Apple pulls Confederate flag-bearing Civil War games from App Store

[harrose]

Source: CNN

The sweep began early Thursday morning, when Apple (AAPL, Tech30) sent affected game developers a notice that their products were pulled from the app store. Apple said the apps were pulled because they contained "images of the Confederate Flag used in offensive and mean-spirited ways," according to Andrew Mulholland of HexWar Games.

The company added, "At this time, your app has been removed from the App Store. We encourage you to review your app concept and incorporate different content and features that are in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines."

.... snip ...

"It seems disappointing that they would remove it as they weren't being used in an offensive way," wrote Mulholland. "They were historical war games and hence it was the flag used at the time.... We're in no way sympathetic to the use of the flag in an offensive way; we used it purely because historically that was the flag that was used at the time."

He added that HexWar is revising the games to replace the flags.

"We're going to use the Confederate flag from 1861 and 1862 as the one that's considered offensive wasn't introduced until late 1862," he said. "We hope that using the less controversial 1862 flag is a solution to the problem."




Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/25/technology/apple-pulls-civil-war-games/

[Travis_0004]

1. Seems like a bit of an overreaction.

[EL34x4]

4. No reaction like overreaction!

This has gotten silly.

[Javaman]

30. Why silly?

a symbol of racism being pulled is not silly to me.

[onehandle]

2. Good. CEO Tim Cook, who is from Alabama, will probably catch Hell from his hometown friends. nt

[Fred Sanders]

3. The Dixie Swastika is getting exactly the type of treatment it deserves, same as the German version.

Derision and dismissal to a museum.

[StrictlyRockers]

5. As an avid gamer, I am of two minds on this.

It does seem like an overreaction, at first. But after thinking about it, I am inclined to agree with you. There must be some alternate symbol to the Confederate Battle Flag that we can use to indicate Southern troops in the Civil War.

That flag is a symbol of hatred and segregation. Treat it like the Germans treat the swastika? Fine by me.

[Travis_0004]

8. I would assume ww2 games have swastikas

I dont see a problem with a flag in its historical context.

I would expect to see a confederate flag in the civil war, and I would expect to see a swastika if I was invading Germany in a WW2 game.

[Fred Sanders]

12. Histories of hate and racism need not and should not be expunged, but their symbols need to be in museums or in their place

in legitimate historical context.

That is a necessity. To remember and not repeat.

[Codeine]

16. I think it's reasonable to argue

that an historical wargame - boardgame, video game, rpg or otherwise - is "legitimate historical context." Most of these games are closely researched and take their history very seriously.

I think there may be a fundamental misunderstanding of what these wargames are and how the flags are used within them.

[cemaphonic]

23. Generally, they don't actually

Swastikas are banned for pretty much all commercial use in much of Western Europe, including most of it's largest markets, so developers mostly use alternate designs (Iron Cross, or other Imperial German insignia usually) in WWII games. I wouldn't mind seeing them in those contexts either, but obviously nobody wants to write off a big market for no good reason.

[malthaussen]

32. Beat me to it.

The fun thing is that one of the first mods available for such games is usually the hisorical flag.

-- Mal

[One_Life_To_Give]

38. Wargaming seems to have sensored such content

Although I havn't played WoWP the Swastika was not used in World of Tanks. The typical is the Iron Cross. Havn't seen the German models for World of Warships. Also don't recall seeing Swastika's in War Thunder either.

On edit - Back in WoT from open Beta to early release there was quite a list of people and groups being banned for offensive names. Some argued historical reference but the Supremacist linked were all shut down and accounts suspended for TOS violations. And as I recall even the Mighty Jingles was prevented from participating in one player gathering event when he wore a period Panzer Officer uniform. So yes Wargaming has made a stand against such.

[Xithras]

21. Ironically, the swastika IS NOT banned from the Apple Store

You can no longer buy Battleground Gettysburg because the Confederate side is fighting under the stars and bars, but you can buy Wolfenstein, in which you're fighting through a swastika flag draped Germany and killing swastika wearing Nazis.

Apple only bans the swastika in situations that promote or glorify it or Naziism. They don't ban it for historical apps or games that present it in a "symbol of the bad guys" context.

[Fred Sanders]

33. As long as you get to virtual world blow away Nazi's and Nazi sympathizer, they can all wear the Swastika.

[DeadLetterOffice]

6. Does this mean WWII games...

... shouldn't show the swastika?

I'm not getting why the flag shown appropriately in its historical period(i.e., Civil War based games, re-enactments, etc.) is problematic?

Although maybe I read somewhere lately that what everyone calls the "Confederate flag" wasn't actually the flag of the Confederacy - gov't or military - so maybe using the proper and historically accurate flag would bypass the problem?

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Different states/groups apparently had different flags

The flag on the right in this picture was used at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March 1862:

[Travis_0004]

9. Sure, but some places had confederate flags

So to be historically accurate, they should be there.

Also, as it is the best known flag, it is probably shown for all southern armies to give the perception of being historically accurate (or the programers dont do enough research)

[csziggy]

20. And that flag is the one properly called "The Stars and Bars"

The controversial flag is most often the battle flag or naval jack of the Confederacy. While it is sometimes called "The Stars and Bars" that is incorrect.

The Confederacy changed their flag from "The Stars and Bars" because when it was not lifted by the wind it could be mistaken for the American flag. I believe it caused confusion in at least one battle. From the Wikipedia article on the flags of the Confederate States of America:

When war broke out, the "Stars and Bars" caused confusion on the battlefield at the Battle of First Bull Run/Battle of First Manassas (in northern Virginia) because of its similarity to the U.S. flag of the northern Union, which was still used by the United States Army (by now the Union Army), especially when it was hanging limp, down on the flagstaff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America#First_national_flag:_.22The_Stars_and_Bars.22_.281861.E2.80.931863.29

[47of74]

13. Sometimes American media companies run into problems in Germany

For example the Star Trek episode Patterns of Force that had the Naziesque society that a Federation professor started wasn't shown in German TV TOS runs until 2011. Not only because it's against the law to display Nazi symbolism but of concerns by broadcasters that the episode could be seen as glorifying the Nazis.

A lot of violent video games are banned in Germany, especially those with Nazi symbolism or references.

Also you're correct that the Confederate flag that we're familiar with today wasn't an official flag of the CSA, it was still used as a battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia and was often carried into battle. It was used because it was too hard to tell the national flag apart from the US flag at a distance, and that caused difficulties for commanders on both sides. So it probably would be historically accurate to use the battle standard in games.

[ozone82]

18. Models Of German Aircraft

Do not have the decal of the swastika for the tail...

[DeadLetterOffice]

37. Thanks for the info.

This kind of thing is fascinating to me...

[Codeine]

15. It's very common in WW2 games

to replace the swastika with a German cross (Balkankreuz) in order to allow the games to be sold in the German market and avoid problems with customs agents there.

[DeadLetterOffice]

36. Thanks - learn something new every day!

[Third Doctor]

10. This is a bit much

This is a game portraying a historical event so I don't see the harm in that.

[Leontius]

11. Fucking PC run amok

[Fred Sanders]

14. Fucking wrong and a complete misuse of the term....are the Germans just fucking PC for banning the Swastika?

[Travis_0004]

17. In a video game in historical contex, yes

Shit, I'm going to watch a WW2 documentary. Maybe I should blur out the swastika in that as well. I might offend somebody.

[christx30]

19. Germany's memory of the swastica

is more recent than the confederate flag.
But I think removing the civil war game because of the flag is stupid.
Want to find a way to ban showings of Glory? Would Germany ban showings of the first and third Indiana Jones movies?
I think if it's in a historical context, like a game or a movie, or a museum, it's ok.
But this is just Apple jumping on the bandwagon. They were perfectly ok making money with it as long as no one cared.

[EL34x4]

22. It's called "overplaying one's hand"

The perfectly reasonable move to take the rebel flag down from statehouses and off license plates has in a matter of days turned into calls to bulldoze war memorials, dig up graves and dynamite Stone Mountain.

And what Apple is doing here is just plain stupidity. As someone else alluded to, should we just pixilate the rebel flag on reruns of Glory?

[Fred Sanders]

34. You are missing the point...historical context is fine...current use of the symbols for no reason is evil.

Germans have it handled properly.....American can do exactly the same with the Dixie Swastika.

I assume you concede this is not about being PC, there is a complexity involved that defies simple minded labeling?

[Little Tich]

24. Apple is overreacting, to put it mildly.

I have played historical war games about the American civil war before, and it didn't damage me.

If anyone wants to try a good war game about the American civil war, I can warmly recommend Battleground: Shiloh from Talonsoft. It's old, but it's a solid game. Actually, anything from Talonsoft is good.

[dembotoz]

25. A bit much

[Humanist_Activist]

26. Damn that's just stupid, historical games of all sorts have all sorts...

of symbols in them to represent various historical groups.



Here's an example of the NES game, North & South.

[Baclava]

27. I see Apple's iPhone factories have put up new anti-suicide nets for their "industrious workers"

How thoughtful, protect that brand.

[TM99]

28. This is just pandering plain and simple.

It is an over reaction.

These are historical RTS games. I hate this type of PC bullshit. It accomplishes nothing.

[SpartanDem]

29. Overreactions like this doesn't help the case for removal

this gives just ammo yo those that say removing the flag from public property is PC overreaction.

[NuclearDem]

31. I couldn't be more in favor of tearing down every Dixie swastika not in a museum, but...

Civil War games don't glorify or promote the Confederacy as flying the flag over a Confederate memorial does.

Accurate historical context is not the same thing as glorifying or endorsing.

[independentpiney]

35. I watched stars and bars turn into white flags of surrender

last night playing as Buford in the McPherson's Ridge scenario in the old (1993?)Battleground Gettysburg. It was very satisfying and the flag was historically appropriate for that time and place . As someone else mentioned, one of the first mods that comes out for WWII games that use the balkenkreuze for Germany is to change it to the swastika.

"We're going to use the Confederate flag from 1861 and 1862 as the one that's considered offensive wasn't introduced until late 1862," he said. "We hope that using the less controversial 1862 flag is a solution to the problem."
For more casual and generic tactical American civil war games that seems reasonable. Strategic level games should use one of the national flags.

[realFedUp]

39. But what about all the big booked topless women?

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