What do War Veterans Think?

[Terramax]

Yo!


I remember a few years back that they cancelled the film 'True Lies 2' because, as said by one of the stars "terrorism is no laughing matter and not for entertainment". They were of course referring to September 11th.

At the time I remember saying "well hang on a minute! How many films, videogames, songs and books have exploited, say, World War 2?"

Look at just the number of videogames based on WW2. So is that more of a laughing matter and more moral to exploit despite that fact that it's guessed that 60 million died in WW2 as opposed to a mere, what, 200 people in twin towers?

My question is, does anyone know of a casualty or soldier of any war who has an opinion on the matter of videogames exploiting the most horrendous moments of their lives? It can be any war, but for me the one I wonder most about is what WW2 veterans have to say about them.

 

[Curtmiester]

I don't think it was 200 dude but ya it is kinda lame...also is a disgrace because most WW2 shooters suck.

 

[Skeleon]

Actually, it was circa 3000 people in the twin towers.
But I get what you're saying.
I guess the difference is the time that has passed since.

However, people have already begun making movies about WTC.
I'm sure that, in a couple of years, something like this will be done in videogame form.

As for your actual question, no I do not.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

Play CoD: WaW and look closely at the closing credits.
Treyarch talked to numerous WW2 veterans while making the game so I guess they must be ok with it.

 

[Curtmiester]

Play CoD: WaW and look closely at the closing credits.
Treyarch talked to numerous WW2 veterans while making the game so I guess they must be ok with it.

Well thats good but thats only one game. I mean how many WW2 games are out there and for how long have they been around.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I don't know of anyone making fun of World War II. It's games based off of a historical event. 9/11 was a terrorist act, not a war. Wars make interesting games with stories, while terrorist acts do not. I can understand not wanting to play them because of awful memories, but no one is making light of World War II.

 

[Skeleon]

Wars make interesting games with stories, while terrorist acts do not.

Of course do terrorist acts make for interesting stories.

Almost every thriller (book or movie) out there is about terrorists.
And CoD4 is a game with that subject.

To be honest, I'd rather play more FPS-games in thriller-style than the 10000th World War 2 game.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Of course do terrorist acts make for interesting stories.

Almost every thriller (book or movie) out there is about terrorists.
And CoD4 is a game with that subject.

To be honest, I'd rather play more FPS-games in thriller-style than the 10000th World War 2 game.

9/11: The Game. You're in a plane. You run it into a building. Game over.

 

[Skeleon]

9/11: The Game. You're in a plane. You run it into a building. Game over.

Well, you could be playing from the perspective of the terrorists, which might involve gathering volunteers, acquiring weapons, planning the act itself...
Though that wouldn't necessarily end up as an FPS, I give you that.

Or you could play it from the perspective of one of several CIA operatives, hunting for clues in Afghanistan and the US, fighting terrorists, trying to find out more about the cells.
The end, of course, would still not be a happy one.

A game wouldn't have to be a perfect historical representation of what happened (you don't believe CoD5 is perfectly historical either, I hope?) but it might use the terrorist attack as background to develop a story about the agents trying to stop them.

I just made those up right now, a dedicated design team could come up with something much better in the same amount of time I guess.

 

[oliveira8]

Play CoD: WaW and look closely at the closing credits.
Treyarch talked to numerous WW2 veterans while making the game so I guess they must be ok with it.

Well thats good but thats only one game. I mean how many WW2 games are out there and for how long have they been around.

Plenty of games(Medal of Honor series) and films/series(Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan)have that old Coronel guy which name I forgot, that helps the people developing/filming/whatever to give a much more realistic view of WW2.

Dale Dye! Thats his name. He appears in many many war movies and does voice for many war games and is also military technical advisor for numerous war games and movies.

He was even in Tropic Thunder as military technical advisor.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0245653/

But he is no WW2 veteran...

But he served in most of Vietnam and after that spent most of his life training soldiers for guerrila warfare and the likes. He founded a company to give military advises to holywood and stuff after all that.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

A lot of WW2 veterans are very willing to help make games & movies (look at Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers) to help us people who weren't there understand and to tell their stories and stuff.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

World war 2 was about 60 years ago. 9/11 was about 8 years ago. See the time difffrence.

Anyway most WW2 games were orginally made to promote patrotism or make you feel like your in an action movie. I mean when have you not played as a American in one of those games. Sure now a days they have included soliders from all sides of the Allied army. British,Canadian,Polish and Russian protagionists have all been used to drive foriegn sales but the main concept is still the same.

 

[Player 2]

I don't know man, I wasn't THERE.

 

[not a zaar]

Well FF7, arguably the most popular RPG ever, stars a group of fanatical eco-terrorists, but maybe that's just Japanese games.

 

[Judas-]

Yo!


I remember a few years back that they cancelled the film 'True Lies 2' because, as said by one of the stars "terrorism is no laughing matter and not for entertainment". They were of course referring to September 11th.

At the time I remember saying "well hang on a minute! How many films, videogames, songs and books have exploited, say, World War 2?"

Look at just the number of videogames based on WW2. So is that more of a laughing matter and more moral to exploit despite that fact that it's guessed that 60 million died in WW2 as opposed to a mere, what, 200 people in twin towers?

My question is, does anyone know of a casualty or soldier of any war who has an opinion on the matter of videogames exploiting the most horrendous moments of their lives? It can be any war, but for me the one I wonder most about is what WW2 veterans have to say about them.

Well, not one hundred percent in that context.

I live with an old English man named Richard. Being old and English, it's no surprise that he had some experiences in the second World War. The main thing he told me, in relation to videogames that stuck out in my head is that the Sten (a British SMG made using a pipe and some MacGuyver like initiative) was "the scariest piece of crap ever, in that if someone on the truck drops theirs, everybody has to hit the deck and just hope they don't get shot because that's all it takes for that gun to spray out every bullet." Unreliable and inaccurate was his description of the Sten, which, in the Call of Duty franchise, is one of the most accurate SMG's one can get.

 

[Terramax]

Fair enough you have the odd veteran or expert that helps with the game/ film being realistic and all that, but regardless if it were 60 years ago or just 8, baring in mind that people in WW2 were fighting for our future.

Imagine WW3 breaking out tomorrow. Everyone here on the forum had to get armed to the tooth then sent out to a foreign land to kill others, likely never to come back alive, or if we did, either disabled or full of horror stories we think about every day for the rest of our lives... then 20-60 years late we find a slew of videogames cashing in on our struggle for freedom.

I guess you could say the same about Africans from poor neighbourhoods playing a game like Farcry 2.

It's just, on the occasion, I've heard old men say things like "and to think I fought in the war for this" when faced with anti-social youths wrecking their homes or shouting abuse at them. I wonder if they think the same thing when they look at games like CoD and MoH.