Infestation 88 developer, Nightmare Forge Games, have responded to claims that the ‘88’ in the game’s title refers to the Neo-Nazi salute.
Okay… I think that it’s worth to look further at the Twitter comment chain from Josh Fagundes, mentioned in the text.
I’ll use the exact same [lack of] reasoning that the author used to “prove” that he’s a Nazi. (I don’t think that he’s a Nazi, mind you; I’m doing this to show how bloody stupid his witch hunting is):
- Josh ‘Anoriand’ has 14 characters, including the quotation marks. Coincidence? Perhaps not!
- Look, I’m not saying it’s IMPOSSIBLE that this game wasn’t made with ill intent is exactly 14 words. And it’s immediately followed by “but 88”. Coincidence? Perhaps not!
“Conclusion”: I’m going to play it safe and treat Josh Fagundes as a nazi!
…yes, it is that tier of stupid. And if the developers are actually Nazi trying to push a Nazi discourse into the players, Josh is not “denouncing” them. He’s actually helping them to push said Nazi discourse, since now they can say “ah, that’s just someone being silly. Pay no mind, look at the ridiculous shit that he’s using to “prove” that our game is Nazi.”
Here’s a better approach.
What’s “88” in the title conveying to the player, within the context of the game? Through all the screenshots being shared, I’ve seen it being consistently used to refer to 1988, and nothing else. Is there any other element contextualising it to be interpreted as “heil Hitler” instead of the year?
I’d hate to live in your world, where literally everything and anything is a Nazi dog whistle
Buddy, if you’re unaware of literally the most common Nazi dogwhistle out there, then that’s simply ignorance and naivety on your part. Just because you chose to look away, does not mean they aren’t there.
More like “tankie user defends basic reading comprehension”.
What Josh is doing here is witch hunting like a moron. That only helps the Nazi by giving them a believable cover.
Not the point. “Infestation” + 88 + gassing vermin is absolutely not comparable to the mental gymnastics you just vomited out as an example. Even if the developer was truly this oblivious, it would still not change the issue of it, and the Nazis that posted on their Discord for so long were clearly proof of that as well.
