Stop Picking on the Russians!

[Soviet Heavy]

And the Middle East for that matter. Big time war games are always about blowing up insane modern day Soviets or some vague Middle Eastern country. And I'm sick of it.

The full scale war that is shown in these games is ludicrous in today's era of warfare. That it is always about the United States taking on the Russians like the Cold War never ended just makes it more ridiculous.

If we are going to make some balls out stupid gung ho action shooter military game, why are we limiting the global war to the US and Russia? If it is so over the top, why not come up with some equally stupid entertaining premise?

USA versus Canada (I am Canadian BTW)
USA versus the Ocean Men
USA versus the Eastern European potential crossdressing supervillain
USA versus USA: Republicans versus Democrats in a fight to the death.

All of these are about as likely as a full scale war with Russia, as in, completely fucking stupid.
But fun regardless. Just, why pick on your old grudges when you could make something else as equally idiotic?

EDIT
Alright, I admit that this is sort of a personal thing. I didn't want to come off as being too serious, so I threw the bizarre scenarios in. And for the record, yes, I am aware that Russia is in Eastern Europe. I would have found it funnier however, if instead of taking on the Russians, they were taking on the weird lunatics you find in those shlocky European horror movies.

 

[keideki]

There are plenty of shooters that have you fighting PMCs. What about Homefront, that was Korea. And there are plenty of shooters that have you fight against aliens. Either way its just a game mate.

 

[tzimize]

South Park did USA vs Canada already, and in a way no game can top.

That said I wouldnt mind seeing a game where USA was the bad guy. Change of pace, yes please.

That said I really dont care. Wargames have little interest to me, and individual stories are usually more compelling than national ones anyway.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

You know who we need in shooters? Monsters. Not aliens, I mean vampires, demons, the like. They are a much better target.

Yeah, how about an invasion of Vampires and Werewolves. Or a game where the US Marines invade Atlantis and murder the Merpeople living inside

 

[plugav]

If they made a game where US soldiers face off against the Ocean Men or crosdressing supervillains, no one would like to play as the soldiers. At least I know I wouldn't.

 

[cookyy2k]

Full scale war between the USA and Russia would go down like so... One side presses their red button, the other side presses their in retaliation and then we have the fallout series of games...

It's extremely unlikely for war to occur there, as between any nuclear equipped states due to the whole MAD thing.

I agree it's getting silly with the pretence of no end of the cold war or mass killing of everyone wearing a turban in some desert for no readily available reason.

 

[R4ptur3]

In soviet Russia Russians pick on you! (sorry)

Personally, I want an fps playing as the Germans in world war II going against the Americans for once, something like cod2, but instead of British, American and Russian, maybe German, Japanese and Italian, and make it dark just like the fps games you see, but from the other perspective.

Or an alternate reality much like fallout3 does, in which the allies were the first to start the war.

 

[keideki]

In soviet Russia Russians pick on you! (sorry)

Personally, I want an fps playing as the Germans in world war II going against the Americans for once, something like cod2, but instead of British, American and Russian, maybe German, Japanese and Italian, and make it dark just like the fps games you see, but from the other perspective.

Or an alternate reality much like fallout3 does, in which the allies were the first to start the war.

Somehow I get the feeling that a WWII game from the Axis side is not going to happen for awhile yet.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

You know who we need in shooters? Monsters. Not aliens, I mean vampires, demons, the like. They are a much better target.

Yeah, how about an invasion of Vampires and Werewolves. Or a game where the US Marines invade Atlantis and murder the Merpeople living inside

Or a game like Red faction were you play as oppressed Merpeople and have a revolution. Imagine how cool destruction physics would be underwater.

 

[RyanBishop]

Well, personally, I think that there is the fact that the USA only had conflicts with a few other countries/regions/nations EVER. Nazi Germany, 'Nam, Japan, the USSR, the MidEast.

Now let's take a look:

Nazi Germany? Well, that puts a game in WWII mode. Done to death. Modern-day Germany? Piss poor way to uphold the good relationships with NATO allies. Same applies to every European country.

'Nam? Uhhhhh... again, history-based shooter - yeah. Modern day - nope. No way, Jose. There's nothing in 'Nam these days. It was the Soviet influence that made 'Nam... well, 'Nam!

Japan? Again, no use, because today Japan is a valuable partner to the US of A, and frankly speaking, most people see Japan as a high-tech land of anime, mechs, and other cool stuff. Not to mention its' recent mishaps with the forces of nature - who would want to pick on them?

This basically leaves the Middle East (no country specified - game devs don't really care for details... bearded guys in burkas with AK's - epic villain image) and the former USSR (read: Russia, since most of the former USSR satellite states are now part of Europe).

Canadians? Aussies? Mexicans? Nah, again, this boils down to either a touchy topic based on existing issues with the country (not enough to trigger a full scale conflict, mind) or a case of partnership, that no one wants to cast a shadow on.

The MidEastern setting is running out of its time now. People are getting sick of that crap. So the devs bring up a formidable foe: the Eeeeevil Russians! Because Russia is still seen by some... ehm, more "intelligent" Americans, as a counterpart and/or global rival, the plot of the conflict makes perfect sense in a nice modern-day "alternative history-2-future" way.

That shit sells. And it is the way it is. Nothing much can stop the devs from picking on the Russians. Unless a new, better global conflict comes up in reality. Then the focus will shift.

On a side note - I live in Moscow, I am a born Russian, although I did spend most of my childhood in the States. I love both countries in an equal way, I think, and that way it kind of bummers me out to play as either side of the US-Russian conflict. But hell, what can a guy do? Not play a good game just because of the stupid plot? Fuck that, I like me my CoD and BF and stuff.

So I guess the rational thing here would be just to deal with it.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Snip

Fair points, and I can see that viewpoint. It's just that to me, the whole thing seems too goofy to be considered serious. The Russians are portrayed as these comic book supervillains with plans to rule the world. With that in mind, I simply wonder why more games don't do ridiculous concepts like that and put them in a modern setting.

In real life, if Russia wanted to control Europe, all it has to do is block the oil pipes. When Putin was in charge a couple years ago, he did just that for a few days. That cuts off a lot of Europe's oil, and it would be far more effective at subjugating a country than bombing the shit out of it.

 

[RyanBishop]

Snip

Fair points, and I can see that viewpoint. It's just that to me, the whole thing seems too goofy to be considered serious. The Russians are portrayed as these comic book supervillains with plans to rule the world. With that in mind, I simply wonder why more games don't do ridiculous concepts like that and put them in a modern setting.

In real life, if Russia wanted to control Europe, all it has to do is block the oil pipes. When Putin was in charge a couple years ago, he did just that for a few days. That cuts off a lot of Europe's oil, and it would be far more effective at subjugating a country than bombing the shit out of it.

Yeah, exactly.
I just think that out of all far-fetched concepts, the idea of a possible armed conflict with Russia is seen as the most plausible. That points to a severe lack of creativity, of course.

 

[TheRussian]

I'm looking forward to a game where there is a civil war in America: North vs South, set in the future.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

While we're at it, lets stop shooting Nazis....

No wait, its too much fun to stop doing that.

While I think there needs to be a lot more variety in who gets a very personal meeting with my virtual lead, I don't think we should stop including any one ethnic group in our shooters. Also we need a mutant, dinosaur apocalypse game.

 

[2fish]

You know who we need in shooters? Monsters. Not aliens, I mean vampires, demons, the like. They are a much better target.

But with all the sparkling how could I see to aim?


I agree with this though if done correctly shooting your way through a vampires castle could be a ton of fun. Hidden rooms, traps, sweet weapons, it could be awesome.


But this would take a creative mind and we already dismantled the painkiller team?

 

[CorvusFerreum]

The Problem is not that it's allways russia as enemy, the problem is more the focus on the USA (or the west in general) as the good side.
I mean there are a lot of conflicts in the world, that would make a good framework for an fps. Like Pakistan-India (or Pakistan in generell), Taiwan-China, Russia-tchechenia, Eritrea and many more. They would not require any americasn character and would make far more realistic scenarios then most modern fps have.
On the other hand, it is probably better that the industry doesn't approach these themes at this point. Imagine a "no-russian"-style publicity stunt in a FPS that is set in Ruanda. *shudder* (Disclaimer: I'm not saying games shouldn't cover material like massacres, but I don't thinl the big studios could do this at this point in time with the maturity that is required for that)

 

[RyanBishop]

Strictly speaking, most of the ideas of a large-scale traditional international warfare scenario are borderline idiotic. Modern conflicts consist of trade/economic blockades, pinpoint operations by the Special Forces, and political manipulations.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

Does the US have to be involved? For crying out loud, I'm getting pretty fucking bored of playing as the US. LEt me play as the other side for once. Let me play as the Axis, the generic middle eastern guy, the russian. Because I'm bloody sick of playing as the U.S.

And please, don't think that I've forgotten about CoD where you can play as the British or the Russians, because that is quite simply not enough.