Hungarians fume over Romanians in Space
Debate flares over space war-game
If there's one thing that almost always holds true, its that even bad publicity is good publicity. For example, before today I hadn't even heard of space-based war-game Romanians in Space, that was until internet forums were flooded by controversy debating and bickering over the content of the new game. The premise of the game is simple - the Romanians rule the universe, both humans and aliens - but a small troupe of Hungarians have formed a resistance movement. Players will assume the role of a Romanian pilot, and set out on a mission to quash the Hungarian descent... apparently, more than a few Hungarians are rather displeased with this premise...
Romanians in Space has already whipped up a storm in Hungary, causing something of a media frenzy which has generated bickering between Romanians and Hungarians on the internet. One forum poster pointed out the impact the game might have on the attitudes of youngsters ("the problem with this game is that it makes people hate"), affirming "This racist thingy is going on in real life too, not only in the Romanii In Spatiu videogame, believe me I know."
Non-Hungarians have also voiced their concern at the racial undertones alleged, though some posters saw the funny side of the debate too: "You know, I'm Hungarian, and I laughed when I heard of this game about Romanians conquering the galaxy, and still fighting with 'Hungarian separatists'."
For their part, developers Bad Design laughed-off the controversy, designer 'Johnny B' commenting: "As for the flame war, PLEASE don't stop it just because it's really embarassing for you to get all fired up over some developers' wild imaginations that evidently sprout politically incorrect ideas out of sheer boredom, that, in turn, is probably caused by the heaps of conventional wargame storylines (i.e. Americans kill Germans, Japanese, Vietnamese, and whatnot).
"I don't remember those unfortunate ethnicities making such a fuss about games that involve killing their fellow countrymen, but hey, maybe those guys have better things to do, or at least have enough confidence in themselves not to be offended by such measly things."
Source: Eurogamer.net
