why are there no WW1 games?

[BBQ Platypus]

The real reason - it'd be pretty damn hard to make the player feel like they were fighting for anything. WWI was started pretty much exclusively by imperialist dick-waving. Then again, retarded, vindicative nationalism played a big role in getting WWII started (mainly in Germany and the like). But you don't get to fight Nazis in WWI.

Not to mention the monotony of the combat.

First and last level: You get mowed down by a German machine gun within 30 seconds and slowly bleed to death in no man's land. The kicker is - your sacrifice is in vain, the battle is a stalemate, and the war drags on for another three years. Oh, and the peace terms directly contribute to another war that kills even MORE people. Bye!

 

[TheDoctor455]

Given the game industry's insane tendency to get overly-realistic with games now-a-days, a trench warfare game like one set in WWI wouldn't really be that much fun. Half the game would be spent sitting in the back trenches smoking, playing cards, and cracking dirty jokes with the other guys. Then, for about 20 minutes worth of gameplay, you get to the frontlines and either die within a few seconds or you get rotated to the back again.

 

[BBQ Platypus]

Fun to see all these douchebags arguing over who deserves how much credit for what in what war. Different time zones, same tendency to blatantly mischaracterize and marginalize other nationalities. I could get into the reasons why I think BOTH sides are wrong, but what would be the point?

I mean, really, who gives a shit? The war was 65 years ago - get over yourselves. Wasn't nationalist dick-waggling the very thing that CAUSED these wars in the first place? Sheesh, why don't you guys just whip it out and measure it already?

 

[Motti]

Because there were no heroes in WWI . . .

Off the top of my head:

John Monash (who shortened the war by about a year with his revolutionary commonsense.
Pompey Elliot (who never sent his men anywhere he wasn't prepared to go)
The Red Baron (Aussies shot him down by the way)
etc, etc.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

They said you couldn't make a WW1 sit-com, but they where wrong.

 

[A Raging Emo]

There wasn't very much movement in the trenches. This would make a game quite boring to play if you were attacked every few days at random, while not moving.

Seriously, the soldiers advanced more during one christmas piss-up than they did in 4 years of fighting. (Cookie for all who get the reference)

 

[quellan_thyde]

Here's the general outline for a WWI game:
1) Jump into trench
2) Hide in trench
3) Avoid giant rats in trench
4) Avoid diseases in trench
5) Run across barbed-wire-strewn, mine-laden frontier towards another trench
6) Goto 1

Oodles of fun, for sure.

 

[Outamyhead]

Yeah, nothing more fun that going over the top and getting mowed down...and then doing it again with some more troops an hour later in case the enemy were not expecting it twice in one day, the whistle being blown, and shouting "Ready!!!" at the top of your lungs kind of gives it away though.

Then there is getting buried under a ton of dirt, and previously buried dead bodies, blown into the air by some of the largest artillery shells ever created.

Oh I forgot to mention Trench foot, that killed a few hundred thousand troops on both sides alone.

So there is a couple of reasons as to why there isn't and probably won't be a WWI game.

 

[A Raging Emo]

There wasn't very much movement in the trenches. This would make a game quite boring to play if you were attacked every few days at random, while not moving.

Seriously, the soldiers advanced more during one christmas piss-up than they did in 4 years of fighting. (Cookie for all who get the reference)

Goodbyee episode of "Blackadder goes fourth".

*Gives Cookie*

 

[lleihsad]

I'm surprised it hasn't become more fashionable, considering how popular it's elements have become. No clear good guys and bad guys, life is short and brutal, scary looking uniforms, grim and dark aesthetic... besides, it's not like we don't already embellish the hell out of WWII for the sake of gameplay.

 

[Masterthief]

I can't remember the name of the battle, but a game version of it would go like this.

You fire idly across your trench at the enemy about 30 yards away, this has been going on for several weeks. A while passes and artillery begins to batter the enemy trenches, 6 days later the artillery clears, and now is your chance to take the enemy trench and make it all worth the hell so far!

But wait, what's this? Your commander is telling you to WALK through no-mans land or you'll be shot (As it's improper to run), suddenly the enemies machine guns are back on as you watch yourself get ripped to shreds along with all your nearby allies.

Credits roll saying 150,000 people or so died in that attack, the war dragged on for a few more years and your death was a pointless waste caused by incompetent command. You're also told that the enemy (A respectable sovereign nation much like your own) suffers so massively from their surrender terms that the war indirectly leads to the rise of the most evil power of modern times. Fighting this evil power also happens to destroy your own nations glorious empires rule, and paves the way for the previously isolationist crazies to replace you.

It doesn't quite have the punch of 'Kicking the evil nazi's ass! Fuck yeah!' WW2 had.

That was quite possibly the Somme, although it could really have been any of the large battles in the war.

 

[incal11]

There wasn't very much movement in the trenches. This would make a game quite boring to play if you were attacked every few days at random, while not moving.

Seriously, the soldiers advanced more during one christmas piss-up than they did in 4 years of fighting. (Cookie for all who get the reference)

Yes, I know about that one.
During one Christmas the French and German soldiers actually got out of the trenches, exchanged cigarettes, played football, and wished each other a happy new year.

Then their superiors reminded them that they were supposed to kill each other all year, unless they wanted to be executed for insubordination.

 

[Daveman]

Once you're over the top you either died or ended up having to retreat later. The repetition in the game would just make it boring.

 

[Outamyhead]

How would an RTS of the biggest stale mate in warfare be any good?

The troops run towards your trench, you mow them down with machine gun, rifle and artillery fire (if the mines don't get them first), and likewise when you run across the 500 yard space of mud and bodies.

and if your retreat at all, you get shot by your superior YAY FUN!!!

 

[Masterthief]

The Generals in WWI weren't quite as bad as people are making them out to be. How else do you take a trench, if not by bombarding and then charging it? If any one can think of a better strategy then please, reply. Also I'd like to make the point that General Grant used similar tactics against his opponents (in many ways the Civil War was the first example of trench warfare) and he is held up as a great general. I am not depreciating Grant, I am simply making the point that the Officers in WWI, though some of them were incompetent idiots, were trying to win the war the only way the knew how. The massive death tolls were still (comparatively) less that those of Grant et al.
Back on topic: a game which focused on the more mobile forces during the war, the shock troopers etc. could be incredibly fun as an FPS. They had the first modern flame throwers, rapid fire rifles and the first grenade launchers. Trench life could be described via cut-scenes (possibly from the prospective of a soldier writing home to family) but the actual gameplay would focus on the dawn raids and head-on assaults that formed the 'interesting' parts of the war.

 

[RBM11]

Do you guys not realize that the Western Front was not the only front? A World War with more than one front? Shocking I know! There are PLENTY of fronts and campaigns the game could be set in. Gallipoli and the rest of the Middle Eastern Front, Eastern Front, hell even an African front where you play as a German guerilla soldier in East Africa would be fun if made properly. And even if it was based on the Western front, it would be fun. You would obviously not have to sit in a trench 7/8s of the game, only play out large attacks like the Somme or defend against attackers. It would be very fun if made properly. Also I remember hearing about a World War 1 FPS about a year ago though I can't remember the name.

 

[suhlEap]

Do you guys not realize that the Western Front was not the only front? A World War with more than one front? Shocking I know! There are PLENTY of fronts and campaigns the game could be set in. Gallipoli and the rest of the Middle Eastern Front, Eastern Front, hell even an African front where you play as a German guerilla soldier in East Africa would be fun if made properly. And even if it was based on the Western front, it would be fun. You would obviously not have to sit in a trench 7/8s of the game, only play out large attacks like the Somme or defend against attackers. It would be very fun if made properly. Also I remember hearing about a World War 1 FPS about a year ago though I can't remember the name.

my point exactly. there was more to WW1 than just the trenches, so why wouldn't a game be fun if set in a different area?

 

[AddytheGreat]

I can't remember the name of the battle, but a game version of it would go like this.

You fire idly across your trench at the enemy about 30 yards away, this has been going on for several weeks. A while passes and artillery begins to batter the enemy trenches, 6 days later the artillery clears, and now is your chance to take the enemy trench and make it all worth the hell so far!

But wait, what's this? Your commander is telling you to WALK through no-mans land or you'll be shot (As it's improper to run), suddenly the enemies machine guns are back on as you watch yourself get ripped to shreds along with all your nearby allies.

Credits roll saying 150,000 people or so died in that attack, the war dragged on for a few more years and your death was a pointless waste caused by incompetent command. You're also told that the enemy (A respectable sovereign nation much like your own) suffers so massively from their surrender terms that the war indirectly leads to the rise of the most evil power of modern times. Fighting this evil power also happens to destroy your own nations glorious empires rule, and paves the way for the previously isolationist crazies to replace you.

It doesn't quite have the punch of 'Kicking the evil nazi's ass! Fuck yeah!' WW2 had.

You're thinking of the Battle of the Somme

EDIT - Oops, alredy been said