On Nazis

[DemonicVixen]

Hmmm, without looking at the link can i ask something?

Why the hell do we still consider all Germans to be bad considering Hitler is long dead and it was only him that made Germany become bastards. Why must we now still use that evil term "Nazi" when its offensive to many and banned in some places. I hate when my boyfriend goes on about "Nazi Zombies", some weird game thing he plays. I hate it. I know a couple of people from Germany who were really nice and do not and never have supported Hitler's ideas in the past. Why must we still talk about German people as if they are scum. Its not fair... Ok now im going to watch the link.

 

[Xersues]

You're absolutely right that the term Nazi is on par with demons and the devil. A seemingly "always-overtold-always-black-and-white" bad guy. Complete Zoroastrianism of good guy and bad guy no matter the cost.

Since when isn't buying something an "opt-in" action. No one spoon feeds these kids fucking video games.

Go on Timmy. Eat your god damn razer-Os in the morning.

 

[Exterminas]

Of course the nazis thougth they were the good ones. Eichmann even said that he always thougth himself to be acting according to the categorical imperative. That makes it even more amazing how the games industry is able to turn that into some kind of reaonsless cartoon-villianism. I would like to see more games about nazis that actually take time to show their twisted vision of the world and how it should be.

But then there would be the risk of some people interpretating immersive gameplay and accuarte story-telling as nazi propaganda.

 

[yaik7a]

There is a mod of WW2 where the Nazis have dino's and use for warfare most of any PC Gamers could play it cause its a source mod. And you play a pateologist. (Who of course is a american)

 

[Requi3m]

Nazis? Yeah, by our math, all nazis are evil. Problem is, you're rarely actually killing nazis in video games, or on the WWII battlefield. You're killing the soldiers out fighting for their country, which happens to be controlled by nazis. On a related note, if I've got my history right here, then if you happened to ask one of said soldiers what their opinion of the Allies were, the term 'baby boiling bastards' would have likely come up. Pretty sure that's what the German propaganda going around at the time was. Or maybe that was North American propaganda...

The worst nazi soldiers were likely the ones raised from children to fight for Hitler. They had a specific name but I can't remember what it was. They were his elite troops though and pretty sure they're the ones that ran the concentration camps and what not.

You're thinking of the SS (Shutzstaffel/protection force), they were the ones who ran the concentration camps and committed the worst atrocities. Not to be mistaken with the Waffen SS (Weapon protection/ force) which were Germany's military elite indoctrinated with SS views.

Actually, I think he's talking about the Hitlerjugend. They were all young children being prepared to be the next generation of Nazi Party members. Hook 'm while they're young.

As for the German army, I agree with the people defending the common German soldier. They were mostly scared something would happen to them or their families, so they did what they were trained to do. The propaganda put out by Goebbels and his crew helped keep people in the dark. Goebbels is seen as one of the most intelligent members of the Nazi Party. And don't forget a lot of Germans were still pretty pissed about how they were exploited to ruin by other European countries after WW1. Hitler was one of them.

Also, the German army didn't consist of only Germans, not by a long shot. They drafted a lot of soldiers from the countries they conquered. My grandfather was one of them. He was 18 when Germany invaded Poland and got put in the army by force. When the Allies invaded France he was there with a lot of soldiers forced to serve. They shot their commanders and defected to the Allies. He came back in a tank! True story .

 

[Ziren]

Nazis aren't even Always Chaotic Evil (TM), look at stuff like KdF [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KdF].

The cliché nazi is lawful evil, not chaotic.

 

[Grahwo]

Looking forwards to play as an "nazi" in Heros of Stalingrad =)
Must be the first WW2 FPS where you have a singleplayer campain where you dont shoot Germans.

 

[Jared]

Another bash at the Aussie government, gotta love it, lol.

And Nazi'z...always good for cannon fodder, do enjoy the good shooting of a nazi. Although, have to agree it does feel to be shallower and shallower each time

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

=

Nazi vampires make for really interesting bad guys see Hellsing.

Otherwise i agree with yahtzee nazis are pretty boring enemies...

Hellsing is a load of tripe. The writing is bad, the only good bits were stolen from Vampire Hunter D (and other such better vampire fiction), and it commits the immortal sin of using the name Alucard, which was stupid when castlevania thought it up. The only thing i will ay for the series is both the anime and manga have good artwork.

It's very true that not all Nazi soldiers were bad people.
Most probably weren't - even the ones involved in the most heinous acts of the war probably started out as perfectly decent chaps. However, it's easier to make them into villains because the alternative is to admit that the potential is there in all of us.

It's also true that Hitler didn't start out as an evil dictator. When he started out Germany was in a pretty bad state economically and he seemed like the man to make things better. His transition from German saviour to the Most Evil Man in History wasn't instant.

I was actually thinking the other day about the "play as a terrorist" level of MW2, I can't help but wonder if a level in one of the WW2 CoD games where you play as a young Nazi soldier would have been a more interesting prospect.

You are correct sir, but the generally (and, following the nazi war trials, legally) held opinon is that "following orders" isn't an excuse when such "clearly" inhumane activity is in question. Apparently Nazi soldiers should have thrown down their guns when atrocity became present. They already ran france, they could have gotten lessons in how to do it. Also, playing as a nazi would have gotten the game banned almost worldwide (especially germany)

I think it's appalling how many people think history is what is in these games. WW2 is a fascinating study, and I wish more people would pay attention in classes about it. Ho-hum

At any rate, all of you jokers who keep saying that the worst thing hitler ever did was ruin the tiny 'stache for everyone, you are WRONG.

Nazi uniforms are MUCH snazzier than that stupid mustache ever was, and because im white and blonde with blue eyes, if i walk around dressed as an SS officer, people think im a racist terrible person. gah!

 

[Pegghead]

Well at the end of the day Hitler was just out for power, unlike most politicians he vouched to spread his influence through propaganda and fear.

I hate the Nazis with an absolute passion.

 

[Falseprophet]

Let's not forget one of the simplest reasons to make Nazis the bad guys in video games: the German people have publicly and thoroughly apologized for the actions of the Third Reich, and to this day (aside from a handful on the far-right fringes) the majority don't express romantic sentiments of Hitler's reign. They are perhaps the only defeated imperialists in history to thoroughly apologize in this manner.

This means when you make a game demonizing them, you don't get a rash of public complaints, because they've long since acknowledged their villainy. Whereas if you use any other nation, ethnic group or political faction, you're going to piss somebody off. You might piss off people with an embassy, who might get on TV or in the paper as a result, and that could be a PR nightmare. Even Ubisoft felt the need to put that disclaimer at the beginning of the first Assassin's Creed game because people still complain about the depiction of participants in wars that happened a thousand years ago!

 

[ravensshade]

I think anyone who has ever paid attention in history class knows about the Nazi's and their actions it's not old news. Putting them in every WW2 style game does get a little boring after defeating them oh say 10 times. Mix it up a little eh?

Time travelling super nazis would be nice for once!

freedom force vs the 3rd reich went that road allready (well okay... one super nazi... with robots and monkeys....)

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

There is a mod of WW2 where the Nazis have dino's and use for warfare most of any PC Gamers could play it cause its a source mod. And you play a pateologist. (Who of course is a american)

What? You've lost me somewhere in there.

Well at the end of the day Hitler was just out for power, unlike most politicians he vouched to spread his influence through propaganda and fear.

I hate the Nazis with an absolute passion.

How is the propoganda different from any other politician? Hell, I'm pretty sure at one point an alabama congressman has even written "kill te jews" on a wall somewhere.

I think so. Maybe not.

 

[cieply]

Yahtzee, you forgot that people already have a choice. To BUY the game. What's the reason to buy a pile of shit and then pimp it out? When you buy something, you want it with full content. Why download anything while just checking a box would be more convinient? Oh yeah I forgot about those false curaders of righteousnes...

As for natzis, I don't think they were monsters. They just have a shitload of "bad press" In medieval times folks were doing much more interesting stuff while sacking cities. And gypsies got it as hard back then as jews did during WW2. It's just that gypsies weren't so "outspoken" (having a lot of money and connections would help them too). And as killing wasn't as organized as in natzi germany, the worse thing was that normal people were killing gypsies (and jews) as a good and healthy pastime.

Of course SS was a special bunch of people but such brainwashed organizations were happening all across the history.

Probably I just like killing natzis as half of my family died during WW2.

 

[EliteFreq]

Any indie game developers interested in making a game about McDonald's Nazis?

 

[Pegghead]

-Snip-

How is the propoganda different from any other politician? Hell, I'm pretty sure at one point an alabama congressman has even written "kill te jews" on a wall somewhere.

I think so. Maybe not.

Well yes all politicians are going to do whatever they can in order to gain power. But when you think about it it's like comparing the Australia Labor party ads

Spoiler: It's just a bit of friendly competition, some of these ads bordered on ridiculous back in our last election

To, well uh...Der ewige jude. An old propaganda film (It was originally an art exhibition) which compared Jews with vermin and associated them with Communism, And I'm not going to post it here for fear of getting banned.

 

[Angerwing]

never thought the Wehrmacht as the bad guys, only the SS.

On the other hand, the german ppl did put Hitler in power so accountability is still there.

Hitler took power through extremely tricky political maneuvering. He pretty much manipulated Hindenburg into making him Chancellor, and then he gave himself complete power. There was no democracy in Hitler's rise. With the help of the Freikorps, who pretty much became the SA (who were later absorbed by the SS), Hitler strong-armed his way around political Germany with his own private army. He even attempted a coup.

So yeah, you can't hold the German people accountable for Hitler's rise.

strong arm tactics or not, the german ppl cheered in glee waving their flags and doing their signature solute when Chancellor Palpatine Hitler came parading by in the early years b4 the SS struck fear into each an everyone of them.

But hey we've all been there when an idiot took power and dragged us into a war.

He played to their fears and hopes. He knew what problems people were dealing with, and he made them think he could fix them. Again, you can't hold the German people accountable. They weren't clapping for a mad-man who perpetrated genocide, but for a hope-inspiring leader. It's a bit ignorant to expect them to know what his plans were.

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Dereks]

Actually, there is a game about how bad McFood is: http://www.mcvideogame.com/

shit, I was going to post this one you outran me

 

[ewhac]

The food at McDonalds is pretty bad, too, but I never see you make games about that.

Ahem: Give Me The Brain [http://cheapass.com/products/cardgames/cag525.html]

Check out all their other offerings as well. Cheapass Games do some wonderful stuff.

 

[Ph0t0n1c Ph34r]

The thing I find the most interesting is that somehow almost no one person on earth ever seems to consider that Nazi soldiers were just that... soldiers. Doing what they where told to do, either believing it to be right or not thinking at all.
It's like blaming an US Soldier, stationed in Iraq, for all the bad things the Bush administration has done to civil rights or economy or whatever...
These people had nothing to do with all the stuff the higher ups decided. Hell, I'm convinced that not even all the higher ups had their minds set on eradicating all those other, lesser races. They probably had the same thing in mind that every form of military has in mind to this day. Win...
But 70 years past all that, the whole world has pretty much accepted that every single soldier who has ever fought for the Germans between 1939 and 1945 ate babies for breakfast and praised Satan in between daily sessions of genocide.

Ever played any first person shooter that had Nazis in it and thought to yourself : "I wonder if this guy has a family. Maybe he's doing this to feed his kids. Maybe it's his last day because tomorrow he'll have enough of this mindless fighting and BOOOOM there goes his head..."

I couldn't agree more. "And maybe this guy is doing this for the exact same reason I'm doing mine: patriotism and belief in a cause."

Screw shooting Russian civilians in airports, if games want to be more mature and intelligent then just "Call of America: Kill America's enemies) we should have a WW2 game set from the German point of view.

Funny thing is, the last couple of levels is killing just American soldiers. But I think that is a great idea. It would be interesting to see the war from the German point of view.