We in the People’s Republic do not fancy mainstream morality much. We prefer inappropriate humour and stuff that is a bit daft. It looks as if War on Terror – The Boardgame, handmade by a couple of techies from Silicon Fen and described by A Customer as “Risk + Monopoly + political satire” is just our sort of thing. The creators promise that,
Playing it will bring out the nastiest, greediest, darkest, most paranoid aspects of your character
Right-thinking nasty, greedy paranoics everywhere will doubtless be as horrified as I was to learn that a copy of the game was seized by police at Kingsnorth climate camp last week because the balaclava included with the game “could be used in a criminal act”.
Well yes, of course. After all, it has “EVIL” written on it in big red letters. What else would you be planning to do with it?
They never miss a trick, do they, with their sophisticated intelligence-led policing methods.
August 15, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I’m glad they only claim to be “intelligence led” rather than *actually* intelligent…
August 15, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I really despair at the treatment meted out to protestors. I agree with the majority of what these people are saying, but even if I didn’t I’d be aghast.
Still, good (well, maybe not good, but confirming my established views) to see the Mail readers spewing bile at things they can’t understand.
Yes, the “libertarian” mask is really slipping and the far right are what they’ve always been.
August 15, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I was disappointed by the game itself though. It seems to always end up in a stalemate, which might provide us with an important moral lesson about the futility of war but does mean the joke ends up wearing pretty thin. If I want a moral lesson in gaming, I’ll stick with The Landlord’s Game.
August 15, 2008 at 8:37 pm
[...] Alix’s announcement that the boardgame War on Terror has been seized by police worried that people might use the “EVIL” balaclava included in it for nefarious acts has got me wondering: what other subversive components lurk within my boadgame sets? I would suggest the following; if the Metro Police would care to raid my house and confiscate them they are welcome to as long as they don’t mind me mocking them mercilessly: [...]
August 15, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I’ve played the game. I’ve worn the balaclava. I’ll confess to being a bit disappointed to have ended up in the Axis of Evil, but we won in the end.
August 16, 2008 at 1:22 pm
[...] Alix’s announcement that the boardgame War on Terror has been seized by police worried that people might use the “EVIL” balaclava included in it for nefarious acts has got me wondering: what other subversive components lurk within my boadgame sets? I would suggest the following; if the Metro Police would care to raid my house and confiscate them they are welcome to as long as they don’t mind me mocking them mercilessly: [...]
August 16, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Perhaps they’d like to come round and confiscate my copies of Cluedo – after all there’s the dagger and the gun, the rope and the length of lead piping…