't see what could be construed as "wrong" about declaring a group of people "the most abhorrent people on Earth" and then sitting around having fun by simulating their horrific and repeated deaths?

Nothing is black and white.

Why not? Gamers practically have orgasms killing Nazis in video games, so why would it be any different fighting a group of people who behead innocents, conduct mass executions, use women as sex slaves, forcibly recruit children, and murder people who aren't the correct religion?

No one complains when you kill Nazis that "Nothing is black and white.".

But they do complain, which is exactly my point. Some people think video games about horribly murdering people are... Well... Horrible. I can see where they're coming from, both with anti-ISIS games and anti-Nazi games (though again, I don't agree overall). The people who complain about violence in general in games will presumably be equally horrified by a game involving violence against ISIS. "What would be so wrong with a game like this" is the violence and murder in a video game, which isn't changed by the game being about fighting ISIS.

Edit: So basically, you're right about it not being different, but wrong that "No one complains when you kill Nazis that "Nothing is black and white."."

If you have an example of people complaining about killing Nazis in video games, I'm all ears, because I've certainly never seen it. And most people I've heard complaining about the general violence in video games are usually complaining about games like GTA, where you can theoretically run around and massacre innocent people all you want, not games where you fight against a clearly established villain.

My point is that, when people hate on the idea of fighting against a particular group that actually exists or existed in the world, no one ever seems to get upset when you kill Nazis. I have theories regarding why, but that's another topic.

 

[J Tyran]

I have theories regarding why, but that's another topic.

Actually that sounds interesting, I have some of my own. Like the fact they genuinely acted like fictional super villains, designer tailored uniforms, secret mega bases, doomsday weapons in huge underground bases straight from a James Bond set. They fit in with the tropes and clichés we get in fiction, they just play the part without distorting them all that much. It is easy to to just plop them into a narrative like that, "Mein Fuhrer! The XB3484X is ready, its being delivered to the wolf-skull-uber base and will be ready to launch tomorrow!"

It is so easy to fit them in because they actually acted like that.

 

[theSovietConnection]

I don't really know, I mean, would it really change much insofar as the narrative is concerned?

I mean, for example, would the story of Call of Duty 4 really change that much if the enemy was Daesh instead of Al-Asaad? Most modern war games set in the Middle-East seem to just use "generic Middle-Eastern terrorist" as enemies, so I don't think you really need a game specifically about them, because it sort of already exists.

 

[Amir Kondori]

We have enough games were you can kill brown arabs. I personally don't want anymore, although I am sure we will get some. I also don't want something so real and terrible to be made into a game where I am running around and having fun while acting out some of the worst things happening on the planet today.

I think anyone has the right to create such a game but I would have zero interest in it.

 

[Cryselle]

I think it's in somewhat bad taste to take some pretty nasty current events and try and make a video game out of it. Now, that doesn't mean that an excellent game /couldn't/ be made, but I think it would take a level of respect and care for the subject matter that is truly rare to see in AAA gaming in general. Done poorly and you're just some shmuck trying to profit off the grisly murder of others.

 

[Steve Waltz]

I would actually buy a brown dirty generic brown military shooter if it was about taking back Iraq from ISIS, and then completely eradicating the rest of those heartless terrorist jerks. Heck, we don?t even have to play as the US army; have us play as the ISF or something else.

 

[Zhukov]

If it's yet another game about the mighty Mister America shootin' Ay-rahb terrorists then... meh. I think I'm pretty set for those, regardless of what acronym the terrorists of the day are referred to as.

If they did something interesting with it then I'd give it a glance.

I generally prefer my games not to be based on real world events. None of them seem to do anything with it.

 

[Twattycake_Fancypant]

I can't see me playing a game with ISIS I mean there like 8 people in it and only three of them could put up a fight Archer, Lana and Pam but then again I could be fun to play a ISIS....unless you mean the terrorist assholds in the Middle East I can't see it being any different from fight other terrorist.

For the first couple of posts I felt anxoius, but at least you haven't let me down.

 

[loa]

I would be thoroughly bored.
The only way you could interest me in a modern military game that uses real world references would be if you played as ISIS and if they weren't unequivocally depicted as inhuman monsters because then it wouldn't just be "hura, shooty shooty bad guys, we de gud guys! Look at our massive gundicks shooting all the bad guys dead! Yeah!" drivel.

But let's face it, that's never gonna happen and the reasoning would unfortunately not be because it would strengthen ISIS' "brand", no, the reasoning this would never happen would be because it would make poor little jimmy uncomfortable because he can no longer apply his black and white worldview in this piece of fiction and we can't bloody well have that.

 

[freaper]

It's still not black and white, unfortunately. I'd like to think that we're better than them and should not need to use games as a medium to demonize these militant extremists any further.

Plus, shooting brown Muslims has been overdone.

 

[Grumman]

I would be thoroughly bored.
The only way you could interest me in a modern military game that uses real world references would be if you played as ISIS and if they weren't unequivocally depicted as inhuman monsters because then it wouldn't just be "hura, shooty shooty bad guys, we de gud guys! Look at our massive gundicks shooting all the bad guys dead! Yeah!" drivel.

But let's face it, that's never gonna happen and the reasoning would unfortunately not be because it would strengthen ISIS' "brand", no, the reasoning this would never happen would be because it would make poor little jimmy uncomfortable because he can no longer apply his black and white worldview in this piece of fiction and we can't bloody well have that.

ISIS sells women as sex slaves and destroys archaeological sites to fund their mission of murdering religious minorities and establishing an oppressive and bloody dictatorship. They have no redeeming features, they are merely an organised crime syndicate with aspirations of being Adolf Hitler.

If you cannot comprehend that sometimes the world really is that black and white because you are so sure there's a hidden seam of grey there, that's your problem, not ours.