Glad to hear you had a good evening.

My evening was very nice, thank you.

But why remove the Nazi symbolism when it is used in context? If it was used in a WW2 movie or game, then surly that would be okay, used elsewhere or out of context I could understand, but why remove it from things based on history?

Is it true that in the Spanish dubbing that they turned Manuel into an Italian instead of Spanish? Can the Spanish not laugh at themselves now and then?

Thank you.

*big extra tight thank you hug*

In films for example it was only the first years after the war, people were a bit crazy about this stuff. Nowaways it can be shown if it is in a historic or documentary context. Except in games... the politicians are very slow in regards to accepting games or even in stopping to think they are all evil o.O

Such an emotional post, I raise my pint in celebration and agree with you good sir, this is indeed a good place to be. Well it certainly beats the alternative. I mean, can you imagine if you were to hang out at /b/? Ha ha ha haaa...

On second thought, don't try to imagine it.

Thank you and glad to hear that.
As is said the law prohibits it. And the solution is pretty easy: Accepting videos games as an art form. That doesn't evem require a massive change of laws...
But i don't think that this is gonna happen in the near future....our politicians don't really understand video games...

So if a film were an action film, or a comedy film, would they be allowed to show Nazi things? Or are only "serious" films allowed?

But why only allow "art forms"? As long as the Nazi references are not done for the wrong reasons or in the wrong contexts, then why not allow the use.

And sorry to you and Moon if my questions seem silly or annoying. I am just interested in the whole thing.

No, it's due to the fact that most of Manuel's humour comes from the fact that he cannot understand what the others are saying. If he was kept spanish and everybody around him is speaking in his native language, why doesn't he understand them?

"But the series is set in England" You may say? True, and yes the viewer knows that (or not since location is secondary in the series, it could be anywhere, it could be a hotel in Ibiza for all they know), however he also understands that these english people are speaking perfectly good spanish, they are not being dubbed. Don't question it, it's one of those TV magic things that don't make sense.

That said the first time I saw this series was without dubbing.

They are allowed to be showed in art, in historic or documentary content, or for teaching purpose. It is also allowed to have them in your home as long as no one from the outside (looking through your window) can see them.

And the reason why they are forbidden elsewhere is that they are not used again as symbols by right-wing radical people.

That makes perfect sense, I can see the logic in it now. I guess my brain is too tired to think properly. :-)

I guess the dubbing would need to change some things, mainly place names and references that maybe only British people would get. It's always strange to see how popular a lot of British comedy is around the world.

Politicians are masters of turning an argument on its head, or they should be, nowadays they're masters of pointing and blaming someone else which is not much of an argument but I digress.

What I mean to say is that it's relatively easy for a politician to argue that a game like wolfenstein glorifies, rather than denounces. Despite how insane the idea may seem to us.

Don't worry it's understandable.
Well it's not about the references. We're only talking about the symbolism and the aforementioned law isn't actually restricted only to Nazi symbolism. Based on that law the ISIS/ISIL flag was outlawed in 2014...

The references are generally not a problem - but unfortunately the videos game publisher apparently don't understand the german law wherefore they removed all reference without this being necessary.

I see, so part of it is to remove any link to right-winges radicals? That makes a bit more sense, and I can see why they would want to limit the association. But I still think people should be free to use it if the context is correct, such as anything depicting the war and things like that. But I guess it is a complicated matter, especially if the symbol is still being used for radical parties and people.

*big thank you for the answers hug*

Some series allow for more liberties than others in the dubbing process. For example it's pretty much impossible to separate upstairs downstairs from all its british cultural references. While our dear Basil's hotel could have been, through the magic of dubbing, transplanted to Barcelona without any consequences.

Yes, there are some right-winges radicals who want to use it for propaganda and such, and this is why the law tries to prevent the widespread use.
And you see, it is is allowed when depicting the war, if it is in newspapers or films or such. Games are the problem... or better said, politicians which probably never played a game in their life ;-)

That's true. It's always a bit scary seeing the kind of people who are in charge of the world today. :-)

So it's anything that the politicians consider hateful, offensive, or associated with something that is undesirable in Germany.

I guess Germany is only a second thought for games developers, so they probably don't make an effort to cater for the German gamers. A bit like how some developers provide just one version for all of Europe rather than for individual countries, meaning that due to German censorship, many other countries have to suffer the German version. I think the South Park game was like this.

Thank you for all the answers. *thank you hug*

I can see how some would work better than others, and those with little outdoor shots would be quite easy to relocate to somewhere in the native country rather than some foreign country.

I guess in many cases it's not a big deal, some games just change the graphic files. I know that some games just swap the Swastika for the some other German generic symbol. That way it does not interfere with the game, but still abides by German law. But as ELT said, many developers are probably too over-zealous with things and are not taking the time to check what is and is not allowed.

*more thank you hugs*

True.
But I'll now need to get some sleep, or else I might get problems during my course tomorrow ;-)

*good night hugs and waves*