About that beard...

A sci-fi RPG game https://www.winterwolves.com/planetstronghold.htm
Marv2000
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About that beard...

Post by Marv2000 »

I recently bought this on the humble weekly sale and so far I'm enjoying it quite a lot. And it's actually the first game ever which managed to personally offend me (just for context: I just recently finished the uncut version of Stick of truth and had no problem with that at all)- well there's always a first time I guess. It doesn't make me angry exactly but it definately rubs me the wrong way. It's about the Hitler beard on Philipp König - it's a bit unfortunate to say the least. I guess this happened more out of ignorance like "oh, Hitler wore this beard so it must be really common in germany". Let's just say it's not - because Hitler wore this beard! You see if you run around like that here in germany, you might get into some serious trouble one way or the other so I wouldn't suggest that guy to be your next cosplay character ;) . So I guess what I want to say is that I would be much more comfortable if germans wouldn't be depicted with Hitler beards just out of the blue cause luckily we've grown past the era when Hitler beards were cool. Make of that what you will and I wish you the best of luck with your games, nevertheless :)
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jack1974
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Re: About that beard...

Post by jack1974 »

I hope this post isn't serious :lol:

OK, so I must avoid that kind of beard in all future games. I guess I should avoid also Stalin-type beard? Then the guys of Street Fighter 2 made Zangiev with the Stalin-beard too? :lol: sorry but I really don't think that's an issue. One thing is if he was wearing a nazi-suit/clothes, but just saying that someone seems hitler because has a SIMILAR beard... UHM... is hard to take it seriously your complaint.
Also, the hair is TOTALLY different. Philipp has sideburns. And you related him to someone just because of a SIMILAR facial hair ?? I could go on with differences, like the very different head shape... but I think I made my point :)

Besides, I don't even make any reference to Germany in the game! :shock: He could be of any nation. There are millions of people with german names born in USA, Canada, Australia, etc everywhere.

Philipp in particular was born in the human colony of Tau Ceti 2, which was colonized by humans only a few centuries before the events of Planet Stronghold.

So, I want to assure you that I've never thought about doing a character resembling Hitler, nor the artist that works for me did! Is just a vague resemblance :)
Marv2000
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Re: About that beard...

Post by Marv2000 »

Well he has a german name and with the beard he could as well wear Nazi symbols cause that's what this beard resembles in germany, like it or not. This is not just a choice of fashion here. If you wear a beard like that in germany you're either a huge fan or you are doing satire - but no one would even think about wearing something like that casually. So it's a very odd combination. I don't assume bad intentions but it is, let's say, pretty inconsiderate. Think of it like that: On halloween you make a ghost costume which accidently looks like Ku-Klux clan robes and ring at the door of an afro american family. You can be as innocent as it gets but you'd still get the door slammed in your face at the very least.
renke_
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Re: About that beard...

Post by renke_ »

König reminds me of a better shaved Jean Reno (of Léon: The Professional fame) - I wasn't even aware one could assume he's influenced by Hitler. He's imho not remotely similar, especially the faces are shaped totally different. (Full disclosure: I am German)
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jack1974
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Re: About that beard...

Post by jack1974 »

OK but we aren't in Germany in the game: we're in a human colony in remote planet in a fictional world! :) I don't think I even had to put a disclaimer "any resemblances to real persons is purely casual" in the game, but maybe I'll add that just to be sure no one misunderstands it :wink:
Honestly if I got a lot of complaints already I would have worried and changed it immediately, but yours is the first in 3 years that the game is out! Anyway, in the sequel will ask the writer to talk about Philipp's background where he'll explain he's not even German, just to stay safe :) and thanks for telling me, I didn't know that even in the real world having that kind of beard would have such a strong meaning!
Marv2000
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Re: About that beard...

Post by Marv2000 »

renke_ wrote:König reminds me of a better shaved Jean Reno (of Léon: The Professional fame) - I wasn't even aware one could assume he's influenced by Hitler. He's imho not remotely similar, especially the faces are shaped totally different. (Full disclosure: I am German)
Well for me it was instant recognition and his german name made things even harder to ignore. Even this guy calls it a hitler mustache:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaCiUAQ2stc

And that thing came up when googling the stuff directly:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.ph ... 928/page-2
That one is pretty similar to my first reaction.

Oh, and the backstory doesn't matter - it's a german name and the guy has a Hitler mustache. If there was any storyline connection to that I wouldn't take that with a sense of humor anymore.
So it's not just me - it might just be me who is a bit offended by it (ignorance to me is a huge offender) but who knows, since I suspect that the audience is not extremely large with this game.

Oh and I think that a disclamer would not be appropriate - that would just enforce the assumption. Anyway since it's not intentional I would wait and see how people react to it if it gets widespread after hopefully making it through greenlight. I just wanted to make you aware of this. What you do about it is of course entirely up to you.
Last edited by Marv2000 on Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jack1974
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Re: About that beard...

Post by jack1974 »

Uhm actually the audience of the game is very big, thousands of people (and now that is in the Humble even more). Is going to be on Steam very soon too (top10 in Greenlight currently).
Since luckily the character is not a love interest, for me would take 5 minutes to tell the artist to remove the mustache, and voilà, done! (or maybe do a goatee, probably easier to modify).
I think I'll do that! :)
Marv2000
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Re: About that beard...

Post by Marv2000 »

jack1974 wrote:Uhm actually the audience of the game is very big, thousands of people (and now that is in the Humble even more). Is going to be on Steam very soon too (top10 in Greenlight currently).
Since luckily the character is not a love interest, for me would take 5 minutes to tell the artist to remove the mustache, and voilà, done! (or maybe do a goatee, probably easier to modify).
I think I'll do that! :)
Alright, cool! I appreciate the effort. Sry, gotta go - got a visitor.
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Lonestar51
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Re: About that beard...

Post by Lonestar51 »

Whut? How is this a Hitler-Mustache? It's really different, you could call also it a Stalin-Mustache or a Kaiser-Wilhelm-Mustache, it's warranted about the same (i.e. not at all). Philip would have to shave about two thirds of his mustache to have it in Hitler-style, maybe you mistake it because the face is so lean.
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ValHallen
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Re: About that beard...

Post by ValHallen »

jack1974 wrote:Uhm actually the audience of the game is very big, thousands of people (and now that is in the Humble even more). Is going to be on Steam very soon too (top10 in Greenlight currently).
Since luckily the character is not a love interest, for me would take 5 minutes to tell the artist to remove the mustache, and voilà, done! (or maybe do a goatee, probably easier to modify).
I think I'll do that! :)
Common, dont do that!
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