Why does game not use real German flag?

[thornik]

Love the game. Still learning and consider myself a beginner, but working my way through my first couple of games. Great fun. Major kudos to the team that designed / developed this.

Just a bit annoyed by the German flag thing. Not a big deal, but shouldn't a historical wargame be...well...historical? Why not use the real Nazi flag as the other countries use their real flags / emblems? Is there a law of some kind in UK? If that is why - does anyone else see the irony?

[filo]

there's a mod that changes german flag to the nazi one just check the mod section i don't remember the name ATM

[Blathergut]

Love the game. Still learning and consider myself a beginner, but working my way through my first couple of games. Great fun. Major kudos to the team that designed / developed this.

Just a bit annoyed by the German flag thing. Not a big deal, but shouldn't a historical wargame be...well...historical? Why not use the real Nazi flag as the other countries use their real flags / emblems? Is there a law of some kind in UK? If that is why - does anyone else see the irony?

I suspect it has to do with laws in Germany, where the game is also sold. It seems an easy thing to accept to respect the reasons behind such. As mentioned, it can be modified by individuals.

[thornik]

there's a mod that changes german flag to the nazi one just check the mod section i don't remember the name ATM

I'll take a look. Thanks for the helpful response.

[admin]

Yes, anything related to the Nazis is banned in Germany and so any game releasing there is prohibited from using swastikas and numerous other symbols related to the nazis. It's just not an option.

[ferokapo]

Yes, anything related to the Nazis is banned in Germany and so any game releasing there is prohibited from using swastikas and numerous other symbols related to the nazis. It's just not an option.

That is a slight exaggeration, not "anything related to the Nazis is banned", but only very few symbols, such as the Swastika.

By the way, the flag used for Germany is not entirely incorrect, it was the national flag until 1935, when it got replaced by the well-known Swastika flag. Further, the Balkenkreuz used for the units is correct, since that was the emblem of all Wehrmacht units (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkenkreuz). So in effect, we're talking about a handful of screens (Diplomacy, Research, ...) with an outdated flag for Germany. Not really a big deal, I think.

[IainMcNeil]

It is not much of an exaggeration - there is a long document listing 50-100 symbols related to nazis that cannot be used, images of hitler and nazi slogans, anyone making a nazi salute, various other war criminals. It is a very complex minefield and even if you avoid everything in the docs you can still be banned as its all down to the personal opinions of the review board. E.g. CEAW has a 12 rating and Panzer Corps an 18 rating and they have exactly the same type of content. Different people, different result.

[ferokapo]

It is not much of an exaggeration - there is a long document listing 50-100 symbols related to nazis that cannot be used, images of hitler and nazi slogans, anyone making a nazi salute, various other war criminals. It is a very complex minefield and even if you avoid everything in the docs you can still be banned as its all down to the personal opinions of the review board. E.g. CEAW has a 12 rating and Panzer Corps an 18 rating and they have exactly the same type of content. Different people, different result.

I thought you meant legally banned, as in "get sued in a court if you use them at all". I did not recognize you were talking about the age ratings for games. That commission (Bundesprüfstelle) is a complete joke, I agree with you. So do most sane adults... Only recently a re-evaluation let them un-ban "Doom".... that says it all...

[Wargamer74]

I get so sick of the censorship but at the same time some people do find it offensive, for me it doesn't bother me and I do have a historical fascination with the The Third Reich but that doesn't make me a Nazi. But my biggest gripe is every time I get a new wargame it usually means one of the first things I have to do is make a Nazi flag mod for it and it can be a real pain to get it to look right so it matches the artwork.

One of the worst was Gary Grigsby's World At World A World Divided, one of my favorites, you can think of it as a more historical and realistic version of the Axis & Allies board game, but anyway all the flags that come with the game have a waving ripple effect and I literally had to do it over and over again just to make it look as close as possible to the originals and I don't like doing things half ass.

LoL my nephew asked me if I was a Nazi because of all the German flag clipart in my pictures folder downloaded from the internet, I had to explain there just for my wargames.

[Samhain]

I think the best solution is having the Maltese cross instead of the swastika. It seems to have worked pretty well for Operation Wintersun/Wintersonne.