EA Concerned Kids Don't Know About WW1 For Battlefield 1
- Thread starter Steven Bogos
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I was specifically responding to the use of the word "legally", since that is objectively incorrect. I even outright stated that no store is going to sell an M-rated game to children (despite being legally allowed) because of the backlash that would cause.Strazdas said:
But using the word "legal" is part of why so many people during the Jack Thompson era just assumed that R-rated movies had laws already in place (and why laws on violent video games were thus A-okay).
No, it's definitely 17 and older (as in, not sold to under 17) for most/all places in the US. I can't think of a single game store that doesn't sell M-rated games to 17-year olds. Saying that EA execs "don't know what under 18 means" is incorrect with regards to the US, since M-rated is for 17 and older and enforced as such.Recusant said:
Please, people, be careful with your wording, since the ESRB is a private organization with no legal backing. You're doing far more harm than good when it comes to public perception of video games and the law.
Given what we saw in the trailer it is safe to say the knowledge of WW1 extends most certainly to EA and their need for flash and spectacle over relating anything about history. So on that note, why do you care if kids don't know about WW1, this is an M rated game so they shouldn't be playing it, and you aren't doing this to be historical just trying to find a new market to milk with the all flash and no substance multiplayer shenanigans that battlefield is known for.
I for one, am looking forward to the Ottoman campaign, specifically the part towards the end of the war when the upper echelon realizes that the misfortunes of war dictate that their five hundred year hold over old Rome is finally coming to an end, and decide to exercise their frustrations on the nationalist Armenians for daring to spit in the eye of their once great Empire, now on its death bed.
I mean, unless you're a Turk, in which case none of that happened, right? I think the news out of Germany today proves definitively that the Great War is an event that is still shaping global discourse to this day.
I mean, unless you're a Turk, in which case none of that happened, right? I think the news out of Germany today proves definitively that the Great War is an event that is still shaping global discourse to this day.
Gallipoli was the first campaign Australian soldiers fought in that started after Australia became a country.Lightspeaker said:
Australian Federation happened during the Boer War, but that tends to be forgotten except when Breaker Morant is mentioned, and HMAS Sydney sunk the Emden, but nobody seems to remember that at all.
Even if people don't know about World War 1, they'll be able to get the gist of it from the Battlefield 1 box art and promotional material.
As far as I can tell, it was a war with lots of different people fighting each other, including black men in capes with pistols and maces fighting Zeppelins (which was probably Africa vs. Germany or possibly the US Negro League vs. the German Balloon Corp), Middle Eastern female cavalry (probably also Africa vs. Germany or Girl Power vs. The Patriarchy) and robot-men attacking the rain and the sky with flamethrowers (obviously Robo-Germany vs. Nature, or Fire vs. Water).
Everything else I'm sure they'll be able to pick up once they play the game, which I'm sure will be a enthralling and educational experience for all.
As far as I can tell, it was a war with lots of different people fighting each other, including black men in capes with pistols and maces fighting Zeppelins (which was probably Africa vs. Germany or possibly the US Negro League vs. the German Balloon Corp), Middle Eastern female cavalry (probably also Africa vs. Germany or Girl Power vs. The Patriarchy) and robot-men attacking the rain and the sky with flamethrowers (obviously Robo-Germany vs. Nature, or Fire vs. Water).
Everything else I'm sure they'll be able to pick up once they play the game, which I'm sure will be a enthralling and educational experience for all.
I just have 2 questions: 1) Why does EA care as long as people buy the game, and I'm sure they will.
2) This:
2) This:
Seriously, I knew about the World Wars when I was like 7. Didn't really know anything about them except that they happened.Steven Bogos said:
Okay, two things about this:
1) If your kids at the age of, say, 15, haven't even heard of WW1, invent a time machine for the express purpose of going back and making sure the condom doesn't break this time.
2) There's a lot of "things" I didn't know when I was playing historical RTS games and/or sci-fi stuff with tons of techno-babble. Whatever the games themselves couldn't frame for me, I looked it up; and we didn't have Google back then, we made due with Altavista on dial-up connections. It would be refreshing, EA, if once in a while you maintained some form of loose connection to the actual player-base, because whatever numbers you're getting from wherever, they don't seem to be doing the job.
1) If your kids at the age of, say, 15, haven't even heard of WW1, invent a time machine for the express purpose of going back and making sure the condom doesn't break this time.
2) There's a lot of "things" I didn't know when I was playing historical RTS games and/or sci-fi stuff with tons of techno-babble. Whatever the games themselves couldn't frame for me, I looked it up; and we didn't have Google back then, we made due with Altavista on dial-up connections. It would be refreshing, EA, if once in a while you maintained some form of loose connection to the actual player-base, because whatever numbers you're getting from wherever, they don't seem to be doing the job.
Supernova2000 said:
Did you just fucking compare a goddamned game to the most deadly and brutal war in the History of our planet? There are still areas scarred by the battles that happened there a hundred years later. Like, what the actual fuck dude?
OT: You guys are blowing this so out of proportion. Yeah sure, everyone knows there WAS a WWI. But what do they know of it. In fact, what do YOU know of it? History buffs aside, can you tell from the top of your head one of the most important battles of WWI, ala Stalingrad or the Normandy landings? Is there a weapon that immediately jumps your mind when you think of WWI, like the Thompson machinegun? Or even some famous generals, like Patton, or famous figures, like Hitler and Churchill (and know, Franz Ferdinand doesn't count, 'cuz sandwich trivia)?
With the sequel they had years and years of war glorification and pop culture to work with. World War I doesn't command the same weight, and it isn't as easy to create a game about as a made-up scenario. It's good DICE managed to convince EA, and despite not having much hope for historical accuracy, it's a good step in the right direction.
BUT DID NOT YOU SEE? Everyone is angermad at the cally doody but everybody LOVESET THE NEW BATTLEHOLE! Because everyone wanted the world war 1 and why would they want it if they didn't know about it? An EA marketing campaign spearheaded by botted dislikes? Preposterous. This is the game everyone has been clamoring for.
No but seriously, WW1 is pretty cool historically but I think that's a very valid concern. Maybe not that they don't know WW1 existed but people don't know a lot about it. I've learned a bit since then, but what I remember learning in school about it was like "they dug trenches and then just spent weeks throwing gas and shit at each other and not making much ground."
It would be cool to play out Ferdinand's assassination though. You probably WON'T because the actual events are so far-fetched that it might clash with the serious tone of the game but I think it would be an interesting sequence.
I don't know. I'm talking like there's a chance of ANYTHING that would make me interested in a battlefield game. I honestly probably wouldn't pick it up no matter what. At least WW1 is a different-ish setting than we usually see?
No but seriously, WW1 is pretty cool historically but I think that's a very valid concern. Maybe not that they don't know WW1 existed but people don't know a lot about it. I've learned a bit since then, but what I remember learning in school about it was like "they dug trenches and then just spent weeks throwing gas and shit at each other and not making much ground."
It would be cool to play out Ferdinand's assassination though. You probably WON'T because the actual events are so far-fetched that it might clash with the serious tone of the game but I think it would be an interesting sequence.
I don't know. I'm talking like there's a chance of ANYTHING that would make me interested in a battlefield game. I honestly probably wouldn't pick it up no matter what. At least WW1 is a different-ish setting than we usually see?
I learned about WWI mostly on my own time, per my own interest. It was barely taught in school. We learned that there was a first world war before a second, more important one. We learned that the US fought Germany. According to my high school history teacher, the state curriculum didn't consider it mandatory; however it was mandatory that students learn where Elvis recorded his albums. If I wasn't immaturely interested in biplanes when I was a little kid, I doubt I would have ever learned much about the Great War. The thing is that public schools are shit - public middle schools, doubly so.
Whatever people's opinions on what kids know these days, EA will screw this up somehow. They ALWAYS do. I guarantee it. They already screwed it up actually with the protagonist. I love how there's not a single drop of mud on his perfect little face.
WWI may not have the biggest body count of them all, but it was the nastiest by far. It'll be entertaining to see how they're going to sanitize it. If it's even possible.
WWI may not have the biggest body count of them all, but it was the nastiest by far. It'll be entertaining to see how they're going to sanitize it. If it's even possible.
It wasn't. While the Western Front solidified fairly quickly in late-1914 and would remain static up until the Michael-offensive in 1918, the rest of the war theaters were much more mobile. The Eastern Front was basically one battle of encirclement after the other as Alliance troops outmaneuvered the Russian Army. The war in the Middle East between the Ottomans and the Entente was also a theater of war that was highly mobile and were cavalry was the dominating branch of arms. In the African theater the German colonial troops fought a long guerrilla war against Commonwealth forces and were undefeated as of 1918 (though all of German East Africa was occupied).Zulnam said:
Saying that WW1 was not just trenches is a factual statement, it was a war fought on or around every continent and it was only one theater of war that got bogged into trench warfare.
I'm fairly sure all children outside of the US know about the First World War, it's huge in Europe and the Commonwealth countries.
I think this is all a case of where you have EA executives who base their knowledge of gamers and what we want purely from reading marketing reports in an office rather than actually being an actual gamer. I think anyone with even a vague interest in FPS's would know that futuristic and modern FPS's were reaching saturation point. I can't believe EA hasn't picked up on this and why they still seem reluctant to do so.
I think this is all a case of where you have EA executives who base their knowledge of gamers and what we want purely from reading marketing reports in an office rather than actually being an actual gamer. I think anyone with even a vague interest in FPS's would know that futuristic and modern FPS's were reaching saturation point. I can't believe EA hasn't picked up on this and why they still seem reluctant to do so.
May I just pitch in and say that although WWI is probably considered the most depressing war ever (shortsighted leaders, great misunderstandings concerning advancements in military technology), it also allowed many countries to gain independence (thanks, Lenin). Now granted most of them lasted only for a couple of decades (Thanks, Stalin), but it would be an interesting story angle to explore.
And concerning the lack of info concerning the Great War in the US (apparently) doesn't sound suprising, since they only came in rather late. And if it's really a problem that people don't know much about it? EDUCATE them! What's so difficult about putting a scene where people discuss the political climate in Europe? Or hell, make it happen in the Middle East, broaden my horizons! Tell me how the Ottoman Empire tried control it's multiethcnic region while trying to do some actual saber rattling towards its enemies.
And concerning the lack of info concerning the Great War in the US (apparently) doesn't sound suprising, since they only came in rather late. And if it's really a problem that people don't know much about it? EDUCATE them! What's so difficult about putting a scene where people discuss the political climate in Europe? Or hell, make it happen in the Middle East, broaden my horizons! Tell me how the Ottoman Empire tried control it's multiethcnic region while trying to do some actual saber rattling towards its enemies.
Maybe I am just crazy but it seems to me this is a good chance for them to educate kids on WW1 then if they don't already know. Hell as a major entertainment company that gets constant flak this could be a good chance to sell games and get some good press on teaching history.