Apple Removes Civil War Games From App Store Over Confederate Flag Usage

[chijohnaok]

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/25/app ... rate-flag/

Apple Removes Civil War Games From App Store Over Confederate Flag Usage


Thursday June 25, 2015 6:43 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple has removed seemingly all Civil War games from the App Store for displaying the Confederate Flag in "offensive and mean-spirited ways," our sister website TouchArcade has learned. Apple has sent a removal letter to affected developers to inform them that their app does not comply with Section 19.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines.

"19.1 Apps containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected."
MacRumors did a spot check of the App Store and can confirm that Apple has removed dozens of Civil War games depicting the Confederate Flag, which has been at the center of a racial controversy ignited by a Charleston, South Carolina church shooting last week. Most educational or generic Civil War apps remain available on the App Store.

A sampling of the Civil War games removed from the App Store:

Ultimate General: Gettysburg
AAA American Civil War Cannon Shooter
Civil War: Hidden Mysteries
Civil War The Battle Game
Civil War Defense
Civil War Battle Defense
1861 A Civil War Rebellion
Civil War: 1862
Civil War: 1863

Apple did not immediately respond to request for comment.

I wonder what impact this move by Apple may have on Scourge of War: Gettysburg?
There may not be a SOW:G app on Apple, but as we have seen from the recent decisions by many retailers (Walmart, Amazon, e-Bay) to pull items for sale that contain the Confederate flag, is it simply a matter of time before that ripples into computer games like SOW:G?

[norb]

Civil War Defense and Civil War Battle Defense were written by NorbSoftDev. Our facebook page has the letter we received. www.facebook.com/sowgb

[the reb]

Play acting is not allowed? People get real....
the reb....

[Saddletank]

"We are writing to notify you that your app has been removed from the App Store because it includes images of the confederate flag used in offensive and mean-spirited ways."

Um. I just don't get this. It's not being used "in offensive and mean-spirited ways" it's being used to depict a video game of a historical event.

What of the thousands of Confederate re-enactors active all over the USA? No rebel flag allowed, or what?

This is madness. If the flag is used in a commemorative or educational or historical context it's clearly not racist.

Some people need to either grow up or grow thicker skins.

[Bloody Bill]

You cannot argue with Liberals!

[Saddletank]

Don't want to wander off into politics but these people are not liberals they are simply stupid.

[Gunfreak]

I'm a liberal, and i think most people should be able too see the diffrence between flying a flag on government grounds and having it in a game or using it during reenactment.
Nothing can be left good judgment...

Again all sides going to the extreme wather its extreme left or right.

To bad there is no center in America.


Sorry for the politics.

[chijohnaok]

It is sad that it has come to this.

Political correctness run amuck.

I understand that NorbSoftDev may be forced into making decisions in the future as a results of Apple's decision (and this issue in general). I appreciate the authenticity that the game developers have incorporated into making Scourge of War:Gettysburg a superior product.

I hope that they do not cave under any pressure to alter their product, but I will understand if that does happen and will continue to be a consumer of their product.

[Wales]

Defiantly a shame ..... Will happily boycott Apple app store

[RebBugler]

If I may reiterate, my post from Norb's original:

Thank goodness we didn't spend a year to port over SOW to the Mac format...this would have been disastrous.

One racist punk has done more harm to our Southern Heritage than all the racist, white supremest organizations have done for decades by using our battle flag as a symbol of their HATE.

Furthermore, from the language of this thread it appears Europeans have a better grasp of 'politics as normal' in the United States than Americans do.

It's tough to be a moderate here in the USA, as mentioned earlier in this thread, both our ONLY political parties have swung to the extreme right and left respectively, leaving moderates with no representation, and basically helpless to improve our society, way of life and our world image.

But we can: Boycott Apple