Mr Black wrote:I just find it a bit frightening that two Berget Master Trustees seem to justify such action... instead of condemning it. It doesn´t exactly indicate that the Poldavians "learned their lesson".
I think it´s important to be very clear about how the civilians should be treated. In my opinion "ethnic cleansing" (or whatever you want to call it) has no place in airsoft.
I think it's more important to be very clear about the fact that airsoft is a game and not a real war, and thus that people who find these simulated "atrocities" to be so abhorrent ake a step down and think about how reasonable it is to try and push game masters into limiting in-game actions based on real life ethics and morals when said in-game actions aren't really hurting anyone at all.
Think of it as a movie. Some actors has to play the bad guys, and in order to cement the image of certain characters in the movie are bad guys, they have to do bad things. If the bad guys in a movie were constantly being limited by the film director from ever doing bad things in the movie, then the movie would suck pretty damn hard because the viewers wouldn't be able to relate to the heroes hostile actions towards the bad guys since the bad guys haven' been allowed by the script or the director to do bad atrocious actions against anyone.
Granted the story in a "Berget" game isn't pre-scripted and pretty loosely directed but these basic principles apply in any kind of LARP-situation regardless of whether it's a movie or some guyr running around in the woods pretending to be soldiers in a make-believe scenario.
A good and involving story has to have room for bad guys/villains and their atrocious actions. Otherwise the good/decent actions of the more heroic types simply won't stand out at all.
So rather than calling for game master intervention directly preventing players from shooting civilians or engage in simulated "ethnic cleansings", how about making it your personal goal to try and save the civilians or avenge them by hunting down the villains in the game who comitted these simulated "warcrimes"?
And above all: always keep in mind that this is make-believe and in good fun, and try to think of how the morality of certain in-game actions could make the experience more engaging and interesting to you personally and to those around you.
I for one would hate it if the Berget Crew started to forcefeed all players a certain type of in-game morals that everyone has to adhere to in simulated, fictional in-game situations. (not referring to the game rules now but how players behave in the fictional scenario)
Then again, I might be morally reprehensible myself here since im in a team where we have a standing policy of delivering "field executions" to our own team members if they ever start to bitch and complain too much and refuse to eat something while we're out on patrol.
"Quit your whining or else!" *reaches for the side-arm*