The question came up on Kotako this morning, and It got me thinking...
 
With developers striving for  "realistic warfare"  this current generation of FPS releases (or any generation for that matter), they allways tend to leave out the most caotic and indeed common result of warfare: Civilians and Civilian Casulties.
 
My instant response to the issue was that if they included civilians, kids, women walking the streets, too many players would go on murderous rampages, making compilations of it and posting it on youtube ect just because they COULD. Developers would get hate from News Channels, parents ect ect..
 But:
 
Then it hit me. If I was playing a game set in a modern day war-situation, lets say afganistan, and I had to keep my eyes up every single second whilest walking trough a town because everyone walking around me could, or could not be the person who kills me. If a shootout had civilians running around in panic, me and my co-op players had to keep our heads down WHILEST at the same time watch out fire, save the civilians and indeed be stessfully trying to find out where the enemys were amongst the croud. Wouldn't that be the most realistic, heart-pounding experience in an fps? Atleast for me it would. I am one of the people that WOULDN'T straight away just plough down everyone, id watch my fire at every firefight, and then the impact of someone actually running into my crosshairs by mistake would be ever more devestating.
 
This shit happens in the real world every day.
 
 
To counter what I have just said, this would be a truly scary and excilerating experience, but then it would also be sort of wrong.. Soliders are in these situations every single day, and they (hopefully) aren't having "fun" with it. If we came too close to reality that reality became a game, then that would also be harmfull and kinda disrespectfull to those actually in these situations (pro  current conflicts or not) What is great about these types of games is that it ISN'T reality, it is a hightened, safe place where we can express our ... darker needs for sports, be the action-hero from the movies, enjoy a well written story (the later quite lost in most fps)
 
I honestly understand why they don't do it, do I agree, mostly perhaps, but I for one would love to try the game that does it, atleast just to get those sensations once..
 
 
thoughts?
 
(There mods, now I wrote a propper one;)