The Wargamer

Ukraine is Weak?

There is an episode of Seinfeld in which Newman and Kramer are engaged in a tense game of Risk. At one point they are playing on the subway, afraid to leave the game unattended for fear the other guy will cheat. Kramer begins to taunt Newman about his weak Ukrainian placement, which begins to upset a nearby actual Ukrainian. Kramer then tries to placate the angry gent by explaining that it's just a game. Needless to say, being told that the conquest of the Ukraine is nothing but a mere game doesn't sit well and he smashes their board, leaving the world to wonder who is the better strategic genius, Kramer or Newman?

At the time I saw that episode (or the hundreds of times afterwards, Seinfeld seems to be on almost 24/7 in syndication) I found the scene amusing, but really never thought about what was being said. That is, until recently. 

You see, I'm the media relations/general writing monkey for Shrapnel Games. In my position I write press releases, product descriptions, make contact with the various media sites, and so on. The press releases I write cover everything from new products to announcing that a patch has come out for an existing game. Usually what happens is after the release is sent out the various individual websites that cover the news will either write up their own news piece based on the release, highlighting the important parts, or some sites will simply post the release as written. Regardless of what the sites do with the release after it has gone out it tends to disappear from my immediate consciousness. 

If you're a fellow writer that may seem odd unless you've written what are essentially transient pieces, like news stories, ad copy, and so on. Allow me to explain. I look at writing the releases as creating a fine meal. You want to prepare something that people enjoy, but like food the news release is something temporarily filling. Just as in a hundred years no one will fondly recall the luncheon on May 17th, 2002 with the perfectly grilled steak, no one will remember the press release for the third ATF patch. So, while I always strive to create an entertaining release, I don't give the releases much thought after they're done. It's not that I'm unhappy with them, it's just that there's always another one right around the corner to occupy my talent. Imagine my surprise then when a simple news release that I had written began to create a storm of interest on both sides of the Atlantic weeks after the release had been well, released. 

The release in question was the announcement of a new game by ProSIM that was in the works, The Falklands War 1982. If you're not familiar with ProSIM they develop ultra-realistic real-time simulation games of modern combat. 

The Falklands War, to most Americans, is an oft-forgotten conflict. To us, it was a few fireworks and not much else. Considering it has also been pretty much neglected by the wargaming world, the game sounded like it would fill a nice little niche. I wrote the piece, sent it off, and promptly started to contemplate the next release on my agenda.

Soon after the release was made public, and well after it had disappeared on most sites due to more recent news, I was contacted by the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station requesting more information on the game, as they were doing a radio piece on it. Not being on our press release list, they had found out about the game through a British magazine, PC Pro, which interestingly enough called the game "controversial." 

Controversial? Where in the world did they get that idea? To my American way of thinking controversial games involve bombing marching bands with molotov cocktails, beating up hookers with baseball bats, or mixing up BMX with naked chicks…not a serious simulation of a decades old conflict. Controversial? Surely they must be confusing us with another game.

Then I started to get good ol' fashioned flame mail. Apparently my email address was being circulated around in Argentina. I started getting fun emails that ranged from being told to correct the game's name (to the Argentineans, the Falklands should be the Malvinas) to ones that casually mentioned the hope that Muslim extremists would wipe out an American city or two. Clearly, to the people of Argentina, a wargame about the Falklands War was controversial. 

On the other side of the Atlantic the BBC took an interest in the story, apparently having been alerted to the game by the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station. This interest eventually led to a radio interview with Gary Bezant, the lead designer of the title. While definitely a calmer approach than the folks who had lost the war, I still found it intriguing that the title was getting so much attention, especially when you consider that it wasn't even going to be out until 2005!

Now playing the fireman role I began to contact the folks who sent the hate mail, trying to explain that it was just a game (hmm, where have we heard that before?) and it wasn't going to be pro-British, or for that matter pro-Argentinean, it was simply designed to allow people to accurately recreate the conflict. This opened up a bit of dialogue with the people who reacted so strongly to the news, who turned out to be quite reasonable. There was no use in pointing fingers about their earlier spews, because let's be honest, we've all sent off flame mail before without really thinking about it. Heck, it wouldn't be the Internet without thoughtlessly worded emails sent off in the heat of the moment, right?

Once we started talking about the game, and their fears, a few things became evident. One, there was no one supporting Galtieri. If you've forgotten who Galtieri was (or never knew to begin with) he was the thug running Argentina at the time of the war. It is widely accepted now that the invasion was simply a pretense to giving the people of Argentina an outside enemy, since he himself was in grave danger of being overthrown.

Two, although they were against Galtieri they felt strongly that reclaiming the islands was right. A history of the Falkland/Malvinas islands is far too complicated to discuss here, but it makes for an interesting read, so try and do some research on it. You'll find that even the fledgling United States played a role in the islands. Three, they felt pride that their country, a nation not in the forefront of the world's stage, could stand up to a major power like Great Britain. And lastly, the wounds were obviously still fresh even though twenty-two years had passed.