Important Disclaimer: I already raised this issue before, but given that Emperor is about to be released it may be worth mentioning it again. I do remember a screenshot regarding the Ark of the Covenant and reworking Catholicism implies reworking other religious populations. Seriously, the game as it is barely acknowledge the existence of Jewish communities and individuals in game, both were they existed in small or large numbers. That has been bothering for months and I have been thinking of how to highlight exactly how unfair and inconsiderate that is. And it was not easy, because at best it may sound like Cancel Culture and worst case it may sound like I am accusing Paradox of anti-Semitism. So, I am trying to be as tactful as I can while still being comprehensible to everyone and within the (rather restrictive) guidelines of the forum. So, please do not shred me to pieces. This is intended as constructive criticism and customer review, and I am trying my best to keep it as well mannered as humanly possible. Also, I really do not want to spend money on a lawyer during this economy, so that is an extra incentive.
As my previous posts and comments said, Judaism and Jews are incredibly absent from the game. Several people pointed out that given how Jewish History is not exactly lots of fun it was left out due to that. And that is quite unfair, because when I play I want the Jewish people in my realm to interact and be interacted with, both for immersion and gameplay reasons. As I have stated before, while their numbers were few it was always a influential community that provided some of the most extraordinary individuals of the day; and was also present during some of the most important, tragic and noteworthy events of the time, so their addition is more than justifiable, and their absence is both disappointing and unsettling.
The argument that Paradox, as every business under the Sun, is avoiding to better integrate and represent Jews were it is due sounds to me like a really poor argument. In another episode of "doomed if you do and doomed if you don't" the two options are adding more active and visible representation of them and risking someone complaining about the Inquisition and such, or not adding the afore mentioned and being in a situation were E.U.IV represents as best as possible all cultures and faith of back then, EXCEPT by Judaism, which was singled out. Both are not ideal positions to be in, but it is my understanding that doing the first one and risk upsetting some people is preferable to the second one, where you are guaranteed to upset most if not all of the Jewish/Jewish Enthusiast players, plus being in a situation of erasing Jewish presence and history on purpose. So, someone please correct me if I am wrong, but that sounds really bad. I mean, a province in Ethiopia and one Jewish advisor every two hundred years is barely anything, with or without the New World lost civilisation thing. Judaism is basically no-existing in game.
The game already deals with some not very subtle aspects of human History, slavery, war, persecution, genocide, religious extremism, and so on. It really makes no sense to Judaism be left out, for better or worse. If the people above are right and the intention is to avoid controversy, that is not really to work. Plus, since one of the greatest and most beautiful thing about Jewish history is how they survive and thrive no matter what you throw at them it can be noted that tragedies such as the Inquisition were the reason why the Serfadi Jews came to be, with their culture and identity and influence in History (I think I used Spinoza as the example on that other post) or the massive development of Protestant and occasionally Islamic nations in detriment of Catholic/Orthodox ones where some of the most educated and wealth individuals were forced out (not that Luther was friendly towards Jews either). So, leaving them out due to the horrible things is also leaving them out for the great things. Which, as kids would say, it sucks.
(that is also why I could raise the point that censoring the nwadis in Hearts of Iron and the forum is a terrible idea, but I am not pressing my luck here)
And as i said, I am concerned this may sound like a entitled complaint of some Cancel Culture oaf. So to clarify, these cancel culture types never consume the medias they bend to their will and will never be happy with anything offered to them. I am a player of the game with most DLCs and 2000 hours of play according to Steam, and I am not making an outrageous impossible demand either. Just the same input everyone does.
So, that is that and hopefully I will not get banned. I have yet to make a thread about how the soundtrack of the game is incredibly unoriginal.
As my previous posts and comments said, Judaism and Jews are incredibly absent from the game. Several people pointed out that given how Jewish History is not exactly lots of fun it was left out due to that. And that is quite unfair, because when I play I want the Jewish people in my realm to interact and be interacted with, both for immersion and gameplay reasons. As I have stated before, while their numbers were few it was always a influential community that provided some of the most extraordinary individuals of the day; and was also present during some of the most important, tragic and noteworthy events of the time, so their addition is more than justifiable, and their absence is both disappointing and unsettling.
The argument that Paradox, as every business under the Sun, is avoiding to better integrate and represent Jews were it is due sounds to me like a really poor argument. In another episode of "doomed if you do and doomed if you don't" the two options are adding more active and visible representation of them and risking someone complaining about the Inquisition and such, or not adding the afore mentioned and being in a situation were E.U.IV represents as best as possible all cultures and faith of back then, EXCEPT by Judaism, which was singled out. Both are not ideal positions to be in, but it is my understanding that doing the first one and risk upsetting some people is preferable to the second one, where you are guaranteed to upset most if not all of the Jewish/Jewish Enthusiast players, plus being in a situation of erasing Jewish presence and history on purpose. So, someone please correct me if I am wrong, but that sounds really bad. I mean, a province in Ethiopia and one Jewish advisor every two hundred years is barely anything, with or without the New World lost civilisation thing. Judaism is basically no-existing in game.
The game already deals with some not very subtle aspects of human History, slavery, war, persecution, genocide, religious extremism, and so on. It really makes no sense to Judaism be left out, for better or worse. If the people above are right and the intention is to avoid controversy, that is not really to work. Plus, since one of the greatest and most beautiful thing about Jewish history is how they survive and thrive no matter what you throw at them it can be noted that tragedies such as the Inquisition were the reason why the Serfadi Jews came to be, with their culture and identity and influence in History (I think I used Spinoza as the example on that other post) or the massive development of Protestant and occasionally Islamic nations in detriment of Catholic/Orthodox ones where some of the most educated and wealth individuals were forced out (not that Luther was friendly towards Jews either). So, leaving them out due to the horrible things is also leaving them out for the great things. Which, as kids would say, it sucks.
(that is also why I could raise the point that censoring the nwadis in Hearts of Iron and the forum is a terrible idea, but I am not pressing my luck here)
And as i said, I am concerned this may sound like a entitled complaint of some Cancel Culture oaf. So to clarify, these cancel culture types never consume the medias they bend to their will and will never be happy with anything offered to them. I am a player of the game with most DLCs and 2000 hours of play according to Steam, and I am not making an outrageous impossible demand either. Just the same input everyone does.
So, that is that and hopefully I will not get banned. I have yet to make a thread about how the soundtrack of the game is incredibly unoriginal.
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