Thursday, September 30, 2010

Shooting game angers victims' relatives



A German student has created a computer game giving players a taste of life as an East German border guard shooting political fugitives fleeing to the West, to the outrage of victims' relatives.

The game "1378" -- the length in kilometers of the border between East and West Germany in the Cold War -- awards border guards who shoot an exceptional number of escapees a medal. They then find themselves in the year 2000, on trial for the shootings they carried out in the name of the East German Communist regime.
Players can also take on the role of East German fugitives trying to escape over the Berlin Wall. If caught, they are either shot or arrested and taken to prison.
Jens Stober, the 23-year-old who created the game as part of his university degree, said it had an educational aspect.
"Becoming an East German escapee or border guard enables players to identify with these figures," he said. "It's a novel way of encouraging young people to take an interest in coming to terms with recent German history."
But the Federal Foundation for the Reconciliation of the Communist Dictatorship said that while it welcomed different ways to come to terms with the 1949-1989 regime, it doubted young people would learn anything by shooting dissidents.
"Ultimately it's just an ego-shooter game, which is unacceptable given the historical context," said Dietrich Wolf, spokesman for the foundation.
Theodor Mettrup of the Association for Victims of Communist Tyranny said the game "makes a mockery of the victims."
"The shootings at the wall were no game -- they destroyed people's lives and families. But people playing this game won't get a sense of that," he told Reuters.
The game is due to be released on Sunday, the 20th anniversary of German reunification.
An estimated 1,000 East German citizens were killed trying to escape after the Wall was built in 1961. East German border guards were under instruction to shoot anyone trying to flee. The last East German to be shot crossing the border was Chris Gueffroy in February 1989.

Source 

23 comments:

  1. Thats a great idea for a game... shoot the dissidents, kinda like missile command where if one slips by you get creamed...

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  2. I hate it when people get all worked up over a video game...seriously, its just a game

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  3. seriously? this game sounds awesome, kind of disturbing but thats how we like it

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  4. i would probably be kind of upset too :/

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  5. Must play this game. Where can i get it!

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  6. Sounds like a fun game. People get too worked up about Video games.

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  7. I'm tempted to look around for it....

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  8. I will try to play this game ...tanks for sharing !

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  9. sick, but hey... its freedom of expression...

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  10. eh, i mean we watch and play all these games/movies its only human to mimic them.

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  11. People really do need to stop blaming video games for everything.
    This one's tough, though. In germany it would be totally unacceptable, but some of the things done in university degrees aren't supposed to be totally acceptable.

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  12. Damn, at least someone had fun. /dance

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  13. Wow, I never knew games had that much of an effect...

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  14. Sounds like a fun game, actually. And it has been many years since Ronald Reagan tore down the wall brick by brick swatting East German bullets away from his face like they were gnats.

    I remember those times. Good times.

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