ArenaNet talk:International cultural references

Question

Does this have to do with just national culture? I'd love to see some sort of military culture in Guild Wars in the future, seems War is an integral part of the name of the game. You could perhaps look towards different aspects of cultures in different armies across the world and use them to some extent in Guild wars not just for visual styles but personalities too. I mean the Emporoer in Kaineng has an army but your rarley see much of it bar the odd guard you get a quest from. In reality you would surround your Emperors with your army. A military presence would perhaps be more dominant? More personal? Now take that to the next level, warring armies, not just between to rival clans (like Luxons and Kurzicks) but across the whole lands of Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. With much empthasis on that in alot of places you go. Much hate, and alot of the cultures within the lands steering that hate in different directions. :) Unreal Havoc 02:36, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for asking. I should make it clear that this is not a request to expand the lore of Guild Wars. This request is about adding real-world cultural references to Guild Wars. War references, as in real-world references, are fine. After all, we have "This. Is. Hard Mode." already in the game... though come to think of it, no one knows if Leonidas actually said that. I guess something like General George S. Patton's, "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his" would work nicely. :) -- Gaile 05:33, 15 November 2007 (UTC::)

yah, now im getting excited, want to know how and where u will add our cultural references. Also I wanna know if this is for gw1 or gw2 cuz if its gw1 i wanna know if we're going to get a large update with new areas/towns/npcs/skills like sorrows furnace. I'm swedish and eye of the north sort of gave me enough cultural references :) I loved that many of the names there is names of people i know. --Cursed Angel 08:45, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Speaking of war culture gotta add "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" as made famous by Sir Winston Churchill DazUltra 13:36, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

I agree with cursed angel.. but i, personally, would like to see more of sweden/scandinavia. Teo 13:46, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

I think you kind of missed the point I was reaching out at. Military life has a culture of its own. Different armies have different rules, regulations, disciplines, socialties, etc. Just like different countries do. I'm not suggesting real war references or quotes from past leaders, or politicians, etc. More just a little more personality that reflects the life soldiers might live instead of just being a character model. Imagine a quest that involves the player getting captured by an opposing army of another continent to where they are from (possibly at war with) and then I think you could see what I'm getting at. Unreal Havoc 13:57, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I see what you're getting at. And that quest idea sounds cool. Teo 18:19, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Well, there are the acronymns that are everywhere in military life such as SNAFU and FUBAR. There are other "terms" such as Romeo Foxtrot, Charlie Foxtrot, and Sierra Hotel.

Good Work! Encore(s)!!

These are great so far. I'm getting a lot of smiles out of these. Keep 'em coming, and let's hear from more countries, nations, regions, and cultures! -- Gaile 19:27, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Going by your comment about George. S. Patton above in the first section (in awnser to my suggestion) something tells me you like Call of Duty 2. :D Thanks for taking the time to read our ideas and to try and keep everyone happy. Unreal Havoc 01:46, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

That is a great game, you're right.

But between you and me, the truth is that I'm just a history nerd. Shhh, don't tell, I think it's not cool this year. ;) -- Gaile 03:37, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

LMAO! :D Wait til you hit CoD4, that's awesome! =) Unreal Havoc 23:19, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks so far, but surely...

... there are more cultural references! Step up, folks, and share your thoughts! The design team is looking at this page. I don't know exactly what ingenious uses they will make of your contributions, but the request came specifically from them, so please do keep the references coming! Add to an existing country's entry, or start one of your own! The ones posted so far are not only good ideas for possibilities in the game, but are just darn interesting -- I feel like I really learn something about the world when I read this page. :) Thank you again. -- Gaile 03:23, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

i agree that there can be more suggestions but i think ppl just don't think it will be for any sort of use. that it all is just a waste of time. i don't know rly. ^Teo^ 20:55, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

I dunno, I think it may be modesty, actually. Most people are probably looking at this and thinking "What interesting references does my culture have to offer? Bah, I can't think of any" and giving up. The references I came up with for my country are mostly either very historical or very trivial, and I was a bit hesitant about adding them because I was worried they weren't "good" enough; but I think, actually, they're alright, despite their dullness or triviality. And I trust the design team to come up with good uses for them. :) --Mme. Donelle 19:09, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

May I ask what's this gonna be used for though? Is it for GW2 or a future expansion for GW? MageMontu 22:12, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

i think it'll be like events or something.. or just new things added now and then untill gw2 comes out.. if they'll use it at all ^Teo^ 23:29, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any reason why they won't add some of these references to future events and things in GW1; but remember that GW1 won't be getting any more major expansions, so there's a fairly limited amount of references that can still be packed into GW1 at this point. Given Gaile's insistence we add more and more to this page, I reckon it's mostly for GW2. --Mme. Donelle 08:36, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

I guess we'll just have to see.. ^Teo^ 22:41, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

[shrug] I'm just sayin'. GW2 seems like it's ANet's attempt at a "fresh start", so it kinda makes sense to me that this sudden desire to include international references is just another ideal thing they want in their "perfect" new game. :p --Mme. Donelle 19:25, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Need some idea's for designs? http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/ The world heritage list will do i guess! NIEKler 16:07, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Uhm..?

What will happen to this page now that Gaile is "gone"..? ^Teo^ 12:46, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Hiya. Players are welcome to continue to add to the page at any time. The Design Team will continue to visit from time to time and glean any cool new ideas that they might want to use for Guild Wars or Guild Wars 2. (And I'm not gone, silly. :) ) -- Gaile 21:58, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Good :D Thx! ^Teo^ 06:07, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for Moving This

Thanks a lot for moving the International Cultural References page here to the ArenaNet portal. I hope that we continue to get lots of new ideas in the future! -- Gaile 06:00, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Organization for sidebox

1. Should the America section be divided into North America and South America sections or should it just have it say Americas?

2. I think we should put England, Scotland and Wales under a UK subsection.

--SirFranz 18:25, 5 July 2008 (UTC)