"GTA: Germany" - a vision: Germany lacks the superspiel

The chase comes to a halt. The old diesel Golf rattles into the traffic prohibition zone, the drug dealers in the modern BMW behind. The protagonist, recently fled Syria for Germany, has come between the fronts of warring clans. One of their drug hiding places in the Görlitzer Park has just looted the player in their role.

Both cars race towards Oberbaumbrücke. A few hundred meters to the S-Bahn station Warschauer Straße. Between all the tourists, drunks, hipsters, punks and street musicians the woman can dive. Yes, of course, there is no railway. The player learns: never rely on public transport in Berlin - not even in front of the console.

This could be a mission in a video game playing in Germany in 2018. And she would be only one of many tasks, because at the touch of a button, the player can change the character: henceforth, he is a Bavarian police on criminal hunt in Munich. Alternatively, it plays the role of the unemployed Brummifahrers, trying at the motorway service area, to procure weapons for a vigilante he devised by the vigilantes.

Games with a large, freely explorable game world, an open world , are among the most elaborate and popular, which spawns the games industry, they are called "Grand Theft Auto" ("GTA"), "Watch Dogs" or "Far Cry" and are at the core Action games. In this country none of them plays. Apart from small projects, Germany usually only plays in one context in games: that of the Nazi era.

Games shape our image of the world

Why do so few games deal with modern Germany? And does it stay that way? We listened to that - and collected ideas for a "GTA: Germany".

A country without noteworthy video game representation is worth a debate, as media such as games shape our image of cities, countries and societies. Los Angeles, for example, have not all traveled gamers - in his digital image Los Santos from "GTA V" were already over a hundred million players.

Digital version of the Santa Monica Pier in "GTA V"

Every German cow village feels like it has an evening series, but the big video game that plays here remains a dream. For Germany important issues such as the East-West approach and the integration of refugees are negotiated in novels, films and series, but almost never in games. Even Berlin offers game developers many topics, from reunification to problem areas like Neukölln. And, of course, in case of doubt, the Nazis too.

Once we spun around, what a "GTA: Germany" could turn around:

Ideas for Click Through: How we imagine "GTA: Germany"

How could a game look like "GTA: Germany"? In this section we have collected some ideas for an open-world game based in modern Germany.

Let's start with our idea of ​​the game world : it is based on the model of "GTA: San Andreas" and consists of three metropolises inspired by Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. For example, the Reeperbahn and the Port of Hamburg appear in the game, as do Berlin's districts such as Mitte, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. In Munich there are about the old town and the Theresienwiese including Oktoberfest.

The game world

The three virtual cities are connected by highways. Around them, there are also green, lakes and villages in the style of Bavaria and Brandenburg.

Lawyer Gregor Schmid of the Berlin law firm Taylor Wessing says legally little against a Germany game with many attractions. "Clear are the rules for buildings whose architect died at least 70 years ago," he says. "They are considered public domain, which means that in principle they can be recreated in one game, for example for the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate."

The characters

Our game has three main characters who decide in advance if they should be male or female - as in "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" it easily changes the story. For example, it is possible to control taxes with a refugee who first learns German in Berlin and thus better understands the world around them. She has to deal with discrimination and prejudices and deals with Berlin clans, but also more harmless phenomena such as naturists.

The other two figures are a Bavarian policeman and an unemployed Brummi driver, both of whom come in very different ways in contact with Germany's over-subscribed underworld.

The missions

The player is introduced to Germany's society and its underworld from different perspectives. It's all about the question of identity, about who to trust: in the Berlin clans, under alleged freedom fighters, in infiltrated police authorities. From the port of Hamburg drugs are smuggled through the country, on the highways are racing. The police officer solves crimes in "crime scene" man.

The German bureaucracy is shown over-turned in the game, also the reputation is important: With the game characters in the world are handled differently, depending on how they look and how they behave. Someone wearing a headscarf often has a harder time, but even a tattooed bald head causes a sensation.

The differences to the previous "GTA" games

The virtual Germany is different than Los Santos: For example, weapons are less common and hard to get. You have to buy in backyards or go the legal way via firearms. So there are more Kloppereien, sometimes with steins.

The police are on the heels faster: Even a missing environmental badge can be enough or if you drive faster than 50 km / h in the city center. Problems sometimes cause the simulated mobile network: Beyond the metropolises, the reception is quickly gone. The radio stations range from Schlager to Berliner Techno.

The mini-games

In addition to the missions there is much to do: The figures can bowling about in pubs, hunting in the forest, go to demos, Reeperbahn clubs and sub-club football clubs open (including third half), transport beer in the truck through the Republic or taxi as well as S-Bahn and U-Bahn.

In the virtual East, it is sometimes necessary to clean up stumbling blocks without getting hit by right-wing extremists. In Bavaria's authorities, one secretly removes crosses from the wall. Bonus Points gets who finds and eliminates all garden gnomes hidden in the game world.

Everyone has their own ideas of a great Germany game. The Briton Isaac Ashdown, who has been living in Berlin for more than ten years, would focus on subcultures. "The punks, the queer people," according to Ashdown, would appear in the game, as well as the right-wing scene, which he feels will become louder these days, "even in Berlin." Ashdown co-developed the indie strategy game "All Walls Must Fall," which plays in the techno clubs of a futuristic Berlin.

For "GTA" untypical, the developer does not want clichés. Most interestingly, he would find the perspective of a person who has fled to Germany and now learns to understand the country and its rules.

That would actually be something new, after all, many of the previous games with Germany scenario, including his, had other priorities:

Click through: Ten games playing in Germany

Germany has often been a scenario of video games - but often turned to the so-called Third Reich. Almost every World War game plays at least partially in Germany. In 2017, for example, the Aachener Theater appeared in "Call of Duty: WW2".

But there are also simulators and sci-fi titles in which the country or a German city occurs. Our photo series introduces ten games by way of example.

Through the Darkest of Times - Paintbucket Games

Nazi Germany exists virtually in grotesque over-signatures, as in the "Wolfenstein" games, but also in "Through the Darkest of Times," a strategy game in which resistance must be activated.

"Through the Darkest of Times" made headlines in the summer of 2018, because its demo version for the Gamescom was the first game ever, in which swastikas could be shown in Germany. Meanwhile, this was among others the games "My Child Lebensborn" and "Assassination 1942" allowed.

State of Mind - Daedalic Entertainment

"State of Mind" is a video game thriller, a dystopia and utopia at the same time. The protagonist is the journalist Richard Nolan, who suffers from amnesia and goes in search of his family and his past. He not only encounters human traces. Transhumanism is the defining motif of "State of Mind". It is a school of thought that discusses human expansion, both physically and intellectually, through technology. The game presents a Berlin of the future, which in 2048 does not have much in common with the German capital of the present. Read more about the game here.

Overwatch - Blizzard Entertainment

"Overwatch" is a hero shooter that offers multiple classes with different characters. Each of these figures has its own nationality. "Reinhardt" is the name of the German character. He is 61 years old, comes from Stuttgart and wears a gigantic metal armor. Next to him there is also a german map in the game. It's called "Eichenwalde" and is permeated by every imaginable German cliché. The pretzel bakery joins the beer garden and the medieval castle. A lot of timber, a lot of green. And one-way streets.

Trüberbrook - Bildundtonfabrik

Germany in the late sixties: an exciting time full of upheavals and opposing currents. The remote and fictional village of Trüberbrook is the scene of this adventure, which is scheduled for the end of 2018. The name already shows the contrast that is negotiated in the game: An American comes to West Germany, where his scientific dissertation from the inn is stolen directly from him. The American is called "Tannhauser", during the game he gets to know the character "Gretchen Lemke". This gives an idea of ​​how "Trüberbrook" plays with clichés.

Highway Raser - Davilex

From 1997 to 2005 appeared this very German video game series, which, however, was developed in the Netherlands. On the highway, the player should race with many different car models around the bet. The German favorite sheet metal love, the car, so here is the focus. Of course, these games were often plagued by bad graphics and cumbersome handling. But their success did not detract. A game that plays on German motorways - that seemed to fascinate the Germans.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Activision

In the "Call of Duty" series have already appeared some cards that play in Germany. Especially in zombie mode, players can shoot Nazi zombies more often in German areas. Apart from that, Germany could also be visited in "Black Ops" from 2010. On the multiplayer map "Berlin Wall" it was necessary to survive the Berlin Wall. In a snowy Berlin, players had to cross the death strip and take cover from gun turrets. The German-speaking "Call of Duty" Wiki calls this map a "paradise for snipers".

Patrician - Ascaron

At the time when the "Patrician" strategy game series is playing, there was no Germany yet. But there was the Hanseatic League, an economic alliance of German-speaking countries trading on ships. "Patrician" relies on many historical details and lets the player connect places that actually existed. It is important to strengthen the reputation of the people and other rulers, but also to cultivate a district in such a way that it prospers economically.

Soul Calibur - Bandai Namco

The fighting game series "Soul Calibur" has some German characters: "Hilde", "Siegfried" or "Frederick" for example. That sounds like the "Ring of the Nibelung" by Richard Wagner, but also after German King's story. The same is true of the Kampfarena, which plays in Germany. It's called "Ostrheinsburg Castle" and looks like a generic medieval German castle. Especially Japanese developers seem to be fascinated by the German Middle Ages - in many of their games, the characters have Urgalian names, which sounds quite strange to our ears.

All Walls Must Fall - inbetweengames

"All Walls Must Fall" is set in the night clubs of a futuristic Berlin, where the wall still stands. The developers let a filthy, queer capital revive in front of the player. Pumping techno beats pulsate through the clubs as the player performs tactical moves - such as letting a doorman soot honey around his mouth that he lets him into the club. "All Walls Must Fall" shows a subculture of Germany, which otherwise hardly finds room in video games. In addition, the game invites one of the most famous symbols of Germany - the wall - with the question: What if it had never fallen? Read more about the game here.

OMSI 2 - Bremen-North - Halycon Media

Again and again parts of Germany will be found in very serious simulations. Popular in Germany, for example, is the "Bus Simulator 2" ("OMSI 2"), which could have met a YouTube clip and many people who are otherwise not particularly interested in virtual bus driving. In December 2017, presenter Jan Böhmermann put a Let's Play video on the internet, in which he presented an "OMSI 2" expansion called "Bremen-Nord". Böhmermann told anecdotes about his hometown while driving on the bus, until today his video was clicked almost 670.000 times.

Less weapons, less violence?

Martin Ganteföhr has also worked on a Berlin game. He wrote the story for "State of Mind" by Daedalic, which plays in Berlin in the year 2048. The city is populated by androids and humans in it. If he could design a Germany game in "GTA" dimensions, he would go back in history, says Ganteföhr - but not until the Nazi era. The German Autumn 1977 and the years of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification period would appeal to him.

"I'm not a fan of this cynical intensive work, which is shown in the games," Ganteföhr says about "GTA". A game with Germany focus should not be written from the American point of view: Ganteföhr would be for less weapons, violence should not be the only problem solver.

Developers from abroad have different ideas when asked about Germany games. Jason Blundell, co-responsible for "Call of Duty", says that in no case should the Middle Ages be missed in such games. Castles and armor, that's what it takes. Tim Willits from "Doom" producer id Software, in turn, believes that a game that plays in Germany has to revolve around cars: "The Germans are simply building the best cars."

Berlin as Moloch

Cliché free would not be a virtual Germany so probably, would take him to a large, international studio. But it does not have to be either, games like "GTA" or "Far Cry" deliberately overshadow real places and problems.

Aaron Garbut of Rockstar once said that the "GTA" world builders are always trying to capture the "feel of a city". This results from visits, but also from the picture that draw the media of the city. In the end, the game is something that feels "more like the popular perception of the place than the real city," says Garbut.

A Germany in "GTA" would probably be, as in our fiction, a country in the identity crisis - and Berlin a juggernaut full of construction sites, bureaucracy and cultural struggles. In any case, the city would be less clean than in "GTA: Berlin", a fan project started in 2002. By the way, this looks like this:

Click through: The fan project "GTA: Berlin"

There was already a "GTA: Berlin" - as a hobby project. In 2007, the first version of a fan extension for the PC version of "GTA: San Andreas" was released. In it you can drive around in the police car in front of the Reichstag, for example. "GTA" fans had worked on the project in their free time since 2002. Their progress informed them with their own website.

As our short test in 2018 shows, the game world seems unfinished in many places, but it gives an idea of ​​what could have become of "GTA: Berlin".

In the government district, some buildings and streets are well recognizable. Here is the main character in front of the station Friedrichstraße. Of course you can not only walk around the world and do sightseeing, but also steal cars or attack passers-by. But beware: the virtual police of Berlin can not offer everything.

Some people continued to work on "GTA: Berlin" for a long time after the first release in 2007. This scene comes from an unpublished prototype of "GTA: Berlin" for "Grand Theft Auto IV", set up by project collaborator Rolf Konrad. Whether playing a game in a place that you know well is a lot, says Konrad. "This is a wow moment when you experience a place live and then again at home on the PC."

Rolf Konrad says he likes the feeling of being in real Berlin in places that are part of the game world of "GTA: Berlin". Together with his development colleague Stefan T., he had often reconciled replica and reality in the capital.

Konrad says that the better you know the role models, the more you check the match locations. A buddy often plays the trucking game "American Truck Simulator," Konrad says, and be amazed at how believable his game world is. But, Konrad notes, "In America, you just never stopped." If the player is missing the direct comparison to reality, the virtual replica can inspire more easily.

Hobby developer Rolf Konrad has built a "GTA" version of Berlin Central Station over the course of three years. "So I would probably be disappointed with every game implementation of the station," he says.

Basically Konrad games with Berlin or Germany scenario but interesting. "America is the default setting in games," he says. "In my eyes, that's starting to lose its appeal."

In the virtual Berlin of a "GTA: Germany" one would need both the places that connect tourists with the city, as well as those who know Berlin, says Konrad: the old town of Spandau, the citadel, but also prefabricated buildings or the corner of the Warschauer Straße around - "everything that shows that Berlin is a diverse city, architecturally and culturally".

But it makes sense to curb cities on their "essential features", Konrad says: "The 15th townhouse block is no longer of interest." (Note: The pictures from here show again the 2007er mod for "San Andreas".)

Stefan T., Rolf Konrad's co-developer of "GTA: Berlin", thinks that an open-world game with a Germany scenario can be geared towards "GTA" but must also develop its own character. And it would have to offer more than just a replica of a city: "Berlin for the sake of Berlin would not be enough for me then," he says.

With points of reference such as the Nazi and the GDR era, but also today's East-West contrast storytellers would have enough approaches, T: The city unite much, what you could go into.

It is interesting in the German cities that they often did not develop on a grid, but grew organically, says T .: "In US cities one says yes, one also finds the desired street, if one turns later Berlin, however, you never know where to get out if you turn wrong. "

In the noughties there had been some media reports on "GTA: Berlin", a certain hype was there. Ultimately, the fan expansion but never really finished, in view of the elaborate plans of the developers for a hobby project, they probably could not.

This may explain why, despite the "Killer Play" excitement of the noughties, there was not much debate at the time about whether it was okay for players to use the government district for virtual killing sprees and similar activities in "GTA".

A glimpse into nothingness: the makers of "GTA: Berlin" wanted to reconstruct not just a few buildings in Berlin but several parts of the city. The map of "GTA: San Andreas" originally consisted of three US cities that were based on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Strong focus on the US

Most blockbuster games with real-world scenario play so far either in the US or in Japan. The Japan games almost always come from Japanese developers who focus on America from everywhere.

Yves Guillemot is the head of Ubisoft, one of the world's largest gaming companies. She's based in France, but some of her best known titles with modern or future scenarios are playing in America, including two parts of "Watch Dogs," "The Crew," and "The Division." And "Far Cry 5" Ubisoft settled in the US, in the state of Montana.

Whether games with America scenario sell better, we ask Guillemot. "It depends on the type of game," he says. "Sometimes yes." However, where games play is discussed intensively in the Ubisoft studios.

Ubisoft

San Francisco in "Watch Dogs 2"

"Far Cry 5" was probably so well received in the US because it plays in the country, says Guillemot. Many Americans, but also gamers from other countries have made the game feel like traveling to Montana. "You have to take places that are attractive to everyone," he says.

New York beats Berlin

We hear similar things from Frankfurt, where Crytek is the world's most famous German gaming company. Your Head of Communications Jens Schäfer tells us that Berlin was the venue for the conception of the shooter "Crysis 2". Ultimately, however, they have decided for New York: The city is "much more famous" around the world, according to Schäfer, the same applies to its landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty or Grand Central Station - in contrast to the Memorial Church or the quite new Berlin Central Station.

photo gallery

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If Crytek does not make a big Germany game, who will? So far, many video games are bought, but developed relatively little big games. According to the industry association game, PC and console games in Germany accounted for almost 1.2 billion euros in sales in 2017, of which only one percent (11.5 million) was accounted for by products of German studios.

Hope for some in the industry on a game outlined by game, but not yet rejected by the policy many millions of heavy funding program. A so-called cultural test is to decide which developers get money: "However, there is no question as to whether the characters are wearing lederhosen and living in half-timbered houses," explains game CEO Ralf Wirsing. "However, games receive points when they take up aspects of German or European culture, history or corresponding personalities, for example, in game design, story or design."

A grant would thus lead to "that there are more games with points of reference to German culture," says Wirsing. Where exactly a title plays, but he finds "not so crucial". He was more important, "which cultural aspects he takes up".

Maybe "GTA Europe"

A promotion will therefore not necessarily lead to games à la "GTA: Germany". After all, the big question is also: Would a game in modern Germany - possibly without a Nazi theme - also sell in neighboring countries? Or in the US? It would probably be more realistic to hope for a "GTA: Europe", with cities like London or Paris - and maybe even Berlin.

It also remains difficult to assess how the German political and media landscape would react to a game in which it might be possible to run amok in the Berlin government district or run over civilians. Would a new edition of the unspeakable Killerspieldebatte before?

Linda Breitlauch, Professor of Game Design, says, "Yes, maybe - but not with the incredible after-effects as in the past, and not with the range." The arguments are "always the same and still just as wrong". In addition one speaks with a "GTA" yes over a game, which is exclusively for adults.

One thing is for sure: A game like "GTA: Germany" could help to let game fans reflect more about the outside image and the actual state of Germany. The world is probably not as much waiting for it as the German gamers. If a Germany game offered the prospect of a worldwide blockbuster, a large studio would have probably already tried.