Split from the "villains who need their own games" thread, I was inspired by the discussion over terrorism and Islamic and Middle Eastern peoples being consistantly depicted as "terrorists" or "the bad guys". In that thread I suggested creating a game where the main protagonist is a Mujahideen during the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan, or a game where you were an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence and counter-terrorism agency. Either game would have to be done very tastefully and intelligently to avoid offending certain groups, but such a game could I think be very thought provoking and very educational, as well as fun.
I'd be glad if others had idea's of their own that they could share, for thought provoking or scandelous games. Not stupid idea's, like "U play a scuicide bomber and the object is to kill as many people at once and u get points lolol" thats just offensive and in poor taste. I'm looking for something that genuinly cries out for expression, but perhaps isn't because of the politics attached to the issue. Feel free to be as indepth as you like. I'll get the ball rolling with some game pitches of my own.
Mujahideen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan
Setup
You play as an average civilian turned freedom fighter in 1980's Afghanistan, in a "Full Spectrum Warrior" style strategic-squad shooter with a focus on guerilla warfare. The Soviet union has arrived in your country and assasinated the previous ruler, President Nur Muhammad Taraki (a man regaurded as a tyrant for his heavy handed enforcement of sweeping social reforms, and usurper of Prime Minister Daoud, who had in turn usurped King Mohammad Zahir Shah in 1973). Taraki was a socialist and ally of the Soviet government, but the Russians decided his way of governing had inflamed the populace too much and liquidated him to ensure the security of the socialist government. Rather then being lauded as hero's for removing Taraki however, the Russians are regaurded as foriegn invaders and despoilers and are unable to pacify the populace. Disparate rebellious cells who had been fighting the Taraki government for years unite to repel the invaders. Meanwhile the American CIA is fanning the flames and supplying the Mujahideen with financing and weaponry in order to wage an indirect war on the Soviet Union and draw it into it's "own version of the Vietnam Conflict".
Factions and Benefits
Your character is the promising young leader of a cell. Your alliegances are yours to decied- after a few successful missions, different factions within the Mujahideen will call upon you for your loyalty, altering your missions (sometimes inteirly) and various ingame benefits you recieve in the game. Allying yourself with the CIA and their promises of democracy will win your cell more advanced weaponry and equipment, at the cost of working for the duplicitous American's ends. The traditionalists in Mujahideen- religeous fundamentalists and conservatives as well as others opposed to social reform challenging the old traditions in Afghanistan- give you the blessing of being driven by a divine mandate; you are a holy warrior fighting for the church of Islam and it's rights and priveldges that it has held in Afghanistan for many many years, and as a result your cell members are driven by a ferver unfound in others resulting in higher morale for them and the assurance they will never 'break'(more on that in a bit). Then there are the Nationalists, individuals driven to see the return of Afghanistans rightful government, the expulsion of the foreign invaders, or even the ressurection of Afghanistans monarchy. Alliance with them gives you the support of the people, the everyman, and access to special caches scattered through levels and safehouses during the course of the game and missions which contain weaponry, fresh ammunition, medical supplies and other necessities offered to the patriotic fighters.
Morale
Your cell is far from being made up by green recruits- you've been fighting a guerilla war against President Taraki's regime for years. However, your training is what you've been able to learn from deserters from the army, local militia's, and on the job practice. Your not as equipped or drilled as a soldier from a first world country. As a result morale plays a very important role in the success of your squad. Successfully completing objectives, killing enemies, aquiring fresh ammunition or weaponry and medical treatment all increase morale while taking damage, becoming suppressed (as in Full Spectrum Warrior or Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30), failing in an objective or running out of ammunition for a weapon. As morale drops beneath a certain point, your squads firing accuracy degrades as the stress of the situation. Should their morale drop completly, they 'break' (in a mechanic similar to Dawn of War) and will stop fighting inteirly and may freeze up or flee from a combat situation temporarily. Effective management of your squad will require keeping their morale high by posistioning them correctly to prevent lengthy suppression, minimizing the fire they take, and succeeding in missions and side missions.
Faction
Deciding which faction to ally with is not a one time choice, but rather a constant and cumulative decision. You can take a mission from a particular faction and earn their benefit. Moreover, the more you 'stick with' a faction, the more that benefit improves; consistantly working for the CIA grants you access to progressivly more advanced equipment, consistantly working for the Traditionalists grants you ever increasing morale to the point your men may become fearless, and consistantly working for the Nationalists gives you the ever greater support of the people- more and larger weapon caches, or even NPC support in the midst of levels. Or, alternativly, you can play the field to maximize the benefit to yourself, but eventually one of the factions will eventually ask you to make a play against the other- and outright attacking that other faction WILL lose you their benefit so you must deciede where your loyalties go in the end- or you could forgo the interfaction fighting and focus purely on fighting the Russians.
PS: There are Half-Life 2 Modifications for the Revolutionary War AND the Iraqi Insurgency.
