How does anyone play Nazi Germany in this game or any other fascist country with a clear conscious?

[MrReaper182]

I mean unless you are a Nazi (go and kill your now) how do you have a clear conscious when playing as Nazi Germany or any other fascist country?

 

[Nieznaszmnie]

The game requires you to have some self-distance I guess
I'm Polish, so from a country that suffered arguably the most from both nazism and communism at the same time during WWII and I still enjoy playing USSR sometimes.
It's the lack of interesting gameplay (e.g. French focus tree is just broken IMO and there is no reason for Poland not to become extremist, as staying authoritaion/democratic is just boring) that makes democracies s u c c, unless we talk about mods
Heck, 2/3 of countries that have some flavour are oppressive fascist/communist/authoritarian dictatorships.

 

[homerCCCP]

I mean unless you are a Nazi (go and kill your now) how do you have a clear conscious when playing as Nazi Germany or any other fascist country?

It's a game about war. War was generally a bad thing. Just because you like to "play" does not mean you like to "live" war.
Obviously you get the most out of this game if you play a militarily aggressive country. It makes sense then to take the arguabily biggest war mongers in history, which were the fascists.
Then most players like to take the challenge to over perform with the player's countries compared to what was achieved in history. Obviously you get the most interesting challenge with taking the losers, which again were the fascists.

 

[ladner]

I'd be truly shocked if anyone played the Axis powers out of a belief or conviction of the various fascist ideologies. I have played Axis nations, primarily due to the challenge, namely the lack of resources primarily oil and rubber and a host of other issues that make the game more interesting and that is the only reason for doing so.

Editing after HomerCCP's post.

The point was made already but worth repeating on a moral argument why would anyone in good conscious play any wargame of any type since war is the epitome of human suffering and tragedy?

 

[Harin]

I'd be truly shocked if anyone played the Axis powers out of a belief or conviction of the various fascist ideologies. I have played Axis nations, primarily due to the challenge, namely the lack of resources primarily oil and rubber and a host of other issues that make the game more interesting and that is the only reason for doing so.

Editing after HomerCCP's post.

The point was made already but worth repeating on a moral argument why would anyone in good conscious play any wargame of any type since war is the epitome of human suffering and tragedy?

Good points.

Many would like to play the country where people were free, treated fairly, and never did anything wrong. Unfortunately, no such country has ever existed with the strength to survive history. In a game we could invent such a country, but the game itself would be short. That country would be invaded on turn 1 and assimilated by turn 2. It might simulate reality, but it is not much fun to play.

 

[--Yigito123--]

It's the same thing that allows someone to take a rocket launcher to civilians in GTA or play as the bad guys in any FPS game; the ability to separate fiction and reality, which I really hope is something that is common sense. You do not need to be a supporter of Nazi policies to find Germany an interesting strategic position to play in the 1936 to 1945 era, and their goals a fun challenge to try and fulfill against all odds. I mean, none of what made the Nazis "The Nazis" is represented in HoI4 anyways, apart from their tendency to declare wars and annex other nations.

Sure, I feel a sense of pride at crafting a "good" society in mods with detailed enough focus trees to make such a distinction feasible (Or, y'know, in Victoria 2), but the very idea of feeling bad or guilty about something like this, is kind of mystifying.

Honestly, the implication that the players of historical strategy games play purely to fulfill their extremist alt-history fantasies is something I see implied every so often outside of this circle, and it never fails to annoy me.

 

[blue_yonder]

I'd be truly shocked if anyone played the Axis powers out of a belief or conviction of the various fascist ideologies.

Back in the day (HOI3 and no doubt before), there was quite a large contingent of such shockers. I remember being surprised that Stalin devotees slightly outnumbered the genuine nazis. However they've nearly all faded from view since HOI4, appalled by the playful and irreverent aspects of the design. The reasons people are giving for playing axis members all make perfect sense, but it does require a stronger stomach than I have myself, so I invariably play France.

 

[seattle]

Ironically the inventor of fascism, Mussolini's Italy, commited much less atrocities than the Soviet Union for instance (Holodomor etc.).

This will get closed very soon and for good reason.

 

[Volodio]

It's obviously a troll, which is anyone falling for it?

 

[GSP Jr]

I play the democracies almost always, never the 'bad guys'.
The only time I am ever fascist or communist country is when work on mods and tagging over to check mod stuff.
Granted, no country is perfect, but I like my country to at least try.........

 

[Secret Master]

Well, here we are discussing war crimes and atrocities in violation of the forum rules. :sigh:

For what it's worth, players generally have to be conscious when playing HOI4, because if you are unconscious, you can't use the mouse and keyboard effectively. As for having a clear conscience, war crimes and genocide aren't a part of the game, nor are we allowed to discuss them here on the forum. And we don't tolerate mods that create mechanics for these things.

Thread closed.