A Chinese state-owned newspaper has criticized Battlefield 4 for purportedly discrediting China’s image abroad, in an effort to mislead young people. That criticism is rallied against the game’s story, so we will not be able to avoid spoilers below.
The military paper, Zhongguo Guofangbao, published an editorial about the game’s story and themes. As a brief summary, Battlefield 4 has made a rogue Chinese general the villain of the game. The villain conspires to assassinate a promising new leader in the Chinese gov’t and frame the US as the perpetrators to start a war. You play a squadron in the US army, who eventually find that the said leader is actually alive. When the truth is finally revealed, you end up working with the Chinese army to take down said general.
Defying expectations, Zhongguo Guofangbao’s editorial says that the story details make no sense, but more importantly, raise valid thematic points, even if they are off in some places. Basically, they point out that the West has always used imaginary threats in their war themed video games, relying on the Russians for decades. Now that China has risen up in the world (economically and politically), they feel that there is widespread fear about China’s power, and non-Chinese companies like EA do not hesitate to stoke those flames simply to grab attention. Ultimately, Zhongguo Guofangbao calls this use of China as a new form of cultural penetration and aggression.
Still, netizens – many of whom are actually Chinese gamers – have themselves retorted that Zhongguo Guofangbao’s editorial is overly critical. They argue, in turn, that this stigmatism of countries to capitalize on patriotism is commonplace, and not really something that can be controlled by stigmatized countries. Others also point out that US companies are also willing to turn their government into boogeymen, and also explain that technically, the player eventually sides with the Chinese.
I hate to say it, but there really is something to be said about cultural sensitivity in video games. It is something better elaborated in an editorial, but I am hopeful EA, who actually has a studio in Shanghai, would speak out on this one, if only to allay the most glaring concerns.
