Wanna help me with my term paper on video games?

[subcalvin]

I am currently a student at university, and of course I have to deliver a term paper this year. I am currently working on my minor in history.
Now I know it might sound weird, what the hell do video games have to do with history?
First of all I did not make this assignment up, my professor put out suggestions for term papers and all of us had to choose one.

I will try to translate the question I have to answer to the best of my ability.


The war as a means to pass time in a “boy’s worldâ€

 

[LinksOcarina]

Use Medal of Honor, Frontline and Call of Duty Four, for the games I would suggest. They cover two different time periods.

I have to run to class, but for now that should be a starting point.

 

[subcalvin]

hmm, frontline could work, especially the whole normandy landing part. As far as call of duty 4 goes i dont think so, i havent played it, and i dont feel like buying it. Besides its suposed to be about the Iraq war right? But at the same time not..... nah, i think i need a finished war. But thanks for the sugestions, i think i will use frontline.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Call of Duty 4 is more about gurellia warfare and covert operations, as well as nuclear terrorism and the like. It has more to do with hot topics in warfare that are not about the Iraq war, plus, it can be a message about the detachment and technology of warfare today, how it is more impersonal because all you need to do is push a button and things go boom.

 

[Eyebrowsbv31]

Use the Mohaa series, brothers in arms, and something besides a shooter like Medieval total war, Rise of Nations, Codename Panzers, or Warhammer 40k... not that one.

If you really want to stretch it, use GTA San Andreas for the racial war that led to the L.A. Riots.

 

[Tyrranis]

I'd use Full Spectrum Warriors.

 

[grandmagoodtimes]

Battlefield 2142, go futuristic on his ass.

 

[Rekkie7]

KOTOR, it was a long time ago and in a galaxy far away, but you may find comparable reference material out there somewhere.

 

[maca2kx]

Bioshock; it's set in the past (in two separate eras), it provides a look at the life of the elite and it's under the sea and stuff! (Fuck the war theme, it's got plasmids!)

If you're crazy enough to not want to do that then I don't think a WWII game would be the best thing since, as Zero Punctuation so kindly pointed out, WWII games have been going longer than WWII itself and I'm betting almost everyone in the class will base their paper on WWII. There are a couple of games set in Vietnam I believe. Do the games have to be about actual wars or can they be about internal conflict or even international conflict not recognised as a war? If so that opens you up to a whole range of games that tackle conflict from different perspectives. I'm not thinking right now, well I'm not thinking about anything other than my dangerously empty stomach, but hopefully I've opened a few avenues for you to explore.

Sam

 

[subcalvin]

it has to be an actual war or conflict (so delta force black hawk dow could work)
This is the kind of term paper that sounds like a dream paper for a gamer, but its easy to mess up and fail.

 

[Chris_Crime]

It has to be an actual war, but at least mention the Halo series somewhere in there. With its lofty religious tie-ins and its war torn setting, it's a sure thing that your lefty professor will fall in love with the famous futuristic war title where subliminal religious messages fall across a bloody gulch like so many shells out a Warthog's gun turret.

Explain how in a game like Halo, you can get into the more political and religious aspects of a war game that you couldn't with say a WWII game, because its fiction (alien race, future setting), even though the religion and political points that the game subtlety attempts to make have a lot to say about the current situation in America (Basically the Covenant got "voted" off Halo island, enter the Brutes; Pres Bush fights for Jesus). Brothers in Arms can't go into that stuff, but Halo can.

Tell him how you never get to see Master Chief's face. Ask what does that mean to me, that I never get to see MC's face. Is he me? Maybe he's not me, maybe he's you! Maybe... I'm fighting for the wrong side!! Enter the Arbiter.

Make sure to mention the release date (11/15/2001) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. And please don't forget the Microsoft factor, and how they "just so happen to" reside in the US. Also lie.

i did a paper on video game violence back in the Lethal Enforcers and Joe Lieberman days. I loved it.
i'm sure you can mash this junk together to make an awesome paper.

 

[subcalvin]

the whole halo thing sounds cool, but, i obviouesly did a poor job of translating the assignment. I have to compare the war in the game to the actual war. So if i focus on the normandy landing portrayed in medal of honur i have to compare it to the real deal. Drawing paralels between halo and real life is outside the given assignment. But as i said that would be cool.

 

[NickKmet]

Well, if you've ever played Vietcong, you could parallel that with the Vietnam War. Otherwise you're pretty much stuck with world war 2 games. Though its not that hard to show how unrealistic games like medal of honor are. I mean really, in those games, you're practically by yourself most of the time. Its a one man show and you're fighting (and winning) the whole war by yourself. The last time i checked, thats about as un-realistic as you can get.

 

[JCD]

I'd go for Vietnam too. Vietnam games always seem to have a much more emotional feel to them, since you don't have a massive army at your back, it's mostly just you and a small squad who have to wawtch out for each other.

 

[Tyrranis]

You could compare Full Spectrum Warrior to the current Iraq situation.

 

[subcalvin]

most "war games arent verry "realistic" , some try and others just throw that stuff out the window. Yatzee Croshaw of Zero punctuation said it best, about Medal of Hounor Airborn, the american soldiers are all ruggedly handsome ,corgoues and take bullets in the gut which they bandage up with the stars and stripes and insist on going on in the bloody name of bravado, or something like that.

 

[Glowstick]

it might be beyond the scope of your assignment, but check out Rome: Total War. it pretty much tries to take a big chunk of Roman History.

if not, i think the actual History channel put out a game on the American Civil War.

i just advise you don't use any of the Dynasty Warriors games.

 

[NickKmet]

I'd go for Vietnam too. Vietnam games always seem to have a much more emotional feel to them, since you don't have a massive army at your back, it's mostly just you and a small squad who have to wawtch out for each other.

I agree. Vietcong had a great backstory that had a lot to do with the small unit your character was a part of. In most WWII shooters, you just have faceless/nameless soldiers to help you out on missions that quite often have no personal backstory, just a list of objectives. Sure, you might have a few squadmates that can't die and that are in most of the missions, but do you ever really know anything about them, or get to know their characters? That is, if they actually have character.

 

[Tyrranis]

i just advise you don't use any of the Dynasty Warriors games.

Actually, Dynasty Warriors could be quite useful, in showing what happens when you sacrifice historical accuracy for player entertainment.

 

[NickKmet]

i just advise you don't use any of the Dynasty Warriors games.

Actually, Dynasty Warriors could be quite useful, in showing what happens when you sacrifice historical accuracy for player entertainment.

That is so very true. And if i'm not mistaken, that would seem to make the assignment so very easy.