Concentration Camp Game Canceled Due to Backlash

[emeraldrafael]

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."

Its not that I dont agree, its just the way this is being handled. the Holocaust (like ANY global genocidal incident) should be handled tastefully and thoughtfully, so as to be something of an educational through experience device and present a message that this is not a light matter of enjoyment, but a word to the future of what results when someone with great power says he/she hates a race/ethnicity/group of people and they shouldnt exist.

That being said, its unfair that it be off limits. I mean, different people handle things differently. It should be something that should be consulted upon and worked in something of cooperation with the ADL (limit influence, meerly a consultant level) to make a tasteful historically accurate game.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Perhaps this game went to far. But banning it?
Imagine if it had been released, without hype. People would have seen it for a mediocre shooter with ideas waaaaaaaaaay above its station. It would have recieved just criticism. Doesn't that seem better than folding to pressure?

Also, the holocaust is off limits? 'The only escape...' looked really interesting, and tasteful, or at least accurate. Sigh, that is what the world thinks of the medium. So much held back potential.

 

[Draithx]

I don't really see the problem with it?
When I first read the title I thought you would play the nazi's, which would probably be over the top...

 

[Jumplion]

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.

Yes, because it's baffling how a poignant movie like Shindler's List, treating it's subject matter with respect, would not get any outrage, yet this game which basically trivializes the event with "blast the Nazis fun" (and the creator delightfully backtracks this to "I did the research! It's for honoring them!") is getting unfairly called out on.

I'm not against video games depicting the Holocaust or anything, it's certainly an interesting subject to touch on, though I hardly doubt this game would be anything about "blast the Nazis fun". It's one of those things where it seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight it probably wasn't.

 

[WingedIncubus]

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.

You mean like Uprising and Inglorious Bastards?

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

the Holocaust is entirely off-limits for videogames

Well fuck me. I never believed i could take offense in something, yet here it is.

Excuse me while i go get a knife and run screaming through the streets killing anyone in my way.

Mind if I join you? My anger's been on the rise and I could really use the release.

OT: Not the most tasteful game, but to simply say the holocaust is off-limits is... Well... Eh... I mean if you can have WWII and other war games where countless die, sure. My problem with the game is that rather than making it a good, tasteful game, they made it a gun run.

I remember a horrendous stealth game called Prisoner of War. Make a game like that, with historical significance behind it. Something realistic that depicts the struggle. Somethign concrete and real.

 

[WingedIncubus]

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.

You mean like Nimdok's segment in I Have No Much and I Must Scream?

 

[C95J]

who was stupid enough to think that this wouldn't be hated greatly across a wide range of groups?? Seriously why would they even start making this game?

 

[JemothSkarii]

Okay, this game deserved to be shut down; for me it's mainly because it has no depth.

I know the Holocaust is a touchy subject, but it's been touched before, and as sad as it might be, it shouldn't be ignored.

Like he said, the Holocaust is touchy, and it was a horrible thing, but to get a large video game company to carefully assemble a game about the Holocaust could really help the 'Games are Art' and include a fresh setting to videogames....even if there will be a billion rip offs afterwards.

"CoD: Das Juden in mein Holocaust Edition"

 

[Outlaw Torn]

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

As long as the chickens aren't Jewish they probably wouldn't give a flying fudge.

What do the ADL think about a Rosa Parks game? Or is that too offensive as well? It could be a controversial mod of Desert Bus!

 

[Mr.Mattress]

That was art, so was shindlers list and the pianist etc.

But this is just wrong

I am not saying "Hey, maybe a game about the Holocaust should be just about 'Blasting Nazi's Fun", but this game would have been art. It would have gotten people to respond: I probably would have been in tears playing it, and I would be praying the game would have a happy ending for at least this one brave man who defied the odds and tried to fight for his life. Sure, they could have done it a bit more tastefully, but by god, I will stand by my declaration in saying "This Game Would Have Been Art!"

 

[Canid117]

While the game looks shitty to me, why can't video games express something about the holocaust while blockbuster movies can? Is Oscar Bait somehow more valuable just because it is eight hours shorter?

 

[Neonit]

Whats the point? are we denying that WW2 happened? that a lot of people died? that a big part of those people were Jewish? creating taboo's only make things more difficult! While i agree that this is in bad taste, i dont see why it should be banned......

 

[Trillovinum]

Judging solely on the screenshot this game doesn't look very historically acurate. And from what I can see it was rightfully turned down. I'm not against making a game about the Holocaust but I don't think it should be like this. People have to understand that the holocaust is a very sensitive piece of history and that people are naturally going to feel offended. What we should do is gradually make people aware. This could best be achieved by making an escape game (like POW) were you try to break out of the camp without resorting to violence. and not by slapping people in the face with mindless blood and gore. Represent it in a sensitive manner and try not to be to coulored in your opinions. If you do that and they still try to take you down, then they're the hypocrits.
conclusion, holocaust games should be allowed, just stay sensitive.

 

[RobCoxxy]

It's not insulting to Jews. For fucks' sake, you're playing as a Jew. Revolting against the nazis. In an utterly OTT, retro way.

Christ, the ADL can suck my nuts, they're far too sensitive.

 

[SpadeJester]

ha...in the sources it is only said that his intentions might be good but it's just a crude depiction...I don't see anything about them saying the subject is off limits in games...

 

[BlackWidower]

Why is it off limits to video games? Is it also off limits to books and movies, makes as much sense.

Oh! Because it would "trivialize" it. Was World War II trivialized? The Cold War? The War in Iraq?

This is an issue of free speech. I know I would have never played that game, but having it repressed like this is a terrible injustice.

 

[DataSnake]

I can think of one good way to make a game based on a holocaust inmate uprising: the Missile Command or Halo Reach model. You know, the setup where actually WINNING is impossible (otherwise it's just another juvenile power fantasy), but you can either take as many of the bastards with you as possible or just try to hold them off so that at least some of the other prisoners can escape.

 

[HK_01]

I sort of agree that it's tasteless. But it's a mod, it's like complaining about some Youtube vids being in bad taste.

 

[Wolfram23]

If that screenshot is from the game, we definitely don't need that. However, saying that it's completely off limits of games is just... stupid. I hope someone makes a powerful game based on the holocaust, perhaps a la Schindler's List. Maybe a twist of Thief, and a dash of Penumbra.

That said, I think trivializing it into a Doom/Wolfenstein 3D clone isn't very appropriate, even tho it's nice that it's a Jew shooting the hell out of the Nazis.