Russians the new Nazis?

[Sexy Beast]

I'm noticing an interesting trend: Game franchises that have made the jump from WWII to modern day warfare have replaced Nazis with Russians.

Now this isn't exactly surprising seeing that in today's world Russia is the only country that sort of make sense. Russia still has a large standing army and has a crap load of nuclear weapons at their disposal. I just find it interesting that they have become the new default bad guys.

Though they have always sort of been second behind Nazis as likely culprits. Aliens come in third.

 

[foxhound-KD-]

well there was the cold war and all and a world on the brink of nuclear war with the whole cuban missile crisis in the 60's and lets not forget the notorious Ivan Drago! so i think the thing with the russians goes back pretty far, the nazi's were and still are pretty heinous but i think some of the new default bad guys are the militant islamic jihadist terrorists i mean uh insurgents along with china/north korea.

 

[Boo-Yeah!!]

nazis have that kind of romanceful evilness about them nowadays it seems... everyone wants to take down the nazis

 

[Sexy Beast]

well there was the cold war and all and a world on the brink of nuclear war with the whole cuban missile crisis in the 60's and lets not forget the notorious Ivan Drago! so i think the thing with the russians goes back pretty far, the nazi's were and still are pretty heinous but i think some of the new default bad guys are the militant islamic jihadist terrorists i mean uh insurgents along with china/north korea.

Well the Cold war ended like 20 years ago and for the most part U.S/Russian relations have sort of improved...meaning that we are no longer on the brink of nuclear war at all times. The idea of using Russia as the default evil superpower in modern times is simply lazy story telling.

There aren't very many big games using Islamic terrorists as bad guys...Sure there are a few, but for the most part game devs will side step that whole thing. Usually they aren't terrorists of any religious faith, but tend to have a much more grandiose scheme.

China and North Korea are rarely used as villains. Heck I think that Mexico has been used more often than China.

I'm probably just jumping to random conclusions. Though if the Medal of Honor reboot has you fighting Russians...then...I don't know, I'll probably just roll my eyes maybe.

 

[foxhound-KD-]

how about all them bad people we have to shoot up that are infected?

 

[Sexy Beast]

how about all them bad people we have to shoot up that are infected?

Technically they're not bad. They have no concept of what they are doing so thus can not be considered evil.

For the most part Zombies are just a means to an end. You could replace the zombies in L4D with giant ants and the game would barely change.

 

[Darth]

There aren't very many big games using Islamic terrorists as bad guys...Sure there are a few, but for the most part game devs will side step that whole thing. Usually they aren't terrorists of any religious faith, but tend to have a much more grandiose scheme.

Thank you. Remember. Not all Muslims are terrorists and not all Pakistanis with beards come to the UK/USA to do something bad.

 

[Sexy Beast]

Thank you. Remember. Not all Muslims are terrorists and not all Pakistanis with beards come to the UK/USA to do something bad.

Though I wholeheartedly agree with you on that.

This thread is more about design choices made by game developers. Also the possibility of a trend shift from the tried and true Nazi antagonist to a Russian one.

 

[5starGeneralAlphaSnake]

Call of duty 10:SWEEDEN!!!

 

[SingularPoint]

I hate the whole Russian is evil scenario most games are going for now. I understand Nazi's are getting a bit "stale" but can't we at least point our gaming fingers to a country that's bad?

North Korea is a pretty easy choice, and not to many games have them as the antagonist.

 

[foxhound-KD-]

well then since its not pc to call any country evil anymore just as well might just leave that to the alien horde that is the covenant then but perhaps they are just freedom fighters too so no one is bad anymore just misunderstood.

 

[D.T.S.]

Technically they're not bad. They have no concept of what they are doing so thus can not be considered evil.

Now THERE'S a topic for lively discussion!

 

[Rukus.]

The reason why Russians are the new bad guy is because the concept of the country in another nation vs nation war is much more exiting than US soldiers going to a town in the middle east, finding nothing, then moving to the next town. The phrase terrorist is a very broad term, a terrorist can be anyone. And sense Russia was our most recent and threatening foe (whats North Korean gunna do? Nothing, thats what.) so we use them as the bad guy.

I suppose a game with the US vs Iran would make sense theses days, but then they would freak out about it and it would really happen.

Thank you. Remember. Not all Muslims are terrorists and not all Pakistanis with beards come to the UK/USA to do something bad.

Agreed, hell, there are even Christian Extremists.

 

[Facey]

Try to keep this out of the religion/creed/nationality bashing side of things.. that could get everyone in alot of trouble

The change in game design is odd, I agree.

 

[Shadowesh]

Well if you think about it Russia is one of the powerful nations in our world right now, they use them to make you feel like you are actually going against a POWERFUL enemy. The effect just wouldn't be the same if you used another country... say Canada. You just wouldn't feel as intimidated.

 

[SingularPoint]

I want a videogame where you kill racists. It's not like the Press (COUGH FOX) can bash on it, and it would be quite a refresher.

 

[The Yeti]

I think a UN vs North Korea would be interesting.

 

[Ducttape]

When will game companies realize?

The French are the true evil in our world :O

 

[SingularPoint]

When will game companies realize?

The French are the true evil in our world :O

They'd probably surrender before the game starts

 

[Spitfire'd]

The effect just wouldn't be the same if you used another country... say Canada.

Have you seen Canadian Bacon???? Perhaps you should watch this terrifying movie before making a conclusion like that! (lol)

I get what you are saying with this thread Sexy Beast, and I'm going to toss it off as video games have finally caught up with movies from the 70's and 80's.

Don't get me wrong though, good discussion! I mean if Patton had gotten his way in WW2 we would have been trying to do what Germany couldn't...then we probably wouldn't be having this discussion because Russia would have been a real "enemy" and their inclusion as "bad guys" in video games would be much more common.

In fact, we'd probably have a thread talking about how weird it is that Switzerland is becoming a more prominent villain in video games today...