Well, if you’re in the UK, you’ll know about the current rioting- now that gave me an idea, hpw about a riot police game? Get some shizzle thrown at you by some scumbag chavs, and hit people with sticks! And you can operate water cannons, throw tear gas grenades and flip over bins! How cool would that be?
Heh.
http://manicfishstuff.blogspot.com/2011/08/riots-egh-time-to-sort-out-theses.html
The subject is probably a tad too partisan for reasoned discussion on the interwebz to be honest. A lot of the debate is just needless black-and-white polarisation of the entire affair.
its this kind of game that still ensures that the broad public sees only risk and “uselessnes” in games instead of their potential … the shameless missuse of something thats bad and disturbing enough on its own
Reminds me of an old game, Riot. And also the game apb reloaded. Hmm. Not sure about the idea.
Actually, I personally welcome all sorts of games. If you think that a game would be fun or cool, then go ahead and make it. If you let “sensitive” issues always dictate which games you can or cannot make, then you might be stuck with stuff that you really don’t even enjoy doing.
I believe that just like books, movies, and other forms of media, one should be able to create games that he/she desires as an exercise of human expression in the form of games. Just because something is socially unacceptable now doesn’t mean it still will be in the future. The world will always change and we only live once.
That’s not to say that you should be insensitive to the feelings or thoughts of society. Of course it would be “tasteless” to sell a game about a group of real life victims of crime or terrorism to those who are affected, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create a game about your own characters who simply happen to have suffered the same situation. Everyday people are killed by gunfire, war, disease, and all sorts of nasty stuff. Every year, we have best sellers in the form of first person shooters or even open world violent games. The difference is, these games, although they let players go through the same ordeal as the real victims of negative situations, never poke fun at any specific victim. These games only use the situation, but never the exact identities of people affected.
Still, no matter how hard you try to be as sensitive as possible while creating games, the fact remains that the level of sensitivity differs from person to person. You’re bound to offend some, while another group won’t even be bothered one bit. That’s just how life goes. At least you tried your best to respect the situation or the people involved, but as with all forms of media, there will always be criticism that you should just be ready to accept or brush off.
Anyway, good luck to you, don’t let society scare you away from making games you truly want!
Could be a great game. The more protestors you kill, the more money you upgrade your weapons and equipment so you can kill more the next time, throw in some in app purchases. The problem is by the time it was done the protests would probably be long over.
I have enough problems now having to go 2 miles to get a pint of milk because all the shops locally are burned down. Having said that I have no objections… IF… I can be the police and blast them with a water cannon.
Because honestly, the way people are behaving is disgraceful. Its got nothing to do with the guy that got shot and everything to do with people thinking they can do whatever they please.
But yeah a game about riots is topical, and not offensive to me and I live in the thick of it.
You know, my approach to this sort of game would be something that maybe is more of a strategy/economic game. I mean if you look at it it’s very much in the vein of disasters in sim-city or the like.
The obvious solutions are to not engage in softly softly policing, get bobby on the beat visibility to humanize the police in local communities eyes, reduce bureaucracy etc, but then you’re balancing that against police state/police power and corruption. I think there’s huge potential for a great game where you have to balance the books, keep out corruption but avoid complete naivity, then with sub-games where you get to be an actual bobby on the beat, doing riot control etc, cleaning up after the bosses 
I mean really there’s no reason it couldn’t be just as much fun as being the criminal in GTA with some careful thought.
of course, like civ, you would be able to win the game through complete and utter police brutality and tyranny!
I’d much rather they make a game where your defending the public than something like GTA that only encourages this kind of thing. Thought it funny that the most popular things to loot were Alcohol and video games. Interesting combination.
Well that’s what i was thinking- you play AS the police.
And hippocoder- poor you lol! Luckily, they haven’t reached me yet.
They haven’t reached my area yet either, and I’m praying it stays that way.
It sounds a lot like playing an enforcer in APB, only I guess with less actual guns and more watercannons. Also it would be in England I guess.
Not sure about a sim type game where you play the police, there are lots of games already where I can stand by and watch people destroy things. I could even tie one hand behind my back… don’t need a new game for that.
But the fantasy type of game you describe, where I’m actually able to do something about it, like blast the ****ers with watercannon, sounds great!
lol xD In famous real - world rioting spots around the UK xD!
Can’t buy any TVs within a 10 mile radius of where I live unless its off the back of a lorry!
Such a game is among the titles I wouldn’t allow my kids to play. When you target real world social issues then you are bound to allow the player to play as a protester or as a cop… his choice. If you assume that protesters are the bad guys I assume the game is bad simply because it’s biased on one side of a current social issue.
Edit: to make my point clear, I’d have the very same position if your game were proposing the opposite scenario, play as protester only.
first thing that comes to mind is Riot Shields in Counter-Strike.
theres a reason most servers removed them.
THis is an interesting point, thanks for bringing it up. It’s not exactly a win/win situation, and doesn’t have a huge audience… hmm. I bet some politicians was label it as another ‘violence simulator’… hmm.
I’d rather be a “chav”.
How are these people in any way protesters? What are they protesting against?