What do the older generation think of gaming industries obsession with World war II?

What older generation do you mean? They were spoon feeding the older generations the same crap before video games. Only we went outside to play our war-games (yes, girls played too).

My cousin learned to read because of the World War videogames.

@Kelly_Obrien Maybe 60+

Wow! That is the older generation!!!

I don’t think many people that old have much of an opinion of video games. And I’d not call it an obsession with WWII. It’s only a convenient setting.

I think it’s a phase. It’ll run its course and something else will take its place.
For the record, I’m 41 and have many opinions on video games, seeing as how I grew up on them.

It’s no different than all those WWII movies.

@Kelly_Obrien – That is so true!

Our neighborhood was always over run with Japanese and Germans.

Funny thing. I was born in 1964. We never did fight any Koreans or Vietnamese.

@Lightlyseared As I already stated I have no problem with this genre. However it’s way different than watching a movie. When we watch any movie about war we look upon it with sadness, great respect & defference to those who fought & died for their country.When playing the games this does not occur.

i figure they would remember the battles and the men lost maybe even tell you a special hiding spot 0_0 other than that the older generation does not really grasp video games as well. its true that watching is a movie is not as interactive. in video games, especailly WW2 based ones you are rewarded by how many kills you get I.E COD world at war, bf 1942, COH etc… so the sadness is removed from the equation and replaced with the satisfaction of subduing the enemy.

@RomanRealtors Love the games as do my kids very addictive especially online multiplayer. Just have this nagging uncomfortability somewhere deep within.

dude im 21 and i play a ton of video games i have like over 45 of them so yes i totally understand their addictivity but i think that like anything else in life if you abuse it its dangerous so take everything with moderation and just make sure they have a grasp of right and wrong, i recently stopped playing cus i got a girl, maybe introduce him to a girl lol

@RomanRealtors They both know right from wrong that was never raised no need. He has a girlfriend he’s 13 by the way.

back on topic then i have no clue wut the older generation thinks of video games

@RomanRealtors Cheers Einstein

Umm… huh?!

I am 36 and have been into gaming in various forms (arcade, PC, console, tabletop, pencil-and-paper RPGs, dice, cards… you name it!) for about 30 of them. I am rather neutral towards the WWII genre and a younger (age 21) gamer-friend of mine is totally sick of it due to market saturation, so it’s safe to say that the appeal is not universal.

However, for a video game, WWII is the one war that people can relate to and not risk causing too much outcry. If we tried an earlier war. the tech would not be there so the market appeal would be more limited since many gamers like fully-automatic weapons, air support, grenades, and other things that were not really widespread until WWII. If we go later, well, we didn’t exactly win Korea or Vietnam so you would lose gamers that like being on the winning side (i.e. most of them) and anything dealing with Iraq or Afghanistan strikes too close to reality, thus causing mixed feelings, possible controversy, and questionable marketability.

Now, we could do the Metal Gear Solid thing and make up our own “secret” history that is similar enough to ours to feel real while avoiding some of the issues that an Operation:Enduring Freedom FPS would face, but the “realism” is limited.

Or we could just leave the whole war/FPS genre entirely. Look at the top 50 best-selling games of the decade has more Mario Kart, Pokemonm, Grand Theft Auto, and Gran Turismo games and only one WWII game on there.

I’m in my 60’s so I guess that that qualifies as the “older generation”. I think that part of the fascination with WWII is that it was the last just war in which we engaged. That makes it acceptable to use a a game scenario. Vietnam and the war in Iraq are a disgraceful saga that the powers that be would prefer ignored by their successors.

I would be good to have a game based in the Iraq occupation. Let the youngsters make up their own mind whether there is a good reason to torture prisoners, how much collateral damage is acceptable and what would you do if you found your country occupied by foreigners that claim to be friendly but have no qualms about blowing up your house and family.

@Ron_C And the resulting controversy would be free publicity so you could cut back on the advertising budget and widen the profit margins :D

@jerv I just had a depressing thought about the game. What if torturing prisoners and killing civilians became popular with the kid. That would leave them open to joining in with the right wing fascists that want to extend the U.S. empire. Maybe I’ll let the game idea alone.