Question for people from the US (and elsewhere also).

As someone from Sweden, not a lot of games are put in my country. And those that are generally don't really criticize it anyway. Year Walk is certainly not a work of social commentary on Sweden (but pretty accurate representation of some creatures lurking in our woods). However, US is not only the setting for a lot of games no matter it's genre, it's also the target (and hero) of a lot of games.

Playing through Splinter Cell: Blacklist currently and I got thinking, if all of these games were put in Sweden and I was flying Sam around fighting to stop terrorist attacks nicknamed "Swedish Consumption" and so forth, would I ever grow tired of always having my country (and what it might represent to someone outside of it) be a target?

So I suppose my question is; do you think you would enjoy games less, more or the same if US was not the focus on a lot of the games you play?

And I suppose if we open the floor for a bigger discussion for the rest of the world; do you ever feel like games are too western ethnocentric? I realize not a huge part of this site isn't European or US, but I figured it would be interesting to know either way.

Also, I realize this topic makes it sound like US is the focus on a majority of games, which obviously isn't the case. Skyrim isn't a place in Alaska and as far as I know, people from Alaska probably doesn't sound like they're recording an IKEA commercial in English, but that's just pure guesswork from my end.

As an American, I'm used to the US being the target/butt of jokes/topic of derision/etc....It doesn't really bother me. Just for the sake of variety though, I wouldn't mind having other parts of the world be the central focus. As far as ethnocentrism is concerned, it never occurred to me that Skyrim was some kind of fictional Alaska. That's kind of hilarious in a non-intended sort of way. I've always considered it to be a vaguely Nordic land, in the same way I consider Middle Earth to be a vaguely central European land.

I don't know, Americans seem to like the notion that we will kick the asses of anyone that dares to fuck with us. But first they've got to prove themselves as an actual threat. Yeah, the justifications for most of these are pretty dumb, but whatever. People don't care. It's easy to sell a story of Americans struggling to Americans, and I guess they do all right in other parts of the world too.

Is it a tired trope? Sure is. Is it going away anytime soon? I seriously doubt it. I don't think it's all that interesting, personally.

As an American, I have virtually no sense of culture or pride related to my country so I don't give a shit how any sort of media portrays it.

I would very much like to see some cultures outside of my own represented in games. Military games specifically seems to trade solely on American military. Believe it or not, we're not the only ones with guns. I guess we do really like our guns though.

I've kind of grown tired of military games because of the familiar ground they all seem to tread. I'm not innately against them, and if one presented some unique perspective or came from a different place, I'd absolutely be ready to play it. I think that's what a lot of people really enjoyed about Spec Ops (which, I still need to get back to).

I don't really mind either way, and am actually very excited by more and more open world games lifting directly from real cities, at least as a blueprint. Liberty City, Los Santos, L.A. Noire's Los Angeles, inFamous' upcoming Seattle...all these things really tickle me, especially compared to the boilerplate American cities we were getting in every generation before this one. But I don't really care that that's happening in America, other than I know most of the big cities somewhat from visiting. I would love to see a lovingly rendered London in a new Getaway game on PS4, for example. It's cool seeing games do rough sketches of real things, like The Last of Us' (Eastern) Colorado State campus.

I would like to see a modern game be something other than Russia/China big evil and team america world police come in to save the day. It's not going to happen anytime soon as games are targeted towards americans first and the rest of the world a laughably distant second. Which is one of the reasons I prefer stuff set in fantasy/sci-fi where none of that stuff can come into play.

I get a little tired of the way Americans are usually portrayed in your average action game. It's pretty spot-on, at least in general terms, but it doesn't have to be so on-point. I wouldn't mind some more stuff that goes outside the box.

It's nice seeing games from other perspectives. In fact, it's probably part of the reason why I enjoy Japanese games, especially those taking place in Japan; I like seeing the world from a perspective that isn't so arrogant and self-centered, a feeling I get from many Western games.

I don't play enough games with real world settings to notice this at all. When I do, it usually turns into some variation of post-apocalypse Tokyo.

I like games set in different countries, and I love when games present a country's culture to the world. Brothers seemed to be rooted in folklore. Muramasa made me cook traditional dishes. Mei Ling gave me Chinese sayings.

I see America every day. I don't need to see more.

What was that game (mod?) Vinny and I think Patrick played a while back where you run around a Swedish subruban area shooting zombies? Being Swedish myself it felt very familiar to me in weird kind of way I'm not used to with video games.

@elixirbronze: cry of fear maybe?

Cry of Fear, maybe?

EDIT: @schreiberty OH SHIT

I didn't play Pokemon Black/White or Black 2/White 2 because the region Unova was based off America. The reason I always liked the Pokemon games because they took place in places based of parts of the world I wasn't overly familiar with. I live in America and so it's boring to me to play a video game set in it. Games set in the past though like LA Noire are perfectly fine. I've never been to 1940's LA and so it was cool exploring that.

Somewhat related to the OP: I can't help but feel that a lot of Sleeping Dogs' popularity has to do with the exotic locale. The same with early Assassin's Creed games before they wore out their welcome. How awesome could GTA be if Rockstar would just stick it in Bangkok or Moscow? Gamers have proven that they're ready for games to take place in locations other than Generitown USA, I just wish more developers would.

@mariachimacabre: @schreiberty: That's it, thanks.

I'm kind of interested to see what Russia pumps out, considering I recall hearing about them wanting to make their own games due to how poorly they look in CoD and Battlefield.

As for the question, I don't really care, I mostly play niche JRPGs and indie games, so I'm not the target market for these military shooters that glorify 'Murica.

I would definitely like it if more game developers would their games in other countries, even if only for the sake of variety, but for other reasons as well. I would like less of the patriotic "America, fuck yeah!" stuff because it's honestly kind of embarrassing and reinforces (and panders to) a stereotype that only exists in certain parts of the country. I could also do without the stuff that kind of pokes fun at America, like for example Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, we get it, we're uneducated and fat we just looove freedom. That type of social commentary was funny ten years ago, but it's kind of trite at this point isn't it?

@soapy86 said:

You clearly have not played Grand Theft Auto Five.

The country a game is set in is, usually, the very last thing I care about with a game.

I enjoy when games are set elsewhere, but honestly, I don't feel like I've ever really seen the real US in a game. There are games set in caricatures of it, but it's not like they're set in a reality. A few games have gotten close, but it still feels like a fantasy land rather than something representative of the real thing.

Heck, they're often set in big cities, too, and for a lot of the US, that just isn't what you see every day. I think Homefront sort of showed a bit of that, but in general, I don't get a very "US" vibe from even the games supposedly set in the US.

I don't necessarily like the implications of the US being a constant target, but it isn't a big issue. I might enjoy it more if I got to see games set in more places, as the world is pretty large and interesting, but that speaks more to games having variety than anything else. I'd get tired of them being set in the US a lot just as much as I'd probably get tired of them being set in Sweden a lot. Variety is the main issue, not that it's the US.

As a Canadian I feel that there are nowhere near enough games set in Canada. Just look at the list of games with the Canada location. It's basically 90% sports games or racing games with some sports teams or race tracks located in Canada. The rest are strategy games where you take over the world. Scott Pilgrim is pretty much the only exception.

I feel like it doesn't matter that the majority of the content consumed is set in America, especially when the stories that they tell wouldn't be influenced by their setting. Problems arise, in my opinion, when developers attempt to portray cultures that they have no reference to, so end up imbuing their games with Americanisms, like the abundance of guns or more active patriotism, e.g. hoisting flags.

I could really care less where my game takes place

As long as Mario takes place in The Mushroom Kingdom, Canada then we're all good.

Yes, lots of games are very ethno-centric to America and Western Europe. I always enjoy games with a unique setting (Uncharted, Dreamfall: TLJ) as long as it doesn't feel cheap or forced (Papo y Yo, RE5).