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Playing History 2 - Slave Trade

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During the game's campaign on Steam Greenlight, users raised concerns about the game but the game's developers defended the controversial "Slave Tetris" mode. After the game was released on Steam, several years after its original release date, a large number of users complained that the game
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called the entire game a "dismal, tone-deaf failure at education" that trivialized slavery, and criticized the Serious Games CEO Simon Egenfeldt-Neisen for blaming oversensitive critics and cultural differences for the debacle and not the poor quality of the game itself.
168:-like mode in which the player needs to "stack" slaves in the storage compartment of the ship; this feature was removed in later releases of the game. The player can help their master bargain with the locals to reduce the price of slave children, in order to earn points. 196:
Despite this, critics still condemned the game for other issues, such as the player picking up icons of "cakes and wine" while collecting food, and the most sympathetic character in the game being a white doctor. Katherine Cross of
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was given a positive review by Erik Champion in his book "Playing with the Past", where he praised it as an amusing game that appealed to a younger demographic.
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The depiction of packing slaves into slave ships (historical diagram pictured) as a Tetris-like
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The game caused a great deal of controversy for its inclusion of a "Slave Tetris"
193:-like level and issued an apology on Steam. The game's trailer was also updated. 212: 120: 154:
The main character is a young slave boy named Tim, who must help his master, a
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Free downloadable versions of the games were uploaded to the series' website.
272: 198: 401:"Opinion: What can we learn from that tone-deaf 'Slave Tetris' minigame?" 181: 159: 131: 135: 164: 376:""Slave Tetris" pulled from Steam game after social media backlash" 175: 351:"Slave Trade Video Game Developer Alters Scene After Outcry" 323:"After outcry, "edutainment" game removes slave-Tetris mode" 189:
trivialized slavery. The game's developers removed the
261:"I played 'Slave Tetris' so your kids don't have to" 134:, which was later removed, and other depictions of 88: 78: 70: 60: 50: 38: 24: 8: 290: 288: 107:, and released on September 13, 2013, for 30: 21: 452:Race-related controversies in video games 301:. Springer Science & Business Media. 123:” experience, teaching players about the 119:platform. The game is intended to be an “ 241: 349:Schmidt, Gregory (September 3, 2015). 158:captain, transport 300 slaves to the 103:is a game developed and published by 7: 344: 342: 255: 253: 251: 249: 247: 245: 14: 462:Video games developed in Denmark 374:Yin-Poole, Wesley (2015-09-03). 432:History educational video games 100:Playing History 2 - Slave Trade 25:Playing History 2 - Slave Trade 184:was a major point of criticism 1: 295:Champion, Erik (2010-09-28). 488: 457:Video games about slavery 447:Single-player video games 105:Serious Games Interactive 56:Serious Games Interactive 45:Serious Games Interactive 29: 185: 138:seen to be offensive. 298:Playing with the Past 206:Other games in series 179: 472:Atlantic slave trade 125:Atlantic slave trade 399:Cross, Katherine. 186: 74:September 13, 2013 265:Los Angeles Times 211:Playing History: 96: 95: 66:Windows, Mac OS X 479: 427:2013 video games 411: 410: 408: 407: 396: 390: 389: 387: 386: 371: 365: 364: 362: 361: 346: 337: 336: 334: 333: 319: 313: 312: 292: 283: 282: 280: 279: 257: 84:Educational game 34: 22: 487: 486: 482: 481: 480: 478: 477: 476: 417: 416: 415: 414: 405: 403: 398: 397: 393: 384: 382: 373: 372: 368: 359: 357: 348: 347: 340: 331: 329: 321: 320: 316: 309: 294: 293: 286: 277: 275: 259: 258: 243: 238: 222: 208: 174: 152: 144: 20: 19:2013 video game 17: 16:2013 video game 12: 11: 5: 485: 483: 475: 474: 469: 464: 459: 454: 449: 444: 439: 434: 429: 419: 418: 413: 412: 391: 366: 338: 314: 307: 284: 240: 239: 237: 234: 233: 232: 221: 218: 207: 204: 173: 170: 151: 148: 143: 140: 94: 93: 90: 86: 85: 82: 76: 75: 72: 68: 67: 64: 58: 57: 54: 48: 47: 42: 36: 35: 27: 26: 18: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 484: 473: 470: 468: 465: 463: 460: 458: 455: 453: 450: 448: 445: 443: 440: 438: 437:Windows games 435: 433: 430: 428: 425: 424: 422: 402: 395: 392: 381: 377: 370: 367: 356: 352: 345: 343: 339: 328: 324: 318: 315: 310: 308:9781849965019 304: 300: 299: 291: 289: 285: 274: 270: 266: 262: 256: 254: 252: 250: 248: 246: 242: 235: 230: 228: 224: 223: 219: 217: 215: 214: 205: 203: 200: 194: 192: 183: 178: 171: 169: 167: 166: 161: 157: 149: 147: 141: 139: 137: 133: 128: 126: 122: 118: 114: 110: 106: 102: 101: 92:Single-player 91: 87: 83: 81: 77: 73: 69: 65: 63: 59: 55: 53: 49: 46: 43: 41: 37: 33: 28: 23: 404:. Retrieved 394: 383:. Retrieved 379: 369: 358:. Retrieved 354: 330:. Retrieved 327:Ars Technica 326: 317: 297: 276:. Retrieved 264: 229:(video game) 226: 210: 209: 195: 190: 187: 163: 153: 145: 129: 99: 98: 97: 52:Publisher(s) 40:Developer(s) 467:Indie games 442:MacOS games 142:Development 121:edutainment 62:Platform(s) 421:Categories 406:2017-08-01 385:2017-08-01 360:2017-08-01 332:2017-08-01 278:2017-08-01 236:References 213:the Plague 156:slave ship 380:Eurogamer 273:0458-3035 199:Gamasutra 172:Reception 355:ArtsBeat 227:Freedom! 220:See also 182:minigame 160:Americas 150:Gameplay 132:minigame 113:Mac OS X 80:Genre(s) 136:slavery 115:on the 109:Windows 89:Mode(s) 71:Release 305:  271:  191:Tetris 165:Tetris 117:Steam 303:ISBN 269:ISSN 111:and 423:: 378:. 353:. 341:^ 325:. 287:^ 267:. 263:. 244:^ 127:. 409:. 388:. 363:. 335:. 311:. 281:.

Index


Developer(s)
Serious Games Interactive
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)
Genre(s)
Serious Games Interactive
Windows
Mac OS X
Steam
edutainment
Atlantic slave trade
minigame
slavery
slave ship
Americas
Tetris

minigame
Gamasutra
the Plague
Freedom! (video game)






"I played 'Slave Tetris' so your kids don't have to"
ISSN

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