Would you buy a Call of Duty game if you got to play as a Nazi?

[archvile93]

I think it would be cool to play as German soldiers on the Eastern front, where each person in your unti is in the army for various reason. As the war continues you get pushed back and take part in the defence of Berlin close to the end. When it becomes clear that the Russians will soon overrun Beriln, your unit takes part in a skirmish as the final mission to break through the Russian permiter and escape across the Elbe river in order to surrender to the Americans rather than fall into the hands of the vengence seeking Russians (an actual historical event by the way).

 

[Hobo Joe]

It would be very interesting to have the new perspective; even moreso if by the end we sympathised with the protagonist/other leading characters.

 

[Thedayrecker]

No, because there is no way Activision wouldn't screw it up.

You know by the end of the game, you'll have switched sides, to trumpets blaring out the American anthem.

 

[DocBalance]

Good God, you really, really want to bring the whole world crashing down on our heads, don't you? What is it with people and wanting to start controversy these days? Is it because it's cool? Because it's "hip"? Because it's not. It's sick to even want to place yourself in the position of a Nazi Camp officer. Real. People. Died. This is not a joke, it's not a game, and turning it into an outlet for your entertainment speaks to some level of a disturbed psyche. I can somewhat stomach War Games because they can glorify and honor the soldiers who died serving their respective countries. As much as I disagree with the Nazis, most of the soldiers were just people doing their duty to their country, and I respect them for that. But the camp officers? Anyone who wants to actually place themselves in that position is sick, straight down the line. Maybe someone will find this statement offensive, but I cannot abide while we turn what is easily one of the greatest tragedies into fun and games. The people in the camps? They were innocent. They were guilty of no crime. They were defenseless. And they died like animals. That's not funny, or entertaining.

 

[C95J]

That sounds quite fun, but the most fun part would be watching the controversy.

Yeah that would be quite amusing. Remember the controversy over that MW2 level in the airport, people get the idea stuck in their head that it is okay to kill civilians in movies but not in video games, even if you have the choice to skip the level all together. Boo hoo.

 

[k3v1n]

well, I'd play as a German Soldier fighting the Allies and doing what his government told him to do, kinda like the Wermacht. However, I wouldn't play as a convinced nazi, such as a Gestapo officer or the like

 

[ThePirateMan]

I wouldn't buy a CoD game just because I could play as a nazi and I'd rather play as a normal german soldier rather then a full-scaled nazi.

Don't know what else to say. If the gameplay looks good and the campaign is long enough for the price, yeah I would buy it, nazis or not.

Call of Duty for the campaign what? That isn't real.

I enjoyed the hell out of the Call of Duty 2 campaign and have played it through 5 or so times now and I don't know about the first, third and 6th ones. Only ever played the multiplayer on Call of Duty 4.

 

[XMark]

I think there's tons of dramatic potential in playing as a Nazi in a WW2 game. Especially if it was set in the last weeks of the war when there was no hope for victory but the orders kept coming in to defend Germany from the Allies. Obviously the game would have a tragic ending.

Movies have been done quite well from the Nazi perspective. Think Downfall and Das Boot.

 

[Ashsaver]

Yep,I'll buy it,it would be something similar to The Opposing Force a decade back where you play as one of the "bad guy" as designated by the rest of the world. It'll be a nice change of pace.

 

[Slavik_91]

fuck yeah

 

[Totenkopf]

Yeah, I would. To be honest, I can't wait for the new Red Orchestra which will have a Wehrmacht-campaign.

But I wouldn't like the concentration camp part. I want to fight in the war. And to do that, the character I'm playing had to be member of the Wehrmacht or Waffen SS, not one of the members of the SS Wachmannschaften, the guards in the concentration camps.

 

[Zef Otter]

Bah screw the Nazi's i wanna play as the Japanese! maybe a game thats a fps with mini games like how many heads you can chop off with a katana! Mmm maybe a rape simulator oh! maybe a spore like game with human test subjects... Hmmm

 

[MikailCaboose]

Not really, although I've also grown tired of CoD games. I can't help but get the "Been there, done that" feeling (gameplay wise. FPS's are just getting dull)

 

[Keppler]

The whole "being a Nazi" thing isn't extremely controversy worthy. You're taking the reigns of ze germans in any number of game's multi player modes anyway. But the concentration camp thing? That's a bit much.

Why's that? Wasn't there an article right here on The Escapist not too long ago pointing out that Nazis are being cartoon-ified? Rather than acknowledging what they actually did, they get portrayed as over-the-top supervillians; creating super soldiers, populating ridiculous fortresses, dabbling in the occult, and various other generic villainy while the true evils they committed are swept under the rug.

I never read the article you're talking about, but I'll agree that the "true evils" the Nazi's committed are being swept under the rug by the video game industry. I'm not aware of universities and history classes and so forth doing the same thing, however.

The video game industry is not a voice of history, nor is it bound by reality. It can choose to portray anything it likes in any way that it likes. Nazis are commonly found in video games as "over-the-top super villains" because that's a model that's conducive to selling product and is tame enough not to warrant a huge amount of media outcry. If you create a video game from the point of view of real Nazis, including concentration camps, genocide, etc etc, and their "justification" for it, then you -will- attract that media firestorm and the sales of the game will (in my opinion) be lower than the alternative.

In short, I enjoyed Return to Castle Wolfenstein and all the super villain Nazi mutant fantasy it portrayed. Conversely, I would not enjoy the "real" game suggested in the OP.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Yes. A game like this will probably be made soon. The more years we put between the present and WW2, the more sympathetic the average German soldier is being portrayed. It's not the German's lost every battle and are completely devoid of material. You could even -gasp- lose battles a few times. It's not like every soldier that fights in a lost battle is captured or killed.

 

[technoted]

Sure why not as long as the game looks good.

 

[General Recluse]

yes, only for a few missions though, like you play as a british soilder for one half of the game, then a nazi, then the brit, then the nazi. and in the end you have to play as the brit and kill the nazi in hand to hand combat.

something like that would be cool

 

[Danman1]

I know we're all fed up with W.W.2 games but after the lukewarm controversy in Modern Warfare 2 it might serve well to really fuck with the player and have some missions playing as a Nazi. Imagine the first mission, black and white schindlers list style to start out, you walk through the concentration camp following your commander. He takes you to a prisoner and the game forces you to execute him. It might be dark but I guarantee it'll sell faster than free £20 notes.

I love the idea. Split it up into perhaps the siege of Stalingrad, Japanese clashes with U.S. on islands, Italians in the North Africa Campaign. And Nazi SS for a special forces or concentration camp.

 

[ThongBonerstorm]

I wouldn't buy a CoD game just because I could play as a nazi and I'd rather play as a normal german soldier rather then a full-scaled nazi.

Don't know what else to say. If the gameplay looks good and the campaign is long enough for the price, yeah I would buy it, nazis or not.

every german soldier was a full blown Nazi, every citizen of germany was a full blown Nazi, there's nothing wrong with Nazis, its the same as saying 'would you play the next call of duty as a democrat?'. it was just the political party of the time, and everyone had to go along with it, some were worse than others, but just because they were Nazis doesn't make them bad people, there were soldiers on both sides.

Uhm, no, everyone was not a nazi. Everyone was not an anti-semist and a racsist. My grandma and her family for one beg the differ. You're not part of something just because you roll with it, just because Sweden is currently being lead by (supposedly) liberal conservatists, that doesn't mean that everyone in Sweden is a liberal conservatist. Nor does our democracy mean that everyone in Sweden is a democrat.

Edit: Kind of missed out on the soldier part, hah, but there were plenty of people that only wanted to fight for their homeland or were simply force-conscripted.

yes, your grandma was a Nazi, it's not meant in a bad way, it's just history. never said she was an anti-semite or a racist in anyway, just because a small group was, doesn't mean they all were.

the only problem with your Sweden remark is that during that time there was only one party: the Nazis, so all Germans were part of that party.