TheUn4seenLook outside of your media bubble, there is a whole other world out there, with actual things that happen. I only ever met an example of public servant brutality when a local postman murdered an old man in a methamphetamine fueled rage.
Also, it's a German game. When I studied in Karlsruhe and, as the joke goes, "racial diversity stole my bike" - confirmed by CCTV cameras, so not a racially motivated joke in this instance - police offered me nothing but help. There are bad apples everywhere, but just look at the statistics, you're much more likely to get molested by a teacher than treated badly by a policeman.
However, since the media love to focus so much on those rare cases - because, as you surely know, marketing is all about making noise and stirring controversy, and media are all about marketing - I'm sure this will be a great marketing angle for the developer.
Me? I just hope there will be modding support in the game so I can spread peace and order Judge Dredd style or with a tank-mounted unrealistically heavy machine guns with infinite ammunition. But it's just me, evil tongues call me antisocial.

Thank you!

Realistic portrayal of everyday police work for the player to experience.

Be prepared to shoot then arrest any "suspect".

TheinsanegamerNWell, it didnt take long for the champagne socialists to show up.

Recognizing police brutality/violence and injustice. Rule of law = socialism! What?

So if this is German, does it have some of the comprehensive training that European police officers must undergo before they're even allowed a gun or certain equipment followed by regular reviews to ensure compliance with standards? Or is this American police where you just need a few weeks then you get your badge, gun, and go on powertrips?

That ponytail can't be uniform reg.
Also makes me think of this

A wonderful platform for many mini in game games (with DLC I guess): add helicopter, patrol boats, find the criminal in Sherlock style ect.

The tears will be delicious lol.

TechLurkerSo if this is German, does it have some of the comprehensive training that European police officers must undergo before they're even allowed a gun or certain equipment followed by regular reviews to ensure compliance with standards? Or is this American police where you just need a few weeks then you get your badge, gun, and go on powertrips?

Yes.

Its a strange world where a police simulator is now first interpreted as some sort of statement about reality :D its even more curious when that reality is defined by a few odd events of the last few years. Oddly all US events with a heavy social media push behind them.

Gosh, I see a pattern, one of an alternate reality fed heavily by extremist views.

As someone that does not live in the US, I find the politization of this post about a police simulator very disturbing.
This is a simulator and a game. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Heck, would the MS Flight Simulator have sent a message after 9/11????

Game doesn't portray US police reality. Way too lame. :shadedshu: They really missed an opportunity for a real banger game.

Just get some inspiration from body cam & dashcam footage. With all the batshit craziness in the US you could pump out DLC content for years to come.

TheUn4seenLook outside of your media bubble, there is a whole other world out there, with actual things that happen. I only ever met an example of public servant brutality when a local postman murdered an old man in a methamphetamine fueled rage.

Ah, yes, the "I've never been a victim of an abuse of power, so I don't believe it exists" argument. A prime example of bias based on anecdotes and experience, that. Here are some statisticsto help rectify that.

TheUn4seenAlso, it's a German game.

Yet it depicts a visibly US-like city environment, with US-only cars including iconic US police cars like the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, with police officers in US-like uniforms. I certainly don't see much resemblence between the cops in the screenshots and this or this, do you? This game is obviously and explicitly set in the US.

TheUn4seenWhen I studied in Karlsruhe and, as the joke goes, "racial diversity stole my bike" - confirmed by CCTV cameras, so not a racially motivated joke in this instance - police offered me nothing but help.

Again with the anecdotes.

Also, yes, that is indeed a racially motivated joke - that it references actual events doesn't change the fact that your wording plays explicitly on racist stereotypes. Here's a challenge for you: take a look at crime rates for where you are located across various demographics. Specifically, look at crime rates grouped by socioeconomic status. You'll find a far stronger correlation between poverty and crime than between any definition of race and ethnicity and crime. "But then why are there so many non-white criminals?" 1: there aren't really, but the media loves to sell us that narrative as it's scary and sells ads, and 2: because minority groups are vastly overrepresented on the poorer end of the socioeconomic spectrum, in large part because western societies are structurally racist in many ways both clear and subtle that impede socioeconomic mobility among minorities.

TheUn4seenThere are bad apples everywhere, but just look at the statistics, you're much more likely to get molested by a teacher than treated badly by a policeman.

That is pure, utter nonsense. See above.

TheinsanegamerNVirtue signals are the most important of actions.

It's consistently hilarious to see this "come-back" get dragged out every time someone discusses a problematic aspect of society. No, of course, nobody actually cares about actual bad things, no, we all just care deeply about projecting explicitly false virtue towards random anons online. Sure, that makes sense. Ever heard of Occam's razor? Ever heard of the fact that using ludicrous bad-faith comebacks only makes you look silly?

Dirt ChipYes.

Source?

Vayra86Its a strange world where a police simulator is now first interpreted as some sort of statement about reality :D

... it's literally right there in the genre: it's a simulator. Sure, "simulator" can mean a lot of things, but broadly speaking, no game pitches itself as a simulator unless its aim is to in some way present a true-to-life facsimile of the thing simulated. In this case, as this game is clearly set in the US, and the game being a "police simulator", that thing would then necessarily be the realities of being a US police officer, right?

Vayra86its even more curious when that reality is defined by a few odd events of the last few years.

"A few odd events". Here's September of this year. That month could maybe be described as "a few odd events", sure, but ... well, reality has existed for longer than that. ~1000 killings a year is not "a few odd events".

(And before you or anyone come dragging the "but they were shot while committing a crime" line: summary execution is not (supposed to be) legal in the US, and is not something police officers should be doing. Lethal force should be an absolute last resort, and only in cases where there is a significant threat to innocent life. There is plentiful evidence that police killings in the US systematically fail to even come close to such a bar. Excessive use of force by police is in direct contradiction of the rule of law.)

Vayra86Oddly all US events with a heavy social media push behind them.

Really? There are ~1000 "heavy social media" pushes a year due to police killings in the US?

Vayra86Gosh, I see a pattern, one of an alternate reality fed heavily by extremist views.

Yes, and you're actively promoting it. How does that feel?

ValantarAh, yes, the "I've never been a victim of an abuse of power, so I don't believe it exists" argument. A prime example of bias based on anecdotes and experience, that. Here are some statisticsto help rectify that.

Yet it depicts a visibly US-like city environment, with US-only cars including iconic US police cars like the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, with police officers in US-like uniforms. I certainly don't see much resemblence between the cops in the screenshots and this or this, do you? This game is obviously and explicitly set in the US.

Again with the anecdotes.

Also, yes, that is indeed a racially motivated joke - that it references actual events doesn't change the fact that your wording plays explicitly on racist stereotypes. Here's a challenge for you: take a look at crime rates for where you are located across various demographics. Specifically, look at crime rates grouped by socioeconomic status. You'll find a far stronger correlation between poverty and crime than between any definition of race and ethnicity and crime. "But then why are there so many non-white criminals?" 1: there aren't really, but the media loves to sell us that narrative as it's scary and sells ads, and 2: because minority groups are vastly overrepresented on the poorer end of the socioeconomic spectrum, in large part because western societies are structurally racist in many ways both clear and subtle that impede socioeconomic mobility among minorities.

That is pure, utter nonsense. See above.


It's consistently hilarious to see this "come-back" get dragged out every time someone discusses a problematic aspect of society. No, of course, nobody actually cares about actual bad things, no, we all just care deeply about projecting explicitly false virtue towards random anons online. Sure, that makes sense. Ever heard of Occam's razor? Ever heard of the fact that using ludicrous bad-faith comebacks only makes you look silly?


Source?

... it's literally right there in the genre: it's a simulator. Sure, "simulator" can mean a lot of things, but broadly speaking, no game pitches itself as a simulator unless its aim is to in some way present a true-to-life facsimile of the thing simulated. In this case, as this game is clearly set in the US, and the game being a "police simulator", that thing would then necessarily be the realities of being a US police officer, right?

"A few odd events". Here's September of this year. That month could maybe be described as "a few odd events", sure, but ... well, reality has existed for longer than that. ~1000 killings a year is not "a few odd events".

(And before you or anyone come dragging the "but they were shot while committing a crime" line: summary execution is not (supposed to be) legal in the US, and is not something police officers should be doing. Lethal force should be an absolute last resort, and only in cases where there is a significant threat to innocent life. There is plentiful evidence that police killings in the US systematically fail to even come close to such a bar. Excessive use of force by police is in direct contradiction of the rule of law.)

Really? There are ~1000 "heavy social media" pushes a year due to police killings in the US?

Yes, and you're actively promoting it. How does that feel?

This is a matter of perspective. I don't live in the US & the world is bigger than the US. You have a gun/cultural issue you don't collectively wish to solve and won't solve. Police violence is a non issue in, for example, the Netherlands where I live. Its the polar opposite even, we're so reluctant to use a firearm, police is often more likely to deescalate in the face of danger. Every life matters, and its more important than 'the law' by principle. The first thing that matters is keeping people in one piece, law enforcement is next; a matter of logic: if you shoot people the cost to society is pretty high too. Its about transcending above the knee-jerk reflex to criminals, and being bigger than human nature. One could call it a form of civilization. Similar things apply to the view on abuse of power; its about in what degree a society is convinced certain things are 'not done'.

The US has been steadily building a cult of violence and polarization in society, so they reap what they sow and the above civilized manners clash with human instincts given free reign. Note the tight connection there in psychology to the idea of 'absolute freedom' - not considering one's liberties are another one's restrictions. That's one reason you also can't seem to fix the racism question, and it just keeps festering with no chance of real dialogue. And yes, for an outsider, honestly, its nothing more than Hollywood playing out in real life. Entertainment thrives on conflict - its the whole reason that cult of violence keeps growing, commerce loves it and we love commerce too. Passing the blame to a game that is all about law and order and doesn't even want to be 'the bad cop' is so out of place, I can't even begin to describe it.

So is this actively promoting police violence in general? I think those who feel that way should take a loooong look in the mirror for their own view on what's what.

Also I'm surprised by how you read my previous post, as if I was saying police abuse doesn't exist. That's not what I said - I said what struck me here is that the abuse is the first thing coming to mind when considering the (US) police force for so many in this topic. That's indicative of a blind following of what's hot in the media, it is not nuanced and it certainly isn't in the spirit of the game released here. One could say its a familiar knee-jerk response much like the instincts described above. Also, I'm missing the correct outrage: if almost every encounter with police ends up in abuse and trouble, why isn't the entire individualist country up in arms, arms they also do have? Wasn't that the exact reason to defend the right to bear arms, an opressive government? The irony has it that its precisely the pro-arms (and pro-life - you can't even make it up!) group that is also pro-law and order through repression and escalation of violence.

ValantarSource?

My own sarcasm.
He asked whether it's A or B.
I answer: Yes.
;)

On the one hand my first response was, oh this is going down like a lead balloon. But on the other hand who do we replace all the all the corrupt, racist, sexist, thug police that are in-place, they have to come from somewhere. This could be seen as an indirect recruitment drive or sorts?

Digging a little deaper, Aesir Interactive and Astragon (Farm simulator) are based in München, Bayern, Germany. Where (someone correct if im wrong) the police aren't nearly as bad as they are in other countries.

Vayra86This is a matter of perspective. I don't live in the US & the world is bigger than the US. You have a gun/cultural issue you don't collectively wish to solve and won't solve. Police violence is a non issue in, for example, the Netherlands where I live. Its the polar opposite even, we're so reluctant to use a firearm, police is often more likely to deescalate in the face of danger. Every life matters, and its more important than 'the law' by principle. The first thing that matters is keeping people in one piece, law enforcement is next; a matter of logic: if you shoot people the cost to society is pretty high too. Its about transcending above the knee-jerk reflex to criminals, and being bigger than human nature. One could call it a form of civilization. Similar things apply to the view on abuse of power; its about in what degree a society is convinced certain things are 'not done'.

The US has been steadily building a cult of violence and polarization in society, so they reap what they sow and the above civilized manners clash with human instincts given free reign. Note the tight connection there in psychology to the idea of 'absolute freedom' - not considering one's liberties are another one's restrictions. That's one reason you also can't seem to fix the racism question, and it just keeps festering with no chance of real dialogue. And yes, for an outsider, honestly, its nothing more than Hollywood playing out in real life. Entertainment thrives on conflict - its the whole reason that cult of violence keeps growing, commerce loves it and we love commerce too. Passing the blame to a game that is all about law and order and doesn't even want to be 'the bad cop' is so out of place, I can't even begin to describe it.

I completely agree with this - and what you're saying here really gets to the core of the problem. Well said.

Vayra86So is this actively promoting police violence in general? I think those who feel that way should take a loooong look in the mirror for their own view on what's what.

I don't think anyone is saying that. Rather, at least what I'm saying, is that it falls within what is typically called "copaganda": feel-good "subtly" promotional media showing (US) police doing what they actually should be doing, despite this having little real relation to actual reality. Proper community-based policing is essentially nonexistent in the US. And thus this copaganda only serves to present a distorted image of reality, serving as pro-police propaganda and insulating them from desperately needed criticism.

Vayra86Also I'm surprised by how you read my previous post, as if I was saying police abuse doesn't exist. That's not what I said - I said what struck me here is that the abuse is the first thing coming to mind when considering the (US) police force for so many in this topic. That's indicative of a blind following of what's hot in the media, it is not nuanced and it certainly isn't in the spirit of the game released here.

I see what you're getting at, but I completely disagree with your conclusions. People don't care about police violence because it's "what's hot in the media" - mass media consistently demonstrates clear pro-police bias through things like speaking in "exonerative tense" (extreme passive voice and other lingustic tricks aiming at taking responsibility for their actions away from police, e.g. never saying "Man shot by police officer", but rather "Man hit by police officer's bullets" and the like - or even more extreme cases like "Man dies after being hit by bullet from officer-involved shooting" instead of "Man shot and killed by police officer"), reproducing police narratives about contested events to a far greater degree that contrary accounts, failing to do basic due diligence following up reports of abuses of power, and so on. Mass media are reporting on anti-police movements because these are large scale grass-roots movements, that have at this point become too large to ignore, despite these media entities' strong preference for narratives that maintain the status quo.

Vayra86Also, I'm missing the correct outrage: if almost every encounter with police ends up in abuse and trouble, why isn't the entire individualist country up in arms, arms they also do have?

In part because the groups being affected the most by this problem aren't the same groups holding the most strongly to these "ideals", nor are they the groups with the most weaponry. The vast majority of police abuses of power are directed towards minorities and disadvantaged groups overall - groups for which any form of resistance is far more difficult than the relatively privileged gun-toting masses. And, crucially, because of structural racism: any non-white US person has been indoctrinated throughout their entire life with the knowledge that if you appear aggressive towards a cop, this will most likely result in violence, violence of a scope and degree that you are entirely powerless to resist against. Having a gun while black near a cop in the US is borderline suicidal - even if you're twelve years old and the gun is clearly a toy. On the other hand, there are plenty of cases showing the great lengths police will go to to avoid lethal force against white people - even white people who have literally committed murders. (Not to mention the matching racist biases in the legal system, but that's another step away from the topic here.)

Vayra86Wasn't that the exact reason to defend the right to bear arms, an opressive government? The irony has it that its precisely the pro-arms (and pro-life - you can't even make it up!) group that is also pro-law and order through repression and escalation of violence.

Yeah, it's an incredibly messed up knot of increasingly contradictory beliefs.

Dirt ChipMy own sarcasm.
He asked whether it's A or B.
I answer: Yes.
;)

Ah, I read it as a response to if they had the amount of training European police have. Guess I should have read the entire quote rather than just skimming it ;)

ValantarAh, yes, the "I've never been a victim of an abuse of power, so I don't believe it exists" argument. A prime example of bias based on anecdotes and experience, that. Here are some statisticsto help rectify that.

Yet it depicts a visibly US-like city environment, with US-only cars including iconic US police cars like the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, with police officers in US-like uniforms. I certainly don't see much resemblence between the cops in the screenshots and this or this, do you? This game is obviously and explicitly set in the US.

Again with the anecdotes.

Also, yes, that is indeed a racially motivated joke - that it references actual events doesn't change the fact that your wording plays explicitly on racist stereotypes. Here's a challenge for you: take a look at crime rates for where you are located across various demographics. Specifically, look at crime rates grouped by socioeconomic status. You'll find a far stronger correlation between poverty and crime than between any definition of race and ethnicity and crime. "But then why are there so many non-white criminals?" 1: there aren't really, but the media loves to sell us that narrative as it's scary and sells ads, and 2: because minority groups are vastly overrepresented on the poorer end of the socioeconomic spectrum, in large part because western societies are structurally racist in many ways both clear and subtle that impede socioeconomic mobility among minorities.

That is pure, utter nonsense. See above.


It's consistently hilarious to see this "come-back" get dragged out every time someone discusses a problematic aspect of society. No, of course, nobody actually cares about actual bad things, no, we all just care deeply about projecting explicitly false virtue towards random anons online. Sure, that makes sense. Ever heard of Occam's razor? Ever heard of the fact that using ludicrous bad-faith comebacks only makes you look silly?


Source?

... it's literally right there in the genre: it's a simulator. Sure, "simulator" can mean a lot of things, but broadly speaking, no game pitches itself as a simulator unless its aim is to in some way present a true-to-life facsimile of the thing simulated. In this case, as this game is clearly set in the US, and the game being a "police simulator", that thing would then necessarily be the realities of being a US police officer, right?

"A few odd events". Here's September of this year. That month could maybe be described as "a few odd events", sure, but ... well, reality has existed for longer than that. ~1000 killings a year is not "a few odd events".

(And before you or anyone come dragging the "but they were shot while committing a crime" line: summary execution is not (supposed to be) legal in the US, and is not something police officers should be doing. Lethal force should be an absolute last resort, and only in cases where there is a significant threat to innocent life. There is plentiful evidence that police killings in the US systematically fail to even come close to such a bar. Excessive use of force by police is in direct contradiction of the rule of law.)

Really? There are ~1000 "heavy social media" pushes a year due to police killings in the US?

Yes, and you're actively promoting it. How does that feel?

Explain this.

worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders

Why_MeExplain this.

worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders

Explain what? That link is just a ranked list. What exactly are you expecting me to explain - the existence of crime? That it concentrates in various places? I mean, it isn't all that hard. The US has a massive problem with socioeconomic inequality and poverty that, especially when coupled with a culture celebrating guns, violence and "taking care of yourself" (in the most destructive sense possible), leads to a lot of violent crime? Is that surprising? No. The US has a lot of big cities, which means a lot of people in a small area, and thus a lot of crime in a small area. But that doesn't mean that there is necessarily more crime in more densely populated areas: quite the opposite, actually. Poor rural areas seem to overall have the highest crime rates per capita - but they don't get as much attention simply because everything is more spread out.

Geez guys, it's a GAME! I guess I'm just old, but if this game can somehow be construed as offensive, some of you weren't around in the 80's and 90's. Ever heard of Leisure Suit Larry? Want to talk about offensive, and absolutely hilarious!

Isn't this the generation that grew up on GTA? We thought it was great, because you could do crazy shit. Did all of you condone killing cops or shooting civilians by playing it? No, it was a game, that was kinda the point.

You can see the polarity in the comments, and I personally am proud of those of you who, like me, first thought "Hell yeah, time to go rogue!" Why? Because it's a game! Never going to be a rogue cop in real life, just like I'm never going to be a hoodlum on the streets of Vice City or San Andreas. It's a game!

Next thing you know y'all will be telling me FPS games cause mass shootings.

JATownesGeez guys, it's a GAME! I guess I'm just old, but if this game can somehow be construed as offensive, some of you weren't around in the 80's and 90's. Ever heard of Leisure Suit Larry? Want to talk about offensive, and absolutely hilarious!

Isn't this the generation that grew up on GTA? We thought it was great, because you could do crazy shit. Did all of you condone killing cops or shooting civilians by playing it? No, it was a game, that was kinda the point.

You can see the polarity in the comments, and I personally am proud of those of you who, like me, first thought "Hell yeah, time to go rogue!" Why? Because it's a game! Never going to be a rogue cop in real life, just like I'm never going to be a hoodlum on the streets of Vice City or San Andreas. It's a game!

Next thing you know y'all will be telling me FPS games cause mass shootings.

We live in a snowflake society...

JATownesGeez guys, it's a GAME! I guess I'm just old, but if this game can somehow be construed as offensive, some of you weren't around in the 80's and 90's. Ever heard of Leisure Suit Larry? Want to talk about offensive, and absolutely hilarious!

Isn't this the generation that grew up on GTA? We thought it was great, because you could do crazy shit. Did all of you condone killing cops or shooting civilians by playing it? No, it was a game, that was kinda the point.

You can see the polarity in the comments, and I personally am proud of those of you who, like me, first thought "Hell yeah, time to go rogue!" Why? Because it's a game! Never going to be a rogue cop in real life, just like I'm never going to be a hoodlum on the streets of Vice City or San Andreas. It's a game!

Next thing you know y'all will be telling me FPS games cause mass shootings.

... except that GTA doesn't present itself as a simulation of a regular societal function. Rather it is explicitly satirical - quite the opposite of a simulator, at that. (We could always discuss whether that satire actually works or not, but that's another question entirely.) But no, that's not a big difference, of course not :rolleyes: Also, Leisure Suit Larry was creepy and sexist even in the 90s, and that broader society has sussed up to that fact is unequivocally good. When you say something is a simulator, you inherently make a claim to it being somehow true-to-life (except for clearly satirical "simulators" like Goat Simulator, obviously, who aren't actually claiming to simulate what it's like to be a goat, unlike what this does about being a cop). When it then (seemingly) presents an unrealistically idealized version of said reality, that is a problem worth discussing.

zlobbyWe live in a snowflake society...

Yeah, it's riddled with old conservatives who are too afraid of even the slightest change to handle the idea of criticism or discussing serious topics. It's pretty sad, really.

Valantar... except that GTA doesn't present itself as a simulation of a regular societal function. Rather it is explicitly satirical - quite the opposite of a simulator, at that. (We could always discuss whether that satire actually works or not, but that's another question entirely.) But no, that's not a big difference, of course not :rolleyes: Also, Leisure Suit Larry was creepy and sexist even in the 90s, and that broader society has sussed up to that fact is unequivocally good. When you say something is a simulator, you inherently make a claim to it being somehow true-to-life (except for clearly satirical "simulators" like Goat Simulator, obviously, who aren't actually claiming to simulate what it's like to be a goat, unlike what this does about being a cop). When it then (seemingly) presents an unrealistically idealized version of said reality, that is a problem worth discussing.

Yeah, it's riddled with old conservatives who are too afraid of even the slightest change to handle the idea of criticism or discussing serious topics. It's pretty sad, really.

You keep talking about reality, but this is not reality, it's fantasy. You know, like a game? I understand it calls itself a simulator, but to be honest I've never taken any "simulator" seriously, unless you're talking about high level, industry specific tech. On that note, there actually are true police interaction simulators, specifically use of force training simulators, used by departments all around the world. We can discuss the effectiveness of that training, but this isn't really the forum for that, is it? But this is not that type of software. This is a game, being called a "simulator". It's just a title, not the actual purpose of the software. You can tell by the price. True simulators are expensive.

Neglect to understand why this is even a "political" discussion. This a game. Hence why it's on a tech and gaming forum. Can we PLEASE have one place where we can set politics and societal problems aside? There are PLENTY of places for that type of discussion. I'd prefer to keep this place about tech and gaming.

JATownesYou keep talking about reality, but this is not reality, it's fantasy. You know, like a game?

... yes, and, let me tell you something shocking: the fantasies and fictions we create and proliferate between us humans? They do things. They affect us. They shape our view of the world, our interactions with other people, our expectations from others, our impressions of reality. Consciously and subconsciously. Yeah, I know, mind-blowing stuff, right? It's almost as if there ought to be massive scientific fields devoted to studying human cultural products. Oh, wait.

JATownesI understand it calls itself a simulator, but to be honest I've never taken any "simulator" seriously, unless you're talking about high level, industry specific tech. On that note, there actually are true police interaction simulators, specifically use of force training simulators, used by departments all around the world. We can discuss the effectiveness of that training, but this isn't really the forum for that, is it? But this is not that type of software. This is a game, being called a "simulator". It's just a title, not the actual purpose of the software. You can tell by the price. True simulators are expensive.

There are obviously many different degrees and types of simulators - and they all have their specific affordances and limitations. But the crucial part here is that this, while being a game, presents itself as a simulator. What does that say about said game? That it is in some way trying to be true-to-life, realistic if you will. Does that mean it tries to be a 1:1 recreation of what it is like being a cop? Obviously not - that would be literally impossible. But it nonetheless is making an explicit claim to realism. Which then begs the question of how well said realism matches with the actual reality of the thing being represented.

Is that in any way in conflict with it obviously being a work of fiction? Of course not. There is no contradiction between the two. Fictions also convey messages, political and otherwise, and are also equally worthy of critical inquiry for that specific reason. Fiction is not an exclusive category. Nor is simulation.

JATownesNeglect to understand why this is even a "political" discussion.

It's a political discussion because the fundamental premise of the game in question is political - it's a game claiming to "simulate" what it's like being a (US) cop, a position that is multifaceted and complex to put it mildly, and something there is a lot of propaganda and misinformation around. The promotional images also seem to present a very idealized version of this reality.

JATownesThis a game.

See above.

JATownesHence why it's on a tech and gaming forum. Can we PLEASE have one place where we can set politics and societal problems aside?

No, we can't. Why? Because literally everything is political, and claiming otherwise doesn't get us anywhere. And in the case of this game, a lot of us find the political aspects of the game to be the most interesting thing to discuss. Nobody is demanding that you take part in the discussion - but apparently the discussion itself offends you sufficiently that you have to jump in. That? That's your problem, not ours. Nobody is forcing you to read or post.

JATownesI'd prefer to keep this place about tech and gaming.

And this is about gaming. Specifically, it's about a police simulator game, and while (likely) none of us have played it as it's just been announced, there are things about how the game is depicted and promoted that make it seem rather concerning. As a game. As a cultural artifact existing in the world, which humans engage with in various ways. We are not discussing this as anything other than a game. You're entirely welcome to talk about other aspects of the game - there's nothing saying a thread can't have several ongoing discussions, after all. But a lot of us see this as worthy of discussing, and none of us are forcing you to take part in that.

Roger that. Hope one day the world can lighten up. Guess I'm just one of those old conservatives, which is very weird since I'm a classical hippie.

I'm out, enjoy y'alls discussion.

b1k3rdudeOn the one hand my first response was, oh this is going down like a lead balloon. But on the other hand who do we replace all the all the corrupt, racist, sexist, thug police that are in-place, they have to come from somewhere. This could be seen as an indirect recruitment drive or sorts?

This is actually a really interesting point. Though IMO if it were to be seen that way, it would need to explicitly and directly engage with the problematic sides of US policing today - militarization, use of force, instititionalized racism, overpolicing, lack of training, corruption, resources allocated to weapons and tactical gear rather than community support and outreach, lack of accountability, the list goes on. It would need to raise those issues as real issues and make players try to avoid them, work around them, counteract them if possible. If it didn't engage with those, but instead tried to recruit "friendly" or non-authoritarian people into the police just by portraying it as a first responder/community outreach/helping people type of job, that would likely backfire severely once anyone swayed by that messaging actually tried joining an actual police force - and it would still serve as propaganda, unintentional or not.

b1k3rdudeDigging a little deaper, Aesir Interactive and Astragon (Farm simulator) are based in München, Bayern, Germany. Where (someone correct if im wrong) the police aren't nearly as bad as they are in other countries.

That's true - and it's a bit odd, really, with a German developer making a "police simulator" set in the US. But also understandable in terms of sales potential - the US is a massive gaming market, and rather unlikely to be interested in a Berlinerpolizeisimulator. Still kind of odd to land on that game though - and with them being located that far away, it raises the question of who they have consulted with to make the game's setting and action believable. If they've consulted with US police forces or anyone closely tied to them, especially if those are the only groups consulted, then that only underscores the copaganda angle, sadly.