Hello Call of War forum members!

This is a posting for you serious roleplay members out there who enjoy immersing yourself in the history and politics of WW2 while playing CoW, especially within the diplomatic and newspaper features.

Recently, while playing a 100 player game, some coalition members and I were reported for violating TOS by our supposed depiction / approval of Nazism. We were a bit puzzled because we had gone out of our way to censor any blatant references to Nazism — swastikas, SS runes, anti-semitism, and so forth.

We were essentially using German style propaganda and posters but CENSORING, REMOVING, and EDITING all presence of Nazi symbols.

Specifically…

We had a coalition called the “Teutonic Order”, making reference to the old medieval knights of that namesake. We used their black and white cross (which Germany’s military still uses today) and a shield with a triple triad Viking symbol called the “Valknut” which is not regularly associated with Nazism or white supremacist groups.






We also used Nazi era posters but replaced all the obvious Nazi symbols with our own symbol and flags…


































We replaced fanatical Nazism with our own fictional historical, fanatical “Odinism”— a belief in the supremacy of the old Norse worship of Odin and his pantheon of gods. We never made reference to Hitler or any of his leadership, but instead used a character named "Marshal Rurik", a supposed fanatical Swedish persona looking to resurrect the Viking legacy and used pictures of Christian X of Denmark for his likeness.




We were definitely crafting an “evil” entity who became more and more fanatical — e.g. delivering rants against "Bolshevism", "Libyanism", "Americanism", etc — against whoever our enemy was.

But we were in very good faith trying to create an immersive, alternate history that felt like WW2 but was NOT making direct reference to Nazism.

I am curious to hear from members of this forum if you think the content we posted (as exampled above) really runs afoul of TOS.

(Not by the lawyerly definition that governs this site because those are always blanket statements and cover everything, but rather in the actual practical definition of what is allowed.)

We think our content was equivalent to what would be done with Germans in any mainstream WW2 game — from Wolfenstein to CoD to Panzer General. And in consideration of the fact that a German company runs this game, we also believe that our content does not contravene any of the German anti-nazi legislation.

I absolutely love the diplomatic, political, and propagandistic element which is included with the game. But if it is too censored—i.e. we are not allowed to create authoritarian, fanatical, militaristic ideologies—it definitely takes away from the immersion potential of role playing.

WW2 was, after all, defined by a struggle between totalitarian ideologies!

We are hoping that what we did IS allowed and will be appreciated, particularly by the hardcore roleplaying gamers of the community.

Next time, my friends and I play, we definitely are interested in playing with serious roleplayers who get into the history element and do not "break character'' with modern slang and meme type nonsense. So be sure to let me know if you are starting such a game!

Cheers,
Marshal Rurik

Hello Strange Talent. Thanks for responding!

But I am not sure you read my post carefully—because one of my main points was that we CENSORED OUT all obvious Nazi symbols of National Socialism and did not espouse their ideology (perhaps except for an emphasis on discipline, harshness, sacrifice, and anti-Communism).

Surely not all images and themes tangentially "related" to the Third Reich would be banned—e.g. photos of Wehrmacht soldiers, etc.

Because you can't very well have a decent WW2 simulation / roleplay wherein we exclude all reference to the main instigators of the darned conflict!

And what about Stalinism, an ideology and government every bit as murderous and evil as Nazism? You never see as much opposition to depicting the symbols and imagery of that terrible entity.

(There's a double standard, if there ever was one. Propagated by the masses who don't study history.)

I know the broad, vague description of what the TOS says.

But what I really want to know is — where do people specifically think the line should be drawn?

The game itself uses images of German soldiers and vehicles, so we know the limit is not there. So where is it?

Yes,

Saying you are the Schutzstaffel and talking about killing Jews—that would obviously cross the line.

But what if you are making an alternate history for your country (lets' say Australia) and decide to have them be a militaristic, authoritarian regime who dislikes another ideology (let's say Capitalism / Christianity)?

And you use make a coalition flag that is reminiscent of historically fascistic ones, but uses invented or novel images not normally associated with fascism.

(This is basically what we did.)

In other words, can we use the style but not substance of past fascistic regimes?

Because here is a simple fact—the Nazis and Italians did not invent fascism. Such a form of government has existed for thousands of years, within many empires.

Yes, I would agree.

Promoting hate, especially towards ethnicities in your roleplay would be crossing the line.

But if you said you were out to triumph over Bolsheviks, or Christians, or Capitalists... That should probably be allowed.