Stop Picking on the Russians!

[Ryotknife]

bah, someone forgets that in one of the first shooters involving a modern day military adversary, Americans WERE the bad guys. Well, the American military.

Can you say Halflife? It was scientists + security guards vs USA military vs USA ninjas vs aliens. Then it was Scientists + security guards + military vs USA ninjas vs aliens in Opposing force.

Red faction series, Ultor was an American company. EDF soldiers had american accents.

Alpha protocol. American defense contractor/PMC takes over a secret american government agency and uses it to spark world war 3 in order to boost sales.

Dues Ex? Yup, Americans were the bad guys. (original game, not the new one. havent played the new one yet).

Splinter cell Conviction.

Hell, even Modern warfare 2 the main villain was an AMERICAN GENERAL.

Although, usually its a rogue company, agency, or military command that decides to be a jerk and it requires the aid of the Super Friends from around the world to stop them.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

And the Middle East for that matter. Big time war games are always about blowing up insane modern day Soviets or some vague Middle Eastern country. And I'm sick of it.

...do you have other suggestions? Because (assuming the US is the player's side) those are really the only two 'antagonist' nations/regions we have right now. The Middle East is for rather obvious reasons, but Russia was (to all appearances) a perfect antagonist to Cold War era America. And frankly, American/Russian diplomacy today is going well enough, but they're still the most recent superpower America had issues with, which is why a Russian accent is an easy way of painting a villain as even more villainous even after the Cold war.

The full scale war that is shown in these games is ludicrous in today's era of warfare. That it is always about the United States taking on the Russians like the Cold War never ended just makes it more ridiculous.

Dude, the Cold War never technically started, at least not in a formal military sense. Hell, MW2's reason for war had little to do with the Cold War.

If we are going to make some balls out stupid gung ho action shooter military game, why are we limiting the global war to the US and Russia? If it is so over the top, why not come up with some equally stupid entertaining premise?

...wait, what? They're the two closest things the world has to rival superpowers. I wouldn't call the premise 'likely,' but I wouldn't call it 'stupid.'

USA versus Canada (I am Canadian BTW)
USA versus the Ocean Men
USA versus the Eastern European potential crossdressing supervillain
USA versus USA: Republicans versus Democrats in a fight to the death.

All of these are about as likely as a full scale war with Russia, as in, completely fucking stupid.

*sigh* Great. A troll thread after all. Should've guessed. Also, Russia basically is Eastern Europe.

Alright, I admit that this is sort of a personal thing. I didn't want to come off as being too serious, so I threw the bizarre scenarios in.

...wow. Man, I hate to break it to you, but that's not how you soften a message. You don't say exactly what you planned to say and then say something "bizarre" afterward. By that logic, a "nonlethal" weapon is still one that fires bullets, just as long as you immediately hug whoever it was you just shot.

And for the record, yes, I am aware that Russia is in Eastern Europe. I would have found it funnier however, if instead of taking on the Russians, they were taking on the weird lunatics you find in those shlocky European horror movies.

So instead of fighting Russia, you want the next realistic war shooter to be the US military versus terrorist Dracula, as portrayed by Bella Lugosi?

 

[Something Amyss]

[quote="Soviet Heavy" post="9.318418.12977900"I would have found it funnier however, if instead of taking on the Russians, they were taking on the weird lunatics you find in those shlocky European horror movies.[/quote]

Call of Duty: Transylvanian Warfare Starring Bella Lugosi and Lon Chaney.

I don't think anyone's really picking on the Russians, though. They're an easy enemy because prior to 9-11, they were the last major rival of consideration. Post 9-11, now we have terrorists from Generikastan, and it's all because these are the engagements that make America feel big and bad. But I'm not sure anyone's "picking" on them.

Plus, if we're going to see more creativity, I doubt it's going to start in FPSes.

 

[Terminate421]

The whole US versus Russians is only noticed in two games:

Call of Duty
Battlefield

Singularity can also be brought up but I still don't get how people see the trend with the russians being the badguys.

 

[gabe12301]

USA vs everyone. It would be hilarious .We also attack the penguins in Antarctica just for not being bald eagles.

 

[keideki]

Somehow I get the feeling that a WWII game from the Axis side is not going to happen for awhile yet.

May be a bit of a stretch but in Battlefield 1942 you could do a campaign as the Axis fighting as German and Japanese soldiers.

As for something else to fight, why start now? We've been shooting Russians, Aliens and various Middle Eastern people for a while now.

True that, but most of the time when you are allowed to play as Germans or Japanese it is usually in RTS games, which are kind of dehumanizing.

 

[TheVioletBandit]

You could take it to mean that Americans see Russians as WORTHY adversaries. That there fighting prowess is beyond comparison to other lesser countries, and so to fight them is to fight the best, and that makes it fun? I could be completely wrong though as I don't play war games.

 

[tzimize]

South Park did USA vs Canada already, and in a way no game can top.

That said I wouldnt mind seeing a game where USA was the bad guy. Change of pace, yes please.

That said I really dont care. Wargames have little interest to me, and individual stories are usually more compelling than national ones anyway.

Aren't we the "Bad guy" to whatever opposing force we are facing? It doesn't really matter because it will always be "these guys are bad for this reason and you are the only one that can stop them!", copy paste whatever country/organization you want in hero and villain spaces and you are set.

Pick on Russians...I love Russians...especially their blonde green eyed gals.

It really does matter. Of course you are the bad guy to whatever force you are opposing, but if we are always on team America we never get to experience USA as the bad guy (in games anyway). Is it a thing that would rock my world? Not really, but it WOULD be a fresh change of pace. And it WOULD feel different.

 

[Still Life]

The Russian thing does annoy me because the Cold War ended a long time ago.

No. Not really. Berlin wall only came down in 89, making that 'yesterday' in the history books. The vast majority of conflicts occurring now are the result of Colonialism and the Cold War. It would be extremely short sighted to understate the role that post-Cold War politics has on international relations.

Two things in relation to the OP:

1. Where are the Russians on this site and why hasn't anyone asked them how they feel about their national representations in video gaming?

2. Where has it been stated that the Russians are bad guys in a game like BF3? They're an opposing force, sure. I'm yet see how that makes them innately bad.

A lot of people forget that it isn't Russians per se who are the criminals in the Modern Warfare series; the player ends up squaring off against US forces directed by a corrupt General who serves as the ultimate antagonist.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

First of all, I'm Canadian. Now...

USA versus Canada

LOL! What, are you serious? "Oh, let's just pit a massive super power against a group of hicks riding battle moose and using .22's...Plus, think about it. Canada exports massive amounts of resources (Food, oil, water, etc) to the USA. How is it realistic that they would attack us? How the heck would we be able to INSTIGATE them to attack us?

Burn the Russians, their inventions suck.

If I recall, a bunch of moosemen kicked the arses of a certain super power in a little thing called "The War of 1812"*
<youtube=tGKwgmyEAJs>
I think Tchaikovsky also did a peace on it, but then again, there were a million wars back then on that year.
To answer your question: It is realistic because the CWC** is the only country besides the UMS*** that shares a land border with the USA, and in the past wars have been shown to be extremely unprofitable (for both sides) when done between two countries that don't share a land border.

Why not do a first person shooter of The Great War? Yeah, using a Mauser and shootin the french! Now there is a game that could sell

Because every one is too much of a dunderhead to comprehend the shear awsomeness of what gameplay would be like in such a historical setting that they automatically assume that it would be a load of not good... Also, the Great War is AKA WWI, and pretty much all the silly-minded fools likes WWII better because that is a sequel.
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Now for my two cents, personally, I think a hypothetical Russian-American war would be too one-sided. Russia ain't the woman she used to be. That is why I reckon that the best match-up in a (modern day) one-on-one match up for the Americans are (sadly) the Franks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
What you say? The People's Republic of China (PRoC) has a larger defense budget than France? Ho, ho, ho! The PRoC won't be competing against the Americans any time soon. They (the Chinese) are preparing for the inevitable conflict with Russia, as evidenced by the fact that most of their budget is going to knitting fluffy sweaters.


*Blast, some one got to mentioning that war before me.
** United Mexican States
*** Common Wealth of Canada.

yeah, but history nuts like myself would play the hell out of it.

 

[Crazy]

Not always, we still have the Nazis around to pick on.

 

[The_R3d_Fury]

And the Middle East for that matter. Big time war games are always about blowing up insane modern day Soviets or some vague Middle Eastern country. And I'm sick of it.

The full scale war that is shown in these games is ludicrous in today's era of warfare. That it is always about the United States taking on the Russians like the Cold War never ended just makes it more ridiculous.

If we are going to make some balls out stupid gung ho action shooter military game, why are we limiting the global war to the US and Russia? If it is so over the top, why not come up with some equally stupid entertaining premise?

USA versus Canada (I am Canadian BTW)
USA versus the Ocean Men
USA versus the Eastern European potential crossdressing supervillain
USA versus USA: Republicans versus Democrats in a fight to the death.

All of these are about as likely as a full scale war with Russia, as in, completely fucking stupid.
But fun regardless. Just, why pick on your old grudges when you could make something else as equally idiotic?

EDIT
Alright, I admit that this is sort of a personal thing. I didn't want to come off as being too serious, so I threw the bizarre scenarios in. And for the record, yes, I am aware that Russia is in Eastern Europe. I would have found it funnier however, if instead of taking on the Russians, they were taking on the weird lunatics you find in those shlocky European horror movies.

You ARE aware that the Russian government funds Hamas, right? The terrorist group in the middle east...

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Republicans vs Democrats.... You may have something there.

An extreme representation of each and you choose which side to start on. Hell, I'd play that game

 

[Zhukov]

I think the reasoning goes that Americans (the primary market) would be unwilling to buy any product that involves a villain that they haven't already become accustomed to hating. Hence Nazis, Russians, Arabs and maybe the occasional South American.

It occurs to me that perhaps we should give them a bit of credit.

Or maybe developers are just lacking in imagination. Who knows.

 

[Exocet]

I actually thought up of a alternate reality scenario where NATO and the Warsaw pact are close allies and are power hungry,Asia is federation ruled by a tyrannical Imperial Japan,and Africa and South America join forces so to speak,to fight off the two others from barging in taking their natural ressources by performing guerilla warfare and terrorism acts out of desperation.
It has the elegance of not having any "good guy" and taking what we have today,adding fantasy and exagerrating other things.

Also,three way conflicts keep things from getting stale,and fighting against guerilla keeps things exciting.In my perfect game vision,there are even child soldiers,but I somehow doubt that would pass the ESRB board without being stampeded by Adult Only stickers and angry soccer moms claiming it's a training tool for school shootings.

 

[Dr.Panties]

the Chinese market is apparently too lucrative to risk having your game banned because the country doesn't like it too much.

Incorrect. Every single piece of software is available in pirated form. Everything. Every game or program that you can think of (and that has already been released) is already available as a pirated copy, on any platform, for sale in public. There is no Chinese market for genuine games or software...or films for that matter.

Back on topic, why not step back from international, extraterrestrial or supernatural conflicts altogether? I would definitely feel invested in a game in which I played a vigilante/mercenary annihilating a ring of human traffickers.

That would be sweet. Infiltrating a compound, double-tapping every single one of those human trafficking cunts, and escorting the poor victims to a safe zone. Certainly more realistic and satisfying than Homefront-oh-noes-da-koreans preposterous bullshit.

 

[Hop-along Nussbaum]

As soon as Russia or the Middle East develop a gaming industry, then they can blow up whoever they want. In the meantime, it's us or the Japanese. Deal with it.

 

[krazykidd]

I have an idea , hoe about a FFA between continents ? That would be a interesting idea no? A kind of vantage point , 5 continents going at it . 5 campagnes each attacking a different continent and coming out on top?

OR
Some thing wit north korea , no one cares if we piss of kim. Like:

Canada vs north korean , no nukes, final destination

 

[Ryotknife]

If I recall, a bunch of moosemen kicked the arses of a certain super power in a little thing called "The War of 1812"*

unless I missed the part where Canada beat up either England or France in that war, then no Canada did not beat up a certain superpower. it was only a few decades after American barely managed to rebel by the skin of their teeth against the superpower England and that was with the advantage of an ocean in the way between the two. It would take another century or so before US becomes a superpower.

It would be nice to see Canada vs some country up their alley. Liechtenstein perhaps?

I kid, I am from Upstate NY and we love you guys for the most part. Even though you guys trash our stores.

 

[Gunjester]

None of them are any more outlandish than a land war in Paris against the Russians. Plus, it would be pretty entertaining watching us Northern Folk fight on our own turf against the gung ho 'Muricans that modern FPS shooters love so much.

Settle down I'm not choosing a side here. Just thought that line up sounded funny.
As for the actual subject matter, I don't really care, mainly because I have Spanish family and am not in the least angered by Spanish stereotypes or the portrayal of the "cruel Spainish country" portrayal in video games, like Antiva in Dragon Age or the crazy cult in Resident Evil 4.
Look I'm not arguing against you, just not my fight.