17 November 2018, 15:21
Chechnya: authors of game about vampires apologize for the game plot
The references to Chechnya will be removed from the table game, which has caused criticism because of the disrespectful reference to the prosecution of gays in the republic, the game designers have assured.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in November, a new part of the popular game "Vampire: The Masquerade" was released. According to its plot, Chechnya is ruled by an ancient clan of vampires, whose members drink blood of the local population. Djambulat Umarov, the Chechen Minister for National Policy and External Relations, has treated the game as a part of the information war, while social network users were outraged by the storyline, in which the persecution of homosexuals is explained by the distraction of attention from the ruling clan.
In April 2017, the "Novaya Gazeta" reported about mass detentions and murders in Chechnya of the men suspected of gay sexuality. The head of Chechnya treated these materials as provocation. On November 1, 2018, sixteen OSCE countries called for setting up a mission to investigate these crimes.
The mentions of Chechnya will be removed from the game, said Shams Djordjani, vice president for business development at the "Paradox Interactive", a Swedish company-designer of the game.
"The World of Darkness has always been about horror, and horror is about exploring the darkest parts of our society... Horror should not be afraid to explore difficult or sensitive topics, but it should never do so without understanding who those topics are about and what it means to them. Real evil does exist in the world, and we can't ever excuse its real perpetrators or cheapen the suffering of its real victims. In the Chechnya chapter of the V5 Camarilla book, we lost sight of this. The result was a chapter that dealt with a real-world, ongoing tragedy in a crude and disrespectful way," says Mr Djordjani's statement, posted on the White Wolf's website.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 17, 2018 at 10:51 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
