Concentration Camp Game Canceled Due to Backlash

[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.

 

[Loud Hawk]

They can't make a game about Auschwitz, but they allow Uwe Boll to continue to make his HORRIBLE movie about it, that makes me want to shoot myself in the head every time I hear more about it. That confuses me.

I am not saying this game is a good idea. Hell no, please do not make it. It will only put gaming in a worse place, but do not go through all this to stop that little Wolfenstein 3D mod and still allow the monster that is Uwe Boll to do something even worse, just because it is a movie.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Should it be off-limits to comics then?

I think not.

 

[Desert Tiger]

I think a game with a story like "Great Escape" would be a wonderful idea... just not the entire game. Maybe a part of the story where you have to figure out a way to get you and as many others to escape by thinking creatively.

 

[InnerRebellion]

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?

While I don't agree with it, people always reply to that question with, "Because 6 million Jews were killed!"

Honestly people, yes, the Holocaust was terrible, but Stalin killed way more than that... of his own people! And does the Armenian Genocide ring a bell for any of those people? What's next, you can't depict slavery, specifically involving black people, in games?

 

[thirion1850]

I'm going to be a critical git and put it this way. The people crying that this is somehow tasteless and horrible have obviously never either read or watched any movies/books/documentaries/evidence about this. Yes, the holocaust was atrocious, vile, evil, you name it. But history is history, no matter how utterly disturbing it is. To pack it off at artistic ways of displaying it (film, writing, and now game) would be bluntly restricting knowledge.

I'll also add that the creator of this game was an complete moron, and this game, despite my previous statement, really does look offensive and disgusting.

 

[Something Amyss]

From the headline, I was expecting it to be something like "Concentration Camp Tycoon".

Yeah, I was expecting something more tasteless. I'm not saying I'd play this, but shooting up your Nazi captors in an attempt to uprise and escape? Freaking hell, that's trivial in terms of backlash.

I don't think the Holocaust should be off limits. I think it should be handled delicately, but imagine if Schindler's List was killed for similar reasons.

 

[AngryMongoose]

...Telling Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/] that the Holocaust is off-limits for videogames...

No it isn't, fuck you.

 

[JunebugJuJuBee]

Does anyone remember 'I have no mouth and I must scream'? Not only are you in a concentration camp for part of the story, but you must come to terms with the horrors you (a Nazi doctor) committed on countless Jews, including children. Making a game about the holocaust is no more trivializing than making a movie about it, though it looks like this one was a bit in bad taste. Who knows for sure.

Until we can get the word "game" to stop meaning "play thing" we will never be able to truly tackle these harsh topics.

 

[Icehearted]

Bah! I can't see how anyone would think this was a good idea. As for the games as art" crowd; art doesn't glitch, freeze, need patches, suffer performance issues, require DLC for the full experience, use cheat codes, and it can't be exploited to distort the experience. Games are far away from that.

But I'm getting off topic.

There are lots of subjects that can be understandably touchy, more so considering that for some it is still fresh, and for some the lasting trauma and collateral trauma make mocking such things at the very least insensitive. It's more than just about subject matter, it's about exploiting something for shock value. I hate to judge a book by it's cover, but that looks like it didn't have anything else to stand on.

 

[Thundero13]

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

We can here in Europe Mwahahaha anyway this is just ridiculous, some people just get offended way too easily, and they have to stop going crazy immediatly and look at what the developers have to say.