There is a thin line between historical names and nazi/fascist glorification. Personally, I'd say "Axis" is neutral enough to use, but when you add a swastika as a flag it isn't. But yeah, if you don't want your coalition disbanded, better stay on the safe side, it is not an absolute yes/no thing.

Axis is the name given to the alliance between the two fascists european powers in WW2, Germany and Italy. As such it is easily seen as glorifying fascisms and nazis.

It begs the question as to why Benito Mussolini is an AI name and Stalino and Stalingrad are on the maps whereas u can't use Stalin.

Obviously the level of disgust, disapproval and distaste for each is not equal:

Mussolini >> Stalin >> H----r

In comparison to the other two authoritarian dictators, Mussolini was a piker, and was not generally associated with anti-Semitism or racism, just extreme nationalism, imperialism, political murder and comic incompetence.

Personally, I believe Stalin was just as monstrous and evil as his German counterpart, but there are plenty of modern Russian and western left-wing apologists for Stalin. That said, Bytro Labs is a German company, bound by modern German laws that prohibit the display of any of the symbols associated with the N--i regime, and they have prudently taken it a step further to actively discourage any players who think fascism, N---ism, neo-N---ism, anti-Semitism, or racism are acceptable.

In my opinion, removing Stalingrad from the map would be an over-the-top act of Bowdlerization, since it was the location of what was the turning point on the Eastern Front, and one of the deciding battles of the war. I seriously doubt most players even recognize Stalino as incorporating Josef Stalin's name.

Bottom line: if Bytro is somewhat inconsistent on these points, I suggest we cut them some slack. It's a German company, and they are clearly more sensitive to the WW2 history of their own country than several others you mentioned.

it's not about the Nazi history which of course is illegal to use in Germany. It's the fact that there is a long list of banned names yet Mussolini is still there. Some of these names do not have the same level disgust or disapproval as Il Deuce.

Like who, for instance?

BTW, il Duce has no "e" in the first syllable in Italian. Interesting etymology of the word; it comes from the same Latin root as the modern English word "duke". The Latin "dux" was often used for regional leaders of the Roman army, and this was passed down through various Romance languages where dukes became major feudal nobles. "Dux bellorum" was a poetic Roman accolade for great war leaders, and translates roughly as war chief.

there's a long list of banned names available to mods (I used to mod). People like Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Breivik etc.

So riddle me this, Batman: why would you want to use the name of a sexual serial killer, whacko cult leader and mass murderer, or mentally incompetent neo-fascist mass murderer?

To my way of thinking, the fact that some players have to be told not to use these names for player user names or alliances is somewhat shocking in itself. Why would anyone think using these names was in any way appropriate?

They may not have been responsible for the deaths of millions, but the major difference in their crimes and Adolf H----r's is one of scale and not one of moral repugnance.

don't ask me why some people do stupid things. Go and look at the number of Stalins and Hitlers or versions there are on the game.

Here's a few for you.

am not one to judge on the balance of scale or repugnance.

My personal favorite is "HitLa420".

If H----r was a dope smoker, that would explain a great deal of 20th Century history.

Well he sure took some strange substances. You probably heard of Dr. Theodor Morell, his personal physician? Historians agree that the stuff he game Hitler was the main reason for his declining health in the second half of the war. Morell's wikipedia page has a nice list of stuff he administered to Hitler, including morphine, cocaine, amphetamines, and many more.

All true. Morrell was a quack, whose prescriptions no doubt had an impact on the latter course of the war. But "420" was not among Der Fuhrer's known vices.

BTW, you do know that most of the German army was suffering from amphetamine withdrawal in aftermath of the war, right? The Germans passed out speed to their soldiers like it was candy. The Allies used it, too, but it was mostly restricted to pilots, and bomber pilots in particular.

The issue with the player names, is that the developers to not assist the support team in stopping the creations of such names, and so it is a manual task. I'd say our tasks of removing upwards of 500 multi accounts every month is more important than looking for these hard to find, albeit obvious names such as "AdolfHilet083" so we can remove an account that possibly has not been used for a year. The names that are rule breaks, are simply handled as they become an issue.

understood Wise Odin. Multiaccounts are the priority and so it should be.