From:
theAntiELVIS
Subject: RE: Wolfenstein 2000 and the
anti-game media
For
the Mailbag, Buds:
Wolfenstein 2000: BAD MOVE! The suicidal tendencies
of the development community never cease to
amaze me.
Let's follow the scenario here: Wolf 3D was
a groundbreaking game, no doubt about it. I
played it. It was my first experience with 3D
shooters (I guess it was the first). But a quick
flip through the news channels or the evening
papers today will give anyone with half a brain
the idea that a game featuring Nazis and POW
camps and killing doggies just isn't a Bright
Move, p.r.-wise. Am I advocating knuckling-under
to the anti-violent-game media? You're damn
right I am.
Look, pissing-off the adults for its own sake
when you're 12 years old is just a fact of life.
But for game developers to be re-doing what
was an incredibly tasteless game to begin with,
in a era when high school kids are re-inventing
Adolph Hitler in their own image is just plain
stupid. Games like Hidden & Dangerous can
squeak-by with a claim of "historical theme",
but Wolf was NEVER historical. It just had lots
of pictures of Adolph on the walls, surrounded
by swastika-emblazoned flags. It really could
have been any theme. You'll notice that Carmack
and Romero have moved on.
The era of "Any Press Is Good Press"
is over. If FPS gaming ever wants to move into
the mainstream of entertainment, it has to accept
some harsh realities: you stick your head up,
people will shoot at you (so to speak). Wolfenstein
2000 is exactly the kind of flash-point title
that will get politicians to call some kind
of lame committee hearings to look into censoring
games (a la Germany). The next time some maladjusted
moron walks into his math class and starts firing
Daddy's shotgun at the teacher, and then Wolf
2000 is found on his hard drive at home, YOU
KNOW what the conclusion will be among the clueless.
It doesn't matter if they're right or wrong,
it only matters that WE, all of us gamers, will
become the target of witch hunts. Do you people
really want to be playing "Pokemon 3D"
next year? Do you really want to see companies
like Ritual, id, Raven, et al, go down the tubes
because it's easier to shut them down than it
is for parents to become responsible for their
twisted offspring?
It's an election year, kids. We would make easy
meat for some shiftless politician to toss into
the grinder. And the fundamentalist Christians,
and animal rights clowns, and whoever else needs
to get some headlines. I'm not advocating censorship
- I'm advocating some common sense when it comes
to the survival of that which we all love -
fragging. They aren't going to care that you're
shooting the bad guys - they'll just see portraits
of Hitler and swastikas and dead pooches lying
around. The anti-game forces don't play the
games. They just hate them. And when it comes
down to it, they have all the power.
Case in point: The Right Reverend Jerry Falwell
has just kissed and made-up with his favorite
whipping boys, Gays. Know why? He's found a
better target to get him on CNN - us. We're
obviously in league with Satan, you know. And
this weasel has MILLIONS of dollars to smear
us with. It's coming. Get ready. We just don't
need Wolf 2000 at this point in our history.
Sorry this was so long, loony.
-tAE-
No
problem. :)
And
for the record, I agree with you (now there's
a first).