Luftrausers Isn't About Nazis But Vlambeer Is Sorry Anyway

[Daemascus]

Ive have played Luftrausers and quite enjoyed it and the aesthetic. Buuuuuut it does carry stereotypical German looking people and a guy who is totally not Hitler with out a mustache. That said, I'm pretty sure Not-Hitler is a bad guy. Idk the story is hard to follow with out text or voice acting.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

So we've reached the point now where developers preemptively apologize for all the thin skinned folks that are going to throw a fit over their game?

Yes because using German in title, using the SS deathshead emblem and using German uniforms isn't in anyway looking Nazis.

I am not denying the connection. I am saying, who cares? Do the game you want and don't apologize for it. If you are going to apologize for it anyway, then change it and don't make it at all.

 

[Kungfusam]

Certainly can't think any other games that feature Nazi's symbolism or hitler as a boss in mecha suit

 

[Undomesticated Equine]

Really? The twitter activists strike again. Please do not tell them that there are games where you play as a genuine Luftwaffe pilot like Warthunder IL-2 series and other sims complete with swastikas, iron crosses and knight crosses for being a good nazi pilot.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Why the hell would you apologize for that, Third Reich factions have been playable in games for ages.
I would resent this if you start to sell Nazi ideals or something of the sort, but this is just another faction without propaganda attached.

 

[Megalodon]

Yes because using German in title, using the SS deathshead emblem and using German uniforms isn't in anyway looking Nazis.

Firstly, where's the Totenkopf emblem? The pic in the OP is a skull, not a Totenkopf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SS_Totenkopf.jpg
Even if it was, so what? Very similar skull and crossbone device have been used by multiple armed forces, both pre and post WW2.

This idea reminds me of Sucker Punch, and often I saw/read people talking about the cast "killing Nazis" in the trench warfare section. Despite them clearly going for a WW1 aesthetic. Why can't people seem to get beyond German army-looking bad guy=Nazi?

 

[james.sponge]

Really? The twitter activists strike again. Please do not tell them that there are games where you play as a genuine Luftwaffe pilot like Warthunder IL-2 series and other sims complete with swastikas, iron crosses and knight crosses for being a good nazi pilot.

Now that you mention it, better not tell them about HoI series in which you win the war as Germany

 

[alj]

This, this is why we cannot have nice things, its a little 2d flying shooter.

"I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" depicts "totally not Jews" with bones removed, eyes cut out, and strung up on barbed wire in a "totally not a concentration camp" with freaking ovens full of corpses, as you play an honest-to-God Nazi scientist.

It was critically acclaimed, received with open arms, and remains a classic to this day.

Exactly, but now days you cannot do anything unless you make sure it does not upset just one person on the whole planet. Its kind of sad, i am not saying that you should openly abuse or mock people but all this PC crap is getting tiresome.

has a video on Youtube complaining that there are no female players in the male only league of FIFA 2014.

So someone just looking to stat a fuss for no reason.

 

[carnex]

Spoiler

And before someone tells me to check my privilege or whatever, both my granddads lived in London during the Blitz, so I have just as much right to be "offended" by tongue-in-cheek depictions of the Luftwaffe as anyone else.

There are no qualifications required to have an emotional response to anything. Your grandfathers do not bestow upon you more right to have a feeling about this game than any other person's grandparents. Anyone who feels uncomfortable is one hundred percent within their rights to do so, just as anyone who doesn't feel uncomfortable is one hundred percent within their rights to do so.

It's very weird to me how so many people in this thread have this need to tell others that an emotion is wrong. What is the basis for such a judgment? I mean, so far as I know based on the article, no one has even asked the developer to change the game or anything, but just expressed their own reservations.

You have right to be offended, but you do not have right not to be offended. Your feelings can be hurt, and you can complain about it, but creating fuss over it when it's something so unimportant and where there are much worse examples of the same "insult" in the medium in the same time frame (World of Warplanes comes to mind) is just ridiculous to me.

 

[JimB]

You have right to be offended, but you do not have right not to be offended.

I'm sorry, what?

Your feelings can be hurt, and you can complain about it, but creating fuss over it when it's something so unimportant and where there are much worse examples of the same "insult" in the medium in the same time frame (World of Warplanes comes to mind) is just ridiculous to me.

Do you think everyone who is aware of Luftrausers is also aware of World of Warplanes?

 

[carnex]

You have right to be offended, but you do not have right not to be offended.

I'm sorry, what?

How do I explain this? If you see image that offends you, you get offended and nobody can tell you not to get offended. On the other hand you can't demand from someone to remove that image so you wouldn't be offended unless if breaks some established rule/law.

Your feelings can be hurt, and you can complain about it, but creating fuss over it when it's something so unimportant and where there are much worse examples of the same "insult" in the medium in the same time frame (World of Warplanes comes to mind) is just ridiculous to me.

Do you think everyone who is aware of Luftrausers is also aware of World of Warplanes?

Since World of Tanks is such a huge hit I really thought World of Warplanes from same developer would have much bigger recognition than Lufrausers. Not to mention that the game is also free to play (unless you want better everything)

 

[JimB]

How do I explain this? If you see an image that offends you, you get offended and nobody can tell you not to get offended. On the other hand, you can't demand from someone to remove that image so you wouldn't be offended unless if breaks some established rule/law.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh, okay, I think I get you. You're saying people have no inherent right to live free of being exposed to things they find offensive, is that it? I was confused before and thought you were making some statement about, I don't know, society being okay with people who take offense but not being okay with people who don't.

 

[NotMoreZombies]

So we've reached the point now where developers preemptively apologize for all the thin skinned folks that are going to throw a fit over their game?

Yes because using German in title, using the SS deathshead emblem and using German uniforms isn't in anyway looking Nazis.

Death's Head emblem goes back to a Prussian cavalry unit, the Death's Head Hussars. This emblem was also standard uniform for any German tank crew, as tanks were considered an evolution of the cavalry role in military doctrine.

While the SS were generally loathsome human beings, the German army deserves a certain amount of respect. Their batshit crazy leader demanded the impossible out of them and they did a pretty good job of making it seem possible at times.

That plays a funny little parallel to the game. You're given an impossible mission and then you get to go at it for a while, but you'll always die in the end.

Oh, and the emblems look nothing like the skull up there. The emblem the Nazis used was never forward facing but presented a 3/4ths view and always had the mouth closed. Also, the German military still dresses impeccably. It's a German thing, not a Nazi thing.

This entire enterprise is to ensure that if you're going to be offended, you should be well-informed and offended. I don't actually care that much, but I do love a good history lesson.

Yeah right mate, next you will be telling me the Swastika came from India so it shouldn't be counted. I have no respect for the wehrmacht whatsoever. There is the upwards of 10 million rapes committed by them for for start. How about the mass executions for partisan activity or clearing minefields by driving civilians through at gunpoint. Real nice guys, you want to invite them round for dinner. Before posting about the germany army please try reading some history that wasn't written by Von Manstein. The Wehrmacht was up to its rotten little neck in war crimes.

"...next you will be telling me the Swastika came from India..."

It is, actually. But maybe you already knew that. The swastika was, and still is, a religious symbol in many Indian religions. Feel free to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

But aside from that, I got the German vibe straight away. I won't say it bothered me, but I refuse to believe no-one working on this game didn't stop and think that some people might draw parallels between the aesthetic of the Nazis and that of their fictional military force.

 

[ForumSafari]

I like Luftrausers and I have nothing against playing as a Nazi as it goes. Having said that I found what I took to be Indiana Jones style Nazi imagery to be incredibly strong, as in I don't see how it could have been an accident.

 

[JMac85]

Considering all the brutal empires from history you can play as in the Civilization games, simply playing as Nazi Germany shouldn't be that shocking. Obviously if there were a game like Holocaust Simulator 2015 or whatever it would be in poor taste, but even then, I wouldn't necessarily be in favor of banning such a game.

 

[UberPubert]

This is a really bizarre story. I feel like it's from some parallel, alternate reality where nazis have been banned in videogames, despite the opposite having been true for decades, and these games were clearly about nazis, not just sporting a similar aesthetic. You can't even make the case that "Well, in this game the protagonist is a nazi!" because players being able to be nazis has also been around as long as multiplayer for said decade old games.

 

[Gronk]

Personally, I always have a weakness for wwII games where you get to play as the germans. There are so many games where you play as the allied forces, it has gotten a bit boring. I had no interest in that rts wwII game (can't remember the name of it right now) until they had an axis campaign. Battlefield 1942, always played ze germans. Even crappy movies like "the bunker" get a little more interesting because the main characters are germans.

Trying to remove the "bad guys" from games like this only makes them more "exotic" so to speak.

I am fully aware that in real life, the nazis were scum, but there is still a bit of fascination of playing as the bad-guy, just like i prefer playing as the empire in star wars, whenever i get the chance. Sorry if any rebels get offended