We are comfortable with Nazis as demons. This is wrong.

[nemowolf]

From Ars Technica:

The tight-rope walk of using historical settings in games, and the enemies that exist inside those settings, is a tricky one. One Joystiq writer, while watching game play from Call of Duty: World at War, was unable to continue viewing the game because of his feelings about the racial makeup of the enemy.

Good article that really makes you think about the state of our mindset as gamers and how we can really demonize a group. I started thinking back to Wolfenstein and how this helped make killing Nazis okay.

[RicheemxX]

IMO I think the stance the Joystiq writer took was BS

"I have a very personal problem with demonizing the Japanese. I don't feel that way about the Nazis. I draw a disconnect between Nazis and Germans as large as the divide between 'alien' and human. The Nazis have been transformed into monsters, which does not need to be justified in my gaming,"

You draw a line in the sand because you feel its wrong to depict one nationality in a negative , all be it historically accurate, light but don't see any issue with depicting another that way. That is complete and utter crap!

I see no "demonizing" going on in that trailer they show things that actually happened, this is real life the Japanese did what they did there is no sugar coating it. I'll agree they can't be put in the same category as some of the atrocities of what the Nazis did but still.

[GroundZero3]

How is it "demonizing" a group of people when Japanese/German soldiers were killing innocent people? The Nazis were monsters and the Japanese were looking for expansion and saw the united states as a threat. They attacked us and we responded. As allies fighters moved closer to Japan, the Japanese soldiers became even more vicious and resorted to kamikaze and banzai attacks on US soldiers. War is ugly, for all parties involved. Perhaps someone should take a history lesson and realize ugly things did happen to American soldiers in captivity Bataan Death March - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia among other atrocities that occurred. Not a lot of focus has been put on the pacific campaigns of WW2 which is really sad as some of those conditions our soldiers fought in were some of the toughest.

If someone reviewer wants to turn a blind eye to what really happened in WW2. That is fine, however perhaps they should stick to paper Mario if they want to ignore history.

Personally im getting tired of all the War games. COD4 was enjoyable but i feel alot of the gaming community is becoming war tired.

[tony_j15]

"Nazi" was a political party consisting of politicians, civilians, and some soldiers.
The German fighting forces were merely a tool of the regime, no different from any other people. They committed atrocities at the decisions of their leaders. Allied soldiers did the same. Anyone who attempts to learn history from a video game is being ridiculous. The viewpoint is narrow, one sided, and more often than not, incorrect. Germans and Japanese are always painted poorly, or given the role of the enemy and loser. Allied forces are always painted heroically and given situations where they overcome. Notice: no one has bothered to make an FPS out of Operation: Market Garden. Why? Because the Allies horribly bungled it and it was a failure.

[thephilosophizer]

If you ask the Chinese about the history of WWII they will tell you that the Japanese were evil like the Nazis, with stories like the rape of Nanking.
Many nations in the world have a dark place in history, and to bring out those dark places my be uncomfortable for some people, but to forget, or deny the things that happened is far worse.
I should wonder how people might respond to a video game where you are a native american tasked with defending your people against the conquering US armies. Would you be offended by being shown the atrocities committed by our own country?

[xelnanga]

What I have yet to see is a FPS video game which features a realistic single player campaign as Germans. Of course it's natural to call the Japanese and the Germans enemies and monsters, because we won. Had the Axis won, would they have not called the Americans and the Allied forces monsters as well? (Refer to this page for a massive list*)

I think a WWII FPS game that portrays the war accurately is the Brother in Arms series. War is not about heroes vs. monsters; rather it's humans against humans. All soldiers are humans; they have emotions, philosophies and all differ in each unique way.

*Note: Of course there is an equally long, if not longer list for the Axis.

[super gerbil]

If you ask the Chinese about the history of WWII they will tell you that the Japanese were evil like the Nazis, with stories like the rape of Nanking.
Many nations in the world have a dark place in history, and to bring out those dark places my be uncomfortable for some people, but to forget, or deny the things that happened is far worse.
I should wonder how people might respond to a video game where you are a native american tasked with defending your people against the conquering US armies.

If you ask me, a US Citizen, I will tell you that some actions committed by the Japanese were as evil as the Nazis'. It is part of history. Why do u think only the Chinese will comment on their actions?

Would you be offended by being shown the atrocities committed by our own country?

No, I would not.

[pullmyfoot]

"Nazi" was a political party consisting of politicians, civilians, and some soldiers.
The German fighting forces were merely a tool of the regime, no different from any other people. They committed atrocities at the decisions of their leaders. Allied soldiers did the same. Anyone who attempts to learn history from a video game is being ridiculous. The viewpoint is narrow, one sided, and more often than not, incorrect. Germans and Japanese are always painted poorly, or given the role of the enemy and loser. Allied forces are always painted heroically and given situations where they overcome. Notice: no one has bothered to make an FPS out of Operation: Market Garden. Why? Because the Allies horribly bungled it and it was a failure.

IMO, the Nazi leaders were monsters. As for the soldiers, no doubt some of them were too.. however you could say the same about a select group of soldiers in any army. However, IMO, most of them were doing it so they wouldnt get shot themselves in the head by their own leaders.

I guess there is a very thin line between simply stating facts and going overboard and causing the Nazis of the past to the Germans of today.

In the end, its all really a chicken and egg thing.. After all, no man is an island. No doubt some of the blame of the fact that Hitler came into power in the first place can be put on the shoulders of others.. The Versailles Treaty for example. Not to say that it was wrong, but perhaps they went a little overboard on a country already struggling to survive. The Allies were not monsters of course, but its something to think about I guess

[xelnanga]

The Allies were not monsters of course, but its something to think about I guess

Had the Axis won, would they have not called the Americans and the Allied forces monsters as well? (Refer to this page for a massive list)

[pullmyfoot]

Yeah, exactly, there are naturally going to be monsters on both sides - like it or not its human nature. Well, in the end its really a case of which side you happened to be on. If that was the losing side, well too bad.

I wonder what would happen if the Germans created a game whereby they won WW2? Is there such a game circulating about?

[thephilosophizer]

I wonder what would happen if the Germans created a game whereby they won WW2? Is there such a game circulating about?

Not something the Germans would do. Germany as a culture really wants to forgot WWII, no one there takes pride in what happened. But on a similar note there have been games to suggest different outcomes for the cold war, like world in conflict.