Videogamers too Thick to Understand Holocaust
Debate begins about the depth of understanding gamers are capable of
Imagination is the Only Escape is a game rejected by Nintendo and now seeking crowd funding by Indiegogo. It concerns the concentration camps that destroyed the lives of millions of Jews, Slavs, disabled people, homosexual people and political prisoners. Apparently we're too dumb to understand that.
According to the game maker, Luc Bernard (who, as you can see from his video below does come over a bit like Ricky Gervias in a parody of a game developer although he appears to have serious intent), "the goal of the game is to inspire more people to research and learn about the Holocaust." However, Jewish newspaper, The Tablet doesn't think this is possible.
For his part Bernard says that, "Video games are often seen as meaningless distractions for children, but Imagination has the opportunity to blaze a trail for other games that look to tackle controversial, but important topics.
Alexander Acimen in The Tablet describes the game thus: "The game portrays a young, bug-eyed Jewish child, lost in the woods, following a fox he has befriended in order to escape the Nazis. The bright colors make it look like a bit like an expansion pack to Donkey Kong. The boy in the game, Samuel, sees his mother get killed after she sends him off to hide from Nazis."
And then he really lays into it and to gamers.
"One has to wonder whether Bernard has ever played a video game himself. If he had, he would know that games seldom inspire any sort of intellectual or historical pursuits, especially ones as grim as Holocaust research.
"In fact, if his intention is to target an audience that even in 2013 has still managed to avoid taking the Holocaust seriously enough to learn about it in earnest, the best way to spur this crowd into action probably isn’t to trivialize the subject matter by turning it a video game one can play on one’s smartphone on the way to work or in the bathroom."
He caps this 'analysis' off with the cutting, " Then again, Bernard’s aims may not be baseless—every time I play Tetris I end up researching the history of bricklayer’s unions."
What's your opinion? Or are we too shallow as gamers to have an opinion? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or in the Forum.
According to the game maker, Luc Bernard (who, as you can see from his video below does come over a bit like Ricky Gervias in a parody of a game developer although he appears to have serious intent), "the goal of the game is to inspire more people to research and learn about the Holocaust." However, Jewish newspaper, The Tablet doesn't think this is possible.
For his part Bernard says that, "Video games are often seen as meaningless distractions for children, but Imagination has the opportunity to blaze a trail for other games that look to tackle controversial, but important topics.
Alexander Acimen in The Tablet describes the game thus: "The game portrays a young, bug-eyed Jewish child, lost in the woods, following a fox he has befriended in order to escape the Nazis. The bright colors make it look like a bit like an expansion pack to Donkey Kong. The boy in the game, Samuel, sees his mother get killed after she sends him off to hide from Nazis."
And then he really lays into it and to gamers.
"One has to wonder whether Bernard has ever played a video game himself. If he had, he would know that games seldom inspire any sort of intellectual or historical pursuits, especially ones as grim as Holocaust research.
"In fact, if his intention is to target an audience that even in 2013 has still managed to avoid taking the Holocaust seriously enough to learn about it in earnest, the best way to spur this crowd into action probably isn’t to trivialize the subject matter by turning it a video game one can play on one’s smartphone on the way to work or in the bathroom."
He caps this 'analysis' off with the cutting, " Then again, Bernard’s aims may not be baseless—every time I play Tetris I end up researching the history of bricklayer’s unions."
What's your opinion? Or are we too shallow as gamers to have an opinion? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or in the Forum.