So imagine you’re sitting next to someone on the train who’s playing a game on his iPhone. You can’t help but glance out of the corner of your eye, and you’re a bit shocked to see swastikas, copious amounts of blood, dead bodies, dog killing, and…Mecha Adolf Hitler??
Whoa..is this OK to play in public?
Granted, this isn’t the first time a violent video game with possibly objectionable content has been made available for a portable video game system–game makers have been delivering this content ever since portable systems got sophisticated enough to render red pixelated blood. But there’s something special about this unholy combination of Wolfenstein 3D and the iPhone.
Did I mention you kill dogs in this game?
First, let’s go back to 1992. Wolfenstein 3D is widely regarded as the granddaddy of the violent first person shooting game genre, and more specifically, the World War II era Nazi-killfest subgenre of first person shooters. Plenty of Nazisploitative games followed in its footsteps, but Wolfenstein 3D broke ground with the the way it so unabashedly used Nazi elements in the game. Asides from the copious swastikas and Hitler portraits in the game itself, the startup music in the game’s first moments after loading is the Nazi anthem “Horst-Wessel-Lied.”
As a player, even though you’re blasting away Nazi after Nazi, and even though you get to kill Der Fuhrer himself, you can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable with all of this Nazi imagery around you. This was an edgy game, one that you played alone in your bedroom after your parents had gone to bed. Maybe you installed it into a hidden directory so they didn’t even know it was on the computer. And if someone came home while you were in the middle of slaying packs of dogs, you made sure to quit ‘n’ save faster than you can say, “Mein leben!”
Rose McGowan using her iPhone. Probably not playing Wolfenstein.
That was 1992. Now, fast forward to early 2009. Apple has sold over 30 million iPhones. It’s out there in huge numbers, and it’s a symbol of conspicuous consumption. No matter what pretenses of modesty you may have about your personal electronics, part of you wants people to know you have it. You want people to be a little jealous when they see you flip through album art in CoverFlow mode, watch YouTube videos, locate all 30 Starbucks within a three block radius, and of course, play games. In other words, the great thing about the iPhone isn’t just that you can do so many great things with it while on the go, it’s that other people can see you doing great things with it while on the go.
Which brings us back to the dilemma of Wolfenstein 3D on the iPhone. It’s a groundbreaking, classic game, and it’s an absolute blast to play. But its edginess and shameless Nazisploitation are at complete odds with the stylish conspicuous consumption that the iPhone embodies. It’s not really something you can pull out at a party and impress people with, and if you use it on the subway, people glancing at your screen may think you love killing dogs in a swastika infested killing field.
This is me avoiding making an easy joke about fascist imagery.
Content and form aside, Wolfenstein 3D and the iPhone are separated by another gulf: the vastly different meta-narratives of their respective rises to prominence. Wolfenstein 3D was originally distributed as shareware. You couldn’t get it at a video game store, and it wasn’t advertised on TV. Instead, it was spread through bulletin board systems (the dial-up precursors to the internet), disk swapping, and word of mouth. The iPhone, on the other hand…well, let’s just say that Wolfenstein 3D wasn’t launched by a celebrity demi-god CEO at a highly anticipated keynote address. The iPhone had about as top-down of a product launch as you can possibly imagine.
The indie underground hit that you played alone in shame has now come to the mass-market epitome of conspicuous gadgetry. No wonder it’s such an awkward match. In fact, it’s kind of amazing that Apple allowed this to be distributed through its content-controlled app store. Porn, violent graphic novels, and apps with foul language are verboten. Apple clearly has an image it’s trying to uphold. It doesn’t want the iPhone to be the device to support seedy, socially unacceptable activities. It wants the iPhone to be a delivery platform for mainstream mobile content. Mainstream means a lot of people want it, and mobile means that it’s with an iPhone user wherever (s)he goes. Mass appeal, mass exposure, mass sales.
Wolfenstein 3D, with its Nazisploitation and dog killing galore, clearly runs afoul of this clearly cultivated image. But maybe Apple is making this exception knowing that it has the public filter to fall back on. They can make Wolfenstein 3D available to appeal to the hard core gamer audience, but they know that because it’s not socially acceptable to play this game in broad view of the public, there’s no danger in the iPhone becoming the NaziPhone or the KillPuppiPhone.
So what’s a gamer like me to do? I’m trapped by Apple’s devious plot: I bought the app, but then realized I can’t easily play it on the go. So I play it at home for a few days and realize how this defeats the purpose of playing games on the iPhone. I guess I should download some other games like Crash Bandicoot and play that on the subway instead.
This is so much less satisfying than killing Nazis and dogs. Damn you, Apple! Damn you, social norms!
Or, you could stop being concerned with what others think about you, and play a game you enjoy.
You might even strike up a conversation with someone else who enjoys the dark taboo that is Wolfenstein. Then you could be friends.
;-)
Wolfenstein 3D was originally distributed as shareware. You couldn’t get it at a video game store, and it wasn’t advertised on TV. Instead, it was spread through bulletin board systems (the dial-up precursors to the internet), disk swapping, and word of mouth. The iPhone, on the other hand…well, let’s just say that Wolfenstein 3D wasn’t launched by a celebrity demi-god CEO at a highly anticipated keynote address. The iPhone had about as top-down of a product launch as you can possibly imagine.
This is top-notch. Good post!
id had the iPhone port of Wolfenstein 3D on their website for free in late March. (In order to play it, though, you would’ve needed to jailbreak your iPhone.)
Word is that there’s a port of Doom on the way, too.
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/45679/John-Carmack-Releases-Open-Source-Wolfenstein-iPhone-Port
I should add that no dogs were harmed in the writing of this post.
@cushman: good point, there is the open source version that you can install on a jailbroken phone in addition to the official, Apple sanctioned App Store release. For Doom, it’ll be interesting to see if that app gets approved for official release, with its liberal usage of occult/satanic images.
What does “jailbreaking” your iPhone mean?
I’m skeptical about it not being played in public *JUST* because of social norms. So I guess I’m complicating it a bit: Apple is aware the game violates social norms, but they also know that 1) the people buying and playing this game don’t realize this [typically- you’re an exception (and that’s a good thing)], 2) are most likely going to be around people with the same oblivious state, and 3) the nature of the game makes its target a small, niche audience, so it is unlikely for the game to really “spread” all that much.
@Gab: http://i.gizmodo.com/5166029/how-to-install-unofficial-apps-on-your-iphone-3g-or-ipod-touch-easily-and-safely
@Lee: this post reminded me of my dad working his way through this game back in the day and developing blisters on his thumbs and breaking the ctrl keys on the keyboard of our family computer.
Wow. Stop caring what other people think and play the game… I’ve shown it to lots of people, male and female, from all walks of life, and not one of them has cared about the fact you kill Nazis and dogs in it. Would aliens be more acceptable?
I can’t belive you feel you have to restrict yourself to playing this at home, as if a suspicious stare from a stranger on the underground is going to shatter your fragile sense of morality.
The world has gone completely mad.
I have the game on my ipod and love it. While a solid post, there is another aspect of Wolfenstein that does not seem to jibe with the Apple: Does anyone think it is a bit odd that Wolfenstein (I am going to assume he his jewish) can gain health through collecting GOLD? I sense a whiff of anti semitic joke……
I see, so it’s a way of getting around the exclusivity of Apple software. Are they going for irony by calling it “JAILbreak,” then?
@mcfly: the protagonists’ name is actually “B.J. Blazkowicz,” who is simply described as an American soldier of Polish descent (in Wikipedia). So he’s probably not supposed to be Jewish. “Wolfenstein” is the name of the Nazi castle that B.J. escapes from. So the antisemitism probably doesn’t fly. Also, I’m pretty sure the game makes no references to the Holocaust.
@charlie: There’s an important difference between you showing people this game vs. seeing someone play it on the subway: these people all have some sort of relationship with you; i.e., they’re presumably not total strangers. That’s the problem with a whole range of activities that happen while on public transportation: strangers that you have no relationship with are exposing you to things that they normal do in private: watch porn, clip their toe nails, play violent video games, masturbate, curse in conversation with their friends, etc., all in inescapable close quarters.
Also, my sense of morality isn’t built around not getting stared at by strangers. It’s more about giving other people the same respect and consideration that I expect to get from them.
Oh, and speaking of games with possibly objectionable material being approved for the App Store:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/22/technology/AP-US-Apple-Shaking-Babies.html?_r=1
Well, clearly the baby-shaking game was made with the intent of being at best offensively funny, if not just plain offensive.
announced at QuakeCon today that Wolfenstein 3D will be on sale for just $0.99 at the App Store through Sunday. Just sayin’.
That would be $0.99 well spent. DO IT!
Wolfenstein has finally arrived. The remake is as good as the original was. The WWII and occult formula still works.