Terrorism propaganda in APB

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

You guys are still on this?

[Aftokinito 8]

You guys are complaining about nazis and terrorism on a game that had Lexxi as head GM...

[Gro 104]

8 hours ago, Sayori said:

Lets not forget Che Guevara. So many clowns wearing shirts with his face. 

I tried to stick to what my country had suffered, but yeah. We better not even start about every other communist regime, especially nowadays China's.

[StevenDeckard 280]

Yesterday I run into a group on Citadel (EU Server) all dressed up in full SS uniforms (of course with all associated Nazi regalia clearly displayed). Worse was that one of them had even created an Adolf Hitler lookalike character!  I have also come across openly displayed words of high praise for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime on vehicles in APB on several instances in the past, plain text that unmistakably glorifies and applauds the Nazi regime, Nazi figures and Nazi crimes, so there is no mistaking what that person meant to say and proclaim!

 

While true that swastikas, letters of the runic alphabets (or even the infamous Hitler salute) were appropriated by the Nazi regime, to use any of these symbols in a certain way - even in mirrored or slightly changed versions - still denotes and in the process glorifies the Nazi regime. This is clearly shown by the fact that practically everyone that comes across something like that in APB immediately recognizes these things as being Nazi flags, Nazi uniforms and Nazi figures and perceives them as such!

 

Producing such decals and putting then on vehicles and clothing and even going to the length of recreating infamous Nazi figures as characters is a conscious act and no mistake, especially since this is not a WW2 themed game.

 

Something like this has, in my humble opinion, NO place in this game!

 

Here are some legal considerations regarding this matter for interested members:

 

Something like this is not only extremely distasteful and appalling but is also considered a felony in some countries! For example in Austria there are the "Prohibition Act 1947" (Source) and the "Badges Act 1960" (Source) that strictly prohibit the public display and/or proliferation of all insignia, symbols, emblems, uniforms (full or partial), flags, etc. that are associated with the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party). Note that this ban includes commonly recognized replacements or slightly modified depictions of Nazi symbols.

There are of course some legal exceptions for works of art (including books, movies, theatre performances, computer games, and educational/memorial public exhibitions), these however do not apply, if the respective work promotes or glorifies National Socialism in any form or way.

Violations of the Badges Act 1960 (Abzeichengesetz 1960), which prohibits the public display of Nazi symbols, are punishable by up to € 4000.- in fines and up to 1 month imprisonment. However, if the violation is deemed an attempt to promote and/or glorify National Socialism, the Prohibition Act 1947 (Verbotsgesetz 1947) is applied, which allows for up to 10 years imprisonment and, if the perpetrator is deemed to be particularly dangerous, even up to 20 years are possible. All of these cases are taken very serious and are tried in court in front of a jury.

Usually one hears the "freedom of speech" excuse from people flaunting Nazi symbols. This freedom of expression is set down in Article 10, Section 1 of the Human Rights Act, and generally well known. But less people seem to be aware that there is also a Section 2 (Source) which clearly states:

"The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. " (emphasis added)
 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by StevenDeckard

[ok 419]

I wish there was so much dedication in reporting players with Stalin avatars and Soviet Union themes

[Y2Venom 219]

2 hours ago, StevenDeckard said:

Yesterday I run into a group on Citadel (EU Server) all dressed up in full SS uniforms (of course with all associated Nazi regalia clearly displayed).

 

Something like this has, in my humble opinion, NO place in this game!

 

Here are some legal considerations regarding this matter for interested members:

  Reveal hidden contents

Something like this is not only extremely distasteful and appalling but is also considered a felony in some countries! For example in Austria there are the "Prohibition Act 1947" (Source) and the "Badges Act 1960" (Source) that strictly prohibit the public display and/or proliferation of all insignia, symbols, emblems, uniforms (full or partial), flags, etc. that are associated with the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party). Note that this ban includes commonly recognized replacements or slightly modified depictions of Nazi symbols.

There are of course some legal exceptions for works of art (including books, movies, theatre performances, computer games, and educational/memorial public exhibitions), these however do not apply, if the respective work promotes or glorifies National Socialism in any form or way.

Violations of the Badges Act 1960 (Abzeichengesetz 1960), which prohibits the public display of Nazi symbols, are punishable by up to € 4000.- in fines and up to 1 month imprisonment. However, if the violation is deemed an attempt to promote and/or glorify National Socialism, the Prohibition Act 1947 (Verbotsgesetz 1947) is applied, which allows for up to 10 years imprisonment and, if the perpetrator is deemed to be particularly dangerous, even up to 20 years are possible. All of these cases are taken very serious and are tried in court in front of a jury.

Usually one hears the "freedom of speech" excuse from people flaunting Nazi symbols. This freedom of expression is set down in Article 10, Section 1 of the Human Rights Act, and generally well known. But less people seem to be aware that there is also a Section 2 (Source) which clearly states:

"The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. " (emphasis added)
 

 

Lets be honest, Nazi's in APB are fleeting and has anybody ever come across a good player with a Nazi symbol? They are all rubbish. Infact I enjoy beating them when they are there. When it comes to offensive symbols. Then you are setting a presidence and have to start banning everything.

[MrChan 337]

1 hour ago, -Dan- said:

I wish there was so much dedication in reporting players with Stalin avatars and Soviet Union themes

Of which I have seen precisely none on this game in 10 years.

 

Idk, are they all on the 'murican servers or something?

[ok 419]

15 minutes ago, MrChan said:

Of which I have seen precisely none on this game in 10 years.

 

Idk, are they all on the 'murican servers or something?

I've seen plenty of these on Citadel

[Rebelliousness 85]

23 hours ago, Sayori said:

The Oxford Dictionary calls terrorism "the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims."

As far as I know, civilians are not specifically targeted in APB, it's two military-style factions opposed against each other. And even if there was - it's fictional. That's not a justification to promote real terrorist organizations.

1. It's a killing game, and the pedestrians are killed everyday as well as targeted just watch the opening video about corrupt enforcers taking it out on criminals and criminals taking it out on the whole damn city.

2. The National Socialist Party ceased to exist in 1945.  No online clown dressed up as Ronald McDonald or Hitler is ever going to bring it back... and cannot even promote what no longer exists.  That's not to say American or British style racist groups which hijacked German symbols have anything to do with any authentic political fascist organization... much so that it falls under a kind of gang-like paraphenalia, not unlike the colors of the biker gang Hell's Angels.  It has notoriety to be sure, but no real world relation to political or terrorist propaganda. Moreover as other's have pointed out... the Red Army "terrorists" mass murdered 10x more people than ever accused of Hitler's government, but they won the war... so Communist symbols get a free pass.  Nonetheless, all these political symbols are rude.  Nazi symbols are still illegal in post war defeated Germany.  But players who don these symbols are probably young and edgy and have ZERO association to irl "terrorists" or "war criminals."  I mean... WHO tf are they "terrorizing" in APB with a pixel persona?  Come on now.... at least if they shoot you, you get to shoot back.

3. The Isis/Isil flag has the Islamic shahada on it.  Let's be honest here, if you want to outlaw religious symbols, that's going to include people play-acting as Israeli Defense Forces, Crusader cross imagery as well.  Muslims worldwide have been involved in a series of recent wars... and what the West classifies as "terrorist groups" are given media notoriety.  To be honest, American, British and Israeli troops funding Sunni sect radicals (Isis/Isil) in Syria to bring about the downfall of that country is a war crime.  So, the politics always swings both ways, and have alternative variants to what someone's country's media might spin.  Nevertheless, seeing as Osama Bin Ladin was a decades long CIA asset and his family was having lunch with the former head of the CIA, George Bush senior on the day of 9-11 tells me there's a lot of political shenanigans afoot... and targeting a certain Western armed and funded pirate group flying false flag operations to destabilize the Middle East... whilst having the wealthiest and most powerful militaries in human history (laying waste to Falluja Iraq with horror weapons like DIME and Depleted Uranium rings a bell) makes every player who dons a pixel in an American or Israeli flag... a kind of "terrorist" too. 

So, in my opinion there is NOTHING real world terrorist in APB, no one is promoting irl terrorism in any way and to accuse real world crimes against players is a new level of asininity comparable to all the grievously offended melting liberal snowflakes who sprout tears at the mere mention of historical issues. Nothing Islamic should be bannable, it opens a horrid can of worms and unless someone is in chat  or whispers actually threatening real world harm or political crimes.... the mere symbols of North Korean government, Communist China, Joseph Stalin, etc.... cannot be allowed either and the moderation for EVERYTHING would become unmanageable nightmare so... I advocate the playerbase getting thicker skin.  Keep the status quo... Nazi symbols be deleted (but not bannable)... same with jihadi stuff... but the TRUTH remains the communists were worse... and after Abu Ghraib... so was the US in it's "war on terror" not to mention Israels continued human rights violations against the Palestinians.

I vote to keep REAL WORLD problems out of the game... and that includes stop crying when the support team doesn't even exist to do anything anyway.  Just... grow thicker skin and move on... (at least you get to kill the guys dressed up in costumes you don't like).

 

Merged.

 

3 hours ago, StevenDeckard said:

Yesterday I run into a group on Citadel (EU Server) all dressed up in full SS uniforms (of course with all associated Nazi regalia clearly displayed). Worse was that one of them had even created an Adolf Hitler lookalike character! 

It's not like a kid's game "Wolfenstein" or television series "Man in the High Castle" don't show this and we need to all have hysterical hissy fits to see it in APB... but, tbh that's sounds downright disrespectful.... clownish even... but not promoting anything "criminal" at all.... except perhaps to actual Hitler descendants... who I believe have name-changed multiple times and wouldn't be caught dead with any literal association anyway... a clownish APB Hitler!  YIKES!  Call ANTIFA!~

 

Merged.

 

3 hours ago, StevenDeckard said:

bla-bla -snip

Something like this has, in my humble opinion, NO place in this game!

 

Here are some legal considerations regarding this matter for interested members:

  Reveal hidden contents

Something like this is not only extremely distasteful and appalling but is also considered a felony in some countries! For example in Austria there are the "Prohibition Act 1947" (Source) and the "Badges Act 1960" (Source) that strictly prohibit the public display and/or proliferation of all insignia, symbols, emblems, uniforms (full or partial), flags, etc. that are associated with the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party). Note that this ban includes commonly recognized replacements or slightly modified depictions of Nazi symbols.

There are of course some legal exceptions for works of art (including books, movies, theatre performances, computer games, and educational/memorial public exhibitions), these however do not apply, if the respective work promotes or glorifies National Socialism in any form or way.

Violations of the Badges Act 1960 (Abzeichengesetz 1960), which prohibits the public display of Nazi symbols, are punishable by up to € 4000.- in fines and up to 1 month imprisonment. However, if the violation is deemed an attempt to promote and/or glorify National Socialism, the Prohibition Act 1947 (Verbotsgesetz 1947) is applied, which allows for up to 10 years imprisonment and, if the perpetrator is deemed to be particularly dangerous, even up to 20 years are possible. All of these cases are taken very serious and are tried in court in front of a jury.

Usually one hears the "freedom of speech" excuse from people flaunting Nazi symbols. This freedom of expression is set down in Article 10, Section 1 of the Human Rights Act, and generally well known. But less people seem to be aware that there is also a Section 2 (Source) which clearly states:

"The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. " (emphasis added)
 

 

Luckily I live in the USA which has a Constitution which differentiates between the freedom to have the mere appearance of a thing versus any actual criminal act.  Unfortunately for Austria and Germany post-war on suffering unconditional defeat... the symbols of their former military were demonized and criminalized to the nth degree... whilst Stalin sat in judgment of them... oh the hypocrisy... the Soviet's were allowed to forever impeach the historic war crimes trial at Nuremberg by having Soviet prosecutors frame and blame the German Wehrmacht for the crime Soviet NKVD forces committed at Katyn forest.  Mark my words, the last word about WW2's "good guys and bad guys" has yet to be written... but in future it will turn an entirely NEW page of known history.

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

10 hours ago, StevenDeckard said:

 

 

Oh noes, that is so terrible. I hope you were not hurt at all.

[Xnetexe 78]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:05 PM, Sayori said:

The Oxford Dictionary calls terrorism "the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims."

The US has been deemed a terrorist organization by the Iranian government. And to be fair, the US government does fit the textbook definition for a terrorist organization.

 

So can we ban US flags, US Army, US Navy, etc. symbols too while we're at it since they promote terrorism? /s

[AxeTurboAgresor 268]

This is so damn absurd. I am so cringed our by this warriors fighting againts symbols, and Hitler character (I dont know if its more funny or sad) to protect us all. Investigating every symbol to clear somebodys intentions or whatever.

Seeing a Hitler character with a full group of uniformed nazis roleplaying would be freakin HILARIOUS to me. I doub any of them are promoting any ideologies.

 

You need to calm your feminine features!

 

1st world problems indeed.

Edited April 25, 2020 by AxeTurboAgresor

[IndustrialCat 7]

On 4/4/2020 at 7:16 PM, Wynnone said:

who's got a swastika symbol on his/her avatar. I reported that person for an offensive symbol but a few days ago I played against him/her again and the symbol was still there. Seems like the administrators did not pay attention

In Buddhism, the swastika is considered to symbolize the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. It is an aniconic symbol for the Buddha in many parts of Asia and homologous with the dharma wheel. The shape symbolizes eternal cycling, a theme found in samsara doctrine of Buddhism.

 

On 4/4/2020 at 7:16 PM, Wynnone said:

who's got the ISIL/ISIS flag on his/her avatar. As you can see from the screenshot,

As for the flag.

 

It's actually the Muslim shahada which is the key to convert to Islam, and what we muslims say at the end of our prayer.

 

Isis just used it to say: 

 

Hey we Muslims kill and burn people for no reason.

 

Bro don't be quick to judge people.

[Jilleroo 349]

On 4/25/2020 at 2:02 PM, AxeTurboAgresor said:

Seeing a Hitler character with a full group of uniformed nazis roleplaying would be freakin HILARIOUS to me. I doub any of them are promoting any ideologies.

Those kids are the same ones that probably scream the n-word too.

 

I don't think it's funny, I just think it's sad...

[Rebelliousness 85]

On 5/1/2020 at 5:36 PM, EvaPooh said:

Those kids are the same ones that probably scream the n-word too.

 

I don't think it's funny, I just think it's sad...

Being that iconic (black dominated) rap and HipHop music screams that "n" word more than any "non-black" kids makes the whole point moot... It's not the 1950s-60's anymore... it's become a point of trivialization... and anyone whose taken a DNA test may have found more than a few surprises.

[CookiePuss 5373]

1 minute ago, Rebelliousness said:

Being that iconic (black dominated) rap and HipHop music screams that "n" word more than any "non-black" kids makes the whole point moot... It's not the 1950s-60's anymore... it's become a point of trivialization... and anyone whose taken a DNA test may have found more than a few surprises.

I'm sorry, what?

 

[Jilleroo 349]

31 minutes ago, Rebelliousness said:

Being that iconic (black dominated) rap and HipHop music screams that "n" word more than any "non-black" kids makes the whole point moot... It's not the 1950s-60's anymore... it's become a point of trivialization... and anyone whose taken a DNA test may have found more than a few surprises.

I've been playing Call of Duty for a few hours lately and there's teenagers calling each other the n-word to get a rise out of people. I can't help but presume that these kids dressing in SS uniforms are of a similar mind who's only trying to get a rise out of people for their own amusement. The n-word is just a gross word and they're not using it as slang in a song; as is glorifying fascist Germany's SS outfits and symbols for no other reason than to spite sensitive people. People who probably have a reason to be sensitive about these issues.

 

I'm not casting them into a pit of death here, I'm merely stating that it's sad to see and their mothers probably aren't as attentive as they should be.

Edited May 19, 2020 by EvaPooh
Quantifying my thoughts...

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

4 hours ago, Rebelliousness said:

and anyone whose taken a DNA test may have found more than a few surprises.

Jokes on you, I came out 100% pure as I expected.

[BinaryExecution 1]

In game about anarchy, massacres & in overall about terrorism as criminals are technically terrorists, somebody making such posts without any remorse.
If you wan't to see ponnys, hellokitty & that kind of shit while wasting time in videogames, then maybe your choise as apb isn't right??
Even though your whining, conflict with apb's ideology - "Be all you can't be"

[Xnetexe 78]

7 hours ago, BinaryExecution said:

If you wan't to see ponnys, hellokitty & that kind of shit while wasting time in videogames, then maybe your choise as apb isn't right??

 

Considering how many My Little Pony and Hello Kitty symbols I've seen back in the day, I can't exactly agree with that...

[BinaryExecution 1]

On 5/23/2020 at 2:52 AM, Xnetexe said:

Considering how many My Little Pony and Hello Kitty symbols I've seen back in the day, I can't exactly agree with that...

Kinda narrow thinking you have out here, the talk was about propaganda not symbols. Even though as these symbols(hello kitty and shit) appear here and there, doesn't make this game for lil kids. As in fact what happens is that they get offended by every banana-pic in somebodys profile..

[Luminesca 102]

People with colored hair crying about nazis again? 

[CookiePuss 5373]

12 minutes ago, Luminesca said:

People with colored hair crying about nazis again? 

To be fair, half of this is crying because they can't be nazis.

 

[Y2Venom 219]

This is the world we live in. Shooting people in the head is ok. Offensive symbol not ok.

[Mitne 724]

You still going at it?

I should be the most offended as Pole and grandchild of nazies victims toward any nazi symbols but what evolved (or more like devolved) from legit issue several centuries ago, grown into scapegoat for all world evils. I can give big list of such goverments which were treating some citizens better or worse and I guarantee you, there is one from your scale of ideology - from ancient times to modern.

If you wanna know which goverment did more evil to me as modern Pole, I would say that of USSR. German (<- that is important part) nazies probably would do gigantic damage at that time too (especially taking their "racial cleansing" policy) but USSR basically twisted thinking of modern Poles. People still think that under PPR (Polish People's Republic) everything was so freaking great, forgetting that there was lack of even basic stuff such as toilet paper or food, that you could be taken under cover of night to be killed while interviewed because of your political views being snitched by people you trusted, that you could been driven out to our "allies" to Syberia, that everything was of shitty quality, where at some point you needed to not only pay with currency in shop but also with special stamps dedicated to certain basic stuff and where you worked and was pretty guaranteed to work the worst jobs you can imagine - university was after all luxury, mainly reserved to party and few specialists.

And even today as we talk... Poland is about to become totalitarian state as police fights with opposition on streets and propaganda in TV spews lies.

 

So talk about issues of game such as APB... go ahead. I don't know if I will be there with you all in year or two to play it even, as we might get cut off from Internet cause "imperialists" from UE "spew lies" but the real issue is nazi running around in APB.

Many of Poles westernized but some still are buried in PPR reality thinking. Imagine how we are feeling right now and that's real issue...

In what kind of reality I'm living in?...

Edited May 26, 2020 by Mitne