Avoid China-bashing

[derekticon]

While China might have replaced Russia or Al Qaeda as America's foremost strategic competitor, you ought to avoid demonising China or the Chinese in your narrative. It's a huge market over there and the Chinese people aspire to have the material lifestyle of the American middle class. There's no need to be perpetrate misunderstanding by extenuating the stereotypes of a potential partner.

Perhaps, it will be interesting to visit the non P5 states with nuclear aspirations: Iran-Israel or India-Pakistan nuclear competition - and somehow loose warheads ending up on continental USA.

[PeauDouce]

By "not demonising China" do you mean "not making any reference to China that could make someone think that, at some point, in that fictionnal timeline, they've done something that might be, in some way, questionnable" ?

If not, I don't know why you're afraid that a demonisation of China might happen.
Well, we all know they're awful people but so far no link to Satan has ever been confirmed. I'm sure they will respect the presumption of innocence.

[Rascal]

political correctness just sux... dont let it castrate ur game... its nonsens.

[Skirge]

How about we make it so that the US government blew its own country up? Intentionally. Guess what? As an American, I'd still play it.

[Roman0]

political correctness just sux... dont let it castrate ur game... its nonsens.

Exactly. I don't care if what devs do may hurt someone's "feelings", Wasteland 2 should be as it should be.

[Eich]

They won't care. You know how many WW2 games I bought despite being german?
And then again, who should be the bad guy if not the Chinese? They have the power and enough reason to challenge the US. Hell, from European stand point even the USA are a bad guy since Iraq ^^
So don't be afraid to demonise a country in your game. It's just normal to hate someone who bombed your country. It would destroy all immersion if the people would carry no anger towards their nemesis. And if you don't want to insult any chinese buyers you may always pull good ol' Germany out of the drawer... we lost some of our bad guy image in the recent years... I kind of miss it

[BrotherMagneto]

The Soviets are America's big enemy in Wasteland, just like they were in the real-world 1980s.

If the enemy changes from the USSR then what's even the damn point of making the game.

[Eich]

Yes that's true, you can't change the lore ^^ Funny how the Soviet Union crumbled only 2-3 years after Wasteland. That is kind of sad because I think that the possibilty of Wasteland becoming real was a real danger to the players of 1988. You can't bring back that feeling I fear!

[DNSDies]

Why does this even matter?
This is a game by fans for fans, funded by fans.

We're not a bunch of greedy publishers trying to alter the design for "mass appeal". We don't need to worry even a little about this. It's a non-issue.
Don't compromise the art.

[BrotherMagneto]

Yes that's true, you can't change the lore ^^ Funny how the Soviet Union crumbled only 2-3 years after Wasteland. That is kind of sad because I think that the possibilty of Wasteland becoming real was a real danger to the players of 1988. You can't bring back that feeling I fear!

That paranoia is exactly why Wasteland was such a defining game for me in the 1980s and a huge piece of its nostalgic value. It may not be up-to-date anymore but that should most definitely be retained. It would be like making a direct sequel (note: not a reboot) to Red Dawn with the invaders suddenly replaced with the Chinese: sure it may be more "modern" but it breaks the whole point of the original.

You may not be able to bring back the feeling... but we should at least pay homage to it. Growing up under the shadow of the mushroom cloud between the US and USSR was incredibly life-defining for my generation (and the generation before who experienced things like the Cuban Missile Crisis firsthand).

[Ekaros]

How about we make it so that the US government blew its own country up? Intentionally. Guess what? As an American, I'd still play it.

I like this one. Make something different from ones and realise that both sides are bad and one can be even more so.

[Gennadios]

I agree. I spent a month in China last year, and despite the stinted free speech, I couldn't help but walk out a bit humbled, they're more scared of us than we are of them. Blame unknown terrorists or rogue states if you have to.

[danvolodar]

Why does this even matter?
This is a game by fans for fans, funded by fans.

We're not a bunch of greedy publishers trying to alter the design for "mass appeal". We don't need to worry even a little about this. It's a non-issue.
Don't compromise the art.

Agreed. Demonise the Chinese, demonise us Russians, demonise your own government, demonise goddamn kittens if it fits the narrative and the setting.

[enderandrew]

Wasteland is set on Earth. It is also fiction. If you have to avoid painting countries in negative lights, that applies to all countries and hinders what you can do in the story.

[Boo]

political correctness just sux... dont let it castrate ur game... its nonsens.

I agree with this, being too PC is just annoying.

[katarn]

As for me, I don't know about China, but I strongly recomend not to make russian/soviet terrorists, serial killers and so on.

[Temaperacl]

The Soviets are America's big enemy in Wasteland, just like they were in the real-world 1980s.

If the enemy changes from the USSR then what's even the damn point of making the game.

Sort of. But remember that it isn't like the US and USSR were actively at war when the nukes launched. This is one thing to remember, especially for people who are only familiar with Fallout - In Fallout, the nuclear war was the climax of the chinese-american war. In Wasteland, things were different. Sure there were tensions, but the launch was a panicked reaction to most of the satellites of the major powers being wiped out of the sky.

Personally, this "accidental" or "sudden" nuclear war always resonated more with me anyways - at least at the time, that sudden exchange without any real warning (to us regular people anyways) was always the bigger fear for me. In that sense, the Soviets weren't really the bad guys - they were just half of the equation that ended up destroying the world.

[BrotherMagneto]

The Soviets are America's big enemy in Wasteland, just like they were in the real-world 1980s.

If the enemy changes from the USSR then what's even the damn point of making the game.

Sort of. But remember that it isn't like the US and USSR were actively at war when the nukes launched. This is one thing to remember, especially for people who are only familiar with Fallout - In Fallout, the nuclear war was the climax of the chinese-american war. In Wasteland, things were different. Sure there were tensions, but the launch was a panicked reaction to most of the satellites of the major powers being wiped out of the sky.

Personally, this "accidental" or "sudden" nuclear war always resonated more with me anyways - at least at the time, that sudden exchange without any real warning (to us regular people anyways) was always the bigger fear for me. In that sense, the Soviets weren't really the bad guys - they were just half of the equation that ended up destroying the world.

You're totally right - I was using "Big Enemy" in the sense that they were the Evil that was used by politicians and the media to focus people's fears, not necessarily a enemy in an active war. The Cold War was a different kind of scary for those of us who lived through it, and politicians kept exploiting that fear well after the fall of the USSR (anyone remember W Bush telling us how imperative it was to build a missile shield to protect us from ICBMs not two months before 9/11, when we found our new Big Enemy?)

It was the USSR, not China or someone else, just like the 80s. And if it was China (or Cuba) we'd know it was really those dirty godless commies in Moscow pulling the strings anyway... or so they'd tell us on TV.

[hubologynow]

Do the Chinese actually buy single-player, offline-only games? Serious question. I'm Chinese myself, but born and raised in North America. The impression I have is that most people pirate PC software in general over there.

I agree that painting Russia in a bad light wouldn't be the greatest business move, since they have a verifiable customer base there and in much of Eastern Europe in general.

[Lirpakkaa]

Just demonize every government to be sure.