Anti-Japan War Online:

August 24, 2005 4:57 AM

Anti-Japan War Online"The game will allow players, especially younger players, to learn from history. They will get a patriotic feeling when fighting invaders to safeguard their motherland" The background for "Anti-Japan War Online" is the Japanese invasion of China during World War II, from 1937 through 1945. Nothing like a good MMORPG to foster a little patriotism.
posted by bigmusic (20 comments total)

oh, a bit like this, where "It will be up to you and your squad to defeat the last enemy bastions and bring freedom to Normandy.". Or this where you get to "evolve from an average New Yorker into a fearless patriot who recruits and leads an army of freedom fighters in the streets of New York City. ". Or this, where you can finally live your dream "To work outside the boundaries of international treaties" to "To protect critical U.S. information systems" "by whatever means necessary". Or this, where you can "Protect Freedom!" by killing some Iraqis, or any one of a thousand other US games.
posted by silence at 5:14 AM on August 24, 2005

The US beat them to it. You can play "America's Army" here.
posted by Jatayu das at 5:14 AM on August 24, 2005

I look forward to upcoming CCYL MMORPGs: "Sim Battle: Shih Lin Today, SoMa Tomorrow!" and "Sim Battle: Wake the Walmart™ Sleepers!"
posted by the sobsister at 5:38 AM on August 24, 2005

"We will pay close attention to the authenticity of historical facts in the game."

Won't this be embarassing for the Chinese?

The Japanese Imperial Army pretty much beat them like a red-headed stepchild. Not that it was right, but the historical facts hardly cast China in a glorious light.
posted by three blind mice at 5:47 AM on August 24, 2005

Ahh, three blind mice, you underestimate Beijing's unfathomable capacity for historical revisionism.
posted by the sobsister at 5:52 AM on August 24, 2005

True enough sobsister, but it's gonna be hard to cast the Japanese as brutal invaders (the obvious intent of the game) without also showing the patriotic Chinese as backwards coolies unable to defend themselves against a much smaller nation.
posted by three blind mice at 6:00 AM on August 24, 2005

"Backwards coolies" or "stalwart peasant-heroes heroically battling a brutal invader while shackled by the chains of imperialism and feudalism"?
posted by the sobsister at 6:07 AM on August 24, 2005

You're right sobsister.... maybe I do underestimate them.
posted by three blind mice at 6:25 AM on August 24, 2005

Visiting Singapore, I was left with the following undeniable truth:

Fifty years ago, Japan tried to colonize Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is still pissed.
posted by effugas at 7:04 AM on August 24, 2005

the Japanese invasion of China during World War II, from 1937 through 1945

So WWII starts in '37 as of when?
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:33 AM on August 24, 2005

Over the 60 years following its defeat, Japan has been notoriously tight-lipped about showing regret or remorse for the aggressions and atrocities committed before and during WWII. Its subsequent economic rebirth and domination of the region has not helped assuage the fears of its neighbors.

I agree with silence - how is this worse than American kids gunning down Germans and Japanese in Medal of Honor? Or Viet Cong in Nam? Or insurgents in Iraq? If anything, the Chinese have a more legitimate gripe, having been on the receiving end of a full-scale imperialist invasion. These "historical simulations" differ only in the subtlety - or lack thereof - of their nationalist spin.
posted by ToasT at 7:47 AM on August 24, 2005

StickyCarpet, I would say WWII started when WWI ended.
posted by Pendragon at 7:59 AM on August 24, 2005

As of Japanese invasion of Manchuria, in 1937.

Or, in this context, would the German invasion of Poland be a more sensible starting point?
posted by Meatbomb at 8:03 AM on August 24, 2005

So WWII starts in '37 as of when?

March 1939, might be a better starting point as the coflict became truly global by spreading to a second theatre and Western Europe became involved later that year. Still, others would put the date at 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria but please -- don't tell me it started in December of '41.
posted by Jenga at 8:09 AM on August 24, 2005

I'm rather fond of the part about players not killing other players. I'm sure there's some old KMT fellow on Taiwan throwing food at the computer monitor when he finds out he can blast away the Communist at the same time he's been given ammunition to fight the Japanese.

In seriousness, I expect the game to do nothing more than to continuate the fabrications which the current Chinese government has taught to its nation's children. The last I heard from a news report, China won the Pacific War all on its own. Of course, Japan still has a some editing to do to their own text books.

While the comparisons to current American games about World War Two or Vietnam are appliable, Americans haven't had any riots lately over the treatment of U.S. POWs in German prison camps. Nor do I recall mobs of people protesting outside of the Vietnamese embassy any time recently either.

The difference is that the Communist government is utilizing anti-Japanese sentiment among its people as a common tactic to divert their attention from the growing sense of restrictiveness or unresposiveness that its populace are feeling. In an era where the Communist way of life has failed and there no longer is a 'great philosophy' to guide the people, "Hate all Japs!" is one of the current solutions. Its also one that cannot sustain itself in the long run, the greater it is intensified.
posted by Atreides at 8:19 AM on August 24, 2005

Bah, make that "can't" blast away at Communist in the first paragraph. Curse my positive streak.
posted by Atreides at 11:06 AM on August 24, 2005

I get suspicious anytime a government decides to make a game to promote their military forces. I've steered clear of America's Army just for that reason, even if it's supposedly a good game.

So the idea of the Chinese government using this to fuel nationalism and xenophobia isn't that unlikely.

But, really, it's not as if we in America play games where we're bombing Pearl Harbor that often. Of course I cannot explain the popularity of this particular game in Japan.
posted by Talanvor at 11:58 AM on August 24, 2005

You know what would make me really worried? A version of this game for the Korean War, i.e. China vs. US.
posted by russilwvong at 1:18 PM on August 24, 2005

Maybe it's an impression that I get, but it would seem that rabid nationalism is on the rise in China, and this evidently has the blessing of the central government -- when Beijing doesn't approve of something, like Falun Gong or democracy protests, the crackdown is bloody, savage, and unmistakeable.

Beijing is stirring up its population for *something*. I'm rather hoping that Taiwan has a strong evacuation plan in place in case the mainland feels like invading, as they've been threatening to do for years, mostly because my brother happens to live there at the moment.
posted by clevershark at 6:48 PM on August 24, 2005

Beijing is stirring up the population so it won't focus on Beijing. Over the last year, there has easily been hundreds of riots throughout the country, mainly by peasants, over what they feel is a failure by the central government to regard them on the same level as the prosperous economic zones. Then even in the prosperous areas, there's been rising discontent in some places. Throw in a growing worry that its billion plus population won't be content simply with economic freedom, but will desire political freedom, and you have a authoritarian party that wants the people's attention anywhere but on themselves.
posted by Atreides at 8:51 PM on August 24, 2005