Would Americans play a game in which the United States is the bad guy?

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Cambodia, which was right next door, had a higher rate of death than Vietnam did due to that whole Khmer Rouge thing. So, yes, it could have afforded it. Dragging things out even more than they already were would've been horrible, but it wouldn't have been impossible. Other nations have been mistreated worse than Vietnam and have recovered.

I'm not trying to whitewash the war; I'm trying un-whitewash the the immediate post-war record of the Saigon regime. There are no innocents here.

Which is a different country. You do understand the Vietnamese FOUGHT with the Khmer Rouge at the end of the US occupation, and were responsible for ousting it from power. If somebody is giving me guns when I need them, I'll call them an 'ally' as well. Right up until I don't need them anymore.

If anything, extending the war would have meant the Cambodian genocide might have continued. It goes only to highlight the point that I had; "What exactly would you win?" Do we need to pretend a country can afford a war if it only loses 25% of its population? Hell, there's a good argument that keeping the Communist Vietnamese at higher strength would have represented a far greater Chinese barrier. Given the Vietnamese communists were pro-Chinese and pro-Khmer Rouge, only because of US escalation.

 

[deadpoolhulk]

Games set in Vietnam already exist. so yeah pretty much.

 

[irish286]

I bet they don't. They live in a culture that teaches them since an early age that 'Murica is the best country and is never wrong and their soldiers are good guys.

I would play the heck out of such game, tho.

Actually no, we're taught the exact opposite. Hell, some schools even ban the wearing of American flags because that's "divisive"...
Also, your enthusiasm at making us out to be villains is a bit ridiculous.

 

[kitsunefather]

Is it well written with a good story and decent characterization?

Then yes, I'd play the hell out of it. That's the main things I look for in a game.

Is it a shooter but the flags on the side of the enemy vehicles are palette-swapped for US flags?

Then no, because I don't play those games as American either.

 

[WOPR]

I would, but that's just because I'm really tired of enemies being...
Nazis
Soviets
Koreans
Zombies
Unoriginally Designed Aliens
Wyverns pretending to be dragons

 

[Michael Legault]

The Metal Gear Solid series certainly doesn't portray america as all too great. And the overarching villain is British, I mean the whole reason the Boss defects is to get the philosopher's legacy for america. And then it's always either snake or big boss getting fucked around with by the government in every game afterward. Solid Snake is even reffered to as "America's dirty little secret" on accound of him being a human clone. Which is pretty frowned upon internationally.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I would play that game. In it, Australia would be the good guys.

 

[Leg End]

I would play that game. In it, Australia would be the good guys.

So, a boating simulator to get to the mainland?

 

[Veylon]

Which is a different country. You do understand the Vietnamese FOUGHT with the Khmer Rouge at the end of the US occupation, and were responsible for ousting it from power. If somebody is giving me guns when I need them, I'll call them an 'ally' as well. Right up until I don't need them anymore.

You are completely missing the point. My point is that the Cambodians had it worse than the Vietnams and it wasn't impossible for them to rebuild, so it wouldn't have been impossible for the Vietnamese to do the same. I don't care whose side anyone was on.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

You are completely missing the point. My point is that the Cambodians had it worse than the Vietnams and it wasn't impossible for them to rebuild, so it wouldn't have been impossible for the Vietnamese to do the same. I don't care whose side anyone was on.

I'm just going to copypasta what I wrote ... I feel as you conveniently ignoring it is part of the problem.

If anything, extending the war would have meant the Cambodian genocide might have continued. It goes only to highlight the point that I had; "What exactly would you win?" Do we need to pretend a country can afford a war if it only loses 25% of its population?

Cambodia is a nation of 8 million. Completely different situation ... and their government didn't survive much longer either. There is a difference between losing 25% of its population to famine and genocide, and losing 15% of the population to war. Stop pretending otherwise. Much less, stop pretending that losing such collateral is at all maintainable in any protracted military capacity.

 

[Floppertje]

The division? Kind of? I mean... government operatives that can pretty much do whatever the hell they want and apparently only answer to the president, all the while shooting looters who are in most cases just standing around. Due process was apparently the first victim of that virus...

 

[Dango]

I'm a Brit

Anytime a British person complains about American imperialism or talks about American elitism I reel in pain at the irony of it.

But yeah, as people have pointed out, America being the bad guy isn't exactly a new concept. Metal Gear's been doing it for a while, and how well do those games sell?
Though, as an American, I get annoyed at games like Uncharted that are the least culturally educated games in existence, where someone's entire personality comes down to their accent. It doesn't help the stereotype that all Americans know nothing about foreign culture, which depending on who you talk can be somewhat true.

 

[Li Mu]

I would, but that's just because I'm really tired of enemies being...
Nazis
Soviets
Koreans
Zombies
Unoriginally Designed Aliens
Wyverns pretending to be dragons

Honestly I'd say PMC's, and most of the time American based ones, are becoming just as common...

 

[Kyle Winston]

I am an American. I would play a game where the United States is the bad guy, but only if there was some nuance to the morality. I tend to shy away from games where morals are black and white with no gray area.

 

[Smygskytt]

I so wish that East vs West would have been completed. Just look at the trailer, I want it. It was supposed to be a strategy game were you could play any nation during the cold war, and you would've even been able to unleash nuclear armageddon.


I've seen Rockstar mentioned, but I'd specifically like to focus on RDR. Your family is kidnapped by the FBI and you are forced to murder your own former friends in cold blood.

Spoiler

They even go so far as to form a firing squad and kill your player character during the finale. God, I can't think of anything that made me hate an organization more than that.

Quick question, is it redundant to use spoilers for old last gen games?

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I bet they don't. They live in a culture that teaches them since an early age that 'Murica is the best country and is never wrong and their soldiers are good guys.

I would play the heck out of such game, tho.

Some of us "Muricans" are fortunate enough to be raised by parents who teach their children to see their country's history in a more nuetral, balanced way rather than nurturing blind devotion to their country, or, more pertinently, their government. I am one such person.

I am an American...(Hi, American)...and I would gladly play a game where America is the bad guy.

 

[backster]

I as an American would play a game that we are the bad guys as the important thing is that the game is for fun, whether I am fighting gangs of German soldiers or American Soldiers or even Canadian Soldiers ( They are the best as no one has ever seen or heard a special forces like Canadian soldier!) Honestly I wish we had more games that were World Friendly and allowed for the enemy to be anyone.

 

[Dizchu]

Many of the examples people have brought up involve Americans being the bad guys but also Americans being the good guys. Americans have an easy time getting into a story where a corrupt government has to be overthrown by the people or some clandestine American organisation must be stopped from taking over the world, but if you bring up colonialism, excessive military force, police brutality and so on, people get a lot less comfortable. Because then you're criticising the country as a whole and what it stands for rather than some spooky government that wants to manipulate its own people.

 

[crypticracer]

America is quite diverse. With nazis your just shooting white dudes, with terrorists your just shooting brown dudes.

Any present day or near future setting would need to play up the white evangelical angle. Maybe a world where Trump wins and ousts all minorities, women, basically non-straight white dudes, from the military. Then you'd only need shoot white dudes and you'd have a military almost half it's actual size, making it less a ridiculous fight.

Would American's play it? That's hard to say. If your character is a rebel american themselves, then yeah, it could be the next COD, people don't really care (or know?) what's happening in the single player stories. If you play as someone of another nationality? I mean people may as it's an interesting experiment, it could be cool. But if it's not a white person, there is a good chance most people would consider it in bad taste. Whether it is or isn't.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The real question is "Would Americans play a game in which USA is the bad guy ... and the good guy is a foreigner?"