Is ‘Slave Tetris’ the most offensive ‘educational’ game for children ever?

Egenfeldt-Nielsen defended the game in an interview with ThinkProgress. It picked up new steam on Twitter last weekend. Playing History: Slave Trade 2 is a game from an online gaming community called Steam.

Yes, a game like this actually actually exists. “It’s called Playing History: Slave Trade“.

“I just think the whole concept of making it a game – it trivializes the atrocity of slavery”.

I’ve heard plenty of the “Well, you have to understand, in some European cultures, they just have different ideas about what does or does not constitute racism” nonsense. “There was a debate back and forth and people were saying it was a valuable learning tool”, Noschese said.

Though the game is a few years old, it’s recently gained increased attention, which has led to an array of condemnation from some who feel that turning the slave trade into a fun, brightly colored game for children is inappropriate. The creator of “Playing History: Slave Trade” removed a level which featured black slave characters being dropped into a ship similar to the video game “Tetris“. I think it is interesting how big the divide apparently is between how Europe and United States in treating this sensitive subject.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – An educational video game has been edited following a social media backlash over a scene depicting slaves being packed into a ship. He also claimed about 10 percent of Danish schools used the game and it had won awards. We probably don’t. But maybe we are not the only ones not getting it.

While the “Tetris”-like slave-stacking level has been excised from the game, a talking mouse character who guides players still says at one point: “Slave traders didn’t look upon slaves as people but as a product”.

What do I know. Twitter response is the social media equivalent to throwing napalm on a grease fire, but I suppose we all have to learn that at our own speed.

But Egenfeldt-Nielsen’s remarks likely won’t be of much comfort to critics.

However, Frank Noschese, a physics teacher at John Jay High School, said the game tries to make light of slavery, a very hard subject.