Patriotism can backfire in Russia…

Source: http://habrahabr.ru/post/209320/ (and various other articles)

Hello everyone,

remember how SerB talked about the way one has to do business in Russia? By using patriotism to your advantage? Unfortunately, patriotism seems to be a double edged sword.

It started yesterday (4.2.2014), when a member of the Russian presidential committee for human rights (or something like that, other sources state it was some gaming committee, either way an official authority over games in Russia) Kyrill Kabanov planned to ban shooter games in Russia. It got even funnier though. Present on the meeting of the committee, there was a man named Michail Kochergin. He is a Marketing Director of Mail.ru, a huge Russian software company. To give you some background: Mail.ru created a World of Tanks clone called “Ground War” (if I recall correctly) some time ago. Wargaming sued them and I don’t know how it ended, but either way, they are competitors.

So, this guy goes on a rant how World of Tanks is an “offshore, Cyprus game”, and “Russian kids sit in fascist tanks, attacking and destroying Soviet tanks”, which in his opinion is bad.

Funnily enough, according to another Russian piece of news, this guy was fired for this shit immediately after (“after mutual agreement”) and the Mail.ru company issued public statement, that this guy’s position didn’t reflect the position of the company.

PS: According to some pieces of information, Gaijin (War Thunder producer) offered Michail Kochergin a job…

57 thoughts on “Patriotism can backfire in Russia…

  1. So, this guy goes on a rant how World of Tanks is an “offshore, Cyprus game”, and “Russian kids sit in fascist tanks, attacking and destroying Soviet tanks”

    If someone said that and I was in that meeting, I would outright stand up and slap him. I mean you cant get more dumb than that, no?

    • “I mean you cant get more dumb than that, no?”
      Yes, you can. You actually managed to! Hitting people during official meetings is far more retarded than spouting nonsense.

      • Nope. It is not retarded. But you need balls, which you probably don’t have. Tolererating such dumb shit is a sin.

        • Hitting someone in a meeting is much dumber because you are hurting your own credibility and thus decreasing the chance that things will turn out your way. Put simply: slapping your opponent is doing him a favor by helping his cause.

    • The comittee actually laughed off his statement and chairman later pointed out that Mail.ru are competitors of WG.

    • So a company registered in the UK for tax reason and which has its accounts in a Cyprus bank and has brought large chunks of both a Cyprus bank and actual property in Cyprus and has its main development offices in a different country isn’t an foreign company?

  2. PS: According to some pieces of information, Gaijin (War Thunder producer) offered Michail Kochergin a job…

    You know, that other game where “Russian kids sit in fascist tanks, attacking and destroying Soviet tanks”.

  3. It will take time before fascist tanks appear in the game. I don’t think Italian armor is planned for release anytime soon. So far we can get Nazional socialist tanks against soviet socalist tanks. The vast difference between fascists and nazis should not be ignored. It is equally as stupid as saying nazis and commies are the same.

  4. Just looked at Ground War. Tech trees are almost identical and the interface is the same.

  5. “gaming committee, either way an official authority over games in Russia” and banning games countrywide, wtf lol China much.

    • I guess this is the action to “prevent” next massacre that kid did in his school when geography teacher didn’t wanted to give him an A, so the kido decided to take an AK47 and earn his grade. So the easiest way is to accuse video games for that. Typical fuckwits.

  6. This actually was even funnier. When his statement was countered by the fact that Mail.ru has similar game, he told that his company “has no such game and we do not plan to develop anything similar”. AND he complained later about Chinese software pushing Russian companies on domestic market.
    But in reality, Mair.ru is Russian publisher of Chinese WoT clone: Ground War. Hypocrisy level: ultimate. :)
    So the man was fired immediately.

  7. Fascist tanks? Oh, hold on there. I am pretty sure they where manufactured, or at least most of them where manufactured and designed by ordinary people just wanting to get by and wanted nothing to do with the Nazis nor Fascists (In Italy)

    This is just stupidity and outright nationalism.

  8. SerB said it: “2a. However, if the two product are not equal, patriotism is not equal to idiotism (SS: as in, if the imported product is better, the Russian consumer will not be blind to it just because the homemade is Russian)”.

    So that Mail.ru tank game was probably not so stronk…

    • mail.ru ground war arent russian it is an rip off of wot that appered in facebook like year ago. and mail ru just bought rights for it the game itself it is chinese.

  9. Oh my God, I can’t stop laughing. Believe or not, it’s a serious issue in Russia – for example denying the True And Only version of WWII history is a major crime.

    Looks like the greedy dwarf of Moscow want the share. And if WG earns as much as we heard of, well…. Expect a demand of seven digit bribe. I almost pity Wargaming.

    • I imagine they are already paying bribes like that in ‘taxes’ and other interesting inventions made up by whomever is in the position to do so.

    • Why is that a serious issue in Russia? It’s a serious issue in almost every country. In my country you can’t say that muslims are a threat (which they are) or that their founder did all that he did (which he did) because you can end up in jail for “hatred speech”. In China, Tiananmen topics are blocked, not because there was something wrong with what government did, but for the sake of peace.
      In America, all mass media are owned by the same group of people, and the news are heavily censored. Only one version of history every appears in public – their version.

      And so on.

      The fact is, in many European countries you will go to jail (or will be fined) if you choose a different ideology and choose a different reality and history than the mainstream one. The milder version is loss of job and propaganda against you.

      • There’s more difference between hard censorship and political correctness overdose, but I do not wish to discuss it right now.

  10. So how exactly did patriotism backfire here?
    What backfired is idiocy, envy of competition, and attempt of totalitarianism.

    If that guy was patriotic he would lobby for something that would make Soviet tanks better in the game, or make some reward for destroyed German tanks, or reward for those who play exclusively Soviet tanks. You’re not a patriot if you think other countries should be destroyed – there are other terms for that.

  11. “Russian kids sit in fascist tanks, attacking and destroying Soviet tanks” instant Meme !

    I wish this becomes as popular in WoT community as the Grumpy Cat . In fact i might make a Grumpy Cat pic commenting on WoT : )

  12. I can safely deduce that the soaring sale in Russia, etc., is a one-of sale that will not repeat itself. All those that wanted the “Stalin” decor on their tanks have it by now.

    What SerB does not want to admit t, however is that Wargaming.net has at the same time been unsuccessful in increasing its market share any further in these smaller, less profitable markets.

    In short:, marketing terms: Stagnation is actually a loss in real terms as the investment into additional assets is not paying off as prospected. People openly state they are unhappy with the dullness of the German and French decor, many are at odds with the content of the official statements regarding this matter – notably, with the questionable excuses given in defense of the chosen decision.

    It is hard to comprehend how anyone as professional at his work such as SerB, would not be professional enough to keeping his own issues and personal opinions out of the actual product and its marketing – especially if it deters new, paying customers and drives away existing ones from secondary markets – making those even less profitable as a result.

    With a one-market product policy in place and their communities are increasingly regarded as dead weight, why would any customer feel attracted to the niceties one gets to read? In my particular case, my family and friends have got 5 accounts on the Northern American server, which certainly isn’t a lot. However, I can affirm all of these accounts having stopped purchasing gold, premium membership or such tanks whatsoever for several months now.

    Such said, who am I to give advise to Wargaming..net? Just a common player and a potential customer with a Masters degree in Marketing and a BA in European Politics and Economics… just a common, potential customer with enough other stuff on his mind who thinks twice about where to put his hard earned money.

    And as such, I could care less about a lead game developer’s personal view of the world. If you want me to put my money into your game as a hobby, you will have to sell a product that is also worth my time. When I buy a car I similarly don’t want its designer sitting on my lap, telling me about his own view of the world and about with which foot he got out of bed that morning. I want the car. If I like it, I will buy it, If not – I’ll buy elsewhere. Period.

    • Not sure I get this…

      The profit WG gets from “Stalin” inscriptions is profit..and no, its not one time profit…new people constantly join the game, and people often change their inscriptions. And again, its profit, which is good.

      Are they pandering to one market…not really, as it does not undermine another…Stalin inscriptions are not illegal in any of their major markets. There will always be haters, but they are a vocal minority often times… including in this case, since there were no noticeable repercussions after they were brought back, and the issue died quickly as it always does in that circumstance.

      Many people say to introduce Nazi inscriptions etc….well those are illegal in many countries…now that would be a mistake…and the uproar from it would most probably be much greater, including the banning of the game in those countries.

      And don’t pretend that they are entering stagnation because people lack enough “decor” on German and French tanks, especially when there is a long list of decor available for both counties…to those who even care that much about it. I recently put “Lynx” on my FCM 50t and I spent a while going through that list, it is a long one.

      Also i am pretty sure WG does not make nearly as much money from inscriptions as they do from their main sources of $$..free xp conversion and premium tanks. Also note that in the article that talked about patriotism and the increase in profits after the return of the Stalin inscriptions, the profitability increase might have also been due to patriotic sentiments making players willing to “reward” WG and spend more money(not just on inscriptions)..hence the talk of patriotism paying off in Russia.

      Lastly Serb does not sit on your lap and tell you his world views. You play the game, that’s the product, and that’s that. What you are doing is looking into posts he made and questions he answered…and he has the right to share his views there. If you buy a car the designer won’t tell you his world views…but if you start digging around the internet, you might end up finding out what they are. Maybe if you want to be unbiased towards the product then you should not care about his views and judge the game that way.

      If you still play the game, but now as a free player, that means you still enjoy the game. Which means the reason you don’t pay money is probably because you are dissatisfied with the developers in some way….and that goes against your statement ” I want the car. If I like it, I will buy it, If not – I’ll buy elsewhere. Period.” Note this only applies if you still play the game…if you don’t, then you stand by what you said.

      P.S: there will probably be typos in this post. It’s too long for a reread atm.

  13. So, we got another case of , dumb people saying dumb things once their political adviser is not always there by their side? How terrible… and taken care of on its own.

  14. Life is stranger than fiction… USA is a “bit” more opened, but sometimes bit “more” fanatic state than Russia. There were movements against FPS games … those were failed, too. Russians can copy much thing but cant learn from the others example :) (offtopic: Chinese can, thats the freaky thing …)

  15. Russia has banned world of tanks.

    SerB asks EU and NA for help to unban.

    EU/NA servers: How Terrible.

    SerB: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf—-!!!!!!!!!

    • Oh how I would love to see SerB’s face…. I may die of laughter if this were to ever happen, not that I actually believe Russia will ban “shooter games”.

    • Oh how we long to matter and be needed :)

      Though I don’t actually see how the “server populations” could help revoke a law passed in another country, even if by some freak chance that did happen. -Back to the drawing board :(