Concentration Camp Game Canceled Due to Backlash

[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.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

As a (sort of jew) I find this is is completely offensive...

No, not the game, the fact that they stopped production on it. The fact that we are willing to make a game about horrid events means that we can move past anger and spite and move on, while still remembering the past.

 

[silver wolf009]

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

Or nice things in general for that matter.

OT: While it is within their rights to be aggrivated at this game, is it really worth boycotting it into oblivion? The correct awnser is no.

On the topic of Holocaust related material in games, I just realised how odd it is that a Call of Duty game hasn't done something similar to the airport level involing a concentration camp. Not that I appluad the idea of having the player jump into the body of a nazi during a stationment in a camp, but I just realized that its kind of odd that they missed out on such a controvosy for marketing.

 

[Ekonk]

Goddammit, NEVER BACK DOWN! Never ever! If your cause is just - which it, if it is the depiction of jews fighting the nazis, definitely is - never back down!

Although the guy saying that it's both "Nazi shooting fun" and also "realistic, moody and detailed" makes this a bit less credible.

 

[megs1120]

Speaking as a Jew, the ADL can drop dead. If there's anything history has shown, it's that we can deal with getting our feelings hurt. Maybe now that the mod is dead, they'll have lets of free time on their hands. Let's hope they get to work on something that matters.

 

[Koroviev]

If the Holocaust is off-limits for creative mediums, then why was Inglorious Basterds so successful? Oh yeah, video game makers don't take themselves seriously /:

 

[mjc0961]

Bullshit the Holocaust is off-limits for video games. After playing GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption, I bet Rockstar could pull of a damn fine game about the subject material these guys were trying to make a mod out of. The only problem with this is that first, they were making it a mod for Wolfenstein 3D, which means it's not looking any kind of think piece that's respectful or whatever. It just looks like another run-and-gun FPS. And second, they caved. I can understand why that Fallujah game had to go, if nobody was going to publish it then there isn't much those guys could have done about it. But you're making a mod for an existing game. There is nobody to stop you but yourself. Don't cave just because they want you to, if you really think you were doing something decent and respect, then dammit finish the mod. Don't let some people censor you just because they see video games as toys and not art like books or movies.

 

[mechanixis]

Oh my christ...

IF YOU ARE MAKING A GAME ABOUT AUSCHWITZ, DO NOT DESCRIBE IT AS "JUST BLAST-THE-NAZIS FUN".

When I saw the headline I was really hoping the guy had made something artistically significant about the Holocaust, but a tasteless Wolfenstein clone really isn't meaningful or worth protecting.

Nothing should be 'off-limits' in games, but the problem is we can't seem to grow up and let go of them being 'fun'. Schindler's List isn't 'fun'. Apocalypse Now isn't 'fun'. But if a game comes out and doesn't deliver cheap thrills and empowerment fantasies, we say it's a bad game. You can't blame the public for pattern recognition - they have no reason to expect a game will treat its subject matter with dignity.

 

[Jumplion]

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...

Thanks for that, neither did I. Journalism at it's finest, folks.

From now on, I'm going to read the damn sources from these news posts.

 

[Dfskelleton]

If this were a modern game, I might be a bit more "eeeh" about it, but a FREAKING WOLFENSTEIN 3D MOD? That's ridiculous. Then again, the holocaust is a touchy subject. Wolfenstein 3d is to me, more of a fun, time wasting for the lolz action game. This might not be the best way to present the holocaust. However, even if we did make a perfect, beautiful and senseive game featuring the holocaust, like maybe a game where you play as a single Marine sent in to help save the jews, would be torn to shreds by the media. In fact, I should make a game like that and then make sure I never give in to the controversy.

 

[mechanixis]

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

Well, yes, yes, and yes, really. If you don't think Call of Duty is trivializing of its subject matter, you've got some reading to do (Regenerative health! Constant action and excitement! Absurd bodycounts!) If you compare it to works like Apocalypse Now, The Things They Carried, or Saving Private Ryan, Call of Duty is a teatray-shallow depiction of war that constantly proclaims 'War is Fun!' with a tiny footnote reading '(but it actually isn't)'

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

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.

I agree with you 100 percent. Also, your avatar is trippy. That's the main reason why I quoted you; your avatar is so freaky and cool.

 

[joebthegreat]

I'll make a game where you're the ADL, and you go around and find people who are committing terrible crimes such as thinking bad thoughts and such. And you build camps where you put these people and hide them from the rest of society. And you can customize and upgrade your camps.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Ordinarily, I'm behind the ADL 100%, but their comment on how the Holocaust is off limits for video games (strangely enough, they never say anything about flim or books. Go figure) just makes them seem somewhat jerkish. Yes, I understand the reaction, and can even sympathize with them somewhat, but they have to understand that any event that ever happened on this planet in the last 4.6 billion years is fair game to be protrayed in any form of media. It's the same thing how the racism accusations of RE5 were baseless because if you live on this planet, you're fair game to be the bad guy.

People will make games. Some people will not like those games. Get over it. Trying to get it banned only serves to make the offended party look overly sensititve.

 

[Stuberfinn88]

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.

And It shall be forever known as "Schindler's List II: The Reckoning!" with a small quote at the bottom saying "He's Got his list, and he is checking it twice!" Gawd I love robot chicken.