To the British guys in the forum...

[3Jane]

It's a very involved question, and I am not sure I have ever reached a solution which addresses it fully. Oddly enough it feels less uncomfortable playing the roll of a German vessel than it would be if the submarine were a russian one of the same period. I doubt I would if that were that case.

[STEED]

WW2 ended over 60 years ago and is now part of our history and I don't hold anything against the Germans and anyway they fell under the control of a evil party which ended in May 1945. As for the game it's just a game thats all and if anyone who have trouble separating fact from fiction well that's between you and what ever. SH3 is a game which is fun and yet many people have sat down and thought they wanted to learn about the real events of WW2 so thats not a bad idea if the game keeps an interest in history alive.

[Vacillator]

Although I'm British, I've always had a greater interest in the weapons and activities of the German armed forces in WW2 than those of any other nation. Don't ask me why, but it's certainly nothing political. Echoing comments above, to me it's done and dusted, no point holding grudges or judging people for things that happened outside of their control so long ago.

[Sailor Steve]

American here, not British, but the u-boats sank a lot of our ships too, so I get my say:p .

I've always loved the machinery, and I've played tabletop wargames for more than 30 years. When I play airplane games I'll fly any side - German, Japanese, American, British and more. I love the machines, so I try to play with them all.

Same with naval games; be they board, tabletop or computer: It's the ships and their history that I love.

I'd better have that attitude, or Das Boot wouldn't be one of my favorite movies!:rotfl:

[skookum]

Two points here:

1. I'm from Canada. My grandfather commanded HMCS Saint John, a River Class Frigate (K456), and is credited with her only two kills: U-247 September 1st 1944, and U-309 February 16th 1945. As an individual with direct family relationship to the Battle of the Atlantic (well English Channel and North Sea anyways) I almost feel compelled to experience for myself what it was like during that time. I have a new respect for my grandfather (who died well over a decade before I was born) and my father, who himself retired from the Canadian Navy just last year.

2. Though it was a time of war, one of my ancestors was directly responsible for the deaths of nearly one hundred men. The U-Boat Kregsmarine was known as one of the least political units in the German armed forces. And it's hard to think about geopolitical affairs when you're in freezing spray on the bridge of a frigate in February. When I play SH3 I think about these things and it adds a dimension to the game that's difficult to describe.


As far as ethical considerations are concerned, SH3 is only a game (albeit an immersive one). Games hurt no one, and they're fun. End of story.

[CB..]

well to any body with a degree of insight and self honesty the entire subject of "war simulations" is MIGHTY fraught with really quite jarring contradictions..
this is no trivial concern IMO..and not a subject to be brought out briefly dusted off and put away again as rapidly as possible... as it strikes right to heart of well just about everything...the fact the question is so rarely given the time and attention it deserves is an indication of avoidance not respect

if war was unnattractive negative unwelcome ..what the hell are we doing trying to simulate it...let alone congractulate our selves heartliy on just how realisticaly we actualy do this...yet we do...all of us...me included.. time and time over again..sadly just as in real life..eh??

it's pretty darn NUTS when you openly contemplate it..

it's one of the reasons i (as an English person) to answer the point directly..found SH2/3 so fascinating...beacause all the time i was playing the games i couldn't resist the question...

"what the HELL am i doing??"

the answer well it's just a game..simply isn't a satisfying answer to any-one with an inquiring mind...it demands more respect than that..the realy interesting thing about simulations is that they often end up simulating FAR MORE than it states on the side of the box...

there really shouldn't be (and there isn't) an easy answer to all this...the question IS too important

[Hitman]

WW2 ended over 60 years ago and is now part of our history and I don't hold anything against the Germans and anyway they fell under the control of a evil party which ended in May 1945. As for the game it's just a game thats all and if anyone who have trouble separating fact from fiction well that's between you and what ever. SH3 is a game which is fun and yet many people have sat down and thought they wanted to learn about the real events of WW2 so thats not a bad idea if the game keeps an interest in history alive.

Well said Steed

I have never felt bad for playing roman in Age of Empires, and yet the romans crucified or threw to the lions those people they didn't like . It's a very different example, I know, but anyway the point is: History is history, and we recreate the non-political part of it, the one who is just about naval warfare. SH3, BF42, MOH, IL2 and all those are not games about running concentration camps and competing in gasing more victims, but instead games about the war that german & allied soldiers waged to defend their homes and families. All the nazi crap has nothing to do with them in the way they are