Concentration Camp Game Canceled Due to Backlash

[Virus0015]

People really need to get over the holocaust, as distasteful as that may sound. There have been plenty of acts of genocide before and since then, and with a great many casualties. I still can't believe that many European countries have laws against holocaust denial. prosecuting someone for interpreting a historical event differently to the generally accepted view is ridiculous. What stops them from moving onto to criminalising other historical interpretations that some people may find distasteful.

Whilst personally I would not buy the game, for obvious reasons, it was entitled to be made. I hate the fact that groups such as the anti-defamation league are hiding behind the barrier of anti-Semitism. They need to just face it, they're trying to infringe upon free speech based upon their opinion of a hot topic.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

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]

I don't think it's art, I think it would be entertaining.

Isn't that what games are meant to be anyway? Entertaining?

Also, how come they can't make a game about this, but they can make thousands of movies depicting Holocaust stories?

 

[Dorian6]

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?

I agree. If they do it right, a video game, as an interactive medium, can elicit a much greater emotional response from the player than something they just watch

 

[nathan-dts]

The holocaust is no more so "off limits" to video games as it is to the film industry. As long as it is handled in a mature way then it is perfectly acceptable. In this case however, I think it's best that the mod is cancelled; you can't really handle something that well with no story.

 

[teutonicman]

This really isn't that surprising. I don't even know if this is appropriate. What I mean by that is I don't know if video games as an art form is mature enough to handle something like this.

 

[SwimmingRock]

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.

Well, consider me ninja'd. Had the game actually come out, I would have just sighed and once again felt great disappointment in humanity. However, that sentence from the article just translates as "Censorship" to me and I hate that shit regardless of context.

 

[mr_rubino]

So he/they make this game, tucked away in their blissful world where "controversy" is just a funny-sounding word, and then start panicking when the ADL (The Al Sharpton of Jewistry) come a-knockin', hide behind "It's just a game", and then flip-flop to say "Totally trying to make a statement."

So did I get all that?

 

[mr_rubino]

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!

I get a feeling it wouldn't be the ADL you should be looking out for in that case.

 

[Nieroshai]

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 think that's exactly what this is. This game isn't about participating in genocide, it's about trying to destroy the ones who are committing it. If this game is bad, the whole Call of Duty series needs to be banned because guess what the Nazis did... The ADL is an over-politicized organization that's in it for the lawsuit cash anyway.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Why'd they back down? What did they stand to lose?

Eh it leaves me slightly annoyed. Bunch of old dudes that don't get video games.

 

[Nocturnal Gentleman]

While I think the Holocaust should be able to be made a scenario in games I'd rather it not be an FPS. Unless the atmosphere of the game comes off as very mature and serious than it's all good. Besides a false holocaust scenario was already used in "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". It can be used and very effectively too.

 

[nitro27]

Very tasteless. Like making a game of executing children. Art or not, its obscene.

Wait, um, read the post again. This is about a revolution, not Nazis killing Jews.

 

[Treblaine]

Well approaching this issue with a game like, well, THAT, are we really that surprised that the ADL would consider video games too trivialising?

It sure seems crude as hell, though seems to have its heart (kinda) in the right place even if their head wasn't entirely there. I don't think it's terrible, it's probably all this kid knows and his main means of expression, it's not like you can just tell him to do a painting instead.

 

[godfist88]

holy f***ing crap, who whould ever think that this was a good idea? i'm all for originality but this just too much.

 

[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.

From Robot Chicken...

"He making a list, he's checking it twice, he's gonna find out who's Nazi or nice. Schindler's List 2: Schindler's Pissed!"

Ah yes, that was indeed the sketch, I have this uncanny ability to instantly know where most quotes are from, but at the same time unable to quote them myself word for word, which is a pet peeve of most of my friends hah, damn my dysnomia!

 

[Snotnarok]

So you play a nazi slaying jew...And it's a problem? I could understand the other way around. But I just don't see the issue here...Sure it's in a concentration camp but damn...what better place to try to escape from seriously.

 

[Andantil]

I can picture it now: Concentration Camp Tycoon!

 

[Giest4life]

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."

Most certainly not. There is no topic that's off limits for videogames. The Holocaust, for me, is no exception.

"My intentions were pure and pro-Jewish in every way."

Even if they weren't, I still support the game being made. Just because.

 

[FightThePower]

Right, so films, books and TV programs can cover this stuff but videogames can't?

 

[The Random One]

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)

Yeah my thoughts exactly. If he was serious about this he wouldn't have bucked down.

He's an indie dev, he doesn't have to pay heed to a distributor. He stopped because he felt the anti-difamation league had a point. If he was making a real art game he wouldn't have.