Brief opinion concerning game censorship (cause this won't be long)

[Xero_Snake]

Speaking of game censorship, I personally think it goes down to whether or not the developers and publishers are willing to cross a line or two of a historical & political stigma.

However, for one, a game company like WG apply a partial censorship such as replacing Swastika with Iron Cross just to comply with a country's law like in Germany in order to making accessible to as many countries as possible for more revenues and has little to do with censoring history. Honestly, screw those self-styled history purists. Enthusiastic, yet narrow-minded. Acting like some kind of a bunch of stuck-up elitists who can't even think of loosing their grip a bit or even show a bit of restraint. I mean, it's just a game, regardless of what they thinks. It has nothing to do with whether or not WG has a political agenda of their own either. Regardless, even still having a bit of disagreements with WG, at least be a little grateful that they're taking a middle path at the very least. On the other hand, the new Wolfenstein is taking place in an alternative history of which people should not take it to face value. Because it don't virtually exist and don't represent the reality. It's a work of fiction.

But in all seriousness, frankly, don't go too deep with it & stay chill with your lives. Argue "why people censor swastika but why not censor socialist/communist symbol" all you want by going gung-ho with social justice, but you can't change something that's beyond our control - history is written by victors. That will never change.

You have a choice - "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, do no evil."

Mods, when things getting really nasty, kindly lock this down. Cause I know this will not last long, just reminding people to don't take a small matters too personal.

[Khafni]

This is a game made by a company who seeks revenue. Of course they will "bend" historical accuracy to not break laws in order to generate as much revenue as possible. If there were malicious intent it would be noticed in more areas. People have to play the game and enjoy it. No need to dredge up conspiracy theories. Just walk away if you don't like what you see.

If you want social justice drama just keep watching the news about the upcoming HBO miniseries, "Confederate". Please keep it out of World of Warships.

[Taylor3006]

For history purists this is annoying. For the rest of us that can be reasonable, it is totally understandable why a company would do this. If I remember right, the swastika is illegal in Russia as well, not sure where I read that, I could be wrong. Besides staying within the laws of a few countries it also prevents triggering of some people who are of a more delicate nature and would bring down the wrath of the rest of the nutjobs inhabiting the world. Bad publicity is bad for business unless you have the last name of Kardashian. Personally I wouldn't find the use of the swastika offensive since this is a war game for that period but defer to the company since they are the ones with the most to lose. I don't mind their use of the iron cross even though it is historically inaccurate. It is a risk/reward calculation IMHO and they are erring on the side of caution. I am ok with that.

[K1ra_Yoshikage]

30 minutes ago, Xero_Snake said:

Speaking of game censorship, I personally think it goes down to whether or not the developers and publishers are willing to cross a line or two of a historical & political stigma.

However, for one, a game company like WG apply a partial censorship such as replacing Swastika with Iron Cross just to comply with a country's law like in Germany in order to making accessible to as many countries as possible for more revenues and has little to do with censoring history. Honestly, screw those self-styled history purists. Enthusiastic, yet narrow-minded. Acting like some kind of a bunch of stuck-up elitists who can't even think of loosing their grip a bit or even show a bit of restraint. I mean, it's just a game, regardless of what they thinks. It has nothing to do with whether or not WG has a political agenda of their own either. Regardless, even still having a bit of disagreements with WG, at least be a little grateful that they're taking a middle path at the very least. On the other hand, the new Wolfenstein is taking place in an alternative history of which people should not take it to face value. Because it don't virtually exist and don't represent the reality. It's a work of fiction.

But in all seriousness, frankly, don't go too deep with it & stay chill with your lives. Argue "why people censor swastika but why not censor socialist/communist symbol" all you want by going gung-ho with social justice, but you can't change something that's beyond our control - history is written by victors. That will never change.

You have a choice - "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, do no evil."

Mods, when things getting really nasty, kindly lock this down. Cause I know this will not last long, just reminding people to don't take a small matters too personal.

Sigh, here we go again. the good thing, we didn't had this topic for as few months.

The Swastika violates the German penal code. So they either make a game client that didn't use it or they make a special client for Germany and make sure that you are forced to download only this one in Germany. FYI: last week police in Berlin put 2 Chinese in custody that thought it's fun to make photos standing in front of the Reichstag (seat of the German parlament) and showing the Heil Hitler. This falls under the penal code §86 as usage of unconstitutional symbols. I wrote about this in a few other posts like yours.

[RivertheRoyal]

I think some of the people who replied to the topic could do with a second read of the OP.

 

Hint: Y'all are on the same side.

[Xero_Snake]

7 minutes ago, Erebthoron said:

Sigh, here we go again. the good thing, we didn't had this topic for as few months.

The Swastika violates the German penal code. So they either make a game client that didn't use it or they make a special client for Germany and make sure that you are forced to download only this one in Germany. FYI: last week police in Berlin put 2 Chinese in custody that thought it's fun to make photos standing in front of the Reichstag (seat of the German parlament) and showing the Heil Hitler. This falls under the penal code §86 as usage of unconstitutional symbols. I wrote about this in a few other posts like yours.

Though someone else necroposting the very old thread like this dated 2 years ago.

1 minute ago, RivertheRoyal said:

I think some of the people who replied to the topic could do with a second read of the OP.

 

Hint: Y'all are on the same side.

Second read?

[Madwolf05]

58 minutes ago, Xero_Snake said:

But in all seriousness, frankly, don't go too deep with it & stay chill with your lives. Argue "why people censor swastika but why not censor socialist/communist symbol" all you want by going gung-ho with social justice, but you can't change something that's beyond our control - history is written by victors. That will never change.

 

[Dareios]

Is there the same restrictions on a fylfot, which is almost functionally identical without the associated nazism.

IIRC, there was a british unit somewhere in SE asia during the later half of WW2 that had this as an ensign or badge or something.

 

[Xero_Snake]

7 minutes ago, Madwolf05 said:

 

Personally, I care little about their similarities. Though there are other people might tend to mix the two together & hardly can tell the differences.

[Doomlock]

Yep. I'd rather WG take the road of being safe and allowing more people to play the game, than going to fully historical route and making it to where a lot of people are unable to play.

[Xero_Snake]

2 minutes ago, Doomlock said:

Yep. I'd rather WG take the road of being safe and allowing more people to play the game, than going to fully historical route and making it to where a lot of people are unable to play.

You know the saying: "Everything is amazing, yet not everyone is happy"

[bassmasta76]

If anyone feels the need to have the swastika or the rising sun, you can get them on your ships from Aslain's modpack (or, you used to... dont actively run mods).  

 

They are only visible to you, and not everyone else.  

 

B

[IronWolfV]

9 minutes ago, Xero_Snake said:

You know the saying: "Everything is amazing, yet not everyone is happy"

Guess what, run a historical modpack. WG doesn't care if you do thst, but they haven't broken the law in certain places and their game is banned, causing them revenue. Everyone gets what they want.

[twitch133]

Just a comment on the historical accuracies, certain symbols being illegal (Swastika) and some are extremely distasteful (The Hammer & Sickle may not represent the systemic extermination of a group of people. But it does represent the wholesale murder of millions of political dissidents and the reign of an extremely oppressive regime.)

 

There are many games that openly display these symbols in US sold copies. Such as Wolfenstien, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor. The thing that I am not sure of is. I have only ever bought copies licensed for sale in North America or the US. I have no idea if they make any changes to the physical copies of the games for sale in EU or Asian countries where the display of the swastika is forbidden by law.

[Xero_Snake]

12 minutes ago, twitch133 said:

Just a comment on the historical accuracies, certain symbols being illegal (Swastika) and some are extremely distasteful (The Hammer & Sickle may not represent the systemic extermination of a group of people. But it does represent the wholesale murder of millions of political dissidents and the reign of an extremely oppressive regime.)

You know it, but do keep your thoughts & speech in check when you try to mention this to others.

To simply put, for neutrality, both extreme sides of spectrum are equally bad. One would think the latter is pure evil, but that doesn't make the former look any better either.

[twitch133]

32 minutes ago, Xero_Snake said:

You know it, but do keep your thoughts & speech in check when you try to mention this to others.

To simply put, for neutrality, both extreme sides of spectrum are equally bad. One would think the latter is pure evil, but that doesn't make the former look any better either.

 

Eh, that is a downfall of mine, I am usually really straight forward. It gets me in trouble sometimes. But the people I work with like it, when they need somebody to tell some hard news, based on facts. They can rely on me to do it.

 

But, back on topic. An interesting article on how the new Call of Duty: WW2 is going to handle it.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-06-19-lets-talk-call-of-duty-ww2-swastikas-and-female-soldiers

 

They will be displayed in the campaign, along with only period correct personnel. (I.E. you will not find German soldiers that are of other races or female.) As the developer's goal is to present an authentic WW2 story to the players.

 

But, the symbols will not be present in the multiplayer. And you will have options to the race and gender of your avatar, regardless of team affiliation (The teams will simply be called Axis or Allies if I am reading this correctly. Regardless of nationality.) The goal with the multiplayer experience is to drop the player into a WW2 themed environment. To drop YOU into it. Hence the availability of non-period accurate avatars in the multiplayer arena.

 

You could say that this game, falls under the latter train of thought. It is a WW2 experience. In an arcade game, with no story to tell. Accuracy is not that big of a deal.