Zap women soldiers from WW2 game, say angry (male) players
A VIDEO game set in the Second World War has been accused of rewriting history by offering players the option to fight on the front line as a woman soldier.
The makers of Battlefield 5 insist they are being ‘inclusive and diverse’ by allowing gamers to play as a female soldier with a prosthetic arm. But it has provoked a backlash among fans of the series, which has sold tens of millions of copies, who are choosing to boycott the latest version ahead of its release.
The row comes after the revelation by TV historian Dan Snow that he lies to his daughters about women’s roles in history, including telling them there were female Spitfire pilots, so they feel free ‘to follow their dreams’.
Developer EA revealed its game’s cover will also feature a woman soldier. The decision has led gamers to voice their disquiet over the move on Twitter with the hashtag #notmybattlefield. One user, Stephen Slack, wrote: ‘We should never rewrite history for the sake of being inoffensive. History SHOULD offend. History should inspire and most importantly it should teach. If you wipe away the truth, you wipe away its lessons.’ Tom Larson added: ‘What’s next? Adolf with pink hair and a robo leg?’
However, other users pointed out that there were many examples of women taking up arms in the US, British and Russian armies.
One wrote: ‘I did my research. Literally there was a female Russian sniper that had 309 kills. Don’t assume women did nothing in WW2.’ British women were also deployed behind enemy lines to prepare the way for the Allied invasion.
Game developer Oskar Gabrielson said: ‘Our commitment as a studio is to do everything we can to create games that are inclusive and diverse.’