Poll: Why isn't Australia in any shooters?
- Thread starter Dylan Bonnett
- Start date
Shooters are largely made in America and Americans (as well as everyone else) are ethnocentric and think of their own situations first. Also, as Yahtzee says, nobody seems to care about Australia.
Because we're too busy with our wallaby's and sheila's ya bloody poof ay.
But seriously. I guess we just haven't got around to it, if they're developed in America it will obviously be from their mindset so they'd rather do what they're more accustomed to at this point.
But seriously. I guess we just haven't got around to it, if they're developed in America it will obviously be from their mindset so they'd rather do what they're more accustomed to at this point.
Hearts of Iron IIIgigastrike said:
Games which have whole world maps in them are obviously going to feature Australia. If you select to start in 1945 or 44 Australia is even labelled as a country of interest to play as.
I like it how everyone here talks about what Yahtzee says to no end and yet they still go against him saying 'lets make another WWII game!!'. There are other things you could do with Australia then a generic WWII shooter with nothing new but a change of accent.
You could have a story like Dances with Wolves (or Avatar for the 12 year olds) where you are a convict on one of the first prison ships to Australia but after suffering near death on the ride over you turn your colours and become a missionary. You seek out the local people to teach them about the West. However soon enough those rowdy convicts decide that Australia's not big enough for the two of them (which is quite ironic really...) and you have to train up the locals The Last Samurai style.
Or use something from Australia's unknown past, making up something in the 40,000 year period without Western intervention, like a time of hunting GIANT KANGAROOS and KILLER KOALAS (or dropbears as they're more formally known).
Make Crocodile Hunter: The Game where you have to swim around avoiding jellyfish.
A game where the desert in the centre of Australia doesn't have anyone in it because it's been secretly colonised by ALIENS and they kill all who come near... then just replay Crysis 2 in a desert setting
The problem with saying "why can't we play x game in y country" is that the location is going to have little effect on gameplay overall, so you might have some different scenery and the occasional 'A DINGO ATE MY BABY!' cry but the gameplay is still going to be the same if you're trying to port games that already exist to new locations.
I'll go ahead and say it, isn't Australia to a degree anti-war? Not saying anything as a criticism, but I was under the impression (and I might well be wrong) that, as a whole, Australia wasn't a supporter of war unless it really felt it was justified.
That might be it, frankly. They tend to make shooters for or based in places where either war happens enough that there's a large base of people who find it believable, or where the population is seen as 'fans' of it.
Case in point, 'everyone knows' that Afghanistan is full of heavily-armed people. Therefore, it's a believable location to have a shooter in. However, there aren't any major armed conflicts in or around Australia, and while certainly Australia has a stereotype of survivalists and beer drinkers, that comes off more as 'bar fight' than 'heavily-armed vigilantes'.
Now, if they did a Dead Rising variant where you have to survive a footy brawl, like a major championship match where you have to fight your way out of the post-game riots, I think Australia would be a contender.
That might be it, frankly. They tend to make shooters for or based in places where either war happens enough that there's a large base of people who find it believable, or where the population is seen as 'fans' of it.
Case in point, 'everyone knows' that Afghanistan is full of heavily-armed people. Therefore, it's a believable location to have a shooter in. However, there aren't any major armed conflicts in or around Australia, and while certainly Australia has a stereotype of survivalists and beer drinkers, that comes off more as 'bar fight' than 'heavily-armed vigilantes'.
Now, if they did a Dead Rising variant where you have to survive a footy brawl, like a major championship match where you have to fight your way out of the post-game riots, I think Australia would be a contender.
You forgot the option for
"Because the Australian government would have a shit fit..."
The Australian government has been known to have a stick up its ass regarding video games in general. They would probably ban the game on principle.
"Oh no you di'n't just depict Australia in a video game...BAN IT!!!"
(This is meant to be humorous, hope it doesn't offend...if so then my apologies. No offense meant to Australia in general, just that the goevernment over there needs to lighten up on its stance on video games so folks over there can enjoy more games and less censorship.)
I think more Aussie elements in games would be great. Australia would make a great setting for a shooter or survival action game.
"Because the Australian government would have a shit fit..."
The Australian government has been known to have a stick up its ass regarding video games in general. They would probably ban the game on principle.
"Oh no you di'n't just depict Australia in a video game...BAN IT!!!"
(This is meant to be humorous, hope it doesn't offend...if so then my apologies. No offense meant to Australia in general, just that the goevernment over there needs to lighten up on its stance on video games so folks over there can enjoy more games and less censorship.)
I think more Aussie elements in games would be great. Australia would make a great setting for a shooter or survival action game.
Probably because it's a big and empty other than a few key locations. Kind of like most of the American midwest (which is also never featured in games... even Chicago the 3rd largest city is rare)
Because you have that awesome arcade game where u drive the jeep and lasso animals...wtf else do you need?
Australia's quite far from a military power of the world.
And it's nowhere anyone wants to conquer either.
And it's nowhere anyone wants to conquer either.
Two words: Michael Atkinson. That guy would create a s***storm, even though he's no longer an MP. The pundits there are as wacky as the US, only it seems that the nutjobs here spend too much time at war with the other party to do jack diddly.
(sorry about this turning into a political rant, I just see politics playing into this dilemma way too much)
(sorry about this turning into a political rant, I just see politics playing into this dilemma way too much)
Australia is opposed to violence, which I find surprising, given the high number of terrifying creatures that live there.
It'd be a bit tricky to work an Australian focus into a modern - presumably military - shooter plot wise, because it's neither a popular target or (comparatively speaking) a great force to be reckoned with, but here's some ideas:
("Realistic" shooter or action game):
Play as a different members of a submarine crew or other naval vassal dispatched in support of international allies in dealing with some crisis. Could give you a chance to play real world female troops, mix in a bit of modern high sea combat, maybe some ground missions... etc.
("Fantasy" shooter)
The Outback Attacks! Already home to one of the highest concentration of diverse species, a mad geneticist-gone-ecoterrorist has unleashed some manner of Forced Evolutionary Virus in different sites in the Aussie continent and now both army regulars and your average joe takes to the streets to battle this epidemic of rampaging mutants in bizzare and horrifying "Ecopolaypse".
0.02
I'd show my support for those down under and play em!
("Realistic" shooter or action game):
Play as a different members of a submarine crew or other naval vassal dispatched in support of international allies in dealing with some crisis. Could give you a chance to play real world female troops, mix in a bit of modern high sea combat, maybe some ground missions... etc.
("Fantasy" shooter)
The Outback Attacks! Already home to one of the highest concentration of diverse species, a mad geneticist-gone-ecoterrorist has unleashed some manner of Forced Evolutionary Virus in different sites in the Aussie continent and now both army regulars and your average joe takes to the streets to battle this epidemic of rampaging mutants in bizzare and horrifying "Ecopolaypse".
0.02
I'd show my support for those down under and play em!