The Law Enforcement Officer Thread

It still taps into the underlying problem of the militarisation of the police force being glamourised, though. I mean, using the Battlefield brand for a cop game? Turning criminals into orcish hordes for you to either gun down en masse or cow into submission with your holy relic LAPD badge is a really transparent justification of the mindset behind so many brutality incidents.

I don't know as much about the game as I would like, but I am more concerned with the audience than I am the game.

For example: The Notorious Russian Airport Mission.

I didn't mind that. I think it is not only fair, but fun and the chance to make some interesting social commentary to play as the "terrorists". War is not good guys vs. bad guys. There are levels of good and bad going against each other. And we need to keep that in mind so we can make better choices on situations.

So while I am not opposed to a militarized SWAT game, even though I know first hand that's not how SWAT works, I fear that the audience will take this game and be encouraged to be stupid with it.

I'm not saying we have to go all Spec Ops: The Line on everything, as much as I like the game and think it was very much needed; I would like us to go less of the Call of Duty crap.

Aprilla and I were talking about that last night. You can have a fun, interesting game that is still giving you some opportunity to think without beating you in the head. A cinematic version would be going into the Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" route instead of the Hugh Jackman's "Van Helsing". Similar eras and locations, fun opportunities, but the former is not afraid to make fun of itself, relies on developed characters, shows instead of tells more, and embraces the ideas. Van Helsing just takes itself too damn seriously, doesn't trust it's audience to follow the action or recognize character ques so it beats you over the head with it, has little development and little chemistry, and is very hollow.

I would prefer it if this game went the middle route and wouldn't go full Ghost...but we shall see.

From the Polygon article:

I don't think I need to add any more here.

They know their audience well.

What they refuse to acknowledge though is that they could appeal to a massive quantity of people who wouldn't mind the conflicted morals, the seeing both sides, the grayness of the situation if you will. They want the dude-bro money because that is assured money.

They should be going more of a Heat, Brooklyn's Finest, or The Wire kinda route and instead they're going more late 80's corny, buddy cop crap.

But it's Battlefield. I can wish it to be different, but they're not going to change anything while the dude bro money is so good.

Sure, but by shifting the ooh-rah militarism from warfare to law enforcement, they're definitely stepping things up a little. I mean, saying that a soldier's primary job is to shoot people is a bit less odd and alarming than saying that a cop's primary job is to do the same.

They're going from mere tasteless jingiosm to something approaching genuine fascism.

edited 13th Mar '15 8:06:45 AM by Iaculus

I don't think they're saying that at all intentionally.

They don't give a damn about current events besides marketing figures.

I think they went with police because we've been all "shooting terrorist"ed out. Call of Medal Battlefield has beat that horse past the point of any recognition beyond a blood stain.

$20 the big wigs sat down and said, "People are stick of the Middle East and Nazis...Call of Duty is doing the whole Mexican thing because people are sick of Russians...Police! We'll do cops so we can compete with the next Ghost thing!"

That is not to discredit anything you're saying, actually I agree with you to a point. That's why I said I am more concerned with the audience than the game.

The audience who will eat this shit up isn't the kind who realize this is a bad cop movie and will move on. They will take it very seriously, send rape threats, and demand illegal immigrants not get healthcare when they're already being denied healthcare.

edited 13th Mar '15 8:11:05 AM by Gabrael

There is actually an option to takedown enemies non-lethally in Hardline's singleplayer and multiplayer (the latter allows you to interrogate them, spotting all enemies for a short time), but it was noted that a full Pacifist Run in singleplayer wouldn't actually be possible. And, yeah, I kind of like to return the courtesy of people (seemingly) willing to surrender peacefully by not giving them hard punches to the face. I reserve those for people who really annoy me.

It's more cop show than SWAT 4, but, yeah, I would've liked a pacifist run option, if only to shake things up a little.

edited 13th Mar '15 8:16:20 AM by Krieger22

I'd say that it's the game following the audience not the audience following the game. They know their audience and will sell what they want, they're not trying to mould the audience they're moulding their game for the audience. The cultural issues the US has with the idea of cops as soldiers gunning down anyone in their way goes well beyond video games. Games are responding to that cultural idea, not responsible for it.

I dunno if it'll be that bad. Like I said, the player character is hispanic. All your other cop buddies are some kind of minority and the mission they decided to show off was one where you're fighting exclusively white domestic terrorists. Tea Party redneck types who buy into the whole Sovereign Citizen thing. That are also hella racist.

I don't think it'll be too terrible.

Successful media by definition give the audience what they want. That doesn't mean they lack an implicit (or sometimes explicit - hi, COD) agenda as well, or lack a cultural impact of their own.

edited 13th Mar '15 8:38:55 AM by Iaculus

O true, they often want (and act to) sustain the cultural ideas that allow them to keep selling the same game again and again without real innervation. But those ideas come from plenty of places beyond them and if you want rid of said ideas you have to focus on the other places to.

There's an old FMV game called Police Quest SWAT that handles this subject matter much better, though I'm still interested in playing the new Battlefield game in a I-kinda-want-to-try-out-that-new-shitty-Mc Nasty-sandwich sorta way. It may taste good at the moment, but it's still shit for you.

PQ SWAT has a lot of information dumps and extended training sequences that border on edutainment. It's painstakingly accurate, and your supervisor really rubs it in your face how a "successful" shoot while on duty is still a homicide and still must be treated as such. Non-lethal apprehension of suspects is the rule and not the exception.

I'm very curious about the non-lethal options in Battlefield Hardline because it sounds like it suffers from the same problem that Metal Gear Solid had with the tranquilizer gun. It's trying to have its cake and eat it too.

I think I asked this before, but here I go again.

Why are there, like, so, so, so many crime shows in America?

Because we have a huge problem with crime. And the upper economic classes like their validation.

Not to mention, we have a lot of shows in general, crime shows included.

Maybe I have been looking up the wrong places, but it seems like of every four new TV series, two of them are crime shows, one of them some vaguely superhero related, and some other one.

Like, I was watching a You Tube video and saw an advertisement for...what was it, a show about a zombie helping solving crimes by eating brains and I was like, "Okay American television, now you are just fucking with me."

That is sorta based off of a comic that is actually good named Chew.

Yeah, I want to see a followup to SWAT4 just so we can show how police stuff is supposed to be done.

According to Wikipedia, it's actually based on iZombie...to which The Chew is a vastly preferable title.

Aprilla: I loved that game. PQ SWAT was fantastic.

On that game. Yeah it is pretty much shameless targeted market group to grab up a share of the cash pile. Easy money is easy money.

Part of the reason is games with more detail and depth require a bit more effort, time, and money to make and are not guaranteed to make their money back. You time the games release incorrectly and it launches shortly before or after a controversy sales can take a hit.

As for cultural impact that sound suspiciously like video games cause X argument which hasn't held water to date.

Texas state Representative Jason Villalba (R-114) has introduced a bill which would make it a class B misdemeanor for anyone but news media to record police within 25 feet, or within 100 feet if the person carries a handgun.

I saw that. I find it suspicious frankly.

@Tuefel: Imma leave this right here.◊ Seriously, though, the idea that art can influence culture is not a fringe theory. Hell, it's one of the biggest reasons why people create art.

Obviously, Art can influence culture.

In the case of a game that glorifies the SWAT Team? I can support that, for various reasons: -I guess this is too easy (and probably my worst argument) but I actually think SWAT teams are a good thing. I think the only alternative to militarizing the police would be to turn the military into the police (which would be worse). There needs to be something in between the national guard and beat cops.

-I find stories with a "stick it to the man" plot to be...cliche. There's not enough Lawful Good Reasonable Authority Figures in fiction these days.

-I greatly dislike the sovereign citizen "Anarchist Neo-Confederate" ideology, which I see as giving Conservatives like myself a bad name.

Though I can see why people would be upset at such a game if it encourages the player to be too violent. I'd rather it not do to the public image of the police what Modern Warfare did to the Military's public image. I personally would go with a Deus-Ex style system, where players are rewarded for not hurting enemies.

edited 13th Mar '15 8:59:42 PM by Protagonist506

Ha that is amusing I love Calvin and Hobbes. However that isn't an accurate statement in and of itself. I raise you this To date no studies have found any actual links between violence and violent media just for a start. Even better the evidence that your parents, environment, and even genetic factors play a far more significant role in human behaviors.

This game is not creating the demographic it is targeting one that has existed for some time. They know this demographic is looking for this media to begin with and responding in a manner to maximize profit.