US Participatory Wargames Show

[Adrian Nayler]

It seems to me that matters of dubious taste (in games as in life) are most often subjective rather than absolute, with protestations often raised without making an objective assessment (which, of course, is itself subjective). I'm reminded of a board game that apparently raised the hackles of some. I don't wish to use the 'H' word, knowing that by doing so I lose the moral high ground and with it the argument, but the game was called "Secret Hitler".

The premise was that the players, between 5 and 10 in number, play politicians in pre-fascist Germany; some trying to achieve a fascist ascendancy (the secret 'Hitlerites') whilst the majority attempt to prevent it (the Liberals). Whether one finds this premise objectionable or not, I was amused by the section of the publisher's website entitled "I don't think there's anything funny or cool about fascism. Who can I complain to?"

The webpage then helpfully provides an extensive list of politicians and their contact details, apparently to facilitate one's complaint to be made. It may not just be for the sake of irony that the representatives concerned all appear to be of the same political leaning. For the purposes of objective enquiry you can find it here:

https://www.secrethitler.com/#objectors

[Jim Webster]

My contribution to bad taste wargaming? Many years ago I did a Sci Fi scenario for miniwargs.
It was about a Gelf (genetically engineered life form) and was actually based on the track 'I don't like Mondays'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kobdb37Cwc

"The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody's gonna go to school today
She's gonna make them stay at home"

So this genetically engineered fighting machine (aged 16 and therefore still at school) has flipped. She's gone into school with a heavy duty energy rifle which she's chipped into.
The players are the police (lightly armed), the ambulance service (not really armed at all) and the fire brigade. (Who in one game did knock her down with a jet of water)
From outside the school they are aware of two or three bodies/casualties to recover.
They can hack into the school's IT system and cameras to see what is going on in real time.
Unfortunately so can the Gelf.
Also it can fire are targets it cannot see using the IT, and the a weapon that can fire through at least two internal walls and/or floors and can also link into the school IT.

The players aren't allowed to just kill the Gelf (after all she's only sixteen and has rights.)
We played it twice, and it worked really well with Hell by Starlight.
In both games the players managed to avoid further casualties, selectively closing down parts of the IT system so the Gelf couldn't see them and finally hitting the Gelf with tranquilising darts and enough dope to put an elephant down.
It was a really cool scenario and I sent it to Iain Dickie at Miniwargs. He loved it and went to a lot of trouble getting suitable photos to go with it.
And it appeared in the Magazine.
The day the Magazine 'hit the news stands' was 13 March 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton killed 16 pupils and one teacher and injured 15 others before killing himself at Dunblane primary school.

I was very taken by Chris's comment, 'comedy = tragedy plus time'.
I was at school with a lad (younger than me), Philip Geddes who was killed in the Harrods bombing in 1983. He was a journalist, he ran towards the incident when everybody else ran away.
So at the time I'd be wary of running a terrorist scenario set in the UK but school shootings weren't even on the radar. (Even though the song was based on the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in 1979). To somebody in the UK, what I had written was pure Science Fiction.

So I tend to be wary of getting judgemental in this area.

[Imperial Dave]

Timing is everything...

[Erpingham]

Timing is everything...

Perhaps helps answer Chris' question about what is too recent history to game. There may not be a real ethical issue in gaming recent conflicts or events but there is a danger that some new event or report will make the issue suddenly controversial. Unlike to happen with more distantly historical events.

[Imperial Dave]

Exactly

[Chris]

Interesting points all. (Though I should exclude my own contribution lest I be accused of self-promotion.)

Too early (for me anyhow) to figure out how to 'quote selected text' from various posts - especially if on a different electronic page, so I have copied and pasted for reference.

Anthony is quite right (as always), with regard to there being no established convention. I doubt that any bylaws or articles of any large and major group or club will have a section about 'limits' to what they will wargame either at the club or as part of a show. With respect to "what people are comfortable with," well, as is evident by the original post (sorry OP), it appears that this presentation was well received. I wonder what the assaulted and injured officers would have to say, or their families? What about the protesters or patriots (according to some reports)?

Shifting to Jim's comment and story (thanks for sharing and good grief . . .), the equation is not mine. I have simply heard it employed quite a few times by people in the comedy sphere. It might be interesting to try and trace where and when this concept or 'equation' was first introduced.

Returning to Anthony and his comments re 'ethical issue' and 'controversy' - As I am not very much interested in modern gaming, I very much doubt that I would ever participate in a tabletop game featuring Russians and Ukrainians. Neither would I take a side in a scenario featuring Iran and Israel of Israel and Hammas. I take his earlier point about the modeling of the US Capitol building and surrounding grounds, etc., but the 'carnival barker-like figure dressed as Uncle Sam struck me as rather 'bad form' and in bad taste, generally. So, I suppose these timely or recent events are controversial for me.

It might be interesting to review this question and these related events 5, 10, or 15 years from now.

[Erpingham]

One of the nice things about wargaming being a hobby is you can choose what games to participate in. You don't have to play any games of conflicts within recent memory if you don't want to.

As to the Capitol game, we can't discuss it in the round because it obviously isn't just a wargame and would breach our rules but I do think we can note the "performance art" element, which would set it apart from the average convention participation game. What will those who participated think of it? Don't know. Plenty of ex-soldiers are wargamers, whereas, no doubt, some would not touch it with a barge pole. The same may apply here.

[Imperial Dave]

especially being ancients wargamer....

[Cantabrigian]

I think Jim (and others) have made an important point - what we are comfortable with depends on our personal experiences. 

So personally I'd have no issue with a nuclear war based game, because it isn't something that has impacted me, but I can imagine that someone with relatives that died at Hiroshima or Nagasaki might feel different.  My level of discomfort with playing an SS commander may have been influenced by the fact that I have Jewish relatives.

I'd be less uncomfortable by a game where the SS units were less distinguished from other units.  A hex and counter game where they were just another 5-8 unit with no distinguishing marks would be much less of a problem, though whether it would be enough to make me want to play the game is a different question.

I think we probably all have thresholds - I doubt there would be many of us who wanted to play a game themed on running a WWII concentration camp, where you got victory points depending on how many people you managed to murder.

I think another key factor is how divorced from reality the game appears to be - what you might call the 'Allo 'Allo criteria.  I'd have no problem playing Sauron in a Middle Earth based game.  (Though it strikes me that LOTR doesn't actually have a lot of examples of genuinely evil behaviour by Sauron - maybe he just got a bad press.)

[Imperial Dave]

Out of curiosity is Colditz still played...

[Mark G]

Re released last year, I think.  So yes, colditz is still played and not just by old folks

[Jim Webster]

Apropos of nothing, but 'Fight for America' appeared at the top of the list of sponsored ads on my facebook page.

Has anybody else involved in this discussion seen a similar phenomena. 

[Imperial Dave]

pesky AI