Well this is just heartwarming. Verdun, a multiplayer World War I shooter currently in Early Access on Steam, has declared a Christmas truce from December 18-25. You will still be able to duke it out in The War That Didn’t Really Succeed In Ending All Wars if you wish, but developers M2H and Blackmill have begun to “enforce” peaceful events rooted in very real history.
They explained:
“100 years ago French, German and British troops while fighting in World War I held truces during Christmas 1914. They exchanged Christmas greetings, sang Christmas carols and rumours say that they played a few football matches. ”
“There will be a Truce event where you can find soldiers dressed for the winter, join football matches and throw snowballs at each other.”
There will be a number of related events in the coming days, including a competition for who can make the best holiday “best wishes” card from the twisted wreckage of the human condition that is war or, I don’t know, maybe like a macaroni painting. Also expect video competitions, streams, and the like.
Plenty of games have Christmas events, but I really like the idea underlying this one. Beyond the surface level change of not shooting each other in a first-person shooter, it’s cool when games let us look at our foes — human or not — in a different light. Games frequently put us in a mindset of “kill-kill-kill win-win-win,” not “consider that there’s a person who can joke and laugh and sing Christmas carols in those combat boots.” While that’s mildly unsettling in the context of war, I think the issue for most of us, as gamers, is that it’s easy to get angry in video games, to dislike someone for out-shooting you or making you lose. Just hanging out with those same people, though? Flinging snowballs, wishing each other a happy holiday? It’s a nice change of a pace, a good way to keep things in perspective.
Comments
5 responses to “Steam Shooter Copies Real War, Declares Truce For Christmas”
This is pretty cool!
This really warms my heart. There was absolutely no need for the dev to do this, but the Christmas truce of 1914 is an incredibly important event in mankind’s history.
It shows that while those who govern us may wish to wreak havoc upon each other, sometimes the men on the ground just wish for peace; and for a short time…they had it.
If they can organise a truce for something as trivial as xmas, why not just have a truce in general. In real life, not the game. Just cancel the war?! Stupid jerks
Its great to see things like this happening. Not that a truce makes that much sense in an online game…but I do like it when Dev’s do these special events…
In truth, lets think about what would a christmas truce, gift exchange and soccer match be like if it was organised by the players online (like the soldiers in the trenches). They walk up slowly, say hi to one another. One person cracks a stupid joke, someone else yells some profanity. They’d start getting agitated and call each other gay. Several would stay behind with sniper rifles and take shots at people because they don’t have time for this gay shit. Then it’d all go to hell in a second when someone throws a grenade into the mix for lols…..
I remember this last year, it’s a really cool idea and everyone seemed to love it.