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I've been calculating the number of video game Nazis I've killed. I never played the original Wolfenstein, but I've done my time in various Commandos and Medal of Duty and Call of Honors. I spent twenty hours in Saboteur making things next to Nazis explode, and that was a pretty efficient ratio of time spent to Nazis killed. So I think it's probably between three and four thousand. In terms of imaginary body count, I've probably pretend-killed as many Nazis as I have Zerg.Why are Nazis so popular as enemies? The obvious answer is 'because they murdered innocent people on an industrial scale', but there isn't really any correlation between the part someone played in history, and how often they show up in video games. Stalin, Genghis Khan and King Leopold of Belgium also murdered millions of people, but they're much rarer as enemies.
No, it's the branding. You put a tin hat and a swastika on someone, and they're certified evil. You put them in an SS greatcoat, and voila, they're a miniboss. You put someone in the uniform of the Force Publique, the Belgian mercenary corps which killed ten million civilians in the 1890s, and everyone will go 'wot? why is he in a fez?'
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