It seems that SEGA’s new RTS, Company of Heroes 2, will no longer occupy store shelves in Russia as its publisher over there 1C-Softclub has bowed to pressure from press to remove the game from store shelves.
It seems people in Russia are taking great offense to how the game portrayed the Allied Forces in Company of Heroes (first one) as brave and honest, but the sequel, which focuses on the Russian forces, decided to use ‘offensive’ stereotypes. Relic on the other hand stand by the game, stating that it’s historically accurate, and that they used eye-witness testimony when they made the game’s story mode.
Seems that they even have a 17,000 signature petition wanting to remove the game from Steam. My opinion? As much as I hate developers showing how ‘great’ American soldiers are and how ‘every axis power is evil’ or ‘brutal’ compared to us, I have to say they are taking way too much offense to this. If you don’t like what the game offers, don’t buy it. But don’t go and force everyone not to experience it because it offends you.
Your thoughts?
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You are right. There is nothing offensive to it. Nothing that induces hate anyway. It’s an intellectual property and in such it should be seen as a form of fredom of expression. By starting a petition, they are starting a form of censorship. So, are we going backwards, Russia?
You think a petition is a form of censorship? No, not in of itself. I am also skeptical of unconditional endorsement of freedom of expression–some expression has social repercussion or is otherwise not desirable i.e. content with sexist or racist intent. Some businesses and government already censor content and language anyway
If you think Russia is going backwards (assuming this is a veiled “communism is bad even though it’s not a communist country” comment), i would consider first looking at other issues like their recent crackdown on “homosexual propaganda”, due to the Catholic orthodoxy having extremely strong influence there. I’ve even seen more in-depth debaters in political theory claim that Russia was never a communist country (from a marxist perspective) i.e. Stalin was purely an authoritarian dictator
I do think it should be released for those interested in playing. I do think also that if they so choose people should raise a fuss about perceived political issues as it bleeds into what is ostensibly just “art/entertainment” or a “creative decision.”
I’m not sure what exactly is the content of the game that is objectionable (seeing as the content in question is about tone and not simply a detail to be picked out, so it requires more research), having not researched this and not being interested in Company of Heroes in the first place, but history can indeed be whitewashed and portrayals skewed to facilitate receptivity with a certain audience.
Russians pirate everything. EVERYTHING. Downloadable games over there sell for pennies on the dollar in hopes of publishers actually seeing some money as opposed to none. In short, this isn’t a big deal for Sega. They don’t stand to lose much anyway.
Success! George your being stupid if you think a game will insult our company and we will let them profit from our heard earned earnings!
I meant country*
I’m an absolutist on freedom of expression, censoring racist/sexist content is stupid too because it’s just a slippery slope as to what people find offensive.
Too subjective so why bother governing it in the arts?
As for this, the shit they are freaking about IS exaggerated, however it’s all true. Like the trampler squads that ran in front of other squads to sacrifice themselves to detonate mines.
That actually happened, penal battalions (aka criminals, including innocent political prisoners) were forced into those squads and were forced to die to detonate mines.
I haven’t played the game and those protesting the game haven’t provided a detailed explanation of what they find offensive besides the disparity of character between the American and Soviet military. I can sympathize. The American soldier was not a paragon of virtue any more than the Soviet conscript was a devil. However, there are historical events that do point to a marked dearth of character on the side of the Soviet government. One instance is the Katyn Massacre. Over 20,000 Polish military and police officers, land and factory owners, lawyers, government officials, and priests were executed between the months of April and May in 1940.