Friday 2010-03-05 Screenshots/Video and Discussion Thread

[koivis]

I think the banning of the Finnish Air Force swastika in Germany is very stupid, since Finland had just as little in common with the German Nazi party between 1917 and 1941 as did any other European country.

However, the German law says:

(1) Whoever:

1. domestically distributes or publicly uses, in a meeting or in writings (§ 11 subsection (3)) disseminated by him, symbols of one of the parties or organizations indicated in § 86 subsection (1), nos. 1, 2 and 4; or

2. produces, stocks, imports or exports objects which depict or contain such symbols for distribution or use domestically or abroad, in the manner indicated in number 1,

shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine.

(2) Symbols, within the meaning of subsection (1), shall be, in particular, flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting. Symbols which are so similar as to be mistaken for those named in sentence 1 shall be deemed to be equivalent thereto.

I think the last sentence is what makes ANY swastika illegal there. End of discussion, please.

[Insuber]

Looking at the movie, as someone said above the Panhard antennas have inertia ... they move realistically according to elastic and inertial laws.

Inertia is clearly modeled also in Il2, but the elasticity could be a novelty in the simulations field, afaik. Not overly difficult imho, but still you must have the idea ...

Regards,
Insuber

[kimosabi]

The swastika marking on German planes is not a problem in IL-2, you could easily get that feature if you really wanted to, so why should there be in SoW?

[Antoninus]

In some instances even antifascists were charged for using the swastika in symbols like this:



Fortunately the highest German court finally made an end to such a ridicous abuse of the law but I would try to avoid any lawsuit just to include a feature that adds almost nothing to the sim, even if there would be a chance for SOW to be considered as "art, education and documentation".

[Chivas]

We don't need a dedicated website at this time. What would a dedicated website provide that we aren't already getting. Its too early to start advertising the game to the general public and a waste of time, money, and effort until it is.

Also the swastika can be easily added by modders, so its exclusion, is just an overreaction to a non-existent problem.

[csThor]

You couldn't get the swastika in the international version of Il-2 - only after some folks fiddled with external programs. In Il-2 itself there was no way to activate the swastika and the hakaristi and there still isn't a way to do this. Even the russian version had a switch in the conf.ini (the HakenAllowed=1 line) which wasn't there by default.

Again - historical accuracy in this case is irrelevant as long as Maddox Games makes just one international version, which in this case has to obey §86 of the german penal code and totally omit any swastika (and any optional activation of it).

[Richie]

What I hate is when they put black blocks or crosses on the tails of aircraft. They should just leave them blank.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

csThor, but let's take the example of Foobar's skins.

He's German, and makes historically accurate skins (so, with swastikas). To avoid any legal problem, he leaves a disclaimer at the installation. I've never heard of any issue involving his skins.

Couldn't this be done with Storm of War?

[Foo'bar]

Originally Posted by Lucas_From_Hell

Couldn't this be done with Storm of War?

Wrong question to wrong person. Oleg will do it right within legal matters. However, the last word will have the publisher - if not even 1C will. Relax and calm down. MG will do it right.

[AndyJWest]

If 1C:Maddox wish to put Swastikas on German aircraft, I'm sure they will seek legal advice, and if they are in any doubt, err on the side of caution. I'd have thought there are more important issues for them to be concerned with at present, and I'm also sure that third-party software will be able to add them for those who want it.

If you think the law in Germany or elsewhere is wrong on this issue (I've got mixed feelings myself) , you are free to advocate change, but I don't really think it is reasonable to expect a commercial company to fight your political battles for you.