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[Column] General: What About a Native American MMO?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Native American culture is often imitated in MMORPGs. I can name several MMOs that feature races or cultures that are obviously inspired by Native cultures. Unfortunately, this often means that players are met only with tepees, totem poles and other classic Hollywood imagery inside these games, and never does any MMO get down to the realities of native life.
Read more of Beau Hindman's A Casual, Cornered: What About a Native American MMO?
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Probably Osage (Native American). Women's Sash, late 19th-early 20th century. Commercial wool yarn, glass beads, 61 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (156.2 x 16.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1911, Museum Collection Fund, 11.694.9017. Creative Commons-BY
Comments
Almost anything can be seen as offensive. Whatever culture you portray whether it is fictionalized or not, needs to be jazzed up a bit to make it more exciting. You don't see many games where you play Germans unless they are Nazis or some other aggressive warmongers.
Indian cultures were/are as varied as any other cultures. There were cannibals, expansionists, slavers, overlords, traders, etc. If you are creating content that is gonna be more than super, super niche, you're gonna have to delve into some of the darker elements of indian cultures.
Obviously not all MMOs need to be 'exciting,' but in my experience, as a general rule, they do better than those that are less so.
I self identify as a monkey.
That's because we've become so hypersensitive that uncomplimentary truths are labelled offensive and considered taboo topics.
Take weight gain, it's a legitimate medical condition with an impact on not just the subject but others close or unrelated to the subject, but talking about it is bullying or 'fat shaming', even if you aren't doing it maliciously.
And weight is only one of the fringe topics that we can still reference without getting moderated on public forums. Take a moment and think about all the other, more centrally 'offensive' things we should be able to talk about but even just discussing it is considered offensive...
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
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Too real? I would love to see a Native American game, but I think that it would never happen. The matter of fact is that it portrays the West in such a negative light that you'd certainly get plenty of negative feedback, truth or not.
Nobody wants to hear about how merciless their forefathers were, how they were no better than common rapists. Can't we just call the Native Americans.... say...... Elves? And the Europeans, ummmm... Orcs? Then we can talk about serious issues without anyone getting offended, right?
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
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Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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Great reading, I would play in a heartbeat.
Spot on.
There's no reason the MMO would have to be based on the period you are describing.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
It sounds like someone was perusing their 1st year cultural anthropology notes and is feeling twinges of moralistic guilt.
You are proposing a MMO that teaches a history lesson. A corrective history lesson. I just don't see that happening, or being a success on any level even for a Kickstarter event.
This concept might be interesting as a sim for a very niche academic crowd. For today's general gaming culture that is being groomed for action combat, MOBA's, and Cash Shop shinies? Zero interest.
The most important thing an Amerindian MMO would need, would be to be written and designed with Amerindians on the team. The reason there's not a lot of MMOs giving acurate portrayals of minorities is that there are such a small number of minorities in game development. (Which is why they are called minorities, sort of a catch 22.)
Being half Cherokee/Sioux myself, I would love to see my cultures represented, and if the devs are Amerindian, they could portray their cultures with impunity, media sensitivities be damned.
Although, there is a Total War game set in the Americas which has some great historical research. So Amerindian games DO exist!
I think it is a cool idea. I think if it is set in the 19th century it would be heartbreaking and dramatic and maybe controversial. However, I think if you portray all sides as actual humans and not just black and white, you could have something that rises above the "Your ancestors were asses" speak. I know we all like to WoW bash, but I think they did an excellent job portraying the Alliance and Horde as being in this gray zone and neither side seeing themselves as villains.
Atrocities are mostly seen in hindsight and are usually somehow justified or seen as righteous in the present.
Help support an artist and gamer who has lost his tools to create and play: http://www.gofundme.com/u63nzcgk
Sorry, but any depiction of 19th century Native Americans would either be Eurocentric crocodile tears with a disturbing hint of 'we won' at the end, or an overly dramatic mass apology that would be less a game and more a sad attempt at video game restitution.
If the title were to occur before the mass European influence and highlighted the interaction between tribes as it was before the invasion, then it would celebrate the various cultures without any hint of 'look how powerful we are' implications.
The best way to honor these people in a game is to show how great they were without us, not how great we were in destroying them, even if it's done as an apology.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
If they're still playing Xsyon, check out Hopi Tribe.
That said, I think Velocinox nailed it.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
want 7 free days of playing? Try this
http://www.swtor.com/r/ZptVnY
Not 1 native american i have talked too complains about the name Redskin. That comes from Political Correctness crapfrom liberals. Do Whites complain about whiteman, do blacks complain complain about blackman ? Native Americans have a proud heritage. They should not be ashamed of nothing/. Native americans were at war with each other way before the whiteman entered the arena.
Agreed 1000% with your point, it is not the Native American who would sue but the liberal idiots.
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On the other hand I would love to see a MMO based in the whole aboriginal population of North, Central and South America, now that would be an awesome MMO.
want 7 free days of playing? Try this
http://www.swtor.com/r/ZptVnY
we already have it in the Secret World, Solomon´s Island.
But a whole MMO centered around it, who knows.
People might request wizards and elves, and riding dragons.. again
Pretty much this. The game would have to have an Amerindian person to be the one making the calls so to speak.
As things are now you can't much about anything unless you are representative of whatever subject your talking about otherwise someone gets offended and calls you a bigot, racist, ignorant etc etc.
Just take the women in video games subject, if you are a man and do not agree with what some woman says online you more often than not called ignorant and sexist.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Almost anything can be seen as offensive. Whatever culture you portray whether it is fictionalized or not, needs to be jazzed up a bit to make it more exciting. You don't see many games where you play Germans unless they are Nazis or some other aggressive warmongers.
Indian cultures were/are as varied as any other cultures. There were cannibals, expansionists, slavers, overlords, traders, etc. If you are creating content that is gonna be more than super, super niche, you're gonna have to delve into some of the darker elements of indian cultures.
Obviously not all MMOs need to be 'exciting,' but in my experience, as a general rule, they do better than those that are less so.
I self identify as a monkey.
I so wanted this to come out:
http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/africa_the-mmorpg_first-look-trailer
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I wish more cultures in general were represented more in MMOs to be honest. I come way down from the Northern parts of Siberia, where the winters were cruel, cold, and beautiful. The folklore was strong and tales of Raven, who created the world, and also stories of Baba Yaga were told to scare me and the other little ones into behaving. Shamans walked the land, which was full of wild animals, and I remember seeing Siberian tigers (one which I thought was going to eat me...) and lots of foxes.
I remember there being a beautiful, almost sad-like quality to Siberia... It's hard to describe, but if anyone could recapture Siberia in a game, I'd be amazed.
Smile
Wouldn't be the first time:
http://unrealfacts.com/speedy-gonzales-banned-cartoon-network-racially-offensive/
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
That's exactly how it should be done. If you made an American Indian MMO in a pre-European settler era, then there would be plenty of great material and content. Plenty of diversity, plenty of skills, plenty of landscapes and lore and mythology, etc.
In reality, you could include the very, very early European settlers along the east coast without too much trouble or offensiveness. The tribes often had relations and trade with those guys back in the early days.
Think of all the background both in passed down records among the various tribes, the archaeological sites, etc., that is available from way up with the Inuits/Eskimos down to the Aztecs/Mayans and beyond. You could even go so far down as to include the natives of the rainforests down in S. America.
There's just so much there that could be implemented into a very deep(both historically and for gameplay) game.
Igloos and kayaks, temples and pyramids, cities built into cliff faces, huts in the jungle, and so on.
Beyond tribal warfare and clashes, you had so much wildlife that adds to things. The Americas are just jam-packed with natural diversity in so many ways.
Granted, if I remember my history correctly, there were no horses or pigs in the Americas prior to the Spanish explorers(?), so it'd be a trick to try and fit horses in properly and such.
I mean they really did have it all in the Americas, for gameplay: hunting, fishing, farming, combat, mythos, spiritualism/shamanism, city-building, etc. Heck, they even had ball games that some of the native cultures used to play.
You also had the more modern-day controversialities that devs could touch on(if they were feeling so brave): Sky-people, gods, human sacrifice, raids, astrology, and so on.
If anyone ever decided to make cultural-style MMOs, pretty much every continent is oozing with this kind of stuff.