Wolfenstein 2: Anti-White?

[IMPress Polly]

Wolfenstein is an action video game franchise that dates back to 1981, but whose best-known installment is unquestionably 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, which largely defined the popular first-person shooter genre. The series was rebooted in 2009 and the recently-released Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is the second installment of the reboot series. It takes place in a fictional, alternative 1961 wherein the German Nazis won World War II and control the United States. The player is a member of the resistance tasked with trying to overthrow the German occupation.

The Wolfenstein franchise has always revolved around gunning down Nazis, either in or around World War II. Nazis were chosen to be the franchise's villains because back in 1981 Nazism was considered to be the most uniformly despised political worldview in America, and thus a choice of villain that would be uncontroversial. Wolfenstein 3D was minutely controversial with parents back in the early 1990s because of the level of blood and gore it included back in an era wherein video games were still broadly regarded as simply children's toys (to the point that the industry didn't see a need for a ratings system at the time). The game's actual themes, which boiled down to shooting generic Nazis in a satirized way, were not traditionally part of the controversy surrounding this franchise. UNTIL NOW!!

Enter 2017: a time when Nazis march down American streets chanting "Jews..will not..replace us! Jews..will not..replace us!" with Tiki torches in hand and one is socially obliged to treat them with respect and their ideas with equal consideration and legitimacy, when college campuses are expected to provide them a platform, etc. Can the Wolfenstein franchise survive this new, liberalized political correctness? To judge by the Internet's reactions to Wolfenstein II's preview trailer at this year's E3, it may struggle to. The E3 trailer generated a massive response from the Gamergate and other alt-right online communities, which didn't exist back in 2009 when the franchise was rebooted to an immensely positive reception. Many of the comments that could be found on the YouTube video for the game's E3 trailer (I'd estimate about 45% of the total) lamented the game's ostensible anti-whiteness (yes even though you play as a hulking white he-man like in every other Wolfenstein game). Here are some typical examples of that:


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Shortly after all that came the infamous events in Charlottesville. Putting it all together, publisher Bethesda decided to subsequently promote their already-finished game with a marketing campaign that made frequent, hostile allusions to alt-right movement and implied endorsements of the resistance (e.g. incorporating our slogans, like "Not My America", and so forth), such as this and this. There was also an easter egg added to the game late in development mocking Richard Spencer and the trivializing coverage that the rise of the alt-right movement has received in liberal news publications. The majority of responses that could be found on social media were very positive, but there has continued to be a real Gamergate and alt-right campaign against the game. Bethesda has explained that recent events (such as Charlottesville, the online reaction to their trailers claiming the franchise is anti-white, etc.) have left them feeling morally obliged to comment on current events, which they regard as reflecting a sad state of affairs considering that Wolfenstein, including this latest installment, has never been intended as a serious political commentary:

"At the time, none of us expected that the game would be seen as a comment on current issues, but here we are. Bethesda doesn't develop games to make specific statements or incite political discussions. We make games that we think are fun, meaningful, and immersive for a mature audience. In 'Wolfenstein's' case, it's pure coincidence that Nazis are marching in the streets of America this year. And it's disturbing that the game can be considered a controversial political statement at all."

They added:

"We don't feel it's a reach for us to say Nazis are bad and un-American. And we're not worried about being on the right side of history here."

Unfortunately, I fear that an increasing number of Americans disagree, and THAT is what's truly sad. At least in my mind. But maybe you disagree with me about that. What do you think? Is Wolfenstein anti-white or is white racism becoming worryingly popular (especially online)?

[Standing Wolf]

First of all, I've got to say...a Nazi who calls himself "Pepe Von Europa"? Sounds like a cross-dressing cabaret singer.

Seriously, though, if a group chooses to promote itself on the basis of its "racial purity"/Whiteness, and to identify with a universally despised lot of truly evil, homicidal b*st*rds, it doesn't make a whole lot of rational sense to then complain that a game depicting violence against that earlier group (or their fictional, alternate history counterparts) is 'anti-white".

[donttread]

Wolfenstein is an action video game franchise that dates back to 1981, but whose best-known installment is unquestionably 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, which largely defined the popular first-person shooter genre. The series was rebooted in 2009 and the recently-released Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is the second installment of the reboot series. It takes place in a fictional, alternative 1961 wherein the German Nazis won World War II and control the United States. The player is a member of the resistance tasked with trying to overthrow the German occupation.

The Wolfenstein franchise has always revolved around gunning down Nazis, either in or around World War II. Nazis were chosen to be the franchise's villains because back in 1981 Nazism was considered to be the most uniformly despised political worldview in America, and thus a choice of villain that would be uncontroversial. Wolfenstein 3D was minutely controversial with parents back in the early 1990s because of the level of blood and gore it included back in an era wherein video games were still broadly regarded as simply children's toys (to the point that the industry didn't see a need for a ratings system at the time). The game's actual themes, which boiled down to shooting generic Nazis in a satirized way, were not traditionally part of the controversy surrounding this franchise. UNTIL NOW!!

Enter 2017: a time when Nazis march down American streets chanting "Jews..will not..replace us! Jews..will not..replace us!" with Tiki torches in hand and one is socially obliged to treat them with respect and their ideas with equal consideration and legitimacy, when college campuses are expected to provide them a platform, etc. Can the Wolfenstein franchise survive this new, liberalized political correctness? To judge by the Internet's reactions to Wolfenstein II's preview trailer at this year's E3, it may struggle to. The E3 trailer generated a massive response from the Gamergate and other alt-right online communities, which didn't exist back in 2009 when the franchise was rebooted to an immensely positive reception. Many of the comments that could be found on the YouTube video for the game's E3 trailer (I'd estimate about 45% of the total) lamented the game's ostensible anti-whiteness (yes even though you play as a hulking white he-man like in every other Wolfenstein game). Here are some typical examples of that:


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Shortly after all that came the infamous events in Charlottesville. Putting it all together, publisher Bethesda decided to subsequently promote their already-finished game with a marketing campaign that made frequent, hostile allusions to alt-right movement and implied endorsements of the resistance (e.g. incorporating our slogans, like "Not My America", and so forth), such as this and this. There was also an easter egg added to the game late in development mocking Richard Spencer the trivializing coverage that the rise of the alt-right movement has received in liberal news publications. The majority of responses that could be found on social media were very positive, but there has continued to be a real Gamergate and alt-right campaign against the game. Bethesda has explained that recent events (such as Charlottesville, the online reaction to their trailers claiming the franchise is anti-white, etc.) have left them feeling morally obliged to comment on current events, which they regard as reflecting a sad state of affairs considering that Wolfenstein, including this latest installment, has never been intended as a serious political commentary:



They added:



Unfortunately, I fear that an increasing number of Americans disagree, and THAT is what's truly sad. At least in my mind. But maybe you disagree with me about that. What do you think? Is Wolfenstein anti-white or is white racism becoming worryingly popular (especially online)?

I think your worried about nothing. Free speech has always applied to the hated as well as the loved. That is not something new and not something we can be us without. But the amount of support limits the platform.
Nazi's are still hateable , enough more so than congress!

[Mister D]

Did you take yourself seriously as a Maoist? Sorry, your condemnation of Nazism (or what passes for Nazism these days) rings hollow.

Anyway, the tiny minority of weirdos playing Nazi are irrelevant. In light of the irrelevancy of Nazism the real question here is why are we always reminded of Nazi evil? It's certainly not unique. How and why did Nazis become the archetypal villains?

[resister]

Did you take yourself seriously as a Maoist? Sorry, your condemnation of Nazism (or what passes for Nazism these days) rings hollow.

Anyway, the tiny minority of weirdos playing Nazi are irrelevant. In light of the irrelevancy of Nazism the real question here is why are we always reminded of Nazi evil? It's certainly not unique. How and why did Nazis become the archetypal villains?

How did Hitler tie his boots? In little Nazis! lol

[Mister D]

How did Hitler tie his boots? In little Nazis! lol

The History Channel should be called the Hitler Channel. They probably do have a documentary about how he tied his shoes.

[Chris]

Did you take yourself seriously as a Maoist? Sorry, your condemnation of Nazism (or what passes for Nazism these days) rings hollow.

Anyway, the tiny minority of weirdos playing Nazi are irrelevant. In light of the irrelevancy of Nazism the real question here is why are we always reminded of Nazi evil? It's certainly not unique. How and why did Nazis become the archetypal villains?

They opposed communism? Liberalism in general.

[Mister D]

They opposed communism? Liberalism in general.

I think that explains the alliance between the West and the USSR. I just find it odd that even after half a century of intensive Cold War propaganda the archetypal villain was still not a Soviet agent, commissar etc. but a Nazi officer.

[IMPress Polly]

Mister D wrote:
I think that explains the alliance between the West and the USSR. I just find it odd that even after half a century of intensive Cold War propaganda the archetypal villain was still not a Soviet agent, commissar etc. but a Nazi officer.

Maybe that's because it's tough to persuade the majority of people that anything else human beings have done to date has actually been worse than the Holocaust and starting the most devastating war in human history.

[Mister D]

Maybe that's because it's tough to persuade the majority of people that anything else human beings have done to date has actually been worse than the Holocaust and starting the most devastating war in human history.

It's actually pretty easy. Your Maoist friends alone have been responsible for many more civilian deaths than the Nazis never mind the the USSR, the Khmer Rouge etc. You were one misguided lil' gal back in your Maoist days. So why do we focus so much on Nazis?

As for the war, it never would have happened had Germany not been persecuted for the First World War. That's not particularly controversial. Moreover, let's not forget how amenable your red friends were to Hitler. After all, they happily dismembered Poland with Nazi Germany.