Poll: Would you play a game about non-Americans?

[Mycroft Holmes]

yes, but they almost always make it out so that is always the Americans that save the day

Americans in CoD universe:

-Invade middle eastern country, die by nuclear explosion. Completely failing to catch the dictator they were after.
-Help the British(Who were the ones who reached the control room) stop a nuclear attack.
-Fail to stop Kamarov's escape(The British, and Russians got him.)
-Send an agent to infiltrate a terrorist organization. He is immediately caught and the US is implicated in a massacre of civilians.
-Get invaded by Russia, a country which has nowhere near the amount of important military hardware as the US(IE ships, planes, tanks.) Despite having been in a massive civil war with itself a few years prior.
-Fails so bad defending against the attack that they legitimately lose for a time and almost blow up the White House.
-Leading US military figure then betrays his allies, on some crazy ultra nationalist binge with delusions of an even more hyper militant US where he is a hero. (British kill him for being a lunatic)
-US Proceeds to attack the main protagonists of the game.
-Successfully hijack a Russian Nuclear sub and use its missiles against the Russian fleet in New York City. How the US Navy fucked up so hard that there was a Russian Navy in New York City in the first place is beyond me.
-Fails to prevent the invasion of Europe(Which is so bad that the Russians reach Paris) again occurring while the Russians are already fighting a war in the continental US. Because apparently the US sucks, so they have troops to throw around.
-Fails to save the Russian president being interrogated for missile codes. The US soldiers on the mission all die, and the British save him.
-Continue to have absolutely no idea where Mackarov is or what he is doing. The British are constantly on his heels. Yuri(Russian) and Price(British) track him down and kill him.
-Are able to negotiate peace.


How exactly do you get the picture that that is a good track record? Or that they are being made out as having saved the day at all? From what I can tell from the series, Russians are somehow super-men capable of fighting the entire world at once. Americans are like inspector clouseau the country; Constantly bumbling around the world failing to do anything right. While the British/Scottish run behind the scenes, fixing the US's constant parade of mistakes and failures.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Well I'm British, so I'd prefer a game with non-Americans, especially if the Americans were the bad guys.

My ideal game would feature a British protagonist with an American bad guy, especially if at first he looked like he was a good guy.

 

[Ix Rebound]

yes, but they almost always make it out so that is always the Americans that save the day

Americans in CoD universe:

-Invade middle eastern country, die by nuclear explosion. Completely failing to catch the dictator they were after.
-Help the British(Who were the ones who reached the control room) stop a nuclear attack.
-Fail to stop Kamarov's escape(The British, and Russians got him.)
-Send an agent to infiltrate a terrorist organization. He is immediately caught and the US is implicated in a massacre of civilians.
-Get invaded by Russia, a country which has nowhere near the amount of important military hardware as the US(IE ships, planes, tanks.) Despite having been in a massive civil war with itself a few years prior.
-Fails so bad defending against the attack that they legitimately lose for a time and almost blow up the White House.
-Leading US military figure then betrays his allies, on some crazy ultra nationalist binge with delusions of an even more hyper militant US where he is a hero. (British kill him for being a lunatic)
-US Proceeds to attack the main protagonists of the game.
-Successfully hijack a Russian Nuclear sub and use its missiles against the Russian fleet in New York City. How the US Navy fucked up so hard that there was a Russian Navy in New York City in the first place is beyond me.
-Fails to prevent the invasion of Europe(Which is so bad that the Russians reach Paris) again occurring while the Russians are already fighting a war in the continental US. Because apparently the US sucks, so they have troops to throw around.
-Fails to save the Russian president being interrogated for missile codes. The US soldiers on the mission all die, and the British save him.
-Continue to have absolutely no idea where Mackarov is or what he is doing. The British are constantly on his heels. Yuri(Russian) and Price(British) track him down and kill him.
-Are able to negotiate peace.


How exactly do you get the picture that that is a good track record? Or that they are being made out as having saved the day at all? From what I can tell from the series, Russians are somehow super-men capable of fighting the entire world at once. Americans are like inspector clouseau the country; Constantly bumbling around the world failing to do anything right. While the British/Scottish run behind the scenes, fixing the US's constant parade of mistakes and failures.

again, im not just talking about COD, but yeah you did get me good there

 

[Starik20X6]

It occurs to me that the most popular game series of all time is about an Italian. I didn't think the nationality of the main character had anything to do with whether or not someone would play a game unless they were a massive racist.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

Non-American here, and I play games with American protagonists all the time. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Stuntcrab]

Well I am tired of the story every game has

"Oh nu! de evul ruzzians aree attackung and den deh guud guy americansnnzn save de dey"

And I got off track but yes I would play a game where I am a non-american.

 

[Will Scanlan]

Erm... whaddaya mean, "Would I"? Between the Italian plumber, the mute Hylian swordsman, the pseudo-transvestite Japanese children that may as well be a walking advert for Brylcreem, the French-built and German-designed Bugatti (yes, I consider the Veyron a protagonist in ANY racing game it features in), the Serbian car-jacker who must spend every waking moment tending to his portly cousin, a certain regal character from a country now know as Iran (where they make some rather nice rugs), the Chozo-adopted bounty hunter, or Jason Statham's blatant rip-off for inclusion in Crysis: Warhead...

When HAVE I played as an American? ;-)

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Fist of all, "America" is a lot bigger than the U.S., and secondly, if we keep talking about it, the U.S. won't be able to fit its head through any doors soon.

Also: way too assume white guy/girl = American.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Well I am tired of the story every game has

"Oh nu! de evul ruzzians aree attackung and den deh guud guy americansnnzn save de dey"

And I got off track but yes I would play a game where I am a non-american.

Russian spy! Get 'em!

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

yes, but they almost always make it out so that is always the Americans that save the day

Americans in CoD universe:

-Invade middle eastern country, die by nuclear explosion. Completely failing to catch the dictator they were after.
-Help the British(Who were the ones who reached the control room) stop a nuclear attack.
-Fail to stop Kamarov's escape(The British, and Russians got him.)
-Send an agent to infiltrate a terrorist organization. He is immediately caught and the US is implicated in a massacre of civilians.
-Get invaded by Russia, a country which has nowhere near the amount of important military hardware as the US(IE ships, planes, tanks.) Despite having been in a massive civil war with itself a few years prior.
-Fails so bad defending against the attack that they legitimately lose for a time and almost blow up the White House.
-Leading US military figure then betrays his allies, on some crazy ultra nationalist binge with delusions of an even more hyper militant US where he is a hero. (British kill him for being a lunatic)
-US Proceeds to attack the main protagonists of the game.
-Successfully hijack a Russian Nuclear sub and use its missiles against the Russian fleet in New York City. How the US Navy fucked up so hard that there was a Russian Navy in New York City in the first place is beyond me.
-Fails to prevent the invasion of Europe(Which is so bad that the Russians reach Paris) again occurring while the Russians are already fighting a war in the continental US. Because apparently the US sucks, so they have troops to throw around.
-Fails to save the Russian president being interrogated for missile codes. The US soldiers on the mission all die, and the British save him.
-Continue to have absolutely no idea where Mackarov is or what he is doing. The British are constantly on his heels. Yuri(Russian) and Price(British) track him down and kill him.
-Are able to negotiate peace.


How exactly do you get the picture that that is a good track record? Or that they are being made out as having saved the day at all? From what I can tell from the series, Russians are somehow super-men capable of fighting the entire world at once. Americans are like inspector clouseau the country; Constantly bumbling around the world failing to do anything right. While the British/Scottish run behind the scenes, fixing the US's constant parade of mistakes and failures.

Because the U.S. likes to think they are the good guy underdogs, fighting for freedom around the world, and not, say, invading countries and murdering masses of people to rape their natural resources at a later date. Yeah, makes me sick, too.

 

[Chrmike]

What about the Assassin's Creed series? All the protagonists, except Desmond, are non-Americans....

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

The reason most game protagonists are 24-35 yr old male white "american" (in the sense that they are english speaking) is that the majority demographic of video game players is thought to be composed of 24-35 yr old male white americans

as for op I would buy any game that featured Canadians. As I have yet to find one if anyone knows of one please let me know.

The average gamer is Asian and close to or over 40, statistically.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Well I'm British, so I'd prefer a game with non-Americans, especially if the Americans were the bad guys.

My ideal game would feature a British protagonist with an American bad guy, especially if at first he looked like he was a good guy.

That's exactly what Modern Warfare 2 had.

 

[xPixelatedx]

lol WAT

You do of course realize that in most games you play as non-Americans... in fact before this monotone generation, most game protagonists weren't even human!

 

[Daverson]

Yes, I would. In fact, I even have! Several times!

 

[bz316]

This question is crazy, some of the best selling video game franchises had non-American protagonists. Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, No One Lives Forever...hell technically any game set in interstellar space features non-American main characters, since being born on another planet would make you about as non-American as possible...

 

[Halceon]

I'd say the poll is perfectly conclusive.

 

[Total LOLige]

Gear of War's protagonists aren't American, they're not even from earth. I think it's just the modern FPS genre that likes American heroes.

First you demonstrate that modern FPS games don't use American heroes. Then you conclude that modern FPS games use American heroes.

Come... again?

I actually think this is a lot less of a trend than it seems. Gears isn't American (although you'd be forgiven for thinking it was), Resistance: Fall of Man is British, half of the MW2 campaign was spent with Brits, half of the MW3 campaign was Brits and the other half was Russians, a few of the Battlefield 3 missions are as a Brit and a Russkie, Red Faction isn't on Earth, where does that leave us? Bioshock, Uncharted, and Fallout?

Hardly hallmarks of the FPS genre.

Regardless, there are far more foreigners out there, in our FPSes and out of them, than it might seem.

Gears of War is a Sci Fi shooter. I meant games like Battlefield and CoD.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Um, of course. :-/ Most of the games I play are Japanese, or fantasy oriented.

 

[Nimzabaat]

The reason most game protagonists are 24-35 yr old male white "american" (in the sense that they are english speaking) is that the majority demographic of video game players is thought to be composed of 24-35 yr old male white americans

as for op I would buy any game that featured Canadians. As I have yet to find one if anyone knows of one please let me know.

Yeah considering the monuments in Europe built to honour Canadian soldiers, you'd think there should be a few games featuring them. Well maybe not featuring but at least showing up somewhere.