The myth of the gun

[BigDaddyCool]

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I think this video is thought provoking and could be a good thing to discuss here at TPWW.

[Snowden]

Not too much to add on the subject of FPS games themselves, besides to say that the video was quite thought provoking. In large part, I'd agree.

I wonder how something like this ties into the changing shape of the game industry. 10 years ago, Japan was king of the market around the world, with American developers playing catch up even in the states. Yet nowadays, Japanese games don't seem to resonate like "Western" games do (be they produced in the US, or in Europe). With the internet becoming the largest cultural melting pot on the planet, globalization happening rapidly, and Western ideas becoming more and more predominant, maybe these ideals that Japanese games promote (as illustrated in the video) don't resonate quite the same way they used to.

Maybe paradoxically, as we've had more exposure to a wide range of ideas, we've become increasingly protective and attached to our own way of thinking. That's why Grand Theft Auto captures the imagination more than Final Fantasy does. It could be just a reversal of fortune in game quality, the tiring of gamers with the "JRPG," or a host of other things. But I feel like the distinct cultural ideas embedded in games are playing some sort of role in why more and more, games with Western ideals tending to "stick" outside of Japanese borders.

[Funky Fly]

Something they forgot to mention about WW2 shooters specifically is that the Japanese don't play them because the idea of shooting the digital representation of their grandfathers may not be the most pleasant idea to them.

Otherwise that video was pretty good.

[Snowden]

You have to figure that the Japanese wouldn't be too keen on making a WWII shooter from their perspective either. Doubt they wanna re-live the period of time where their country was allied with the Nazis and got nuked.

[BigDaddyCool]

Oh yeah...that would pretty much go without saying.

What I liked about this video (normally I think these guys have their pretentious heads up their asses) is the defined why America has a gun culture without berating America for it.

Some jackasses on the Escapist have used this video for another excuse to berate America because America never fought a war with out guns. Well that is stupid, America was born after the gun existed, and as the old saying goes, you don't bring a knife to a gun fight.