Iran Bans Arma 3

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

People can't argue that Iran is evil for making anti-Israel games at the same time games like this are being released.

I think people argue that Iran is evil because it's an odious, fanatical theocracy.

I find Israel's government to be just as disgusting; at least Iran's government restricts itself to treating its own people like dirt. But no-one would portray Israel in the same light as Iran is regularly treated, for fear of being branded anti-Semitic. Just sayin'.

 

[maxben]

I doubt a game set in a "fictional alternate reality" where US are portrayed as evil imperialist invaders would get the green light here in America.

The makers are Czech. Just so you know.

 

[Falterfire]

That is not what I meant.

When a game gets released that depicts some country like Iran, Russia or China as a horribly evil invader then nobody has any problems with it, but when they release a game that depicts the west as evil then all of the sudden lots of people flip.

I think Extra Credits did an episode on this: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/propaganda-games

Eh, I think the people who flip in America are the same people who go ZOMG MASS EFFECT IS A SEX SIMULATOR or THE VIDYA GAEMZ ARE CORRUPTING OUR YOUTHS! In other words, the people the rest of us prefer to pretend don't exist.

I don't think such a vidya game would actually receive the banhammer in the US for the simple reason that as far as I know, nothing gets the banhammer in the US. (The only exception I can think of was the Hot Coffee thing in GTA:SA, and that was a completely overblown case anyways)

I think the reason you don't see any "the US is evil" games in the USA is simply that there isn't exactly a demand for products which attempt to make the viewer hate themselves in any culture.

 

[Neonit]

well to be honest, i too am tired of all those games where you have to fight people with bad russian accent, or "lets fight some arabs in the desert!" type of games. i did however noticed decline in "lets shoot some nazi's!" games.

iirc there was a game, banned in usa which depicted "one of countless arabs" as the good guys fighting us soldiers....
and lets not forget the countless protests against every second fps.....

so yeah, silliness as far as eye can see.
how about you let people protest with their wallets, huh?

 

[RA92]

Why couldn't they have made a Sci-Fi shooter with RPG elements that represents Iran as it does?

Because the ArmA series was always about being a hardcore simulator and making drastic changes in direction in the third iteration is a bad idea?

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

To be fair, Iran isn't being fairly depicted in this game.

Am I the only one who thinks this constant use of countries like Russia or Iran as evil invaders is getting a little annoying?

People can't argue that Iran is evil for making anti-Israel games at the same time games like this are being released.

I actually agree with this. Why can't we have some countries like 'Merica or the UK or even Australia (where I live) be the bad guys for a change. I understand why some countries get pissed off at little things like this, it's because they're being bullied by other countries constantly.

 

[Sean951]

well to be honest, i too am tired of all those games where you have to fight people with bad russian accent, or "lets fight some arabs in the desert!" type of games. i did however noticed decline in "lets shoot some nazi's!" games.

iirc there was a game, banned in usa which depicted "one of countless arabs" as the good guys fighting us soldiers....
and lets not forget the countless protests against every second fps.....

so yeah, silliness as far as eye can see.
how about you let people protest with their wallets, huh?

No, for a game to be banned in the US, it would have to violate pornography laws. I think the game you are talking about was the one which allowed the player to play as the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Fox News had a shit fit and that feature was removed or they cancelled the game.

 

[Antari]

Iran is angry at something this week? I wasn't shocked the last few hundred times I heard this. I'm not going to be shocked now.

 

[Doom972]

Why couldn't they have made a Sci-Fi shooter with RPG elements that represents Iran as it does?

Because the ArmA series was always about being a hardcore simulator and making drastic changes in direction in the third iteration is a bad idea?

That part was a joke. I know that while it's not for me, many people like these games and I have no intention of depriving them of that. Arma should do what it can do best.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I don't think anyone other than Iran cares about what Iran thinks.

 

[BeerTent]

All I got from the last paragraph was "Down with the West! Down with Israel! Keep making games that portray these guys as assho- What? They're making US, Iran look bad in this ARMA thing? NO WAI! That's Bullshit! That's totally unfair!! BAN IT!"

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

So, they get upset about a game "portraying them badly" when they threaten to execute a foreign developer of another game that also "portrayed them badly." These are also the same people that held 2 American tourists in jail for God knows how long threatening to kill them thinking they were spies. Also the same country who's leader claims the Holocaust never fucking happened. Naw, they aren't close minded at all guys. Definitely not evil in any way.

Frankly, I'm through with the entire fucking middle East, especially Iran. I'm just waiting for their "it's-not-for-weapons" nuclear reactor to go Chernobyl on their asses.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

A group of human beings somewhere in the world is getting pissy. But since it's a group of Islamic fundemantalists in the Middle East, that makes it news. A group of Christian fundementalists in the US could set a bus on fire and nobody would bat an eye.

That's because they're not trying to start a new Holy War, and there isn't a bunch of people in the bus.

 

[the clockmaker]

To be fair, Iran isn't being fairly depicted in this game.

Am I the only one who thinks this constant use of countries like Russia or Iran as evil invaders is getting a little annoying?

People can't argue that Iran is evil for making anti-Israel games at the same time games like this are being released.

I actually agree with this. Why can't we have some countries like 'Merica or the UK or even Australia (where I live) be the bad guys for a change. I understand why some countries get pissed off at little things like this, it's because they're being bullied by other countries constantly.

Okay, I'll bite, make a halfway plausable story with Aus as the bad guy.

 

[Geth Reich]

You know what I'd like to see? A lot of things but the most relevant to this thread would be a game depicting both sides of the Iran-Iraq war: religious fanaticism, trench warfare and modern weaponary combined to make quite possibly the greatest war setting this side of 40K.

You could even be intelligent and put depth and characterisation in it!

If you were one of those queerosexuals who like that sort of thing of course....

 

[Geth Reich]

I doubt a game set in a "fictional alternate reality" where US are portrayed as evil imperialist invaders would get the green light here in America.

Spec Ops: The Line would like to have a word with you...

"How many Americans have you killed today?"

 

[Darks63]

The real question is how long is the list of approved games in iran because it seems like the list of banned ones should be pretty long.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

To be fair, Iran isn't being fairly depicted in this game.

Am I the only one who thinks this constant use of countries like Russia or Iran as evil invaders is getting a little annoying?

People can't argue that Iran is evil for making anti-Israel games at the same time games like this are being released.

I actually agree with this. Why can't we have some countries like 'Merica or the UK or even Australia (where I live) be the bad guys for a change. I understand why some countries get pissed off at little things like this, it's because they're being bullied by other countries constantly.

Okay, I'll bite, make a halfway plausable story with Aus as the bad guy.

Hmm... okay! Julia Gillard wants to utilise the deadly creatures in Australia to release on the world because everyone calls her a ranga!

Yeah, I'm not good at stories.

 

[Andy Chalk]

When a game gets released that depicts some country like Iran, Russia or China as a horribly evil invader then nobody has any problems with it, but when they release a game that depicts the west as evil then all of the sudden lots of people flip.

I don't recall anyone "flipping out" when a Western nation has been portrayed as the bad guy, but then I don't recall any games that portray Western nations as the bad guy either. The trouble is that in order to have a well-defined bad guy, you need to have a well-defined good guy, and while the US, UK and other nations have done some pretty deplorable things, they've done absolutely nothing even remotely close to what Iran, China, the Soviet Union, North Korea and the usual gang of idiots have pulled over the years. Yes, the Iran-Contra affair was ugly; on the other hand, the Americans never gassed thousands of their citizens.

In order to make it work, you'd have to craft an entirely fictional scenario - the US runs out of water and invades Canada, for instance. (And gets the stupid slapped out of it in the process, btw.) Which could work, but not as a "real world" shooter. Like it or not, in the real world, the Americans are the good guys.

 

[the clockmaker]

To be fair, Iran isn't being fairly depicted in this game.

Am I the only one who thinks this constant use of countries like Russia or Iran as evil invaders is getting a little annoying?

People can't argue that Iran is evil for making anti-Israel games at the same time games like this are being released.

I actually agree with this. Why can't we have some countries like 'Merica or the UK or even Australia (where I live) be the bad guys for a change. I understand why some countries get pissed off at little things like this, it's because they're being bullied by other countries constantly.

Okay, I'll bite, make a halfway plausable story with Aus as the bad guy.

Australia started as a place to dump all of Britain's worst people... Australians are tired of having this shameful mark on their history and start a campaign to prove that Australia is no longer a place of confinement...

See it would either have to be a dominion of the draka style alternate universe or a commedy,
it could not work as a serious modern day story without, for example, casting the player as a unionist INdonesian militiamen gunning down the Aussies as they support those traitor timorese.