<sarcasm>I know, I know, it’s shocking to discover that a wargaming company produces games that “simulate violent combat“. You’d think they’d realize that nobody is actually interested in violence or combat, and especially not “violent combat”, as this game is alleged to glorify:</sarcasm>
One player racks up points by defeating Native American tribal leaders, the other by snuffing out settlements of English colonists. Capture Boston or Plymouth Colony? Victory is yours.
That’s the gist of “King Philip’s War,” a board game based on a bloody and violent clash of the same name between colonists and Indian tribes in 17th-century New England, and developed by a company partly owned by former major league pitcher Curt Schilling.
The game’s designer says he hopes to educate children and others about a war that cost thousands of lives but receives scant attention in history books. But some Native Americans want the game blocked from release, saying it trivializes the conflict and insensitively perpetuates a stereotype of Indian tribes as bellicose savages.
The people getting all hot and bothered by this are clearly people who’ve never even seen a board wargame.
Given that the game wasn’t going to see publication until MMP got enough orders to justify printing and distributing it, I suspect this will end up being another Streisand Effect in operation.
Doesn’t it also show the colonists in a bad light also? People complain about everything why should this be such a big deal? I might understand if it was a video game with highly graphic depictions instead of a board game.
Comment by will penman — April 16, 2010 @ 16:28
You’d think we were talking about some kind of 3D immersive environment, from the tone of the conversation. It’s a wargame, something like this:
Cardbord chits on a paper map. With (typically) a dozen or more pages of rules, charts, and tables. Someone who can invest that kind of effort to play a game isn’t likely to take away the kind of message the protest group feels is harmful to tribes or their members.
Comment by Nicholas — April 16, 2010 @ 17:02
David S. commented on Facebook “I saw this on The Miniatures Page. I thought some people were having an extreme case of the sillies. Here is one of the threads that have popped up about it:
http://www.facebook.com/l/bccc9;theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=196444.”
Comment by Nicholas — April 16, 2010 @ 17:07
Oh, and if any of you fans of “violent combat” would like to pre-order the game, you can do so here.
Comment by Nicholas — April 16, 2010 @ 17:40
ha! I thought it would at least include a few figurines or something 3 dimensional. Are there even any violent pictures in the rules? Maybe next they will complain that history lessons are teaching children to be violent and are promoting hatred to natives.
Comment by will penman — April 16, 2010 @ 18:25