EA Concerned Kids Don't Know About WW1 For Battlefield 1

[Steven Bogos]

EA Concerned Kids Don't Know About WW1 For Battlefield 1

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Some debate about Battlefield 1's World War 1 setting was concern that younger gamers don't know that the war happened.

told GameSpot [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/battlefield%201?os=battlefield+1] that chief among that pushback was a concern that younger gamers don't actually know that World War 1 was a thing that happened. Seriously.

"World War 1, we were worried that many of the younger consumers out there didn't know that there was a World War 2 or Vietnam, so World War 1..." Jorgensen said.

He also said that there was this consensus out there that trench warfare couldn't be fun, but the DICE team managed to convince the higher-ups that WW1 was so much more than just two armies shooting at each other from trenches.

"I think what people don't understand about World War 1 is the technology shift that went on during the war. People started the war on horseback and ended the war with airplanes and tanks and battleships and submarines. And that's a huge opportunity for us to be able to do a video game around."

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Does anyone else find it really concerning that they were worried about young people not knowing World War 1 was a thing? What do they teach kids in schools these days?

Battlefield 1 launches on October 21 for the PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/battlefield-1-ea-was-concerned-kids-didnt-know-ww1/1100-6440385/]

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[Hawki]

That's...depressingly not surprising.

 

[thewatergamer]

Meh, if someone actually cares enough to establish background a quick google of WW1 will bring up what it was, besides I learned about WW1 in school (though I haven't done elementary too recently)

 

[someguy1231]

Ugh, they better not dumb the game down...

 

[Timedraven 117]

Admittedly I'm getting more and more excited for this game, watching the Great War Channel on youtube, they talk about all the fronts the battles.... I fully expect for every single mission that your character dies, nothing is achieved, and the war keeps going.

Also the fact that the developer shad to explain that first world war was a world war, as in more than just trenches in Europe speaks poorly about the EA executives, not the children just learning about this stuff. Especially since the popularity of ww2 games, you know the second world war, was only a few years before. How young do they expect the kids buying this to be? 7?

 

[lacktheknack]

That's... fine? The game is rated M, the only legal customers most assuredly realize that WWI was a thing.

I mean, everyone (and I'm confident in saying EVERYONE) in the customer-base knows that Hitler was a dude, and that he was central in World War II, so by simple observation...

 

[Zulnam]

Translation: EA high-ups believe young generations are dumb enough to know nothing about the world war that was prior to the second world war.

Also "ww1 was not just trenches" = expect no historical accuracy. Machineguns for everybody!!

 

[frizzlebyte]

I don't normally use this kind of language, but:

How the FUCK would "kids today" not know about World War II *or* Vietnam? Is this a real phenomenon, or is this white-tower CEOs being dumb-asses? Because if it is a real thing, education is even shittier than I thought possible.

 

[TotalerKrieger]

I saw a comment today claiming that DICE should make a Battlefield game about the Great War rather than WWI so....maybe EA has a point. Going from the modern era to WWI will be a jarring shift for the core BF audience. At least it will be interesting to see what sort of game DICE actually comes up with.

 

[freebiewitz]

I learnt a lot of things from playing video games so the excuse of 'They don't know about X event' is bullshit to me in regards to having fun.
Back in primary school I didn't know people in the past used elephants in war until I played Age of Empires.
I didn't know soldiers in the Vietnam was were bombarded with broadcasts of propaganda, telling them that they already lost.
I didn't know a lot of things in history until I played through them in various video games.

Are those games unrealistic?

Well of course, I'm sure a arrow can't reduce a stone wall to rubble.
I'm sure being an engineer that fixes tanks that are on fire using just a wrench isn't historically accurate.

The point is I don't have to know about something previously to enjoy later.

 

[weirdee]

"back in my day, we had mustard gas and we liked it!"

 

[loa]

So they're openly marketing their 16-18+ game to children now?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Considering the way almost all of my elementary and high school history classes basically glossed over WWI but we got hammered with WWII, I'm not that surprised that younger generations may indeed know very little-to-nothing about WWI unless they took it upon themselves to read about it.

Also I've met quite a few young people who've said shit about WWII that makes me fear for the future. Shit I can't even repeat because thinking about it makes me throw up in my mouth a bit. Abject stupidity sickens me.

 

[Quellist]

Lets be fair to these execs. They are concerned 100% about profit and profit means recognizable brands (which is of course why we get so little innovation these days). They had concerns but they were, in the end apparently satisfied.

I think we should be grateful they were willing to listen and take a tiny risk for a change! I'm more psyched for this Battlefield game than any previous one!

 

[Saelune]

I think most people who would buy a Battlefield game know what WWII is, and can count to 2, so should know that WWI was a thing.

I'm sure plenty of people actually don't know what WWI is...but also fuck EA for thinking so little of us. Not surprised, since they always felt that way, but still.

 

[Fox12]

Why do I get the feeling that the EA CEO's didn't know about the first world war until DICE told them about it?

Also, am I really going to have to play devil's advocate for today's educational system? I mean, it's bad, but it's not that bad. The way people talk nowadays, you'd think kids would forget to breathe if you didn't remind them.

 

[Recusant]

When the RIAA implemented the Parental Advisory label, Frank Zappa complained, likening it to treating dandruff with decapitation. In response, they slapped the "explicit lyrics" label on his next album, Jazz from Hell. And yes, I do know that their doing so was spiteful retaliation and not a legitimate labeling, because Jazz from Hell is entirely instrumental. All the lyrics the songs don't have are very explicit, I guess. The day I read that, I thought the world couldn't get any stupider.

According to the ESRB's website, they gave Battlefields 3, 4, and Hardline (which I think are the latest ones; I don't follow this series) M ratings. So either they don't understand what "under 18" means, or they think that young people are so stupid, they don't know that if you have a SECOND world war, you need, before that, to have a FIRST. I've made jokes in the past about EA not understanding how numbers work (see: their releasing Battlefield "1" after Battlefields 3 and 4), but those were jokes. This makes me wonder if the company's leaders aren't actually mentally retarded.

 

[Lane Denson]

Also "ww1 was not just trenches" = expect no historical accuracy. Machineguns for everybody!!

*shrug* It wasn't just trenches.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

Everything I need to know about WW1 I learned from kids cartoons. Like how The Red Baron hates Snoopy.

Beyond that if we were allowed to kill a certain evil historic figure would that cause a Time Paradox?

 

[VinLAURiA]

That's... fine? The game is rated M, the only legal customers most assuredly realize that WWI was a thing.

Today's seventeen-year-olds were born in 1999. Even 9/11 is probably something they only know from history class now.