Poll: Would you play a game about non-Americans?
- Thread starter The Last Melon
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I think your problem is that you are generalizing most gamers as the kind of people that play the popular games or the games that "everyone plays". Sure MW3 sold a lot of copies, but Skyrim was very successful as well and that is a fictional world that is very un-American.
War games tend to focus on Americans as the main characters because America is the #1 supplier of war in the world, it just makes sense. A war game about Canadians staving off an American invasion because the CIA posed as Canadians and bombed the eastern seaboard, would probably not be that popular. Just like a game where you play as a group of guerilla soldiers in the middle east trying to fend off the overwhelming offensive from American invaders, would probably not be as popular.
American war games just seem like Americans showing off how good at war they are. I wish MW3 had stayed with MW2's theme that Americans are war mongers, and the british are the good guys. At least that was different enough to set off the "AMERICA. FUCK YEAH" syndrome that most war games have.
Disclaimer: Both the above game ideas are mine! /shoo!
War games tend to focus on Americans as the main characters because America is the #1 supplier of war in the world, it just makes sense. A war game about Canadians staving off an American invasion because the CIA posed as Canadians and bombed the eastern seaboard, would probably not be that popular. Just like a game where you play as a group of guerilla soldiers in the middle east trying to fend off the overwhelming offensive from American invaders, would probably not be as popular.
American war games just seem like Americans showing off how good at war they are. I wish MW3 had stayed with MW2's theme that Americans are war mongers, and the british are the good guys. At least that was different enough to set off the "AMERICA. FUCK YEAH" syndrome that most war games have.
Disclaimer: Both the above game ideas are mine! /shoo!
The Last Melon said:
It's because the world can associate itself with America, and we are the dominant world power, at least for the moment. The issue isn't just one of America being the biggest market and Americans only wanting to play games involving or about America, but because of the way the rest of the world views itself and the other nations in it.
To put it into perspective, some typical guy in say Korea, and some typical guy in say Portugal probably have no real knowlege of each other's cultures, never mind say Canada or Poland or wherever else, however BOTH of them know the US. What's more while not popular everyone knows that the USA could roflstomp pretty much anyone else on the planet if we really wanted to (our losses are mostly caused by our own morality and lack of appropriate action, we basically don't do the things you see us do in most video games even if we could in many cases). Both have heard of the Navy SEALS and are going to respect that as an incredibly dangerous special forces unit that has been known to be active all over the planet, and what it could potentially do if we ever actually used it to it's full capacity. In comparison you mention Task Force 2, and it's doubtful either of them will have heard of it, they are not going to have any respect for it, and will probably scratch their heads going "WTF Canada".
Likewise when it comes to locations, most people recognize major US cities like New York, LA, Seattle, and others and can respect and associate with those locations to an extent. The same doesn't much apply to cities in other countries, for example your typical guy from Thailand would probably boggle at the mention of Alberta Canada, yet they would recognize "New York City" and it's importance. There are a FEW other cities that are used to similar effect outside of the US such as Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, London, and others but in general that recognition only comes from a couple of very specific landmarks which almost always have to be present in any feature involving them for the sake of the international audience.
When your releasing a game internationally America is a "safe" bet for the widest possible audience being familiar with the material. Despite criticisms we're also the most tolerant people on the planet, and probably the most tolerated despite our "arrogance". In general America isn't involved in the same kinds of blood feuds a lot of other nations are. If you say had a game protaganist from India, you have to worry about slotting off Muslims a lot more than you do with the US despite "The War On Terror". We've been at it for a decade or so, India and Pakistan have been at a nuclear deadlock and low scale warfare even longer, and the Hindus are #2 on the Muslim hit list right under the Jews. You pick a British guy, and you have some issues with Asia because it was the Brits that invaded and were involved in the Opium wars and so on. China still goes off on the UK for the trivialization of eastern culture up to this point due to the supreme arse kicking throughout the region, yeah the Brits were forced to fall back, but it took this long for Asia to recover. There are dozens of other little slap fights out there that can affect marketing of a global product, to which America is safe. The "hate" of America isn't the same kind of burn you see for a lot of other ongoing conflicts, and honestly part of the reason why we're hated is that we have prevented people from continueing a lot of these grudge matches... "how dare you step in and stop our ethnic cleansing you bloody yank cowboys"
Despite comments about American ignorance, Americans are actually the most well informed people on the planet when you get down to it, something that doesn't always make us popular, especially seeing as we tend to be pretty honest about telling things as they are (or we were, the left wing is kind of ruining that). In the US chances are you know more about the rest of the world, and stuff going on in other countries as far as military units, geography, cities, and other assorted things than people in other countries do about the rest of the world. In the US you could probably make a decent number of correct (if very basic) comments about say Korea, Poland, Canada, Japan, China, and numerous other countries. Ask someone from Ukraine about those places and odds are they would know less about them than you do from a video game perspective.
To an American or Canadian saying that a game about "Task Force 2" for example might work, makes sense from the perspective of knowing something about it, but to someone on the other side of the planet, or even your average European?
It might sound like I'm blowing the USA's horn here, and I guess I am, but I'm pointing this out mostly as a marketing reality. America sells.
Well currently I play Naval War which features a Norwegian naval commander (and being a Dane that's probably the closest I'm ever going to get to a protagonist of my nationality without it having to be a bloody Swede).
So yes. But I'd extent it to I'd play a game where the protagonist isn't from one of the superpowers (USA, Russia OR the UK). I'd love to play as a german protagonist serving in the GSG-9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9 or Border Protection Unit 9), or perhaps even a Swedish (OK maybe Swedes aren't that bad) fighterpilot scrambling his J-35 Draken to intercept whatever bogey is incoming.
So yes. But I'd extent it to I'd play a game where the protagonist isn't from one of the superpowers (USA, Russia OR the UK). I'd love to play as a german protagonist serving in the GSG-9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9 or Border Protection Unit 9), or perhaps even a Swedish (OK maybe Swedes aren't that bad) fighterpilot scrambling his J-35 Draken to intercept whatever bogey is incoming.
Let me put it to you this way. I don't really care whether or not the protagonist is American or not. I'll chose the more interesting game. If two games came out, one had an American protagonist, the other had, say, a German protagonist, unless the games were the exact same, I'd chose the one that looks more interesting. If they were the same, I'd probably chose the American protagonist, and that's only because I live in America.
I played a game starring a Canadian, it was called Mass Effect.
Then I played STALKER, damn Ukranians.
Then Morrowind, does a Khajitt from Cyrodil count as foreign?
Then I played STALKER, damn Ukranians.
Then Morrowind, does a Khajitt from Cyrodil count as foreign?
What this guy said.Daystar Clarion said:
Since when would playing a military shooter where you're a South African Vigilante not be awesome?
(Disclaimer: I really liked Far Cry 2, so HA.)
Considering that almost all of my games are fantasy RPG's, I'd say YES.
The only one I have that has Americans in it is . . . Fallout 3.
The only one I have that has Americans in it is . . . Fallout 3.
I don't see why not. I am also sure I've run across quite a few games where the main characters weren't from the States.
What do you mean would I? I've already played games starring a British archaeologist, an Italian assasin, a Prince of Persia, a Canadian space marine, an Eastern European mercenary, several members of the British SAS, and lest-we-forget an ITALIAN PLUMBER! Not to mention all manner of aliens, elves, dwarves and other fictional races.
So yeah, there are plenty of great non-American characters kicking around. Still looking for a decent Australian playable character though.
So yeah, there are plenty of great non-American characters kicking around. Still looking for a decent Australian playable character though.
Since nationality only seems to be a gameplay factor in modern first person shooters, I'm going to base my answer on games such as those and reply with an affirmative. Regarding nationalities in other types of games, I'd also respond with an affirmative.
I'd love to play as someone from a different nationality with a different perspective and everything. I think it would be an excellent way to communicate and understand another culture, one of the best mediums to do so. Much more effective than movies especially because it requires direct interaction. Of course the material would need to be written or directly sourced from a person of said nationality in order for it to be legitimate, credible and useful in that way, but I think the benefits would be enormous.
I'd love to play as someone from a different nationality with a different perspective and everything. I think it would be an excellent way to communicate and understand another culture, one of the best mediums to do so. Much more effective than movies especially because it requires direct interaction. Of course the material would need to be written or directly sourced from a person of said nationality in order for it to be legitimate, credible and useful in that way, but I think the benefits would be enormous.
Not interested in playing some Baguette-eating Frenchies (just kidding), but other than that, hell yeah I'm willing and wanting to play foreign characters.
Though, space and medieval are my usual choices, both of which VERY rarely have Americans as characters, so yeah. This is really only a problem for your Call of Duty-type games.
Though, space and medieval are my usual choices, both of which VERY rarely have Americans as characters, so yeah. This is really only a problem for your Call of Duty-type games.
Yep, and I do.
If you're wondering why modern military shooters, or most shooters in general, are primarily 'merica-centric; it is probably due to the fact that that's the target audience. That, and as far as military-centric counties go... 'merica's the biggest example.
Like, why is Japan the go-to setting for Samurai stories? Why are Africa and South America the go-to settings for jungle adventures?
I'm not saying that the U.S. has the best or biggest military, I'm just saying it makes the best modern military example.
Though, it probably has more to do with target demographics than anything else.
If you're wondering why modern military shooters, or most shooters in general, are primarily 'merica-centric; it is probably due to the fact that that's the target audience. That, and as far as military-centric counties go... 'merica's the biggest example.
Like, why is Japan the go-to setting for Samurai stories? Why are Africa and South America the go-to settings for jungle adventures?
I'm not saying that the U.S. has the best or biggest military, I'm just saying it makes the best modern military example.
Though, it probably has more to do with target demographics than anything else.
You know, I never actually thought of Metro 2033 and STALKER until you pointed out out.fireaura08 said:
I played a Russian/Ukrainian the whole game, and I never really minded. It was immersive and well-crafted and never did the foreign nationality bother me aside from having a slight difficulty remembering names.
