Games? Why Games?

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [American Civil War] >> Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War 1861-1865 >> Games? Why Games?

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Games? Why Games? - 6/30/2009 6:51:15 AM

Mr. Yuck

Posts: 103
Joined: 4/22/2007
From: Asheville, NC, USA
Status: offline

Everything below this line is from the talk pages of the Wiki article on the Civil War. Maybe some of you saw it before I did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:American_Civil_War/Archive_8#Games_.3F_Why_Games_.3F

Why are Civil War Games listed in this article ? What's fun about 600,000 to 900,000 deaths ? Should we include G.I.Joe Dolls on the WW2 Article ?Bill Ladd (talk) 03:16, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

This is a good observation. I think the inclusion of games in this article cheapens it. If not, then maybe someone should include WW II games in the Holocaust article. Or maybe add the old "Leisure Suit Larry" seduction games in an article on relationships, etc. And I say this despite growing up in Maryland back in the 60s playing the Avalon Hill war games on the Civil War and other wars. Thomas R. Fasulo (talk) 02:42, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

As one of those who had worked on the games section, I have to say that I strongly disagree with the two of you, and resent the fact that games were removed after two people out of who knows how many contributors raised very subjective objections. Several months ago, there was a section about the Civil War in popular culture that included movies and T.V. It made perfect sense to include games there, since they, too, are a part of popular culture. To think that they make light of the death and suffering shows a complete lack of understand or appreciation for what games like these mean to players. Did you know that many people who had ancestors fighting in the Civil War buy and play these games? Did you know that these games, many of which pay scrupulous attention to detail, are a way for people to learn about the Civil War? That it's one of the ways that the older generation teaches the younger generation about those who fought in it and the types of strategic and tactical decisions the politicians and generals had to make? More to the point, did you know that Civil War games are on sale at gift shops at Civil War battlefields -- the same battlefields that do not allow reenactors to stage mock battles on their grounds because it would be disrespectful? If the Park Service employees charged with protecting the memories of those battles don't object to the sale of games, who are the self-appointed editors of Wikipedia to do so? To completely remove even a link to other pages about Civil War games simply demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how important these games are to people who take the Civil War every bit as seriously as those editing this page, when Wikipedia is supposed to be about open-mindedness. �Preceding unsigned comment added by Gil1970 (talk � contribs) 04:54, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

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RE: Games? Why Games? - 6/30/2009 7:56:58 AM

Gil R.

Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005
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Man, you must have really been bored to have found that...

(in reply to Mr. Yuck)

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RE: Games? Why Games? - 6/30/2009 8:51:56 AM

Mr. Yuck

Posts: 103
Joined: 4/22/2007
From: Asheville, NC, USA
Status: offline

I should have told the whole story in the first post. Here's how I found that:

I was leaving work very late tonight and there was a fistfight going on in the usually calm bar two doors down from my store. They take all the glass out of the windows when the weather is good and a thrown bottle grazed my nose. The guy jumped out the window and asked me where I was from. "Beaverdam Road up by the Parkway. You need a ride home?" He went back inside.

One of my neighbors works there, and I was out walking the dog when he came home at 1. He said the whole thing started with a discussion about the causes of The Civil War.

People still fight about these issues. That's the second time in 25 years I've seen something like that. The first time, it was 20-25 people in a bar in the DC suburbs. I answered the same question "Chicago," and got pasted.

I came inside and clicked on the talk page for the Wiki article to see what people were fighting about there.

We've a long way to go when most people seem to assume that any game about the Civil War must be a first-person-shooter.

< Message edited by Mr. Yuck -- 6/30/2009 8:53:05 AM >

(in reply to Gil R.)

Post #: 3

RE: Games? Why Games? - 6/30/2009 8:31:00 PM

cesteman

Posts: 845
Joined: 2/15/2004
From: San Luis Obispo, CA
Status: offline

Well, we could always make FoF an easy game to finish if you add the rapid fire mod that someone posted awhile back. Stick that in all your units for one side and the scenario will be over in about 10 turns :)

(in reply to Mr. Yuck)

Post #: 4