I can only speak from experience, but I think the reason why Western gaming in particular is so centered on America is fairly obvious. Like it or not, the USA happen to be a pretty strong cultural force in today's world, and that strength can provide some sort of drive for certain developers to explore things that feel close to home.
In a sense, if Quebec had been the theatre of some sense of Exceptionalism instead of America, and Canada had turned out to be toting big cultural guns - so to speak - we'd be seeing BioShocks about alternate Canadas. Swap that for any other province or country if you'd like, but I can't say that's something that surprises me.
Plus, I have a few friends across the border. It's not like I've taken a Government class, after all, or even an American History class before in my life. Even so, I knew about the World Fair that's used as the cradle for Columbia's origins, I knew about American Exceptionalism as being something that feels pretty natural. Shit, Columbia was brought to life in a period where Americans were actually starting to shape world politics as a whole: there's their involvement in the Philippines and, obviously, the Boxer Rebellions.
If my own country had gone through times as difficult as the War of Secession and emerged united from it, I'd be cheering too. The whole concept of America being awesome, and of that adoration being taken much too far by Comstock and his zealots doesn't surprise me one bit. Not everyone's a patriot, but every country in the world has its fair share of staunch defenders. It makes perfect sense for a developer to want to explore a "what-if" where that very same sense of power and capability goes way overboard and crosses into racism and xenophobia.
If there's one tiny thing about American culture that leaves me "besotted" to this day, it's how any American can consider its country's involvement in World War Two to be a game-changer. It took Churchill's blunter policies for Great Britain's allies to begin to consider mounting an assault on the European theatre, and the Americans in particular needed Pearl Harbour as a catalyst. I can't deny any country's contribution, of course, but I've always been a little perplexed by the popular image of the American army having been made up of a bunch of perennial ass-kickers that had been giving it to the Nazis since Day One.
Of course, I'm also saying this knowing that a lot of Americans and Canadians didn't beat around the bush for Chamberlain to take a decision. There's plenty of us who enlisted overseas a long time before the Allies really got the ball rolling.
In a sense, if Quebec had been the theatre of some sense of Exceptionalism instead of America, and Canada had turned out to be toting big cultural guns - so to speak - we'd be seeing BioShocks about alternate Canadas. Swap that for any other province or country if you'd like, but I can't say that's something that surprises me.
Plus, I have a few friends across the border. It's not like I've taken a Government class, after all, or even an American History class before in my life. Even so, I knew about the World Fair that's used as the cradle for Columbia's origins, I knew about American Exceptionalism as being something that feels pretty natural. Shit, Columbia was brought to life in a period where Americans were actually starting to shape world politics as a whole: there's their involvement in the Philippines and, obviously, the Boxer Rebellions.
If my own country had gone through times as difficult as the War of Secession and emerged united from it, I'd be cheering too. The whole concept of America being awesome, and of that adoration being taken much too far by Comstock and his zealots doesn't surprise me one bit. Not everyone's a patriot, but every country in the world has its fair share of staunch defenders. It makes perfect sense for a developer to want to explore a "what-if" where that very same sense of power and capability goes way overboard and crosses into racism and xenophobia.
If there's one tiny thing about American culture that leaves me "besotted" to this day, it's how any American can consider its country's involvement in World War Two to be a game-changer. It took Churchill's blunter policies for Great Britain's allies to begin to consider mounting an assault on the European theatre, and the Americans in particular needed Pearl Harbour as a catalyst. I can't deny any country's contribution, of course, but I've always been a little perplexed by the popular image of the American army having been made up of a bunch of perennial ass-kickers that had been giving it to the Nazis since Day One.
Of course, I'm also saying this knowing that a lot of Americans and Canadians didn't beat around the bush for Chamberlain to take a decision. There's plenty of us who enlisted overseas a long time before the Allies really got the ball rolling.
