h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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Before I begin, let me just say that I know this idea must be baked to a certain extent already, but I have never heard of it being properly implemented.
The subject summary essentially says it all.
The game will, through your various actions, offer you different choices and paths. A non-linear
game, you could get to one of many endings through numerous methods.
Some would surely choose to emulate the classic 'war-hero' and try to win the war single-handedly, Rambo-style. Others might prefer a more compassionate path, choosing to help the displaced and injured innocents in the war-torn country. Still others might prefer a moderate mixture of both, or even special units assignments (perhaps engineers, armored cav, air support, etc.)
This would be tough to pull off, but if implemented even in part, I think it might even be an educational experience. As long as war was portrayed as horiffically as it truly is, any glory-hungry, bloodlusting kid would almost surely be turned off of it. I'll probably tack more on to this idea later, after I get some feedback. No point in continuing if I'm just going to delete it anyways ;.)
Don't know how you'd pull it off, exactly, anyways... First-Person semi-RPG interface? I'm really not sure.
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There is a game out soon called Conflict Zone in which you have the ability to rescue civillians and operate medivac helicopters. This is part of an intriguing concept that along with defeating the enemy, you must also wage a "media friendly" war. |
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Mephista, I'm sorry if the title was misleading. By "True-to-life Simulation" I was referring to something that captured some elements of real warfare. Of course nobody can recognize the impact of war unless they are involved personally.
What I intended it to convey was the message that most computer games on the market NOW contain only one aspect of warfare - fighting. Very few contain elements that will prompt you to feel sorrow for the loss of a 'friend', or the death of innocent civilians. As you pointed out, no simulation can be the same as the real things. Precisely why it would be a simulation, and not the real thing. As an avid gamer, I feel that war games need to portray the aspect of humanity more prominently. Death and explosions are the main focus of most wargames on the market right now, as opposed to other ideas that really make up war and all parts of it. I hope that clarifies things a bit.
This game would DISCOURAGE acts of war, not promote them, as most others I can recall seem to do. Instead of glorifying war, it would make it appear as it really is. Senseless and inane slaughter that the human race always engages in for silly reasons. |
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Do you mean something like black or white were you get to be good or evil? The problem with that is that I am evil on it because it is easier - do I spend ages trying to get that vilage to like me or do I throw some fireballs at it until they worship me? I pick the fire balls.... |
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The problem is that you cant realy come to care for a bunch of pixles, especialy the ones in RPGs who repeat the same thing everytime you talk to them... |
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To pull this off you would need very realistic graphics(which would probabley make it only suitable for adults)
and interesting and realistic people(not "thank you for rescuing me, have a magical item, here have a new quest") |
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They'd probably think that the god in question would stop throwing fireballs if they're nice to him, and try to appease him. Just as long as there are enough villagers left to be worshipped by, and they haven't all been burned to a crisp. |
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Mephista:
"Unless real people you really care for really die before your real eyes, you will always comprehend the experience as just a game" |
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I dont wish to appear overly cynical, but I think you`ll find that, at least as far as the conflicts in Iraq/Kuwait,Vietnam,Korea, Falklands were concerned, most people DID experience them as exactly that - a game. |
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Another "true to life" element to add would be decision-making that takes into account that the putative enemy is also an important market for the companies whose taxes fund your own government, and whose profits fund your own economy. |
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//as far as the conflicts in Iraq/Kuwait, Vietnam, Korea, Falklands were concerned, most people DID experience them as exactly that - a game// |
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...Except for those people who lost legs, eyes, or best friends; and those who had to drag the dead and dying from the battlefields; and those whose villages were napalmed; and those who learned what kind of sounds a person makes when... And so forth. |
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A realistic war game for PC would come with a secret device which would, at some point, make the monitor explode or a jet of flaming gasoline shoot up from the keyboard or something. Will it be the gamer who gets blinded or maimed? Or will it be an innocent member of his family, just trying to check email? |
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Not trying to be a party-pooper, just noting that real risk of personal agony, mutilation, or death is the fundamental reality of war. |
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One of the more convincing descriptions of warfare that I've come across is 'Long periods of boredom, with short periods of terror'. So perhaps what's needed here is basically a sort of screen saver program that mostly does next to nothing, but occasionally pretends to be reformatting your hard drive. |
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