Why can't i play Nazi's?

[Mojave]

We have all seen the many many MANY WWII games in which we play as either the allies or the sovjets. But why are there so few games in which i can play as the Nazi's?

The ethical/political discussion aside, war is hell, for both sides. The Allies weren't fighting demons, the Axis suffered a great deal as well. And i think it's about time we gave Hans in the trench a little bit more of a human face.

 

[AmrasCalmacil]

Ethical and political arguments aside?

It won't sell.

 

[GoblinOnFire]

Simply put: you can't set ethical/political discussion aside when it comes to nazis.
In Company Of Heroes, you can play as Wermacht. Not Nazis per ce, but German Troops.
Not good enough?

 

[Torque669]

I see where your coming from but for the same reason Call of Duty's and the like are despised in Germany, One in which you fight as the Nazi's will be despised by countries such as America and Russia. I would like to see a game where you play as Nazi's because you could focus on great fights like Stalingrad and the Kessel in more detail and would be amazing to fight in them.

Also if you were on the German side, no doubt you would get messages from Hitler and not many people approve of this. I think the last time Hitler was included in a game was Command and Conquer Red Alert.

It would make a good game but whether you would be able to buy it is hazy at best

EDIT: Welcome to the Escapist by the way.

 

[Motti]

We have all seen the many many MANY WWII games in which we play as either the allies or the sovjets. But why are there so few games in which i can play as the Nazi's?

The ethical/political discussion aside, war is hell, for both sides. The Allies weren't fighting demons, the Axis suffered a great deal as well. And i think it's about time we gave Hans in the trench a little bit more of a human face.

Because the nazi's were clearly evil and weren't really human. We should do nothing to change this image and apply it to modern Germany.
I don't actually think this (sarcasm doesn't come across too well on the interwebz), but many people do. If there was a shooter made with a nazi character that wasn't a defecting love interest for the main hero (let alone, god forbid a playable character), it would quickly go the way of six days in fallujah. We all know how well that went.
I suppose it's kind of sad that this sort of view limits the areas that videogames can go, but that's life for you. People are stupid.

 

[AmrasCalmacil]

I see where your coming from but for the same reason Call of Duty's and the like are despised in Germany, One in which you fight as the Nazi's will be despised by countries such as America and Russia. I would like to see a game where you play as Nazi's because you could focus on great fights like Stalingrad and the Kessel in more detail and would be amazing to fight in them.

Also if you were on the German side, no doubt you would get messages from Hitler and not many people approve of this. I think the last time Hitler was included in a game was Command and Conquer Red Alert.

It would make a good game but whether you would be able to buy it is hazy at best

A game where you play as the Nazis would be even more despised in Germany, I think.

I agree there's potential though, hell, you could even play as Hitler Youth nearing the end of the War when they were basically sent out to the front line.

 

[UnravThreads]

I think it's just one of those places where companies just don't want to go.

Maybe once we see the passing of the last WW2 survivors, but until then? Nah. Same reason we don't have any games about escaping from concentration camps and so forth.

 

[5stringedbandit]

You clearly haven't played "Tourch the Jew" or "Sieg Hail! 6"

 

[lostclause]

I think it's just one of those places where companies just don't want to go.

Maybe once we see the passing of the last WW2 survivors, but until then? Nah. Same reason we don't have any games about escaping from concentration camps and so forth.

Not quite, there was a great escape game.

I'd buy it. A sympathetic depiction of the nazis doesn't bother me, a little balance to the world would be nice.

 

[Torque669]

I see where your coming from but for the same reason Call of Duty's and the like are despised in Germany, One in which you fight as the Nazi's will be despised by countries such as America and Russia. I would like to see a game where you play as Nazi's because you could focus on great fights like Stalingrad and the Kessel in more detail and would be amazing to fight in them.

Also if you were on the German side, no doubt you would get messages from Hitler and not many people approve of this. I think the last time Hitler was included in a game was Command and Conquer Red Alert.

It would make a good game but whether you would be able to buy it is hazy at best

A game where you play as the Nazis would be even more despised in Germany, I think.

I agree there's potential though, hell, you could even play as Hitler Youth nearing the end of the War when they were basically sent out to the front line.

Yes that would be good but than would come the weird Fallout 3 predicament where Children cannot actually be killed. So you would be fending off hordes off American soldiers without about Three Pre-Pubescant Kids. It would be madness.

And your right it would be despised but most German people's Grandads fought in WW2 and I think some would want to play to feel what it would be like in their Grandfathers predicaments.

 

[Simalacrum]

In the end, history is written by the winners - if the Nazi's had won, then we'd probably think that th allies were a bunch of tyrannical overlords that beat Germany into the ground with the treaty of Versailles, and that Hitler was some hero who liberated Germany from them. Of course, we would never know about the holocaust either. + videogames would be played from the Nazi's view.

In the end, the only reason is because we're the winners, and people want to play games from the winners point of view.

 

[UnravThreads]

I think it's just one of those places where companies just don't want to go.

Maybe once we see the passing of the last WW2 survivors, but until then? Nah. Same reason we don't have any games about escaping from concentration camps and so forth.

Not quite, there was a great escape game.

I'd buy it. A sympathetic depiction of the nazis doesn't bother me, a little balance to the world would be nice.

There was? Ah, apologies. But wasn't that from a PoW camp, not a Concentration camp?

I can see it now... Concentration CampSim!

 

[ryuutchi]

Because NO, dude.

Yes, they were humans. Yes, other humans have committed atrocities before and since, but the Nazis pretty much set the standard for the modern day concept of "The Banality of Evil". I mean, you can't really divorce "Nazi" from "Death Camp", from "Final Solution", from essentially the very atrocities that make even the use of a swastika (a relatively innocent symbol in some religions) verboten. You want to play a Nazi, you're going to have to defend your desire to play as a character who is not only supporting but defending an institution that created an entire bureaucracy dedicated to killing Jews, Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and pretty much anyone who seemed even the least bit out of place.

Yeah, you can kill, rob and maim in other games, but there's a difference between doing that and playing as a character who is a willing member of a regime that in an organized and efficient manner killed millions of people and tried to take over the world. (No, seriously, look up the concept of "Liebensraum"-- Nazi Germany was possibly the closest you could get to an IRL supervillain empire.)

 

[BladeOfAkriloth]

i think it's about time we gave Hans in the trench a little bit more of a human face.

I agree, both sides of my family fought for the Nazi regime, and media like "Inglorious Bastards" makes me want to strangle the writers, I can guarantee most of the Nazi soldiers were either indoctrinated ot did not want to fight for the regime at all, but rather were forced.

And if i may add, most of the german soldiers at that time werent even members of the National Socialist German Worker's Party (nazi party for people to lazy to look it up).

 

[lostclause]

I think it's just one of those places where companies just don't want to go.

Maybe once we see the passing of the last WW2 survivors, but until then? Nah. Same reason we don't have any games about escaping from concentration camps and so forth.

Not quite, there was a great escape game.

I'd buy it. A sympathetic depiction of the nazis doesn't bother me, a little balance to the world would be nice.

There was? Ah, apologies. But wasn't that from a PoW camp, not a Concentration camp?

I can see it now... Concentration CampSim!

True, that's the main reason I said 'not quite'. But conditions in PoW camps seem to have been not much better (unless you believe hogan's heroes).

 

[megapenguinx]

Ethical and political arguments aside?

It won't sell.

This is essentially why. No one would want to play as Nazi's because of the emotions brought up due to the Holocaust.

Even if this

I agree, both sides of my family fought for the Nazi regime, and media like "Inglorious Bastards" makes me want to strangle the writers, I can guarantee most of the Nazi soldiers were either indoctrinated ot did not want to fight for the regime at all, but rather were forced.

is also true.
People need something to make into the villain. The Nazi's are just something most people can rally together to be against.

 

[Sir Ollie]

Its a shame that you can't play the Nazis, hell it would be alot more intresting playing Call of duty especially with battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk. But alas not meant to be.

Another thing how come in games with Nazis in it the swastika always look completely wrong or its just a standard Iron cross?