# So a realistic game **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 10, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797 "2012-07-10T15:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/1 "2012-07-10T15:25:04Z")
Lets say we took a realistic scenario, a B-17 tail gunner, and made it into a video game (yes taking into account ammunition expenditure, etc) would any one actually like it? I’m thinking of when they change the rate of fire for SWOTL because no on wants to play a game with 2 seconds of ammunition. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/2 "2012-07-10T15:37:12Z")
Doubt it. No gun onboard a B-17 carried more than 1 minutes’ worth of ammunition [cite](http://www.b17.org/history/specs.asp) Game would be over too quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/3 "2012-07-10T16:03:03Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > Doubt it. > > No gun onboard a B-17 carried more than 1 minutes’ worth of ammunition > [cite](http://www.b17.org/history/specs.asp) > > Game would be over too quickly. You wish. First you’d start the mission in briefing, moving on to assemble your kit while you wait for bomber command to give the go ahead, so a few hours before you ever get into the air. Once there you’ll sit in freezing temperatures for hours on end trying to keep body parts from sticking to metal all the while staring out at an empty sky _hoping_ you don’t see anything that day. Then the flack starts, booms so loud your brain rattles around in your skull, nothing you can do but just wait. So the ‘game’ would be hours of waiting coupled with horror show moments of the closest friends you are ever likely to have falling to their death or burning alive. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/4 "2012-07-10T16:31:24Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > So the ‘game’ would be hours of waiting coupled with horror show moments of the closest friends you are ever likely to have falling to their death or burning alive. Google Desert Bus. Give them a single bullet and I think people would still play this game. ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/5 "2012-07-10T16:59:59Z")
Would many people buy _B-17 Tail gunner: The Simulation_? No, but I bet that if you made an entire game around simulating all of the roles of every man in multiple types of planes with lots of realistic scenarios and mechanics there would be plenty of aviation/military sim fan who would jump on it. ---
**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/6 "2012-07-10T17:07:25Z")
> [@Rubixcube](#): > > Would many people buy _B-17 Tail gunner: The Simulation_? No, but I bet that if you made an entire game around simulating all of the roles of every man in multiple types of planes with lots of realistic scenarios and mechanics there would be plenty of aviation/military sim fan who would jump on it. [B-17 Flying Fortress](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress_%28video_game%29) [B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress:_The_Mighty_8th) … among others. I’ve only played the second one, not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/7 "2012-07-10T17:41:44Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > You wish. > > First you’d start the mission in briefing, moving on to assemble your kit while you wait for bomber command to give the go ahead, so a few hours before you ever get into the air. > > Once there you’ll sit in freezing temperatures for hours on end trying to keep body parts from sticking to metal all the while staring out at an empty sky _hoping_ you don’t see anything that day. > > Then the flack starts, booms so loud your brain rattles around in your skull, nothing you can do but just wait. > > So the ‘game’ would be hours of waiting coupled with horror show moments of the closest friends you are ever likely to have falling to their death or burning alive. My cousin’s Father in Law was the tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator. He said once his ammo was gone he was just “waiting for the bullet that would kill me” ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/8 "2012-07-10T17:51:36Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Google Desert Bus. > > Give them a single bullet and I think people would still play this game. I guess thats why in TCE I can get hit with 3 rounds from an AK-47, duck into cover, pull out my glock and kill them with a head shot 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/9 "2012-07-10T17:55:40Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > You wish. > > First you’d start the mission in briefing, moving on to assemble your kit while you wait for bomber command to give the go ahead, so a few hours before you ever get into the air. > > Once there you’ll sit in freezing temperatures for hours on end trying to keep body parts from sticking to metal all the while staring out at an empty sky _hoping_ you don’t see anything that day. > > Then the flack starts, booms so loud your brain rattles around in your skull, nothing you can do but just wait. > > So the ‘game’ would be hours of waiting coupled with horror show moments of the closest friends you are ever likely to have falling to their death or burning alive. Amen brother, that’s why we have to remember them always. ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/10 "2012-07-10T18:00:50Z")
> [@PacifistPorcupine](#): > > [B-17 Flying Fortress](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress_%28video_game%29) > [B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress:_The_Mighty_8th) > … among others. > > I’ve only played the second one, not bad. Actually come to think of it I think I’ve got the first one lying around here somewhere, completely forgot about it. Couldn’t quite get it to work well with DOSBox though, shame as I’d heard reasonably good things about it. ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/11 "2012-07-10T18:03:05Z")
> [@PacifistPorcupine](#): > > [B-17 Flying Fortress](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress_%28video_game%29) > [B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress:_The_Mighty_8th) > … among others. > > I’ve only played the second one, not bad. And of course SWOTL… I hated flying the B-17 to be honest, you’re trying to do a bombing run, the guns are set on AI, and then you get the dreaded “You have been damaged by a rocket attack” just as you’ve finally lined up on your target, you swap to look at your engines and you see flames, you switch to the ball turret and it says damaged… ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/12 "2012-07-10T18:13:24Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > My cousin’s Father in Law was the tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator. He said once his ammo was gone he was just “waiting for the bullet that would kill me” Against the Germans (I assume…of course they used B-24’s a lot in the Pacific because of their superior range) the bullet was what you hope for, rather than the normal 20mm explosive shell which maimed you to live for the next 6 hours until you bled to death. Give him my best as one of our best ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/13 "2012-07-10T18:33:17Z")
There are ARMA II aficionados out there, THOUSANDS of them who get together a couple of hundred at a time, and actually re-enact huge combat scenerios. Down to organizing into proper military ranks, groups, and following proper military lingo-laden orders in order to accomplish a goal. Exhibit A: This could be a scene from an actual boot camp training exercise. [ShackTac Arma 2 - pFNG Town Sweep - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BguGRjPqCtM&feature=player_embedded#)! Exhibit B: One ARMA battle from 3 perspectives: [Realism Theater: one Arma 2 battle, three perspectives | PC Gamer](http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/05/realism-theater-one-arma-2-battle-three-perspectives/) There is also about a million people right now playing a Mod for this particular game (ARMA II) where you are thrown into a zombie infested island with a bandage and a prayer, along with hundreds of others, and have to fend for yourself, contend with infection, disease, zombies, and players out to steal your precious bandage. DayZ: [10 awesome DayZ moments: freaky stalkers, blood fountains, tractor rampages and more | PC Gamer](http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/15/10-awesome-dayz-moments-freaky-stalkers-blood-fountains-tractor-rampages-and-more/) Average Joe Gamer would run away from such gaming experiences. Hell, I’m tempted to avert my eyes, even though I do find this kind of stuff fun in a “holy cow in a real military engagement/zombie apocalypse I think I might be able to hold out for 5 minutes! Go me!”, kind of way. So yes, there ARE people out there who would play games like that. ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/14 "2012-07-10T18:36:04Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > Doubt it. > > No gun onboard a B-17 carried more than 1 minutes’ worth of ammunition > [cite](http://www.b17.org/history/specs.asp) > > Game would be over too quickly. The 2 minutes was a general figure, mostly having to do with fighters. Of course pilots and gunners where trained for very short bursts. ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/15 "2012-07-10T18:37:23Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > So yes, there ARE people out there who would play games like that. That heartens me actually… ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/16 "2012-07-10T18:51:37Z")
Didn’t the army develop extremely realistic games meant to to be training/recruiting tools that ended up being pretty popular? ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/17 "2012-07-10T18:56:54Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Didn’t the army develop extremely realistic games meant to to be training/recruiting tools that ended up being pretty popular? Realistic meaning you can take a hit from a 15mm machine gun and then duck and learn that standing up wasn’t such a good idea? If thats the criteria than yes, it was very realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Shosy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Shosy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shosy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/18 "2012-07-10T19:06:28Z")
> [@Shosy](#): > > Realistic meaning you can take a hit from a 15mm machine gun and then duck and learn that standing up wasn’t such a good idea? If thats the criteria than yes, it was very realistic. I was going to add this as an edit but..5 minutes you know… The point of those games was team work, how you rely on your fellow soldier to survive and accomplish your mission. Both things, if I designed a game I would probably emphasize . ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-realistic-game/627797/19 "2012-07-10T21:17:39Z")
Is this Full Spectrum Warrior or America’s Army?