When you run out of ideas, go back to Russia!

[XxkutKOOLkillaxX]

Looks like we left Germany alone for a little bit, and the Muslim populace seems to have gone under the radar when it comes to FPS games, but Russian Terrorists are still pretty popular. I believe in these two things. One, the crap is getting old and cliche. Two, the most important, can we stop making videogames where one nationality is the anti-christ? We've seen it time and time again, especially blowing up Arabian Terrorists in abandoned shacks and such since the 90's.

As a gamer who wants everyone to enjoy what I'm playing, I would not want to play an FPS or another genre with my Muslim/Russian/German/Etc. friend where the mission was to kill this (insert nationality) Warlord before he (it's never a she isn't it? We'll talk more about THAT later) sends his nukes to DESTROY AMERICA. Umm...Game Developers, not everyone in the world is like said Warlord.

But alas, videogames like this are still popular TO THIS DAY. So, if your reading this, I do not mean to begin an argument, but rather to take a step back and look at the big picture. Think about it, if you were in a Russian's shoes and your playing a videogame where your nationality is the primary evil, how would you feel?

Feel free to comment and talk about it!

 

[Keoul]

Why can't we have monsters again...
They were varied, sometimes unique, and sometimes took a bit more than just pew pew pew.

Guns are such a boring weapon, all they do is shoot bullets and things die. What I wanna see is a game based solely on hand to hand combat, now that would be interesting! More than just punch, kick, dead though, add some chock holds, different skill trees like strength for punches that can break steel or agility for jabs that could take down a giant, it would be far more interesting that using a gun.

 

[XxkutKOOLkillaxX]

Well Well, if your interested in something like that, might I recommend Metal Gear Solid 3? If you have a PS Vita, it is on their, and to this day, I still say that MGS3, has the best combat system when it comes to hand-to-hand. Or if you just wanna knock someone out from a treetop, you can do that too!

 

[DoPo]

Spoiler: I feel this is somewhat related

OT: Actually that comic strip does a good explanation of the "Grr, they be bad" mentality. A lot of humans need an "acceptable target" - most of the fiction works that way. There is the evil wizard, the evil orcs, the evil undead, the evil nation of the neighbouring Evilstan, and so on. This is the same thing but in the real world - since if you're doing something in the real world, you can't just make up a new group, you'll need to pick an existing one, if you were to follow the convention. And there isn't really much to choose from
- China is an option, but you wouldn't want to offend them
- Germany is an option, too, but that's mostly in the past. Also, people don't really like it when you pick on old infamy like that.
- Muslim terrorists are popular, too - especially after 9/11. And they can't "fight back" so to say.
- and Russians, of course - they have a history of being the "bad guys". And they won't really do anything if you use them in your game. I mean China can ban your game and that's cutting off a lot of potential customers, Germany could do the same, while Russia? No, not really. While terrorists can't do anything about them being in a game, Russia just won't.

There are some more options but mostly they won't be on a large enough scale and could actually cover some of the audience. Finally, there is "make a new group up" but that's actually mostly "rename one of the existing ones, change a few things if you're feeling generous" kind of thing.

 

[King Billi]

I'll admit I've never played a game in which my nationality was the primary threat to world safety but then again if I ever found one I think I'd actually be even MORE keen to play it just to see what kind of threat a vicious horde of Australians could pose to the world..?


Honestly though I've never played a modern FPS where I legitimately felt there was any intended malice aimed towards a particular nationality or country, it's always just some made up terrorist group or a James Bond type villian with a dastardly scheme in the end.

Shooters just need to have somebody shooting back at you and if their game purports to take place in a "realistic modern setting" then of course they're going to fall back on stereotypes and cliches, I just don't see any real spite or hidden agenda behind it though(At least not in any FPSs I've played) At worst it's just born from laziness or ignorance.


In any case there are plenty of other options out there if you truly can't stand these kinds of games... Bioshock Infinite certainly looks promising as well.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Russians, of course - they have a history of being the "bad guys". And they won't really do anything if you use them in your game. I mean China can ban your game and that's cutting off a lot of potential customers, Germany could do the same, while Russia? No, not really. While terrorists can't do anything about them being in a game, Russia just won't.

I think I remember a forum post somewhere about Russia being the only ones left that could be a credible threat and weren't a bunch of whining pussies that would get all pissy about it (paraphrased from said post).

 

[Zhukov]

I'll admit I've never played a game in which my nationality was the primary threat to world safety but then again if I ever found one I think I'd actually be even MORE keen to play it just to see what kind of threat a vicious horde of Australians could pose to the world..?

I'm Australian and I too would buy the hell out of that game.

Especially if the enemies all talked with extremely cliche accents and mannerisms.

"Open fire cobber!"
"Stone the crows mate, it's a grenade!"
"Bloody oath, we're takin' casualties!"

 

[Tom_green_day]

I wanna kill aliens or monsters or... dinosaurs! There have been no decent dinosaur games recently! Or an idea I had would be like a fantasy RPG. Imagine Middle Earth where you had a shotgun. Hell yeah.

 

[XxkutKOOLkillaxX]

Spoiler: I feel this is somewhat related

OT: Actually that comic strip does a good explanation of the "Grr, they be bad" mentality. A lot of humans need an "acceptable target" - most of the fiction works that way. There is the evil wizard, the evil orcs, the evil undead, the evil nation of the neighbouring Evilstan, and so on. This is the same thing but in the real world - since if you're doing something in the real world, you can't just make up a new group, you'll need to pick an existing one, if you were to follow the convention. And there isn't really much to choose from
- China is an option, but you wouldn't want to offend them
- Germany is an option, too, but that's mostly in the past. Also, people don't really like it when you pick on old infamy like that.
- Muslim terrorists are popular, too - especially after 9/11. And they can't "fight back" so to say.
- and Russians, of course - they have a history of being the "bad guys". And they won't really do anything if you use them in your game. I mean China can ban your game and that's cutting off a lot of potential customers, Germany could do the same, while Russia? No, not really. While terrorists can't do anything about them being in a game, Russia just won't.

There are some more options but mostly they won't be on a large enough scale and could actually cover some of the audience. Finally, there is "make a new group up" but that's actually mostly "rename one of the existing ones, change a few things if you're feeling generous" kind of thing.

What you said just had me thinking more and more about this topic! I really like it! When it comes to Germany, it's like visiting Middle-Earth over and over: Why is it ALWAYS the Germans? So your absolutely right when you say this. And when you talk about China, my thoughts are this: Sure, one nation might be a threat to our country's national interests, but does that mean we use several mediums such as Videogames too get the point across? To me, it only brings hatred and boils bad blood, and it can also seperate whole communities as a whole. Not saying that a Videogame has the potential to do all THAT now, as several other factors exist as well. I just wish that Game Developers can stop this type of gameplay. Even if said Developer does not have said intentions and just wants to make money, STILL, it CAN have a lasting effect.

I like what you guys are saying to this post, saying that we need another FPS motive rather than what we have today.

 

[m19]

Especially if the enemies all talked with extremely cliche accents and mannerisms.

"Open fire cobber!"
"Stone the crows mate, it's a grenade!"
"Bloody oath, we're takin' casualties!"

Except the actors are foreigners and can't pronounce any of those things.

 

[XxkutKOOLkillaxX]

Especially if the enemies all talked with extremely cliche accents and mannerisms.

"Open fire cobber!"
"Stone the crows mate, it's a grenade!"
"Bloody oath, we're takin' casualties!"

Except the actors are foreigners and can't pronounce any of those things.

LOL!! When you said that, I was thinking about stabbing M. Night Shama-however the heck you pronounce his name for ruining the Avatar movie, but THAT's a different story

 

[Sir Pootis]

I'll admit I've never played a game in which my nationality was the primary threat to world safety but then again if I ever found one I think I'd actually be even MORE keen to play it just to see what kind of threat a vicious horde of Australians could pose to the world..?

Ok, being an Australian, SOMEONE needs to make a game out of this. Not a shooter, those are too tedious. A brawler would be perfect.

OT: If you want a unique, non-russian murder-thon, check out Zeno Clash. It's a first person fighting game where you beat up aliens, sometimes with weapons, sometimes with your bare fists. (It's also recent enough, 2009, to be considered a "modern" game.)

 

[Coffeejack]

I want bloody hand-to-hand combat against steam-punk robots. I say steam-punk because that would mean they're comical and clunky, making close combat potentially hilarious. I don't understand why we have to have combat against boring humans instead. We are all pretty much the same physically, but with robots you can do anything.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Doesn't that look so much more interesting and creative than your average modern war game? The last time I recall seeing something that exciting was in Minecraft or possibly Myst if I remember correctly. I take one look at some of the things people have created and wish I could see them up close for myself, explore the decks of the airships and walk the halls of the cavernous subterranean palaces.

TL/DR: I deviated a bit and started to whinge. Sorry about that. I'd be happy enough to play a game in which my country or nation was the antagonist, just so long as it was set in a fictional or more interesting time period.

 

[Bacaruda]

I'm Half Russian and I don't feel that bad for killing Russians in a game. I'm tired of it though... And when a game actually show "good" Russian characters I am pleasantly surprised.

But the only reason I'm tired of the Russian killing is not because I'm Russian. It's because it's a cliché...

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Why can't we have monsters again...
They were varied, sometimes unique, and sometimes took a bit more than just pew pew pew.

Guns are such a boring weapon, all they do is shoot bullets and things die. What I wanna see is a game based solely on hand to hand combat, now that would be interesting! More than just punch, kick, dead though, add some chock holds, different skill trees like strength for punches that can break steel or agility for jabs that could take down a giant, it would be far more interesting that using a gun.

Hmm, you should try Condemned. They don't do that exactly but the games are the only ones that do first person brawling really well and they're bloody scary too...

Now I like CoD and BF3 but I do miss the Doom way of doing enemies.

Id: They're demons
An Idiot: With nukes? Are they invading Mrrica? What's my motivation?
Id: Well, they're dicks and they're squishy... And you get a laser gun and a chainsaw... Work it out!

 

[LGC Pominator]

You know, I am very surprised game makers haven't decided to tap into the undercurrent of disdain for the US harboured by pretty much everyone else on the planet, the closest games have come in the modern generation to doing anything less than making the US military look like the shining example of human integrity, how could you possibly suggest we are anything but?! Are Spec ops (obviously, since you actually, you know, FIGHT American soldiers) and CoD 4 Modern Warfare (wherein the Americans are shown up as being anything but effective in their strategy of "HURDUR LETS SHOOT BROWN PERSONS", even as you play them throughout some rather significant and eye opening portions of gameplay.

There is something to be said for making a first person modern warfare game in which you actually go up against the overpowered, ridiculously nationalistic and somewhat terrifyingly technologically advanced military force of the age, as opposed to simply BEING that force and shooting non-whites or non-American whites, and still being hailed as the defenders of "world peace" and the "free world" when, most of the civilised world has kinda figured that that is not what the US represents.

Hell a game wherein you play a UN peacekeeper would be kinda interesting, as opposed to the stock of games we currently have, especially when you consider the fact that intervention in other nations by the UN is roundly opposed mainly by people who are actually BAD GUYS.

(of course you mention the UN around Rick Scott and he will tell you that they want to make all American citizens live in hobbit homes and Obama is selling the country piecemeal to the UN for some reason, and he says that with a straight face!)

What would be VERY interesting for me as a political science student is a FPS set across the US, wherein you play, homefront style, with two factions facing off against the US military after someone decided to kickstart a revolution, on the one side you have the 99% movement, with not too many guns (because, liberal) engaging in small scale guerilla warfare against specific targets, bankers, arms company executives etc, and on the other side is the tea party guys, who, naturally, are armed to the teeth (because, conservative) who engage in less structured area defence style combat, wherein the fighting is more focussed on killing as many of the "opressors" as possible. A twist in the gameplay that would be interesting is "friendly fire" in which you, based on the character that you are playing for the mission, can also "accidentally" terminate fellow rebels, who happen to belong to the other side of the political spectrum, without drawing too much attention to your action, the implication being that, after the revolution is completed, a further civil war will break out, and removing members of the other side will benefit you after the White house has fallen.

Of course that game will never be made, what do you guys think?

 

[Saviordd1]

Why can't we have monsters again...
They were varied, sometimes unique, and sometimes took a bit more than just pew pew pew.

Monsters and wizards

Wizards and monster

MONSTER WIZARDS

Seriously, I don't mind shooters with a realistic bent (see Arma) but god damn I miss shooting the hell out of magical enemies with demons from hell at their sides. As meh as the new Wolfenstein was I was glad it was actually making the Nazi's interesting again.

Whatever happened to balls to the wall insanity in shooters? I miss it.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

I kind of want a shooter, in the COD style, that starts out as a normal military shooter, but the plot slowly turns into a Final Fantasyish plot where you fight a giant robot dragon, with an M4.

How about that for interesting shooter.

 

[aguspal]

I kind of want a shooter, in the COD style, that starts out as a normal military shooter, but the plot slowly turns into a Final Fantasyish plot where you fight a giant robot dragon, with an M4.

How about that for interesting shooter.

That does sound certainly interesting, BUT (Theres always the but) people than like Miliraty shooters as they are right now would be thorow off by it, AND people who DONT like Military shooters would just simply not play the game if at first it plays like a MMS.


Since I like both parts, I would actually like it probably. Unafortunally I am not sure if theres many peopple like me who like MMS and fantasy stuff, sepcailly the two togheters (Yes my english is terrible, I know).