I find the name of this to be very offensive.

We're very sorry for any offense, we really, really are. We discussed the name for a while before deciding on it, and whether or not it would be offensive was one of the things we worried about, so we asked anyone we could think of if they thought it was a problem. The general consensus among those people was that, because there's a parallel with the plot, it would be okay, but I can see that it's not the case with everyone. We really are sorry, we don't mean to offend anyone, we swear.

I can see from what you've posted that there are parallels, and sort of understand your reasoning; but given the fantasy nature of what you're RPing, and the very real nature of what happened to a specific group of people - I really don't think there are enough parallels to avoid offense, at least to my mind.

Also, the day after Holocaust Memorial Day may not have been the best time to post this promo.

Oh wow, my co-mod didn't even notice the proximity to Holocaust Memorial Day when she posted this. That was a very poor move on our part.

We did notice there were many parallels JKR drew between World War II and Grindelwald, but I definitely see what you are saying. It's a hard and very real subject, which is why we spent so long working on the name, and asked so many people. Thank you for being kind and reasonable about it, though.

If you ever decide to change the name, I'll volunteer now to pay for the rename token.

- or tokens, as the case may be.

That's really sweet and nice of you, but I'm sorry, we really have no interest in changing the name of our game because it coincides so well with our plot and the canon story. JK Rowling has related the Death Eaters to the Nazis and in the last book, the way things were handled by the ministry and the way that the muggleborns were treated were parrell to the way the jews were treated. Also, for a long time, people were wondering if maybe Hitler was the same as Grindelwald, while she has stated that he isn't the same person, he had the same mindset. The canon in the Harry Potter world that we are based on is heavily influenced by factual events. We meant no harm, and we mean no offense, but real life influences art. By the same token, the Death Eaters and Voldemort are highly offensive fictional creations. The Christians churches have fought against the point of Harry Potter and it's connection to magic. It's all a matter of opinion and we're sorry that it offends you.

Complaints about making fun of Jewish experience has no parallels to Christian fundamentalist attempts to sensor HP due to its celebration of and play with witchcraft--drop this comparison now.

I've been seeing ads for this community come up on my flist every few days and every time I'd cringe, but didn't think to speak out until I saw other people speaking out this morning. It's time for you to stop making me cringe and others despair if you're serious about not wanting to offend and hurt people. You are offending and hurting people. JK Rowling knew how to handle the parallel's she was drawing with the Holocaust without drawing offense--part of how she did that is by not appropriating the very terms of that experience.

If you wish to correct your mistake, take the token you are being offered and change this community's name-because that name has serious meaning for many of us. Then work how you are referencing real events that hurt real people who are still living today into the thinking behind your role play writing, Good role play is interactive storytelling--don't take this subject lightly if you're going to write about it.

And for those of us who aren't writing in your game but see this game's title come up in our rpg promo communities, please respect our feelings, and change the name to something less painful for us.

The Christians churches have fought against the point of Harry Potter and it's connection to magic.

... so? How does this have anything to do with the vile offense you've created and are perpetrating?

And you shouldn't be sorry that it offends people; that's bullshit. Doing something awful and saying "I'm sorry *you're unhappy*" is not an apology; it's blaming the other person for taking offense rather than apologizing for YOUR ACTIONS, which are the problem.

Trust me, if you think you're not changing the name of this community, you need to take a look at what's churning around you. You are *beyond* vile.

No, it's saying that we understand how some people might take offense, and if they take offense we ARE sorry that we offended them, because the intent WASN'T offense, but we had very specific reasons why we chose the name, which is why we won't change it.

Everyone has their own opinion and everyone is entitled to it, but we never asked anyone who takes offense to it to join our game and no one is under any obligation to join it, if they think so poorly of the name.

the intent may not have been offense, but the result is. saying sorry isn't enough. especially since enough people are offended and will most likely tell everyone NOT to even look at this game simply because of the name, if you actually want people to join, take the rename token(s).

If you absolutely cannot or refuse to understand why you are offending people simply by using the name/word you are, then I suggest you go back to school and relearn your WWII history.

Just by *using* the name as you are, you are being offensive, and in very bad taste.

Yes, but you might notice that JKR still called them "Death Eaters" and not "Nazis." Because JKR might not know how to stop abusing the capslock key but she does know better than to co-opt the frakking Holocaust.

Name it something else. If your RPG premise is so tied up in the use of a single word, regardless of what that word is, then the problem here isn't your audience but in your writing skills.

The difference is, JKR writes fiction. She didn't trivialize heinous historical events by putting her fictional characters in the midst of them. There's a reason for that: she's intelligent enough to know better. You, apparently, aren't. I can't understand how anyone can be so willfully obtuse, to not understand how doing this would upset a LOT of people. And your lame apologies aren't apologies at all, just more of your arrogance. Grow up, figure it out, and change the name.

"we really have no interest in changing the name of our game because it coincides so well with our plot and the canon story."

Then you lose all credibility, and all your claims of "we're really sorry if we offend anyone" have no weight.

I suggest you haul yourselves over to a Holocaust Museum sometime, and enlighten yourselves. There aren't many survivors left alive these days, but I grew up knowing many, and I find your trivializing it for an RPG, including HUMOR, is insensitive, offensive, and horribly IGNORANT.

Yeah, been enlightened thanks. I've always had a deep interest in WW2. I've been scarred from videos on the holocaust when I was only 10 and forced to watch them. I understand the severity of what happened. I have jewish friends who have moved on and do not dwell, and jewish friends who know that we mean no harm by the game and don't take offense.

I'm not a mod, but I support the mods and their decision for the name fully, because unlike so many others I am not going to dwell on the past and harbor ill feelings towards what happened. It's been nearly 70 years. It isn't a matter of not respecting the dead. We didn't name the game "Auschwitz", we named it after a night in history when something very horrible "began", but the holocaust does not singularly come down to that one night.

But I'm also rather open minded and understand the difference between plays on words and fiction. It wasn't trivialized. It all comes down to the main character, with the connections that it has to that war. Enough people around us have said that it doesn't bother them. They're able to look past it and see it for what it is. It is your decision to take it so seriously.

If the mods change the name, it is entirely up to them, but being harassed to do so, is no better than what you're claiming we're doing.

Stop it. Please, now.

I am not going to dwell on the past and harbor ill feelings towards what happened

Again, you know what a genocide IS? I don't know what to say.

If you aren't a mod, then stop now. This will look amazing later.

Scarred at 10 by videos? Oh, please. And I mean PUH-LEEZE.

How about scarred because your friends' parents have concentration camp numbers tattooed on their arms? Because they once had brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, but don't anymore?

Don't DWELL? Just dismissing it like that is INSULTING and, yes, once again, IGNORANT. And it speaks to your lack of experience in this world. Really, I would advise you to step back about 10 paces, and realize that the deep feelings that have been stirred up by this RPG are not just hurt feelings, but deep wounds. This isn't just a STORY to people. This is LIFE. And death. They're not just upset because they've seen Schindler's List and feel bad, they're upset because anti-Semitism like yours still EXISTS. (And if you say you're not anti-semitic, you REALLY need some sensitivity training to understand that your and your friends with this game are demonstrating it)

You are not open-minded. You are narrow-minded, and determined to not understand the viewpoints of anyone who legitimately is damaged by your actions. It doesn't come down to the "characters", it comes down to the hurtful nature of your co-opting a MAJOR event in Jewish history and using it as a frakking PLOT DEVICE to further your game.

We are not harrassing you. We are attempting to educate you as to why what you are doing is so incredibly wrong.

I'm not a mod, but I support the mods and their decision for the name fully, because unlike so many others I am not going to dwell on the past and harbor ill feelings towards what happened.

Genocide is one of those things we ought, as human beings, to dwell on. We shouldn't move on; we're not supposed to 'get over it.' The only way we have a hope of ultimately, finally preventing genocide from occurring over and over (as it has throughout the twentieth century, all over the world) is to refuse to forget, refuse to trivialize, refuse to let it go.

I'm not a mod, but I support the mods and their decision for the name fully, because unlike so many others I am not going to dwell on the past and harbor ill feelings towards what happened.

How magnanimous of you! Because of course it's entirely unreasonable and irrational for Jewish people—or Roma, or Sinti, or any of the other groups of people who were massacred during the war—to "harbour ill feelings" about a genocide of millions which happened within living memory!

You are not open-minded. You are the furthest thing from it. You refuse to see past your own entertainment, your own privilege, and see that at the heart of it, this is not about you. This is about the hurt and offence that your actions are causing others; this is about the salt you're pouring into wounds that will never heal; this is not about harassment or 'extremism', but rather asking that you treat your fellow human beings with dignity and respect.

I have jewish friends who have moved on and do not dwell, and jewish friends who know that we mean no harm by the game and don't take offense.

I hope you will someday gain enough brains and sense to realize that other Jews exist out there who might not be your friends, and might not fall within those exact same parameters.

We really are sorry, we don't mean to offend anyone, we swear.

Then change the name.

No, you're not sorry. Being sorry implies a willingness to make right. And, you're all obviously not. You did mean to offend people; you knew you were going to offend people. You just hoped to silence them with pitiful, sophomoric disclaimers. It doesn't work that way.

You took the title of one of the most horrible, pivotal events in human history and used it for the purpose of your own entertainment. You knew you were going to hurt people and you simply didn't care, because it was more fun and cool to use a 'dangerous' word for your game. Your GAME. Your pretend game based on a fictional world, that you didn't even invent. You decided to use people's pain and anguish and horror to have fun.

Stop saying you're sorry, because you aren't. You don't have any remorse, or guilt, or intent to make reparations to the people you're harming. You are appropriating the destruction of human lives and the horror that followed so that you can have more fun in your GAME. This is who you are. You are that kind of people.

We really are sorry, we don't mean to offend anyone, we swear.

And yet you did. A whole lot of people have politely pointed this out. Your response has been to whine, try to trivialize the Holocaust, paint *yourself* as a victim, whine some more, try to tell all Jews reacting in ways that you don't agree with that they're doing it wrong, whine again, call people who might possibly have personal reasons for caring about the Holocaust, "extremists", whine *yet again*, compare Jewish victims of antisemitism to fanatic Harry Potter-hating Christians, and then take up your toys and go home. All without ever once listening to what anybody here has been *saying*.

You should come back and listen. These are smart people. They've lived in the world a whole long longer than you have and have learned a very important lesson: It's not always about you and what's most fun for you.

Really. Think about it a bit. I don't have much hope for you, but I like to think that people can sometimes surprise me.

Let me get this straight: you polled a small sample of people (or maybe a fairly large sample -- "anyone we could think of") and they said it was okay. Now you have a much larger sample who say this is really offensive or insensitive in the extreme at best, and your very great care to avoid injuring people has already dried up, sorry.

Hm. Sounds specious to me. You wanted to name it what you wanted to name it, and you really don't care what anyone thinks.

Wow. Just wow. And let me add, as other people have, that this isn't offensive to a small group of people whose ancestors were directly involved. This is just offensive. The fact that you've entrenched on this and disregarded the feelings of people you claim you cared about (thus your poll of anyone you could think of) makes it worse.