Concentration Camp Game Canceled Due to Backlash

[Scott Bullock]

Concentration Camp Game Canceled Due to Backlash

After severe backlash from Jewish groups, indie devs stop production on their in-development Auschwitz game.

The game Sonderkommando Revolt, a Wolfenstein 3D mod based on the real, failed uprising of Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, was to feature a lone prisoner gunning his way through countless Nazi guards, featuring "Crematoriums, Block 11, Gas Chambers, execution, interrogation and torture areas ... most of which are ripped/based off real pic [sic] from the real site," according to one of the developers, Doomjedi.

The Anti-Defamation League immediately took offense to the game, telling Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/] that the Holocaust is off-limits for videogames, and that Sonderkommando Revolt is a "crude effort to depict Jewish resistance during this painful period which should never be trivialized."

Attempting to assuage the ADL, the creators Team Raycast and Maxim Genis said that the game was just "blast the Nazis fun" and "very realistic, moody, challenging and detailed."

But the ADL kept pushing, and now Sonderkommando Revolt will never see the light of day. Genis, who claims to have lost family members in the Holocaust, has stated, "I did a lot of research for the game. I wanted to show the Jews really did fight back against the Nazis. I wanted to honor them. My intentions were pure and pro-Jewish in every way."

While most do not mourn the loss of yet another mindless Nazi shooter (particularly if it's just a mod for a game that came out in 1992), the fact that the ADL believes that the Holocaust is entirely off-limits for videogames has some gamers rather upset with them, particularly the "games as art" crowd.

Source: Spong [http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/42700/holocaust-game-cancelled]





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[JokerboyJordan]

This is why we can't have "The Only Escape Is Imagination"

 

[Distorted Stu]

Im up for the whole "games as art" deal. but this.. THIS! THIS IS NOT ART!

Jeez.

[sub]Also this would of been huge on 4chan[/sub]

 

[Blind Sight]

To be honest, it didn't sound that tasteful (especially how the creator flips his opinion from 'its just killing Nazis' to 'I did a ton of research), I'd be way more into it if it was a careful analysis of what the Jews really went through in the Holocaust, as well as the history of the unsuccessful rebellion.

 

[MintyNinja]

I'll be 100% honest here, I read the title as "Concentration, a camp game, is canceled due to Backlash" and my immediate thought was, "Who gives a shit about Camp games?" Seeing the actual article, however has changed that opinion into... "Really? A game about Auschwitz? No one's going to take gamers seriously with that flying around." And voila, that is my reaction.

 

[DataSnake]

From the headline, I was expecting it to be something like "Concentration Camp Tycoon". Seriously, though, I had no idea anybody was still making Wolf 3D mods. I mean, DOOM is about as easy to develop for (sprite-based, not fully 3D), has better tools available, and looks substantially better (especially with a modern source port).

 

[Loonerinoes]

What I find very timely is that on this very day this site decided to cover a story where politically correct people go against a game (Mafia 2) because of the depiction of Cosa Nostra's violence and this story, where another group of politically correct people go against it because of the setting of the Holocaust (even if the players would be on the side of the Jews).

Someone could do a fun cross-referencing exercise to see which members support one group's denouncement, but decry the other one as 'whining'. Something tells me the amount of hypocrisy would be staggering. Heh...imagine if they made a game about 9/11...

But it's the same as always...most people wave the 'games are art' flag around whenever it deals with a subject that is not close to their hearts. But when something does come up, they can't bring themselves to seperate the fictional representation from the actual event and turn on the 'BAWWWWW' faucet.

As for me, unless the games include actual pictures or images from the real event (like an actual mob beating or victim, actual concentration camps,...) as opposed to merely their *representation* via the game engine pixels...I'm merely going to be repeating the Heavy's slogan in my mind while I watch the freakshow evolve.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

Nobody pulls this shit when they make a film about the holocaust. The ADL can go fuck themselves if this is solely because it's a game.

 

[John the Gamer]

I wonder if they'd allow a 'chicken run' game...

 

[Aurora219]

This game right here was a terrible idea. Simple as. But if a game carefully and thoughtfully tries to depict the scene, and properly does it justice, I don't think they should stand in the developer's way.

 

[epsilon246]

Personally I believe art is art if you can get some random joe and they can tell it's art. This is not art the holocaust is not something to be taken lightly and not something you can put in a game for the heck of it.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Nobody pulls this shit when they make a film about the holocaust. The ADL can go fuck themselves if this is solely because it's a game.

I imagine they might have taken issue if Schindler's list was about a super jew marine with a SMG in one hand, a list of names in the other, & a smirk on his face.

 

[-Samurai-]

Nothing is off limits in video games. Give it some time. We'll have our concentration camp game eventually.

 

[dakorok]

Why is this holocaust "untouchable" by video games? It's irritating how people are forced to tiptoe around this issue, and it seems almost like we worship it at times, due to backwards statements like the one here.

The holocaust isn't the only instance of genocide in the modern world, nor is it the most recent. Why, then, is it all people seem to care about?

 

[D_987]

Nobody pulls this shit when they make a film about the holocaust. The ADL can go fuck themselves if this is solely because it's a game.

A movie can be engaging and yet not fun; a game cannot, unless it's just a bad game, games are designed to be engaging - it's the point of the medium, interactivity. If they aren't engaging then they aren't a good game, thus games are fundamentally different to movies in this area and should not be used to represent the Holocaust. Especially this game, which was pretty much just a typical FPS with Holocaust undertones.

 

[Grospoliner]

Tasteless? Off-limits? So the Jews aren't allowed to fight back? That's the message being sent. I will admit that the way it is done in was inaccurate as all hell, but why should the story of the prisoners or the guards be off limits? To deny the stories of their lives is to deny their very existence. I can't think of anything more wrong than that short of actually taking someone's life.

 

[Fuselage]

Im up for the whole "games as art" deal. but this.. THIS! THIS IS NOT ART!

Jeez.

[sub]Also this would of been huge on 4chan[/sub]

Nah..4chan have standards...

 

[Double A]

To be honest, the Holocaust shouldn't be completely taboo. But this game, judging by the screenshot, is a good reason the mod was shot down...